, Wayland
knew that this was not a well-marked trail; but his confidence in his
guide was too great to permit of any worry over the pass, and he amused
himself by watching the water-robins as they flitted from stone to stone
in the torrent, and in calculating just where he would drop a line for
trout if he had time to do so, and in recovered serenity enjoyed his
ride. Gradually he put aside his perplexities concerning the future,
permitting his mind to prefigure nothing but his duties with Landon at
Meeker's Mill.

He was rather glad of the decision to send him there, for it promised
absorbing sport. "I shall see how Landon and Belden work out their
problem," he said. He had no fear of Frank Meeker now. "As a forest guard
with official duties to perform I can meet that young savage on other and
more nearly equal terms," he assured himself.

The trail grew slippery and in places ran full of water. "But there's a
bottom, somewhere," Berrie confidently declared, and pushed ahead with
resolute mien. It was noon when they rose above timber and entered upon
the wide, smooth slopes of the pass. Snow filled the grass here, and the
wind, keen, cutting, unhindered, came out of the desolate west with
savage fury; but the sun occasionally shone through the clouds with vivid
splendor. "It is December now," shouted Wayland, as he put on his slicker
and cowered low to his saddle. "It will be January soon."

"We will make it Christmas dinner," she laughed, and her glowing good
humor warmed his heart. She was entirely her cheerful self again.

As they rose, the view became magnificent, wintry, sparkling. The great
clouds, drifting like ancient warships heavy with armament, sent down
chill showers of hail over the frosted gold of the grassy slopes; but
when the shadows passed the sunlight descended in silent cataracts
deliriously spring-like. The conies squeaked from the rocky ridges, and a
brace of eagles circling about a lone crag, as if exulting in their
sovereign mastery of the air, screamed in shrill ecstatic duo. The sheer
cliffs, on their shadowed sides, were violently purple. Everywhere the
landscape exhibited crashing contrasts of primary pigments which bit into
consciousness like the flare of a martial band.

The youth would have lingered in spite of the cold; but the girl kept
steadily on, knowing well that the hardest part of their journey was
still before them, and he, though longing to ride by her side, and to
enjoy th