They rose without waking Karl, who was sleeping heavily in front of the burned-out fire, and walked down to the edge of the creek. A chipmunk scampered away in front of them and a blue-jay screeched from a near-by tree. A meadow-lark trilled its fine notes somewhere down the creek. They sat here at the edge of the creek-bank and leaned back on the grass. Kathryn stared to the west where a line of white clouds were playing along the horizon. "You know something, Sten? I don't notice the silence so much anymore, and the distance doesn't worry me now, either. I guess maybe there's something here after all." Sten pulled her close and smelled the good smell of green grass beneath them. The next afternoon they had nearly reached the top of the pass. They were just below timber-line. Finally, looking to the east, they saw a great empty space, with a tall mountain range rising jagged on the other side. "That's it," Sten exulted. "Fifty miles wide, and in the top of the mountains." "I'm glad," Karl said. "But you're on your own now, Sten. I'm going back." "Back? To Panamia?" "Yes. There's nothing for me here. Perhaps back there I can find something. Maybe I can take up where Franz left off. I don't know. There must be others who are not afraid of life." Silently Sten offered his hand. Karl squeezed it hard and looked into his eyes. "Good luck to you in your valley. I know where it is now, maybe some day I can return. And perhaps Bradley and the others will make it yet. Until another day then ..." he turned abruptly, and started back down the mountain. Sten and Kathryn, hand in hand, watched him disappear through the trees. When they could no longer see him, they lifted their eyes to the hidden valley. They saw, even from this distance, the lakes that lay scattered through it, and the winding lines of cottonwoods that grew along the rivers, and the plains where the green and grey of the sagebrush blended. Sten breathed deeply of the crisp air and let his breath escape in a low whistle. "It was worth it, wasn't it? It's ours. And we won't always be alone, Kathryn. Others will come. Man is not dead. It may take a while, but others will come." The woman slipped her arm around the man's waist and they stood for a time looking out over the valley. Then they started the long descent.