veloped the boy like a great blanket, but far warmer, the soft,
smooth fur caressing his cheeks, and as Albert drew it closer, he
felt very snug indeed.

"We cross this valley to-morrow," said Dick, "and then we begin a
steeper climb."

"Then it will be mountains, only mountains," said Bright Sun.
"We go into regions which no white men except the fur hunters,
have ever trod."

Dick started. He had not known that the Indian was near.
Certainly he was not there a moment ago. There was something
uncanny in the way in which Bright Sun would appear on noiseless
footstep, like a wraith rising from the earth.

"I shall be glad of it, Bright Sun," said Albert. "I'm tired of
the plains, and they say that the mountains are good for many
ills."

Bright Sun's enigmatic glance rested upon Albert a moment.

"Yes," he said, "the mountains will cure many ills."

Dick glanced at him, and once more he received the impression of
thought and power. The Indian's nose curved like an eagle's
beak, and the firelight perhaps exaggerated both the curve and
its effect. The whole impression of thought and force was
heightened by the wide brow and the strong chin.

Dick looked back into the fire, and when he glanced around a few
moments again, Bright Sun was not there. He had gone as silently
as he had come.

"That Indian gives me the shivers sometimes," he said to Albert.
"What do you make of him?"

"I don't know," replied the boy. "Sometimes I like him and
sometimes I don't."

Albert was soon asleep, wrapped in the buffalo robe, and Dick by
and by followed him to the same pleasant land. The wind,
whistling as it blew down from the mountains, grew stronger and
colder, and its tone was hostile, as if it resented the first
presence of white men in the little valley by the lake.

Chapter III
The Pass

They resumed the journey early the next day, Bright Sun telling
Conway that they could reach the range before sunset, and that
they would find there an easy pass leading a mile or two farther
on to a protected and warm glen.

"That's the place for our camp," said Conway, and he urged the
train forward.

The traveling was smooth and easy, and they soon left the little
blue lake well behind, passing through a pleasant country well
wooded with elm, ash, birch, cottonwood, and box elder, and the
grass growing high everywhere. They crossed more than one clear
little stream, a pleasant contrast to the sluggish, muddy cre