Even the Indians avoid these dreary wastes. For a hundred miles east and twice as much west Doctor Dan had told him that there was not a ranch or a house of any kind and it was just as bad if he went north, as he seemed to be going now. “If it wasn’t for Miss Eglinton I would go straight down the mountain and try to get back to camp by the trail we followed,” thought Dick, “yet I can’t run away and leave the poor girl in the hands of those scoundrels. What in the world shall I do, anyhow? I’m blest if I know.” He pushed on for a short distance further, passing into a dark canyon where the cliffs towered on either side of him. There was nothing to be seen or heard of the horses here, either. They seemed to have utterly vanished. With many windings the canyon led off up the mountain; it was broken by cross canyons, dark, narrow passages opening off every few yards. Dick soon saw that the case was absolutely hopeless, for the horses might have taken to any of these canyons. He came to the conclusion that Martin Mudd and Tony must have had horses concealed near by and had mounted them when they started away from the scene of the fight. “This won’t do,” exclaimed Dick, stopping short at last. “I must go back. I must go straight down to the foot of the mountain and try to get back to camp and rely upon Doctor Dan to help me find that girl.” This was a wise resolve, no doubt, but Dick soon found that it was one thing to come to it and quite another to carry it out. He calculated that he was about three hundred yards away from the entrance of the canyon and he expected to spend five or ten minutes getting back, but, after he had walked twenty, he still found himself between those towering walls of rock, the dark canyon still winding on. Dick stopped again, a horrible fear coming over him. “I’m lost already. That’s what’s the matter,” he muttered. “What in the world am I to do?” And, indeed, the situation was anything but pleasant. The little moonlight which found its way down into the canyon did no more than to enable Dick to keep from stumbling. The entrances to all the cross canyons looked alike. It was the easiest thing in the world to mistake one for the other and Dick knew that this was just what he must have done. He hurriedly retraced his steps, trying to determine which of the many openings was the correct one and at last settled upon one a little wider than the rest and undertook to follow that. He was doomed to disappointment, however, for after going a short distance down on the down grade the trail through the canyon suddenly began to ascend, growing steeper and steeper every moment, but Dick continued to follow it, for he could see more light ahead and a cold damp wind came rushing down the canyon and both of these signs made him fancy that he must be pretty close to the lake.