Flying clouds obscured the stars, yet through the rifts they caught fleeting glimpses sufficient to hold them to their course.

And the encroaching hills swept in closer upon either hand, leaving them groping their way between as in a pocket, yet ever advancing north.
Finally they attained to the steep bank of a considerable stream, found the water of sufficient depth to compel swimming, and crept up the opposite shore dripping and miserable, yet with ammunition dry.

Murphy stood swearing disjointedly, wiping the blood from a wound in his forehead where the jagged edge of a rock had broken the skin, but suddenly stopped with a quick intake of breath that left him panting.
The other man crept toward him, leading his horse.
"What is it now ?" he asked, gruffly.

"Hev' ye got 'em agin ?" The dazed old scout stared, pointing directly across the other's shoulder, his arm shaking desperately.
"It's thar!--an' it's his face! Oh, God!--I know it--fifteen year." The man glanced backward into the pitch darkness, but without moving his body.
"There 's nuthin' out there, 'less it's a firefly," he insisted, in a tone of contempt.

"You're plum crazy, Murphy; the night's got on yer nerves.