on might as well have been
left out. It was too suggestive, since it conveyed the impression that
the fact he had mentioned was not the only one that influenced him;
but she had noticed already that Weston was not a finished
diplomatist. She became more curious as to why he was especially
concerned about her safety, though, as a matter of fact, he could not
have told her, because he did not know.

"Major and Miss Kinnaird are his guests," she observed.

Weston recognized the reproof in this, and stood silent a moment or
two until she spoke again.

"Are you afraid my nerve may not prove equal to Miss Kinnaird's?" she
asked.

Weston smiled and answered without reflection.

"No," he said, "that certainly wasn't troubling me. When the pinch
comes you could be relied on."

He was conscious that he had gone too far, and, as often happens in
such cases, immediately went further.

"There is something about you that makes me sure of it."

"Well," said Ida, coldly, "it is very probable that the pinch won't
come at all."

She turned away and left him; and Weston frowned at the supper dishes
he had carried down to the lake.

"I dare say that looked very much like a gratuitous impertinence
from--the packer," he observed.

He awakened at four the next morning; and the mists were steaming
among the pines when the Indians ferried the party across the lake.
Then for a couple of hours they went up steadily, between apparently
endless ranks of climbing pines, with odd streams of loose gravel
sliding down beneath their feet. Kinnaird led the way; the girls came
behind him climbing well; and Weston brought up the rear with an ample
supply of provisions and a couple of big blankets strapped on his
shoulders. He explained that the blankets would do to sit on, but,
knowing a little about those mountains, he was somewhat dubious about
their getting down again that afternoon. The load was heavy, and by
and by his injured foot commenced to grow painful.

Then they left the last of the dwindling pines behind, and pushed on
along a slope that was strewn with shattered rock and debris which
made walking arduous. Then they reached a scarp of rock ground smooth
by the slipping down of melting snow, and when they had crossed that
their difficulties began. The scarp broke off on the verge of an
almost precipitous rift, and a torrent that seemed drawn out into
silk-like threads roared in the depths of it. A few pines were
sprinkled about