Then, putting his mouth to my ear, he spoke for the first time since we had left James Town.

"It is hard to approach the Master, and my brother must follow me close as the panther follows the deer.

Where Shalah puts his foot let my brother put his also.

Come." He stepped from the boat to the hill-side, and with incredible speed and stillness began to ascend.

His long, soft strides were made without noise or effort, whether the ground were moss, or a tangle of vines, or loose stones, or the trunks of fallen trees, I had prided myself on my hill-craft, but beside the Indian I was a blundering child, I might have made shift to travel as fast, but it was the silence of his progress that staggered me, I plunged, and slipped, and sprawled, and my heart was bursting before the ascent ceased, and we stole to the left along the hill shoulder.
Presently came a gap in the trees, and I looked down in the last greyness of dusk on a strange and beautiful sight.