ut the
panic in his voice. 'They call this the Devil's Chapel, God send us safe
by it! It is late to be here. Look at those!' he continued, pointing
with a finger which visibly shook.

I looked. At the mouth of the gully, in a small space partly cleared of
stones, stood three broken shafts, raised on rude pedestals.

'Well?' I said in a low voice. The sun, which was near setting, flushed
the great peak above to the colour of blood; but the valley was growing
grey and each moment more dreary. 'Well, what of those?' I said.

In spite of my peril and the excitement of the coming struggle I
felt the chill of his fear. Never had I seen so grim, so desolate, so
God-forsaken a place! Involuntarily I shivered.

'They were crosses,' he muttered in a voice little above a whisper,
while his eyes roved this way and that in terror. 'The Cure of Gabas
blessed the place, and set them up. But next morning they were as you
see them now. Come on, Monsieur; come on!' he continued, plucking at my
arm. 'It is not safe here after sunset. Pray God, Satan be not at home!'

He had completely forgotten in his panic that he had anything to fear
from me. His gun dropped loosely across his saddle, his leg rubbed mine.
I saw this, and I changed my plan of action. As our horses reached the
stones I stooped, as if to encourage mine, and, with a sudden clutch,
snatched the gun bodily from his hand, at the same time that I backed my
horse with all my strength. It was done in a moment! A second and I had
him at the end of the gun, and my finger was on the trigger. Never was
victory more easily gained.

He looked at me between rage and terror, his jaw fallen.

'Are you mad?' he cried, his teeth chattering as he spoke. Even in this
strait his eyes left me and wandered round in alarm.

'No, sane!' I retorted fiercely. 'But I do not like this place any
better than you do.' Which was true enough, if not quite true. 'So, by
your right, quick march!' I continued imperatively. 'Turn your horse, my
friend, or take the consequences.'

He turned like a lamb, and headed down the valley again, without giving
a thought to his pistols. I kept close to him, and in less than a minute
we had left the Devil's Chapel well behind us, and were moving down
again as we had come up. Only now I held the gun.

When we had gone have a mile or so--until then I did not feel
comfortable myself, and though I thanked heaven that the place existed,
I thanked heaven also that I