etermined to camp, and start again
in the morning.

They spread their blankets and lay down side by side. Sam had thought,
from Cecil's proposing to come with him in preference to the others,
that he would speak of a subject nearly concerning them both; but Cecil
went off to sleep and made no sign; and Sam, ere he dozed, said to
himself, "If he don't speak this journey, I will. It is unbearable that
we should not come to some understanding. Poor Cecil!"

At early dawn they caught up their horses, which had been hobbled with
the stirrup leathers, and started afresh. Both were more silent than
ever, and the dog, with his nose to the ground, led them slowly along
the rocky rib of the mountain, ever going higher and higher.

"It is inconceivable," said Sam, "that the poor child can have come up
here. There is Tuckerimbid close to our right, five thousand feet above
the river. Don't you think we must be mistaken?"

"The dog disagrees with you," said Cecil. "He has something before him
not very far off. Watch him."

The trees had become dwarfed and scattered; they were getting out of the
region of trees; the real forest zone was now below them, and they saw
they were emerging towards a bald elevated down, and that a few hundred
yards before them was a dead tree, on the highest branch of which sat an
eagle.

"The dog has stopped," said Cecil; "the end is near."

"See," said Sam, "there is a hand-kerchief under the tree."

"That is the boy himself," said Cecil.

[Illustration: _There he lay, dead and stiff._]

They were up to him and off in a moment. There he lay, dead and stiff,
one hand still grasping the flowers he had gathered on his last happy
play-day, and the other laid as a pillow, between the soft cold cheek
and the rough cold stone. His midsummer holiday was over, his long
journey was ended. He had found out at last what lay beyond the shining
river he had watched so long.

That is the whole story, General Halbert; and who should know it better
than I, Geoffry Hamlyn?

THE END.

* * * * *

ILLUSTRATED WORKS BY L. FROLICH.

LITTLE LUCY'S WONDERFUL GLOBE.
Pictured in Twenty Plates, and Narrated
BY CHARLOTTE M. YONGE.
_Author of "The Heir of Redclyffe."_
Crown 4to. cloth gilt.

THE LOST CHILD.
BY HENRY KINGSLEY.
With Eight Illustrations.
Crown 4to. cloth gilt.

THE PLEASANT TALE OF PUSS AND ROBIN, AND THEIR FRIENDS, KITTY AND BOB.
Told in Twelve Pictures