rocky debris. Before them the hill sloped for a few rods
and levelled into a narrow plateau, across which, eastward and
westward, the railway, tired from its long twisting climb up the
mountain, seemed to pause for a moment and gasp for breath before
beginning its descent. Beyond the tracks a fringe of stunted trees held
precarious foothold on the lower slope of a smaller peak, which reared
its bare cone against the evening sky. There were no buildings at Saddle
Pass save a snow-shed which began where the rails slipped downward
toward the east and, dropping from sight, followed for a quarter of a
mile around the long face of the mountain. It was very still up here on
the Pass, so still that when the Western Slope Limited, two hours and
more late at Eagle Cliff, whistled for the tunnel four miles below the
sound came echoing about them startlingly clear.

"Train coming up from the west," said the elder of the two men. "Must be
the Limited." The other nodded as he drained the last drop in his tin
cup and looked speculatively at the battered coffee pot.

"Any more of the Arbuckle nectar, Ed?" he asked.

"Not a drop, but I can make some."

"No, I've had enough, I reckon. That's the trouble with dining late, Ed;
you have too much appetite."

"We'll have to get some more grub before long," was the reply, "or it'll
be appetite and nothing else with us. I can eat bacon with the next man,
but I don't want to feast on it six days running. What we need, Wade, is
variety."

"And plenty of it," sighed the other, stretching his tired legs and
finding a new position. "The fact is, even after this banquet I feel a
little hollow."

"Same here, but I figure we'd better go a little short till we get
nearer town. We ought to strike Bosa Grande to-morrow night."

"Why not hop the train and go down to Aroya? We can find some real grub
there."

"Couldn't get back before to-morrow afternoon. What's the good of
wasting a whole day?"

"Looks to me like we'd wasted about twenty of them already, Ed."

Craig made no reply. He fished a corn-cob pipe and a little sack of
tobacco from his pocket and began to fill the bowl. Wade watched for a
moment in silence. Then, with a protesting groan, he rolled over until
he could get at his own pipe. Craig drew an ember from the edge of the
fire with calloused fingers, held it to his bowl and passed it on to
Wade. Then with grunts of contentment they settled back against the
sagging canvas of the