He was on the outside, and he seemed somehow to have lost the key.

In this mood on his way home, he had reached the spot that was so closely associated with the girl, and, pausing to rest after the sharp climb, had fallen to brooding over his disappointment.

So intent was he upon his gloomy thoughts that he had not heard Young Matt approaching, and was wholly unconscious of that big fellow's presence in the vicinity.
For a time the face at the edge of the path regarded the figure on the rock intently; then it dropped from sight.

Young Matt slipped quietly down into the ravine, and a few moments later climbed again to the Old Trail at a point hidden from the Lookout.

Here he stepped quickly across the narrow open space and into the bushes on the slope of the mountain above.