ce could not have
clouded the brows of the hunters. It was not surprise that was pictured
in their looks--more serious feelings were stirring within them. Their
glances were those of apprehension--the fear of some danger not fully
defined or certain. What danger?

The three stood, Ossaroo lightly grasping his bow, but not thinking of
the weapon; Karl holding his rifle with its butt resting on the ground,
and Caspar gazing interrogatively in the face of his brother.

For some moments not one of them spoke. Each guessed what the other was
thinking of. The stag lay untouched in the pool, his huge antlers alone
appearing above the surface of the water, while the dog stood baying on
the bank.

Karl at length broke silence. He spoke half in soliloquy, as if his
thoughts were busy with the subject.

"Yes, a precipice the whole way round. I saw no break--no signs of one.
Ravines there were, it is true, but all seemed to end in the same high
cliffs. You observed no outlet, Ossaroo?"

"No, Sahib; me fearee de valley shut up, no clear o' dis trap yet
Sahib."

Caspar offered no opinion. He had kept farther out from the cliffs, and
at times had been quite out of sight of them--the trees hiding their
tops from his view. He fully comprehended, however, the meaning of his
brother's observations.

"Then you think the precipice runs all around the valley?" he asked,
addressing the latter.

"I fear so, Caspar. I observed no outlet--neither has Ossaroo; and
although not specially looking for such a thing, I had my eyes open for
it; I had not forgotten our perilous situation of yesterday, and I
wished to assure myself. I looked up several gorges that ran out of the
valley, but the sides of all seemed to be precipitous. The chase, it is
true, kept me from examining them very closely; but it is now time to do
so. If there be no pass out of this valley, then are we indeed in
trouble. These cliffs are five hundred feet in height--they are
perfectly impassable by human foot. Come on! let us know the worst."

"Shall we not draw out the stag?" inquired Caspar, pointing to the game
that still lay under the water.

"No, leave him there; it will get no harm till our return: should my
fears prove just, we shall have time enough for that, and much else
beside. Come on!"

So saying Karl led the way toward the foot of the precipice, the others
following silently after.

Foot by foot, and yard by yard, did they examine the