All day he rode slowly and cautiously up the Pass, taking time to
peer around corners, to pick out hard ground and grassy patches,
and to make sure there was no one in pursuit. In the night
sometime he came to the smooth, scrawled rocks dividing the
valley, and here set the burro at liberty. He walked beyond,
climbed the slope and the dim, starlit gorge. Then, weary to the
point of exhaustion, he crept into a shallow cave and fell
asleep.
In the morning, when he descended the trail, he found the sun was
pouring a golden stream of light through the arch of the great
stone bridge. Surprise Valley, like a valley of dreams, lay
mystically soft and beautiful, awakening to the golden flood
which was rolling away its slumberous bands of mist, brightening
its walled faces.
While yet far off he discerned Bess moving under the silver
spruces, and soon the barking of the dogs told him that they had
seen him. He heard the mocking-birds singing in the trees, and
then the twittering of the quail. Ring and Whitie came bounding
toward him, and behind them ran Bess, her hands
outstretched.
"Bern! You're back! You're back!" she cried, in joy that rang of
her loneliness.
"Yes, I'm back," he said, as she rushed to meet him.
She had reached out for him when suddenly, as she saw him
closely, something checked her, and as quickly all her joy fled,
and with it her color, leaving her pale and trembling.
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