terror. Still, he was slowly mounting; and at
last, worn out and breathless, he reached the narrow ridge of crag and
looked down with keen relief or a long slope to a valley filled with
forest.

In front there was a glorious vista of peaks that shone in the evening
light, but Prescott was in no mood to think of them. He must get down to
the trees, where he could camp in comfort, before darkness fell. Rising
after a few minutes' rest, he made the descent and, as dusk crept round
him, lighted his fire among the sheltering trunks.

The next day he followed the valley through thick timber and withered
underbrush which tore his clothes and delayed his march. There were
fallen trunks with spreading branches to be scrambled over, and tangles
of thorny canes, but he was cheered by signs that somebody had passed on
ahead of him not long before. Later, the forest died out and the bottom
of the hollow was strewn with sharp-edged stones, which threatened to
tear his worn boots from his feet, and which added seriously to his toil.
It was, however, impossible that the prospectors had climbed the crags
that hemmed him in, and believing they could not be far in front of him,
he held on until late in the afternoon.

At length he came to a wider stretch, out of which a ravine that looked
accessible led, but he gave little thought to it. There were a few small
trees about and one of them had recently been felled. He could see the
white chips and the place where a fire had burned. A meat-can lay near-by
and when Prescott picked it up he found the few fragments adhering to it
quite fresh. The men he sought had camped there, but he began to grow
anxious, for he could see no signs of them. Laying down his load, he made
a hasty examination of the locality and found a spot where the face of a
crag was marked by a streak of different material. It was rent in one
place, heavy fragments were scattered about, and Prescott saw that they
had been blown out with giant-powder.

For a few minutes he eagerly proceeded with his search, but he could find
no blankets or provision cache, and when he saw footprints leading toward
the ravine the truth dawned on him. The prospectors had left the spot and
were not coming back; once more he had arrived too late. It was a cruel
disappointment and he sat down in black dejection, looking heavily about.
The high summits were wrapped in leaden cloud, the lower rocks towered
above him, rugged and forbidding, and a