egards a coyote.

At length Fortner slackened his pace, and began to move with caution.

"Are we coming upon the enemy again?" asked Harry, in a loud whisper,
which had yet a perceptible quaver in it.

"No," answered Fortner, "but we're a-comin' ter what is every bit an'
grain ez dangersome. Heah's whar the path winds round Blacksnake Clift,
an' ye'll hev ter be ez keeful o' your footin' ez ef ye war treadin'
the slippery ways o' sin. The path's no wider 'n a hoss's back, an' no
better ter walk on. On the right hand side hit's several rods down ter
whar the creek's tearin' 'long like a mad dog. Heah hit now, can't ye?"

For some time the roar of the torrent sweeping the gorge had filled
Harry's ears.

"Ye want ter walk slow," continued Fortner, "an' feel keefully with
yer foot every time afore ye sot hit squar'ly down. Keep yer left hand
a-feelin' the rocks above yer, so's ter make shore all the time thet
ye're close ter 'em. 'Bout half way, thar's a big break in the path.
Hit's jess a long step acrost hit. Take one step arter I say thet I'm
acrost; the feel keerfully with yer left foot fur the aidge o' the
break, an' then step out ez long ez ye kin with yer right. That'll bring
ye over. Be shore o' yer feet, an ye'll be all right."

Harry trembled more than at any time before. They were already on the
path around the steep cliff. The darkness was inky. The roar of the
waters below rose loudly--angrily. The wails of the wildcats behind,
overhead and in front of them, made it seem as if the sighing pines and
cedars were inhabited with lost spirits shrieking warnings of impending
disaster.

Harry's foot came down upon a boulder which turned under his weight.
He regained his balance with a start, but the stone toppled over. He
listened. There were scores of heart-beats before it splashed in the
water below.

"Not so much as a twig between here and eternity," he said to himself,
with a shudder. Then aloud: "Can't we stay here, some place, and not go
along there to-night?"

The roar of the water drowned his voice before it reached Fortner's
ears, and Harry, obeying the instinct to accept leadership, followed the
mountaineer tremblingly.

In a little while he felt--more than saw--Fortner stop, adjust his feet,
and make a long stride forward with one of them. Glen collected himself
for the same effort. He had need of all of his resolution, for the many
narrow escapes which he had made from slipping into the hungry