reward from the express company, would be an inducement
for them to work together. The risks that he was running seemed to his
youthful fancy to atone for any defects in his logic or his plans. Yet
as he crossed the ridge, leaving the civilized highway behind him,
and descended the narrow trail, which grew wilder at each step, his
arguments seemed no longer so convincing. He now hurried forward,
however, with a feverish haste to anticipate the worst that might befall
him.

The trail grew more intricate in the deep ferns; the friendly little
footprint had vanished in this primeval wilderness. As he pushed through
the gorge, he could hear at last the roar of the North Fork forcing its
way through the canyon that crossed the gorge at right angles. At last
he reached its current, shut in by two narrow precipitous walls that
were spanned five hundred feet above by the stage road over a perilous
bridge. As he approached the gloomy canyon, he remembered that the
river, seen from above, seemed to have no banks, but to have cut its way
through the solid rock.

He found, however, a faint ledge made by caught driftwood from the
current and the debris of the overhanging cliffs. Again the narrow
footprint on the ooze was his guide. At last, emerging from the canyon,
a strange view burst upon his sight. The river turned abruptly to the
right, and, following the mountain side, left a small hollow completely
walled in by the surrounding heights. To his left was the ridge he had
descended from on the other side, and he now understood the singular
detour he had made. He was on the other side of the stage road also,
which ran along the mountain shelf a thousand feet above him. The wall,
a sheer cliff, made the hollow inaccessible from that side. Little hills
covered with buckeye encompassed it. It looked like a sylvan retreat,
and yet was as secure in its isolation and approaches as the outlaw's
den that it was.

He was gazing at the singular prospect when a shot rang in the air. It
seemed to come from a distance, and he interpreted it as a signal. But
it was followed presently by another; and putting his hand to his hat to
keep it from falling, he found that the upturned brim had been pierced
by a bullet. He stopped at this evident hint, and, taking his dispatch
bag from his shoulder, placed it significantly upon a boulder, and
looked around as if to await the appearance of the unseen marksman.
The rifle shot rang out again, the bag