ashamed to admit it, but----"

David's laughing admission was never finished. Over the monotonous
complaint of the rain rose a sound which made their hearts stand still.
From the very depths of the narrow valley floated up to them that
unmistakable trumpet call, the Elf's Horn.

CHAPTER XXII

OUT OF THE VALLEY

"Did you hear that, Jean?" David's voice sunk to a sibilant whisper. He
was trembling violently as he asked the question.

For answer, Jean raised shaking hands to his mouth. Again the call of
the Elf's Horn shrilled above the murmuring rain, and again, this time
clearer and louder, came the answer.

"_Le bon Dieu_ hav' hear!" came the hunter's reverent exclamation.
Stopping only to make the sign of the cross, the old man plunged down
the perilous steep, David Nesbit at his heels. How they had come safely
into the valley, neither was afterward able to explain, nor did they
stop to remark it, once they had descended. Both men were intent only on
reaching the spot from whence had emanated that blessed call.

"There's only one person up here who could answer that call, Jean."
David's tones were vibrant with emotion. "It's Tom Gray! I know it, and
he's in that hut."

Stumbling desperately on in the greater darkness of the valley, they
reached the hut at last.

"Tom!" shouted David at the top of his lungs. "Tom Gray! Are you there?"

"Yes," sounded the unbelievable reply from within the hut. "Is that you,
David! I was sure of it when I heard the Elf's Horn and answered the
call. I knew you'd come for me some day."

"Yes, old fellow; it's David," rang out the triumphant cry. "Thank God,
you are alive! Jean is with me."

"_Le bon Dieu_ hav' hear," was Jean's muttered repetition, as the two
men made a concerted dash upon the shack, in a wild effort to locate the
door. Finding it by the aid of their flashlights, they made a determined
onslaught upon it, but it stubbornly resisted their importuning hands.

"Hello, Jean! It's too good to be true. I might have known I could count
on you, though," came the welcome salutation from within. More anxiously
Tom Gray added: "You'll have to break the door down, if you can. It's
locked from the outside. _He_ carries the key. Hurry or he may come
back." Tom's voice quivered with dread.

David groaned. His mind on this unexpected obstacle, which now
confronted them, he did not stop to consider who the mysterious "he" in
the problem might be. Tom's very tones i