ually, as he
descended the trail, this range dropped back out of his sight.

At near the sunset hour, when the journey was ended, Pan had to
compliment Blinky on the beautiful place to which he had guided them.
It was isolated, and singularly fitted to their requirements. The
slope they had descended ran out into an immense buttress jutting far
into the valley. A low brushy arm of the incline extended out a half
mile to turn toward the main slope and to break off short, leaving a
narrow opening out into the valley. The place was not only ideal for a
hidden camp site, with plenty of water, grass, wood, but also for such
a wild-horse trap as Pan had in mind. What astonished Pan was that
manifestly Blinky had not seen the possibilities of this peculiar
formation of slope as a trap into which wild horses could be chased.

"How wide is that gap?" asked Pan.

"Reckon it cain't be more'n the length of two lassoes," replied Blinky.

"Rope it off high, boys, and turn the stock loose. This corral was
made for us," said Pan, enthusiastically.

They set to work, each with self-assumed tasks that soon accomplished
the whole business of pitching camp. Suppertime found them a cheerful,
hungry, hopeful little band. Pan's optimism dominated them. He
believed in his luck, and they believed in him.

Dusk settled down into this neck of the great valley. Coyotes barked
out in the open. From the heights pealed down the mournful
blood-curdling, yet beautiful, bay of a wolf. The rosy afterglow of
sunset lingered a long time. The place was shut in, closed about by
brushy steeps, redolent of sage. A tiny stream of swift water sang
faintly down over rocks. And before darkness had time to enfold hollow
and slope and horizon, the moon slid up to defeat the encroaching night
and blanch the hills with silvery light.

Interrogation by Pan brought out the fact that Blinky had never been
down this trail at all. It was only a wild horse trail anyway. Blinky
had viewed the country from the heights above, and this marvelously
secluded arm of the valley had been as unknown to him as to Pan.

"Luck!" burst out Pan when the circumstance became clear. "Say, Blink,
if your horse would jump you off a cliff you'd come up with Queen
Victoria on your arm!"

Lying Juan sometimes broke into the conversation, very often by reason
of his defective hearing and his appalling habit of falsehood, bringing
his companions to the verge of hysterics.