"Well," said Okanagan, "did you ever hear of one that went for a horse close up with a tent before?"

"I have," said Alton, "seen a panther that turned on a man who wanted to get a shot at it in the undergrowth."

"Oh, yes," said Okanagan. "He'd got something he'd caught for dinner in the bushes, but it's kind of curious that beasts come round and howl at us. Anyway, we can't find out nothing until the daylight comes."

They crawled back into the tent, and it was characteristic of them that although the loss of the horses might traverse all their plans they went to sleep again, and awakened as the beasts do, instinctively, when the first light crept over the shoulder of the hill. Ten minutes later Alton had the fire lighted, and sat down beside it with the frypan in his hand. The recovery of the horses was a question of importance, but it might well entail a day's journey, and he knew that to commence it without his breakfast would be distinctly unwise of him. Accordingly he tranquilly held the pan, while as the mists melted and the awakening earth put on shape and form there was unrolled before him a wondrous transformation scene.

When he had last awakened the wilderness had lain formless, wrapped in blackness, primitive and pagan. Now the great pines rising row and row from the hollow pointed heavenwards with all their sombre spires, and led the eye upwards ever over the rock that lost its greyness and glinted to the gleam of snow far up in the empyrean that was sundered from earth by the vapours and wholly spiritual. Alton realized dimly a little of the motive of the scene, and felt that the world was good, for, laying down the frypan, he stood up stretching his arms above his head as he rejoiced in the strength of his vigorous manhood. Still, like most of the bushmen, he did not express his feelings in speech.

"Charley, you'll be slow for your wedding. Turn out, the pork's done,"

he said.

They lost no time, but they did not eat in haste, and Alton glanced at Seaforth when the meal was done. "You'll stop right here, Charley, by the tent," he said. "I can't quite tell when Tom and I will be back again."

Then without another word he strode into the bush, and Seaforth, who first washed the breakfast-cans, proceeded to make a circuit of the camp. He found the spot where the horses had been tethered with but little difficulty, and also the hole out of which one of them had drawn the picket-peg. The redwoods which towered above him were vast of girth, and it would have needed a long halter to encompass them, while there was no branch for sixty feet or so. Still, though he searched diligently, he did not find any print which might have been left by the paw of a panther, and regretted that there was a ridge of rock outcrop behind the camp.

"That beast was hungry, or he wouldn't have come so near," he said.

It was near dusk when Alton came back leading one weary horse, and darkness had closed down before Tom of Okanagan strode in with nothing but the pack-rope he had set out with. Seaforth had supper ready, and no questions were asked until they had eaten. Then Alton, stretching himself at full length beside the fire, lighted his pipe.

"You found nothing after I left you where the trail split tip?" he said.

"No," said Okanagan. "Anyway, not for more than a mile. Ran into rock and gravel, and lost the trail. Crawled round in rings most of the day, and couldn't strike it again. Guess the beast swam the river and lit out for home."

"Well," said Alton dryly, "I found more than that, for I ran into a man's trail, and it wasn't very old. I think he had long boots on and one was down at the heel. I spent an hour over it, and when it led me into rock came back again."

"A man?" said Seaforth. "I fancied there was nobody but ourselves between here and Somasco. What could he be doing?"

"I don't know," said Alton. "Did you find the panther's trail?"

"No," said Seaforth. "Rock again!"

Alton said nothing for a minute, and when he spoke his voice had a curious tone. "Well," he said gravely, "the rock belongs to this place and we don't, so there's no use kicking, but it would have been convenient if there had been less of it. Now it's quite possible that a few pounds of grub and a load of blankets may make a big difference before we get home again, and if we can't trail that horse to-morrow you'll go back to Somasco for another one. We'll cache the load somewhere here and make a big smoke for you at every camping."

"That means the loss of a fortnight, anyway," said Seaforth. "Time is valuable with the winter coming on."

Alton nodded. "Still, it can't be helped," he said.

"I'll lose no time," said Seaforth, who had been watching his comrade.

"Are you quite sure you have told us all, Harry?"

Alton slowly drew a strip of hide from beneath him, and passed it across. Seaforth and Okanagan bent over it together, their faces showing intent in the light of the fire, while Alton laughed softly as he watched them.

"What do you make of that?" he said.

Seaforth glanced round sharply. "It's a trifle curious. That hide's thick, and yet the beast has evidently broken it, but it pulled up the peg."

"Did you find the peg?" said Alton, and Okanagan swept his glance across the faces before him. Seaforth's expressed bewilderment, Alton's was grim.

"I found one," said Seaforth--"Julius Caesar's."

"Yes," said Alton dryly. "There should have been another, and a horse that breaks his tether can't pull out the peg. Still, I don't think he broke it."

"But," said Seaforth, "the thing is broken."

Tom of Okanagan smiled in a curious fashion while Alton reached out and laid his finger on the hide. "One can't be sure of anything," he said.

"Still, one could fancy that had felt the knife before it snapped."

There was silence for almost a minute, and the shadows of the great firs seemed to close in upon the camp. Then Alton rose up and stretched his limbs wearily.

"I am kind of tired," he said. "There's a good deal to be done to-morrow."

CHAPTER XVI

CAUSE FOR ANXIETY

There was no sign of the missing horse next day, and Alton's face was grave when he returned to camp at noon. Tom of Okanagan arrived an hour or two later, and shook his head when Seaforth glanced at him inquiringly.

"Rock again. Right down to the river," he said.

Alton nodded, but did not ask if his companion had effected a crossing.

"There was a good deal of water coming down?" he said.

"Oh, yes," said Okanagan. "It was cold. Boulders all along on the other side. Now if the beast got over he'll be lighting out for home, and there are some of us better than others at picking up a trail."

Seaforth understood him, and the implication pleased him though it was not openly expressed. "Had you any especial reason when you asked me to go, Harry?" he asked.

Alton smiled dryly. "I had, but I don't know that it was a very good one. You would sooner stay up here. What do you think, Tom?"

"Of course!" said Seaforth, and Alton nodded silently, while Okanagan rose to his feet.

"Now you have asked me, Charley's right," he said. "I'll be moving south in ten minutes."

He had set off in somewhat less, and the men he left behind stood still listening until the sound of his footsteps had sunk into the stillness.

Then Seaforth glanced at his comrade, and Alton laughed.

"It's lonely, Charley," he said. "I don't know that you were wise, but we'll get a move on and cache some of these provisions."

Seaforth was glad of something to do. Three had started from Somasco, and already one had gone, while he felt a slight sense of depression as he glanced north towards the wilderness of rock and snow their path led into. He did not, however, tell his comrade so, and they toiled for an hour before Alton, carefully smoothing off the soil that covered what they had hidden, strewed it with cedar-twigs.

"Step it off, Charley; twenty paces east to the rock, with the big peak over the shoulder of the hill," he said.

Seaforth walked straight forward with measured strides. "A foot over!"

he said.