Another step would have been his last! He stood upon the crumbling edge of a precipice.

A landslip had taken place on the eastern flank, leaving the gaunt ribs and fleshless bones of Lone Star mountain bare in the moonlight.

He understood now the strange rumble and reverberation he had heard; he understood now the strange hush of bird and beast in brake and thicket! Although a single rapid glance convinced him that the slide had taken place in an unfrequented part of the mountain, above an inaccessible canyon, and reflection assured him his companions could not have reached that distance when it took place, a feverish impulse led him to descend a few rods in the track of the avalanche.

The frequent recurrence of outcrop and angle made this comparatively easy.

Here he called aloud; the feeble echo of his own voice seemed only a dull impertinence to the significant silence.