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CHAPTER XIV. THE MUCKER SEES A NEW LIGHT

TOGETHER the girl and the mucker approached the entrance to the

amphitheater. From behind a shoulder of rock they peered down into the forest

below them. For several minutes neither saw any cause for alarm.

"I guess youse must o' been seein' things," said Byrne, drily.

"Yes," said the girl, "and I see them again. Look! Quick! Down there--to the right."

Byrne looked in the direction she indicated.

"Chinks," he commented. "Gee! Look at 'em comin'. Dere must be a hundred of

'em."

He turned a rueful glance back into the amphitheater.

"I dunno as dis place looks as good to me as it did," he remarked. "Dose yaps wid

de toad stabbers could hike up on top o' dese cliffs an' make it a case o' 'thence

by carriages to Calvary' for ours in about two shakes."

"Yes," said the girl, "I'm afraid it's a regular cul-de-sac."

"I dunno nothin' about dat," replied the mucker; "but I do know dat if we wants to

get out o' here we gotta get a hump on ourselves good an' lively. Come ahead,"

and with his words he ran quickly through the entrance, and turning squarely

toward the right skirted the perpendicular cliffs that extended as far as they

could see to be lost to view in the forest that ran up to meet them from below.

The trees and underbrush hid them from the head-hunters. There had been

danger of detection but for the brief instant that they passed through the

entrance of the hollow, but at the time they had chosen the enemy had been

hidden in a clump of thick brush far down the slope.

For hours the two fugitives continued their flight, passing over the crest of a ridge

and downward toward another valley, until by a small brook they paused to rest,

hopeful that they had entirely eluded their pursuers.

Again Byrne fished, and again they sat together at a one-course meal. As they ate

the man found himself looking at the girl more and more often. For several days

the wonder of her beauty had been growing upon him, until now he found it

difficult to take his eyes from her. Thrice she surprised him in the act of staring

intently at her, and each time he had dropped his eyes guiltily. At length the girl

became nervous, and then terribly frightened--was it coming so soon?

110

The Mucker