Page:Randall Parrish - The Red Mist.djvu/333

 Rh in light reminiscences. So we sat in the sunlight, talking like old friends, laughing over revived memories, almost forgetting that we were fugitives, our very lives at stake. Twice we heard guns, but the reports were but distant echoes, sounding afar off to the westward. Yet these made me nervous to get away, and when a number sounded together—almost a volley, distinctly audible, I hastened to pack what little remained of food on our horses, and prepare for immediate departure. I led the way, fording the shallow stream, and guiding my horse up the opposite bank into the deep shadow of the woods beyond. Here we skirted the edge of the steep hill, finding difficult passage over rocks, and amid tangled underbrush, seeking the trail whose exact location I could but dimly recall; yet the very lay of the land was a guide, and my eyes, anxiously searching the sharp ascent ahead, finally discerned the dark mouth of the cave, the discovery of which led to our turning sharply to the left.

Noreen dismounted also, and thus we succeeded in inducing the two horses to clamber upward—slipping and sliding on the steep acclivity—until we safely attained the remnant of bridle path, scarcely discernible because of lusty weeds. To all appearance it had been unused for years, and in places entirely obliterated by rains. Yet it was plainly