low and masses of
green foliage that brushed against the wall. Suddenly he encountered
an abrupt corner of rock. He rounded it, to discover that it ran at
right angles with the one he had just passed. Peering up through the
willows, he ascertained that there was a narrow crack in the main wall
of the canyon. It had been concealed by willows low down and leaning
spruces above. A wild, hidden retreat! Along the base of the wall
there were tracks of small animals. The place was odorous, like all
dense thickets, but it was not dry. Water ran through there somewhere.
Jean drew easier breath. All sounds except the rustling of birds or
mice in the willows had ceased. The brake was pervaded by a dreamy
emptiness. Jean decided to steal on a little farther, then wait till
he felt he might safely dare go back.

The golden-green gloom suddenly brightened. Light showed ahead, and
parting the willows, he looked out into a narrow, winding canyon, with
an open, grassy, willow-streaked lane in the center and on each side a
thin strip of woodland.

His surprise was short lived. A crashing of horses back of him in the
willows gave him a shock. He ran out along the base of the wall, back
of the trees. Like the strip of woodland in the main canyon, this one
was scant and had but little underbrush. There were young spruces
growing with thick branches clear to the grass, and under these he
could have concealed himself. But, with a certainty of sheep dogs in
the vicinity, he would not think of hiding except as a last resource.
These horsemen, whoever they were, were as likely to be sheep herders
as not. Jean slackened his pace to look back. He could not see any
moving objects, but he still heard horses, though not so close now.
Ahead of him this narrow gorge opened out like the neck of a bottle. He
would run on to the head of it and find a place to climb to the top.

Hurried and anxious as Jean was, he yet received an impression of
singular, wild nature of this side gorge. It was a hidden,
pine-fringed crack in the rock-ribbed and canyon-cut tableland. Above
him the sky seemed a winding stream of blue. The walls were red and
bulged out in spruce-greened shelves. From wall to wall was scarcely a
distance of a hundred feet. Jumbles of rock obstructed his close
holding to the wall. He had to walk at the edge of the timber. As he
progressed, the gorge widened into wilder, ruggeder aspect. Through
the trees ahead he saw