treat, as I
have explained.

It was well that we had concealed the horses also, for the party stopped
near the cave, and Mrs. Ostermaier was weeping. "Not a step farther!"
she said. "I have a family to consider, and Mr. Ostermaier is a man of
wide usefulness and cannot be spared."

We did not dare to look out, but we heard the young lady speaking, and
as Aggie remarked later, no one would have thought, from the sweetness
of her voice, that she was a creature of duplicity.

"But it is perfectly safe, dear Mrs. Ostermaier," she said "And think,
when you go home, of being able to say that you have climbed a mountain
pass."

"Pass!" sniffed Mrs. Ostermaier. "Pass nothing! I don't call a wall a
mile high a pass."

"Think," said the girl, "of being able to crow over those three old
women who are always boasting of the things they do. Probably you are
right, and they never do them at all, but you--there's a moving-picture
man waiting, remember, and you can show the picture before the Dorcas
Society. No one can ever doubt that you have done a courageous thing.
You'll have the proof."

"George," said Mrs. Ostermaier in a small voice, "if anything happens, I
have told you how I want my things divided."

"Little devil!" whispered Aggie, referring to the girl. "If that young
man knows when he is well off, he'll let her go."

But beyond rebuking her for the epithet, Tish made no comment, and the
party moved on. We lost them for a time among the trees, but when they
moved out above timber-line we were able to watch them, and we saw that
Mrs. Ostermaier got off her horse, about halfway up, and climbed slowly
on foot. Tish, who had the glasses, said that she looked purple and
angry, and that she distinctly saw the guide give her something to drink
out of a bottle. It might, however, have been vichy or some similar
innocent beverage, and I believe in giving her the benefit of the doubt.

When at last they vanished over the edge of the pass, we led out our
horses and prepared for what was to come. Bill had not returned, and,
indeed, we did not see him until the evening of the second day after
that, when, worn but triumphant, we emerged from the trail at the Many
Glaciers Hotel. That, however, comes later in this narrative.

With everything prepared, Tish judged it best to have luncheon. I made a
few mayonnaise-and-lettuce sandwiches, beating the mayonnaise in the
cool recesses of the cave, and we drank some iced tea, to which