ss, and having
ascertained that his nose, when turned towards the sun, pointed exactly
"south-south-west, and by south," he began dinner. Thereafter he lit
his pipe, and, reclining on the green turf beside the rock, with his
head resting on his left hand, and wreaths of smoke encircling his
visage, he--he enjoyed himself. To elaborate a description, reader,
often weakens it--we cannot say more than that he enjoyed himself--
emphatically.

Had Captain Bunting known who was looking at him in that solitary place,
he would not have enjoyed himself quite so much, nor would he have
smoked his pipe so comfortably.

On the summit of the precipice at his back stood, or rather sat, one of
the natives of the country, in the shape of a grizzly-bear. Bruin had
observed the captain from the time he appeared at the entrance of the
ravine, and had watched him with a curious expression of stupid interest
during all his subsequent movements. He did not attempt to interrupt
him in his meal, however, on two grounds--first, because the nature of
the grizzly-bear, if not molested, induces him to let others alone; and
secondly, because the precipice, on the top of which he sat, although
conveniently close for the purposes of observation, was too high for a
safe jump.

Thus it happened that Captain Bunting finished his meal in peace, and
went on his way up the wild ravine, without being aware of the presence
of so dangerous a spectator. He had not proceeded far, when his
attention was arrested by the figure of a man seated on a ledge of rock
that over hung a yawning gulf into which the little stream plunged.

So still did the figure remain, with the head drooping on the chest, as
if in deep contemplation, that it might have been mistaken for a statue,
cut out of the rock on which it sat. A deep shadow was cast over it by
the neighbouring mountain-peaks, yet, as the white sheet of a waterfall
formed the background, it was distinctly visible.

The captain advanced towards it with some curiosity, and it was not
until he was within a hundred yards that a movement at length proved it
to be a living human being.

The stranger rose hastily, and advanced to meet a woman, who at the same
moment issued from an opening in the brushwood near him. The meeting
was evidently disagreeable to the woman, although, from the manner of
it, and the place, it did not seem to be accidental; she pushed the man
away several times, but their words were ina