ery time I turn around; besides, whatever resting-spell we get ere
the ball opens will serve to steady our nerves for the onset. Have you
spread forth a rare feast for our comrades, Eloise?"

She stood within the shadow, leaning lightly against the great stone,
smiling at us.

"All I have awaits your pleasure, gentlemen," she returned bravely,
"and I trust you may consider it a pleasant duty to do full justice to
my skill."

It has lingered a unique memory of those days, the outward carelessness
with which we chattered away during that strange meal. Surely no
company of wanderers was ever in more desperate stress than we at that
moment. It was the merest chance of fate if one among us all lived to
see the peaceful setting of the sun, now blazing high overhead. Yet
that simple noonday repast, partaken of beneath the shadow of the
overhanging rock, remains in memory as more redundant with merriment of
tongue and face than any since we made departure from New Orleans.
Were I not writing truthful narrative, I might hesitate at setting this
down, yet there are doubtless others living to bear witness with me
that there is often experienced an odd relief in discovering the
presence of actual danger; that uncertainty and mystery try most
severely the temper of men.

It certainly proved so with us that day, and De Noyan's high spirits
found echo even in the grim Puritan, who, being at last convinced that
he was not called upon to wrestle with demons from the pit, was as full
of manly fight as the best of us. Eloise added her gentle speech,
while even I relaxed my anxiety, though I was careful enough to select
a seat from which I could keep watch both up and down the ravine,
convinced that our time of trial was not far away. In consequence of
this chosen vantage of position I was the first to note those stealthy
nude figures silently stealing from rock to rock, like so many flitting
shadows, making their way down toward our position from the north. How
they attained entrance to the gorge I could not conjecture; my eyes
first detected their movement when their leaders stole noiselessly as
phantoms about the great shelf of rock higher up the gorge. More than
this fleeting glimpse I was unable to perceive from where I sat, our
rude rampart somewhat obstructing the view, nor did I call the
attention of the others to their approach. Nothing could be gained by
exposing ourselves before need arose. Indeed, De Noyan chanced