Page:The Cross Pull.pdf/103



he girl rested on a rock beside the game trail. A tiny mountain stream rushed past a few feet away. The ground sloped steeply up on either side of the stream bed, matted with a tangled jungle of spruce that was tropical in its density. Great windfalls of down timber were piled about and many trees had not even found space in which to fall but rested at odd angles against living trunks. A thick carpet of moss covered earth and rocks and clung in frowsy shreds to the trees themselves.

“This seemed the most peaceful, lovely spot on earth when I was here before, Flash.” The girl Shivered slightly as she glanced around. “It seems dark and gloomy now. I must have been mad to do it. I had to act at once—no time to think; and I was too dazed to think even if I had been granted time. There was no one to advise me, Flash, and I did the best I knew.”

“I’m glad we’re here at last, Flash.” She pointed up the slope. “It’s right up there, only a