So maybe I show you sometime, maybe not--_quien sabe_ ?" If her lightly spoken words hurt, he realized the utter futility of striving then to penetrate their deeper meaning.

They advanced slowly, moving in more closely against the great ridge of rocks where the denser shadows clung, the man's natural caution becoming apparent as his mind returned to a consideration of the dangerous mission upon which they were embarked.

To-morrow would leave him free from all this, but now he must conduct her in safety to that mist-shrouded plain below.
They had moved forward for perhaps a dozen yards, the obedient pony stepping as silently as themselves, Mercedes a foot or two to the rear, when Brown suddenly halted, staring fixedly at something slightly at one side of their path.

There, like a huge baleful eye glaring angrily at him, appeared a dull red glow.

An instant he doubted, wondered, his mind confused.