ides himself; he had left one dressing an elk
over the next ridge. Nobody seemed to have got in yet, from appearances.
Didn't the camp look lonesome?

"There's somebody, though," said McLean.

The Virginian took the glasses. "I reckon--yes, that's Hank. The cold
has woke him up, and he's comin' in out o' the brush."

Each of us took the glasses in turn; and I watched the figure go up the
hill to the door of the cabin. It seemed to pause and diverge to the
window. At the window it stood still, head bent, looking in. Then it
returned quickly to the door. It was too far to discern, even through
the glasses, what the figure was doing. Whether the door was locked,
whether he was knocking or fumbling with a key, or whether he spoke
through the door to the person within--I cannot tell what it was that
came through the glasses straight to my nerves, so that I jumped at a
sudden sound; and it was only the distant shrill call of an elk. I was
handing the glasses to the Virginian for him to see when the figure
opened the door and disappeared in the dark interior. As I watched the
square of darkness which the door's opening made, something seemed to
happen there--or else it was a spark, a flash, in my own straining eyes.

But at that same instant the Virginian dashed forward upon his horse,
leaving the glasses in my hand. And with the contagion of his act the
rest of us followed him, leaving the pack animals to follow us as they
should choose.

"Look!" cried McLean. "He's not shot her."

I saw the tall figure of a woman rush out of the door and pass quickly
round the house.

"He's missed her!" cried McLean, again. "She's savin' herself."

But the man's figure did not appear in pursuit. Instead of this,
the woman returned as quickly as she had gone, and entered the dark
interior.

"She had something," said Wiggin. "What would that be?"

"Maybe it's all right, after all," said McLean. "She went out to get
wood."

The rough steepness of our trail had brought us down to a walk, and
as we continued to press forward at this pace as fast as we could, we
compared a few notes. McLean did not think he saw any flash. Wiggin
thought that he had heard a sound, but it was at the moment when the
Virginian's horse had noisily started away.

Our trail had now taken us down where we could no longer look across and
see the cabin. And the half-mile proved a long one over this ground. At
length we reached and crossed the rocky ford, over