She crouched low, and almost crawled forward, her listening strained to the utmost tension. She tried to subdue her hurried breathing, and realized that to do so she must go very slow, and so permit herself to regain breath. At times she seemed hardly to move at all, as she kept close by one of the dark walls, seeking the deepest shadows for security. She saw no guard, yet was sure they were there. Perhaps for the reason that the sentries did not expect any one to come from the valley, and therefore were directing all their attention to the front, where if danger came it would be in the form of pursuers, she passed the sentinels on the walls without being seen, and also came close up to the one who was stationed down in the pass. Luckily she saw this man, for he was moving about, his gun on his arm. She dropped to the ground as if dead when she discovered him, and lay there studying the situation, wondering how she was to get by without discovery. She saw that he walked a beat like a sentinel, from one wall to the other, and that always, when he looked at all, he looked toward the outer entrance. When she had discovered this, she waited until he turned to walk toward the opposite wall, and then crawled on with the utmost care. She meant to spring to her feet and make a wild dash to pass him if he saw her. When he had reached the opposite wall, and before he turned, she was lying flat on her face, and could not be seen by him. As she made a second advance it brought her so near to him that, when he returned, she was within two yards of him. She was almost sure he could hear her breathing and the heavy beating of her heart; for both sounded to her very loud. But he turned back again, toward the other wall. She crawled on, and was beyond him when he came back. When she made her next advance and stopped, she was well beyond him. Then came a terrifying thing. The discovery of her escape was announced by low calls from the huts, and by the hurried tramp of feet. Men were rushing about in there, and she knew what it meant. The guard heard the sound, and turned his attention to the valley. “What’s broke loose?” she heard one of the sentries ask on the wall. She crept on, snaillike, it seemed to her, hugging the ground. Then she heard the dogs being called, and their baying, as they began to search for her trail. One of the guards on the wall voiced his disapproval of this move. “I dunno what the boss is thinkin’ ’bout, makin’ sech a racket! That row kin be heerd a mile.” The girl took advantage of the talk that followed to slip on a short distance. She discerned that the confused sounds of the men and the dogs were coming toward the pass, and regardless of the guards, who were still near, she rose to a more erect posture, and stole on along the wall, keeping well within the shadows. Soon she was running; and, as she got farther on, she ran the faster.