Dan Portway leaned a little more forward, and his gaze grew more intent, till all at once he let himself fall sidewise on the soft pine-needles. For Harrington had made a restless motion, and then suddenly sprung up. "Oh, hang it!" he cried. "Hi! Dan--bears!" "Eh? Where?" cried Portway, in an excited whisper, as he rose to his knees and grasped the rifle at his side. "In Noah's ark, for aught I know," cried Harrington, laughing. "Don't seem as if we're to find a grizzly. I just woke up in time to spoil your dinner." "What do you mean?" "Cannibal dinner. I was being roasted. Sun is hot." As he spoke he gave his breast a vicious rub and buttoned the collar of his shirt. "Come along. We'll go round the other side of the hill and get back to camp. No bear to-day, but we may get a sheep." "All right," was the reply; and Dan Portway's countenance seemed to have been transformed; "will you lead?" "Yes," said the other, as he carefully examined his rifle, while Portway's eyes contracted, and he glanced at his own rifle as if he were calculating odds. "Come along, old chap, we've a long road to go," said Harrington, as he led the way. "Yes," said Portway beneath his breath, as, instead of walking boldly and uprightly, he seemed to slouch along behind his companion. The climb was so stiff, and in places so dangerous, that for some time after no word was spoken. But at last they reached a shelf on the mountain, running along by a profound ravine, down to the bottom of which it was possible to climb, but the task was risky. "Bad to tumble here, Dan," said Harrington suddenly. "Yes," said the other, with an involuntary shiver, and he drew nearer to his companion, who suddenly stopped at a projecting portion of the shelf, and, shading his eyes, began to scan the prospect toward where, in a perfect chaos of rocks, the sinking sun was gilding the glorious scene. "We can easily get round to camp this way," said Harrington, after a few moments, and he took a step or two onward. "Mind how you come, Dan. Hist! No gammon. Bears, by Jove?" He pointed to a spot not a dozen yards away, where there were unmistakable traces of a grizzly having made his lair, and dragging round the little glass which hung from his shoulder, he adjusted it as he rested his rifle against the rock, raised it to his eyes, and began to search the hills and hollows for the game they sought. He was leaning quite over the gulch, which fell almost perpendicularly beneath them, his back to Portway, who was behind, and who, acting upon the sudden impulse born of his cogitations while the other slept, suddenly raised his rifle with both hands back over his head, and drove the plated butt with all his force crash upon his companion's head.