The Gold Trail

who sat on the hot, white shingle by the water's edge, with a pair of glasses in his hand,

great height," he said. "There is evidently-a bench I think you call it-before you come to t

deal of it consisted apparently of lightly-covered rock and gravel the pines were thinner, and there was less undergrowth than usual. Far above him the smooth a

p so far without very mu

s Stirling is just as anxious to make the ascent. I may say that we have had some experience in Sw

I don't suppose there's an ice-ax in the country, and I never saw a party

doing?" asked

obtain any of the regulation mountaineering paraphernalia there; but when the wandering prospector finds a snow-crested range in his way he usually scrambles over it and car

said. "Another time I packed for a couple of E

Kinnaird as

ne," said Weston; and again he

baggage in the canoes. The rest of us will follow the bench, and after working around the head of the big spur

," said Weston. "Still,

hy

s daughter's stamina and courage. He had seen self-confident strangers come down from those mountains dressed in rags, with their boots torn off their bl

er on the other slope," he said. "It's

in really thick timber, dismi

o get down to camp again on the other side in t

at judge of character, but Kinnaird, who, it seemed, had held command in India, struck him as that kind of man. His wife was a little, placid lady, whose bodily vigor and any resolution of character she might once have possessed had apparently evaporated under the Indian sun, and, as far as Weston had noticed, she invariably agreed with whatever was said. When he waited on them at supper their tal

, had been over an hour or two, when, after waiting f

se people not to go, Mi

irl s

think you ought t

e excuse, for stopping b

hy

de a litt

a tough climb. I'd

ines, and the girl flashed a quick glance at him. He seemed diffident, but it was evide

s not exactly an answer.

preferable to him that she should be the on

r one thing my emplo

act he had mentioned was not the only one that influenced him; but she had noticed already that Weston was not a finished diplomatist. She became m

nnaird are his gue

n this, and stood silent a mome

may not prove equal to Mi

nd answered wit

asn't troubling me. When the pin

oo far, and, as often happens in su

g about you that m

it is very probable that th

Weston frowned at the supper dishe

ch like a gratuitous impertinen

d streams of loose gravel sliding down beneath their feet. Kinnaird led the way; the girls came behind him climbing well; and Weston brought up the rear with an ample supply of provisions and a couple of big blankets strapped on his shoulders.

k ground smooth by the slipping down of melting snow, and when they had crossed that their difficulties began. The scarp broke off on the verge of an almost precipitous rift, and a torrent t

upon the gleaming lake below. Here Weston was guilty of an indiscretion. He admitted afterward that he ought to have known

gs across the creek," he said. "We must get over it somehow

s perfectly evident. It is, however,

ly growing steeper beneath them, and they had not yet reached the bench. They went up for another hour, and then came out upon the expected strip of plateau in the midst of which the gully

id. "It must be almost as near to get down from that side, and the canoes

rls, and appeared re

push on a little further

or so Weston sank suddenly well over his waist. He flung himself forward, and with the help of Kinna

d. "The creek's running under it. Anyway,

s face gr

observed, "it would be

nd a bitter wind that seemed to be gathering strength whistled eerily about the desolation of rock and snow. They were wet to the knees, and Weston fancied that the girls' cheerfulne

hollows. Every now and then one or another of the party sank deep on stepping down from some ledge of slippery stone. They were on the northern side of a spur of the higher range, though they were approaching the angle where it broke off and fell in a steep declivity facing west. This point they had to turn before they reached the spot from which Kinnaird purposed descending

e would be down again by this time. It is now well on in the afternoon, and, as we have probabl

a Kinnaird decisivel

to Weston,

p with them," he said. "It must be eight or nine miles, by water, from our last camp to where th

looked be

body could get straight

w. Part of it was smooth rock, but long banks of gravel lay resting in the hollows at so steep a slope that it was evident that a footstep would be sufficient to dislodge them. Indeed, without that,

t up the only thing to do is to push on. From what I saw through my glasses when I

urged them on, for it was now becoming a somewhat momentous question whether they could get down before darkness fell; and as a rule the white mists settle heavily upon those ranges with the dusk. Then the

the face of the hill is less steep arou

from the head of the lake. Where I was wrong was in not heading fo

felt for a foothold among the banks of gravel. Suddenly, Ida slipped and clutched at Weston. Her hand fell upon the package of provisions that he had slung behind his shoulders with a strip of deerhide, and, for she was of full stature and not particularly slender, it broke

own!" he comm

, and in a moment or two Weston and the girl stood with the others close beneath the rock. He did not know how they got there. He was quivering all through, and the perspiration of tense effort dripped from him. While he stood there gasping, the packet of provisions, which had apparently rested for a few moments among the

t the climbing forest which now appeared to lie straight beneath them but very far away. A cold wind stung their faces, the rocks above rose higher, but there was, at least,

over the

lung a warm light upon it hung just clear of the peaks across the valley. There was no doubt that his companions were worn out, and he fancied that the girls could scarcely drag themselves along, but they had now no provisions and it was clearly advisable to get down, at least as

ee," she sa

toward her, but s

the packer

he slope, which was practicable, though very steep; a

sted a ligament or something of that kind," she

th consternation in his eyes. The sun had dipped behind the peaks by this time, and the great hollow

along on my a

y, "I don't think I could

re than one hasty meal since early morning, and they were worn out. It was also, as he knew, very c

!" he

ws of vapor rolled out from its edges and slid up the hollows, blotting out the somber ranks of climbing pines one by one until all had gone and rock scarp and rugged peak rose isolated from a vast sweep of mist. It crawled up the slope where th

t we can't get

on n

ber, sir," he said. "I'll bring up

shoulders, and floundering down