VENTURE IN THE DARK

Pushing his way hastily forward when he could make haste; crawling
slowly on his hands and knees when held by opposing rock; feeling for
narrow footholds among loose and treacherous fragments; flattening
himself like a leech against the face of the precipice when the
narrowing ledge left him only inches under foot; clinging with torn
hands to every favoring crevice, and pausing when the peril was
extreme for fresh strength, de Spain dragged his injured foot across
the sheer face of El Capitan in the last shadows of the day's failing
light.

Half-way across, he stopped to look down. Far below lay the valley
shrouded in night. Where he stood, stars, already bright, lighted the
peaks. But nowhere in the depths could he see any sign of life. Spent
by his effort, de Spain reached the rendezvous Nan had indicated, as
nearly as the stars would tell him, by ten o'clock. He fell asleep in
the aspen grove. Horsemen passing not a hundred yards away roused
him.

He could not tell how many or who they were, but from the sounds he
judged they were riding into the Gap. The moon was not yet up, so he
knew it was not much after midnight. The ground was very cold, and he
crawled farther on toward the road along which Nan had said he might
look for her. It was only after a long and doubtful hour that he heard
the muffled footfalls of a horse. He stood concealed among the smaller
trees until he could distinguish the outlines of the animal, and his
eye caught the figure of the rider.

De Spain stepped out of the trees, and, moving toward Nan, caught her
hand and helped her to the ground.

She enjoined silence, and led the horse into the little grove.
Stopping well within it, she stooped and began rearranging the
mufflers on the hoofs.

"I'm afraid I'm too late," she said. "How long have you been here?"
She faced de Spain with one hand on the pony's shoulder.

"How could you get here at all?" he asked, reaching clandestinely for
her other hand.

"I got terribly frightened thinking of your trying El Capitan. Did you
have any falls?"

"You see I'm here--I've even slept since. You! How could you get here
at all with a horse?"

"If I'm only not too late," she murmured, drawing her hand away.

"I've loads of time, it's not one o'clock."

"They are hiding on both trails outside watching for you--and the moon
will be up--" She seemed very anxious. De Spain made light of her
fears. "I'll get past them--I've go