e of temperature. The air became so
chilly that Ruggles and Brush flung their blankets about their
shoulders and found the protection added to their comfort. The horses,
too, began to show the effects of their severe exertion. Their long
rest had rendered them somewhat "soft," though the hardening would be
rapid. After a few days' work they would not mind such exertion as
that to which they were now forced.

When a sort of amphitheatre was reached, it was decided to draw rein
for a brief while, out of sympathy for their panting animals.

"I thought if we failed to find our horses," remarked the parson, "we
wouldn't find it hard to keep up the pursuit on foot; I have changed
my mind."

He looked back over the sloping trail, which speedily vanished in the
gloom and the eyes of the other two were turned in the same direction.
At the moment of doing so, the animals again became frightened, so
that, despite their fatigue, it was hard to restrain them.

"There's something down there," remarked the captain slipping from his
saddle; "Wade, you are the nearest, can you see anything?"

Ruggles was out of the saddle in an instant, Winchester in hand.

"I catched sight of something," he said in an undertone; "look after
my horse, while I find out what it is."

"Have a care," cautioned the parson; "it may be an Indian."

"That's what I think it is," replied Ruggles, who instantly started
down the trail rifle in hand, his posture a crouching one and his
senses strung to the highest point.

He passed from view almost on the instant, and his companions listened
with intense anxiety for what was to follow. Suddenly the sharp crack
of their friend's rifle rang out in the solemn stillness, the report
echoing again and again through the gorge, with an effect that was
startling even to such experienced men. It was the only sound that
came to them, and, while they were wondering what it meant, Ruggles
reappeared among them with the noiselessness of a shadow.

"It was a bear," he explained; "I think he scented the animals and was
follering on the lookout for a chance at 'em."

"Did you kill him?"

"Don't think I did; he must have heard me comin' and was scared; he
went down the trail faster than I could; when I seen that I couldn't
catch him, I let fly without taking much aim. Maybe I hit him;
leastways, he traveled so much faster that I give it up and come
back."

The party lingered for half an hour more, but as the horses sh