ridden. I shall lead Baba, where it is narrow."

"Narrow," indeed. It was from sheer terror, soon, that Ramona shut her
eyes. A path, it seemed to her only a hand's-breadth wide,--a stony,
crumbling path,--on the side of a precipice, down which the stones
rolled, and rolled, and rolled, echoing, far out of sight, as they
passed; at each step the beasts took, the stones rolled and fell. Only
the yucca-plants, with their sharp bayonet-leaves, had made shift to
keep foothold on this precipice. Of these there were thousands; and
their tall flower-stalks, fifteen, twenty feet high, set thick with the
shining, smooth seed-cups, glistened like satin chalices in the sun.
Below--hundreds of feet below--lay the canon bottom, a solid bed of
chaparral, looking soft and even as a bed of moss. Giant sycamore-trees
lifted their heads, at intervals, above this; and far out in the plain
glistened the loops of the river, whose sources, unknown to the world,
seen of but few human eyes, were to be waters of comfort to these
fugitives this day.

Alessandro was cheered. The trail was child's play to him. At the first
tread of Baba's dainty steps on the rolling stones, he saw that the
horse was as sure-footed as an Indian pony. In a few short hours, now,
they would be all at rest. He knew where, under a sycamore-clump, there
was running water, clear as crystal, and cold,--almost colder than one
could drink,--and green grass too; plenty for two days' feed for the
horses, or even three; and all California might be searched over in vain
for them, once they were down this trail. His heart full of joy at these
thoughts, he turned, to see Ramona pallid, her lips parted, her eyes
full of terror. He had forgotten that her riding had hitherto been
only on the smooth ways of the valley and the plain, There she was so
fearless, that he had had no misgiving about her nerves here; but she
had dropped the reins, was clutching Baba's mane with both hands, and
sitting unsteadily in her saddle. She had been too proud to cry out; but
she was nearly beside herself with fright. Alessandro halted so suddenly
that Baba, whose nose was nearly on his shoulder, came to so sharp a
stop that Ramona uttered a cry. She thought he had lost his footing.

Alessandro looked at her in dismay. To dismount on that perilous trail
was impossible; moreover, to walk there would take more nerve than to
ride. Yet she looked as if she could not much longer keep her seat.

"Carita,"