d below him he saw
such vast areas of mists and vapors that the top of the ridge seemed to
swim in the air. It was now about noon, and, at last, finding a nearly
level place, they sank down upon it, exhausted.

Nevertheless, the Little Giant was cheerful.

"I'm clean furgittin' all 'bout that gold," he said, "my time now bein'
devoted mostly to foot races, tryin' to beat out Indians, outlaws an'
all sorts o' desprit characters, in which I hev been successful so fur.
My real trade jest now is that o' runner an' mounting climber, an' I
expect to git a gold medal fur the same."

He began to whistle in the most wonderful, birdlike fashion, a clear,
sweet volume of sound, one popular air of the time following another,
every one delivered in such perfect fashion that Will forgot the wet and
the cold in the pleasure of listening.

"Now," said Boyd, "there's nothing for it but to start a fire, even
though it may show where we are. But we have an advantage in being above
the clouds and mists. Then, if the outlaws come we can see 'em coming,
though I think our trail is wholly lost to 'em."

Skilled as the two men were in building fires, they had a hard task now,
as the wood, besides being scarce, was thoroughly soaked with wet, but
they persisted, using flint and steel in order to save their matches.
Just when a little blaze began to show signs of living and growing,
Will, in his search for fallen and dead wood, turned into a narrow way
that led among lofty rocks. It was wet and slippery and he followed it a
full hundred yards, but seeing that it was going to end in a deep recess
or cavern he turned back. He had just started the other way when he
heard a fierce growling sound behind him and the beat of heavy feet.
Whirling about he saw an enormous beast charging down upon him. It would
scarcely be correct to say that he saw, instead he had a blurred vision
of a huge, shaggy form, red eyes, a vast red mouth, armed with teeth of
amazing length and thickness, and claws of glistening steel, huge and
formidable. Everything was magnified, exaggerated and infinitely
terrible.

The lad knew that it was a grizzly bear, roused from its lair, and
charging directly upon him. He shouted an alarm, fired once, twice and
thrice with the repeating rifle, but the bear came on as fiercely as
ever. He felt, or imagined he felt, its hot breath upon him, and leaping
aside he scrambled up the rocks for dear life. The bear ran on, and
settling hi