. Air you
ready?"

Holton, tense with excitement, was watching every move of the two men
from his hidden vantage point. Upon his face was the expression of an
animal of prey.

"Ready!" said Frank, quietly.

It was a terrific struggle which ensued. The trained muscles of the
lowland athlete were matched against the lithe thews of the mountaineer
so evenly that, for a time, there was doubt of what the outcome might
be. Holton, watching, watching, thrilled with every second of it. Little
he cared which man won; the best thing which possibly could happen, for
his own good, he reflected, would be that both should crash down to the
bottom of the gully locked in one of their bear-hugs, to fall together
on the jagged rocks below. The fierce breathing of the contestants, the
shuffle of their struggling feet upon the ground, the occasional
involuntary groan from one man or the other as his adversary crushed him
in embrace so painful that an exclamation could not be suppressed, were
all music to the ears of the old man behind the rock. Both youths were
perils to him. Let them kill each other. He would be the gainer,
whatever the outcome of the battle.

Suddenly Frank's foot slipped on a rolling pebble. Instantly Lorey had
taken advantage of the mishap, and, with a quick wrench, thrown him
crashing to the earth. He lay there, scarcely breathing, utterly
unconscious.

The mountaineer bent over him, ready to meet the first sign of revival
with renewed attack, his bloodshot eyes strained on the face of the
young man upon the ground. Then, anxious to be satisfied that his
prostrate enemy was not feigning, he knelt by him and peered into his
face, placed his hand upon his chest above his heart, felt his pulse
with awkward fingers. He wondered, now, if he had not killed him,
outright, for Frank's head had struck the ground with a terrific impact.
But Layson's nostrils soon began to dilate and contract with a spasmodic
breathing. He still lived.

Rendered careless by the excitement of the moment, Joe again yielded to
the habit engendered by much solitude and spoke his thoughts aloud.

"It'll be long afore he'll stir," he muttered. "I'll throw him down into
th' gully."

He rose, and, going to the side of the ravine, peered over with a
fearful curiosity at the brawling torrent, cut into foam-ribbons by a
horde of knife-edged rocks. Then he went to Layson and stretched out his
hand to grasp his shoulder.

Occurred a psychologica