A mile down the gorge and they halted, still unseen by the enemy, due doubtless to the heavy firing in the valley which was engrossing all the attention of the guerrillas.

They could hear it very distinctly where they were, and they were quite sure that it would not permit Slade and Skelly to detach any part of their force for purposes of observation.

So Dick gave orders for his men to turn and begin the ascent of the slope, under shelter of the scrub forest of cedars.

They were to go in a column four abreast, carefully treading in the tracks of one another, in order that they might not start a slide of snow.
Dick's pulses beat hard, until they reached the shelter of the cedars, but no lurking guerrilla or posted sentinel saw them and they drew into the forest in silence and unobserved.

Here they paused a few minutes and listened to the heavy rifle fire in the valley.
"It looks like a success, sir," said Shepard.