Page:The trail of the golden horn.djvu/131

Rh “Excuse me, Miss Brisbane,” he apologized. “But I am hardly myself after what I have just gone through. I am mighty glad, though, to find you and the sergeant safe. How in the world did you escape? I was sure that you were buried down there in the valley.”

“We do not know how we escaped,” Marion replied, while a tremor shook her body. “The Lord must have been with us, I guess. But we got off better than you did. Something has happened to you. There is blood upon your face.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, I assure you, Miss Brisbane, Something hit me a glancing blow, a broken limb of a tree, I think, as I was struggling out of the clutch of that monster. I was only a few steps behind you, and how I got clear I have no idea. It was a terrible fight, and I was nearly smothered. Then the first thing I knew I was wedged up against a tree till I thought every bone in my body was being crushed. I lost consciousness and when I came to everything was still, and I was lying at the foot of a big fir with snow all around me. I was sure that you two were gone and that I alone was saved.”

“Why did you shout if you thought we were lost?” North asked.

“I hardly know why, except that I was half crazy and just whooped. I guess I was just like an infant crying in the night, and with no language but a cry. I must have done it unconsciously.”

“It was mighty lucky you did, Rolfe, for I never thought of looking for you up there. But I don’t think you can help us out any. We’re in a bad fix, with not a scrap of food.”

“I know it,” the constable replied. “One of us will have to foot it, I guess, to The Gap for grub. There’s