fty summits the lightnings played like the burnished swords
of giants in mortal combat, while peal after peal resounded through the
vast spaces, reverberated from peak to peak, echoed and re-echoed, till
the rocks themselves seemed to tremble.

With quickening pulse and bated breath Darrell watched the
storm,--fascinated, entranced,--while emotions he could neither
understand nor control surged through his breast. More and more fiercely
the battle waged; more swift and brilliant grew the sword-play, while
the roar of heaven's artillery grew louder and louder. His spirit rose
with the strife, filling him with a strange sense of exaltation.

Suddenly the universe seemed wrapped in flame, there was a deafening
crash as though the eternal hills were being rent asunder, and
then--oblivion!

When that instant of blinding light and deafening sound had passed John
Darrell lay prostrate, unconscious on the rocks.

_Chapter XXVIII_

"AS A DREAM WHEN ONE AWAKETH"

As the morning sun arose over the snowy summits of the Great Divide, the
sleeper on the rocks stirred restlessly; then gradually awoke to
consciousness--a delightful consciousness of renewed life and vigor, a
subtle sense of revivification of body and mind. The racking pain, the
burning fever, the legions of torturing phantoms, all were gone; his
pulse was calm, his blood cool, his brain clear.

With a sigh of deep content he opened his eyes; then suddenly rose to a
sitting posture and gazed about him in utter bewilderment; above him
only the boundless dome of heaven, around him only endless mountain
ranges! Dazed by the strangeness, the isolation of the scene, he began
for an instant to doubt his sanity; was this a reality or a chimera of
his own imagination? But only for an instant, for with his first
movement a large collie had bounded to his side and now began licking
his hands and face with the most joyful demonstrations. There was
something soothing and reassuring in the companionship even of the dumb
brute, and he caressed the noble creature, confident that he would soon
find some sign of human life in that strange region; but the dog,
reading no look of recognition in the face beside him, drew back and
began whining piteously.

Perplexed, but with his faculties thoroughly aroused and active, the
young man sprang to his feet, and, looking eagerly about him,
discovered at a little distance the cabin against the mountain ledge.
Hastening thither he