so numerous
that he could not find a comfortable position.

"Cheer up!" grimly quoted Blake. "The worst is yet to come."

He stretched himself out on the rock-shelf and, regardless of the
sullen resistance of the younger man, drew him into his arms. Chilled
to the marrow by his frequent icy drenchings, Ashton was shivering in
the cold wind which came down the canyon with the approach of night.
But Blake's massive body and limbs were aglow with abundant vitality.
Warmed and sheltered from the wind, the exhausted man relaxed like a
child in the strong arms of his companion and quickly sank into the
deep slumber of overtaxed nature.

Blake lay awake until the narrow strip of sky that showed between the
vast walls of rock deepened to an inky blackness thickly sprinkled
with scintillating stars. The light of a watchfire flamed red far
above on the opposite rim of the chasm wall. To the man below it was
like the glow of human love in the chill darkness of the Unknown. With
a gesture of reverent passion and adoration, he put his fingers to his
lips and flung a kiss up out of the abyss. Then he, too, relaxed on
the hard rock and sank into heavy sleep.

Ashton was the first to waken. The wind had changed, and he was roused
by the different note in the ceaseless roar of the river. He stared up
at the star-jeweled sky. It was still intensely black; yet the gloom
of the depths was lessened by a vague pale illumination, a faint
shadow of light that might have been the ghost of a dead day. He
thought it was the gray dawn, and sought to roll over on his rock bed
away from the sheltering embrace of Blake. The engineer was still deep
in profound slumber. His big arm slipped laxly from across the moving
man's breast.

The change of position wrung a groan from Ashton. Every muscle in his
body was cramped, every bruise stiff and sore. Not until he had turned
and twisted for several moments was he able to rise to his feet. The
vague ghost light about him brightened. He gazed upwards. He did not
notice the tiny flame of the fire that told of the anxious watchers
above. Out over the monstrous black wall of the abyss was drifting a
burnished silver-white disk.

"The moon!" he groaned. "Only the moon! To wait here--with him!--with
him!"

He looked down at the big form of the sleeping man, and suddenly all
his pent-up rage burst its bounds. It poured through his veins in
streams of fire. He stared about in fierce eagerness in search of