"The trail winds through these peaks in front, and instead of being like that we've been riding over all along, keeps close to the side of the mountain. On the right is the solid rock, and on the left it slopes down for I don't know how many hundred feet, afore it strikes bottom. Once started down that slide, you'll never stop till you hit the rocks below like that ma.s.s of stone that tumbled over in front of you."

"How wide is the path?" asked the parson.

"There's more than a mile where it isn't wide enough for two of us to ride abreast, and there are plenty of places where a horse has got to step mighty careful to save himself. Hercules knows how to do it, for he larned long ago, but I have my doubts about your hosses."

"It might have been better after all if we had brought the mules,"

said the captain.

"Not a bit of it, for Hercules is the only one that knows how to git over such places."

"How do the others manage it?"

"They've never tried it in the night time; that's what I'm talking 'bout."

Adams's description enabled the others to recall the place. It was all that had been pictured and they might well pause before a.s.suming the fearful risk. One reason for wishing to press forward was the knowledge that at the termination of the dangerous stretch, the trail was so smooth and even that for a long distance it would be easy to keep their animals at a gallop, while still further the peril appeared again.

Captain Dawson once more struck a match and looked at his watch.

"Half-past three; in two hours it will begin to grow light; if no accident happens we shall be at the end of the ugly piece of ground by that time, where the traveling is good. It is a pity to lose the opportunity, but I will leave it to you, parson and Ruggles; what do you say?"

"Our horses have been pushed pretty hard, but they are in good condition. I hate to remain idle."

"Then you favor going ahead?"

"I do."

"And you, Ruggles?"

"I feel the same way."

"That settles it; lead on, Vose."

"I'm just as well suited, but keep your wits about you," was the warning of the leader, whose mule instantly responded, stretching his neck forward and downward and occasionally snuffing the ground, as if he depended on his sense of smell more than that of hearing.

The task was a nerve-wrenching one, and more than once each of the three regretted their haste in not waiting for daylight; but, having started, there was no turning back. To attempt to wheel about, in order to retrace their steps, was more perilous than to push on, while to stand still was hardly less dangerous.

The moonlight gave such slight help that the four depended almost wholly upon the instinct of their animals. Hercules never faltered, but advanced with the slow, plodding, undeviating certainty of those of his kind who thread their way through the treacherous pa.s.ses of the Alps. Once his hind hoof struck a stone which went bounding down the precipice on his left, until at the end of what seemed several minutes, it lay still at the bottom. Neither animal nor rider showed the least fear, for in truth both were accustomed to little slips like that.

"I'm blessed if this isn't the most ticklish business that I ever attempted," muttered Captain Dawson; "I never had anything like it in the army; it reminds me of scouting between the lines, when you expect every second a bullet from a sharpshooter--"

At that instant his horse stepped on a round, loose stone which turned so quickly that before he could recover himself the hoof followed the stone over the edge of the precipice. The horse snorted and struggled desperately, and the brave rider felt an electric shock thrill through him from head to foot, for there was one moment when he believed nothing could save them from the most frightful of deaths.

The left hind leg had gone over the rocky shelf, which at that point was very narrow, and the hoof was furiously beating vacancy in the despairing effort to find something upon which to rest itself. His body sagged downward and the rider held his breath.

"Steady, my boy!" he called, and with rare presence of mind allowed the rein to lie free so as not to disconcert the steed.

The tremendous struggle of the intelligent animal prevailed and with a snort he recovered his balance and all four feet stood upon firm support.

"That was a close call," observed the parson, whose heart was in his mouth, while the brief fight for life was going on.

"It was so close that it couldn't have been any closer," coolly commented the captain, fully himself again.

CHAPTER XIX

A COLLISION

At this moment, the cheery voice of Adams called:

"There's only about a hundred yards more of this, but we've now struck the worst part of the whole trail."

"If it is any worse than what we have just pa.s.sed, it won't do to try it," replied Captain Dawson, with the memory of his recent thrilling experience still vivid with him.

"We can do it, but we must foller a different plan."

"What is that?"

"We must lead our animals. There are plenty of places where you can get off your horses with more comfort, but we can't stand here doing nothing. Get to the ground the best way you know how."

It was clear that the advice of the guide would have to be followed, and all four set about the task with the cool daring shown from the first. Since each man was to lead his animal, it was necessary to dismount in front, instead of slipping over the tail, as would have been easier. The beasts showed striking sagacity in this delicate task. The trail was so narrow that to dismount to the left, on the side of the dizzying precipice, made it impossible for a man to keep his poise, while to descend on the right, directly beside the body of the animal was almost certain to crowd him over into the gorge. Each, therefore, lowered himself with infinite care over the right shoulder of his steed, so well forward, that the horse by turning his head to the left afforded just enough room for the trick to be done. Every one dismounted in safety, each drawing a breath of relief when the exquisitely delicate task was accomplished.

Looking around in the gloom, Vose Adams saw that his friends stood on the ground.

"Are you all ready?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Brush from the rear.

"Hold the bridle so gentle that you can let go if your animal slips off: if he has to go over the precipice, there's no need of your follering him."

Each man took his Winchester in hand, and loosely grasping the bridle rein, began stealing forward, the captain's loss compelling him to make his single arm answer for both purposes. The advance was necessarily slow, for it was made with the utmost care. The path could not have been more dangerous than for the brief stretch between them and the broad, safe support beyond.

Several times the trail so narrowed that each trembled through fear of not being able to keep his balance, while it seemed absolutely impossible for a horse to do so; but one of the strange facts connected with that intelligent animal is that, despite his greater bulk, he is generally able to follow wherever his master leads. So it was that when a miner carefully turned his head, he saw his steed following slowly but unfalteringly in his footsteps.

It was soon perceived that this perilous stretch did not take a straight course, but a.s.sumed the form of an immense, partial circle.

When half way around, the plodders came in sight of a huge rent in the distant mountain wall, through which the sky showed nearly from the zenith to the horizon. In this immense V-shaped s.p.a.ce shone the moon nearly at its full, and without a rift or fleck of cloud in front of its face.

A flood of light streamed through and between the encompa.s.sing peaks, tinging the men and animals with its fleecy veil, as if some of the snow from the crests had been sprinkled over them. On their left, the craggy wall sloped almost vertically downward, the projecting ma.s.ses of rock displaying the same, fairy-like covering, ending in a vast, yawning pit of night and blackness, into whose awful depth the human eye could not penetrate.

On the right, the ma.s.s of stone, rock and boulder, rugged, broken and tumbled together, as if flung about by giants in sport, towered beyond the vision's reach, the caverns, abysses and hollows made the blacker and more impenetrable by the moonlight glinting against the protruding ma.s.ses.

It was as if a party of t.i.tans had run their chisels along the flinty face of the mountain from the rear, gouging out the stone, with less and less persistency, until they reached the spot where the men and animals were creeping forward, when the dulled tools scarcely made an impression sufficient to support the hesitating feet.

Captain Dawson was but a few paces to the rear of Vose Adams's mule, whose surety of step he admired and tried to imitate.

"Training seems able to accomplish anything," reflected the captain; "I remember how Lieutenant Russell and I stopped on the further edge of this infernal place when we reached it one forenoon and spent several hours trying to find a safer path. It kept us in a tremor until we were across. Had any one told me that on the next journey I should try it in the night, I would have believed him crazy, but," he grimly added, "I would have thought the same, if I had been told that a necessity like this would compel us to do so."