erce vigor flooded his mind and body; all that had happened to
him at Cottonwoods seemed remote and hard to recall; the difficulties
and perils of the present absorbed him, held him in a kind of spell.

First, then, he fitted up the little cave adjoining the girl's room
for his own comfort and use. His next work was to build a fireplace of
stones and to gather a store of wood. That done, he spilled the contents
of his saddle-bags upon the grass and took stock. His outfit consisted
of a small-handled axe, a hunting-knife, a large number of cartridges
for rifle or revolver, a tin plate, a cup, and a fork and spoon,
a quantity of dried beef and dried fruits, and small canvas bags
containing tea, sugar, salt, and pepper. For him alone this supply would
have been bountiful to begin a sojourn in the wilderness, but he was no
longer alone. Starvation in the uplands was not an unheard-of thing;
he did not, however, worry at all on that score, and feared only his
possible inability to supply the needs of a woman in a weakened and
extremely delicate condition.

If there was no game in the valley--a contingency he doubted--it would
not be a great task for him to go by night to Oldring's herd and pack
out a calf. The exigency of the moment was to ascertain if there were
game in Surprise Valley. Whitie still guarded the dilapidated rabbit,
and Ring slept near by under a spruce. Venters called Ring and went to
the edge of the terrace, and there halted to survey the valley.

He was prepared to find it larger than his unstudied glances had made it
appear; for more than a casual idea of dimensions and a hasty conception
of oval shape and singular beauty he had not had time. Again the
felicity of the name he had given the valley struck him forcibly. Around
the red perpendicular walls, except under the great arc of stone, ran
a terrace fringed at the cliff-base by silver spruces; below that first
terrace sloped another wider one densely overgrown with aspens, and the
center of the valley was a level circle of oaks and alders, with the
glittering green line of willows and cottonwood dividing it in half.
Venters saw a number and variety of birds flitting among the trees.
To his left, facing the stone bridge, an enormous cavern opened in the
wall; and low down, just above the tree-tops, he made out a long shelf
of cliff-dwellings, with little black, staring windows or doors. Like
eyes they were, and seemed to watch him. The few cliff-dwelli