e
mourned the hopelessness of her case, oblivion fell on her, and she
slept the reposeful, dreamless slumber of utter exhaustion.

A violent shaking of the bed of boughs startled the prisoner back to
consciousness. For the fraction of a second, her mind was chaos. Then
remembrance came, and rending fear. But there was one comfort--day had
dawned: she could see. There was no one with her in the chamber. The
moving branches warned that the intruder was still in the tunnel.
There was time for her to gain the crevice, where she could forbid any
approach, where if her command failed, she could throw herself from
the cliff. She darted across the width of the room, and stood in the
cleft, strained back against the rock, her eyes staring affrightedly
toward the opposite wall. All her woman's terrors were crashing upon
her now. She felt Death clawing at her over the brow of the ledge,
fierce to drag her into the depths. One of the hands clutching at her
bosom touched the fairy crystal, and she seized it despairingly, and
clung to it, as if the secret spell of it might hold her back to
life.

Abruptly, a broken cry of relief fluttered from her lips, for she saw
the shock head of Garry Hawks thrust from the tunnel's mouth. Toward
him, she felt no fear, only contempt. In the reaction, she trembled
so that she could hardly stand, and for a few moments her eyes closed.
Only the rock against which she leaned saved her from crumbling to the
floor. The weakness passed very quickly, however, and she was again
mistress of herself by the time Hawks had scrambled to his feet.

The fellow had little to say, answering surlily the questions put to
him by Plutina. He plainly cherished animosity against the girl who
had wounded him, which was natural enough. As plainly, he did not dare
vent his spite too openly against the object of his chief's fondness.
He brought with him a bag containing bread and a liberal allowance of
cooked slices of bacon, and a jug of water. His information was to the
effect that Hodges would not return until nightfall. He left in the
fashion of his coming, by the tunnel. Plutina immediately replaced the
boughs, and, when she had eaten and drunk, again seated herself on the
rough bed. From time to time, she went to the crevice, and stared out
over the wild landscape longingly. But the height gave her a vertigo
if she stepped forth upon the ledge. For that reason, she did not
venture outside the crevice after a single