e in spite of the fact of only
possessing three legs.

Arrived at the ranch Hervey handed over his horse to Chintz and
proceeded into the woods on foot. To-day he meant to move out in a new
direction. The valley beyond the Haunted Hill had been done regularly
by him; now he was intent upon the hills on the south. Access to this
region was obtained by the one other practicable exit from the valley;
namely, the Haunted Hill, and then by bearing away to the right. He
breasted the steep slopes of the hill and soon came upon the narrow
overgrown trail which at some period had been hewn by the early
settlers of the district.

Here he tramped along steadily, the hound limping at his heels. He
walked slowly, with that long, lazy gait of a man accustomed to
walking great distances. He gave little heed to his surroundings as
far as the beauties of the place were concerned. He was not the man to
regard Nature's handiwork in the light of artistic effects. His great
roving eyes were never still; they moved swiftly from side to side,
eagerly watching for the indication of game either furred or
feathered. It seemed as though this sport was as the breath of life to
him. Now and again his gaze would turn upon the hound behind him, and,
on these occasions, the movement was evidently the result of some
sudden, unpleasant thought, and had nothing to do with the sportsman's
watchfulness which makes him seek to discover, in the alert canine
attitude, some keener instinct of the presence of game than is
possessed by the human being.

Almost without forewarning the road, after rounding an abrupt
bend, suddenly opened out on to the graveyard clearing. It was the
first time in Hervey's many wanderings in these regions that he had
actually come across this obscure little cemetery. For a moment, as
he gazed upon it, he hardly realized what it was. Then, as he noted
the ruined hut in the middle, the wooden fencing broken and tumbled
about the place, and the armless and sadly leaning crosses and the
various-shaped slabs of stone which marked the graves, he remembered
the weird story his sister and her friend had told, and, advancing,
he leant upon one of the fence posts and looked about him curiously.

He stood for some moments quite still. The place was silent with the
peaceful calm of a sweltering August day. Hervey's eyes moved from one
vaguely outlined grave to another, and unconsciously he counted them.
Thirteen graves in all were visible