I remained gripping the coverlet of my couch as if it were my great chance slipping away from me. 'So be it,' I groaned at last. 'I swear by all I hold most sacred, never by word or deed, now or henceforth, to betray the existence of this country to any man of the outer world.' 'It is bravely said. At this time to-morrow, then, be ready to step out of this house and leave the valley for ever. And now, stranger, farewell. Only once again will you see me in this life, and then it may be that you shall not know it is I.' She made a queenly gesture, and I, stirred by a sudden impulse of gratitude, had risen from my couch and stretched out my hand to take hers and raise it to my lips. You who have read thus far will now understand what I mean when I say I have set down this incident not in confidence that it will be believed. _My hand passed through hers, and through her body, and I stumbled heavily against the marble wall of the room._ CHAPTER XIV HOW I CROSSED THE MOUNTAINS As I have already written, I offer no explanation of the incident with which my last chapter closes, but whatever it was, it caused me to do something I had certainly never done before over a mental shock. I must have fainted. When I recovered consciousness I was lying on the marble floor of my bedchamber, chilly and stiff, and with a very palpable throbbing of my forehead, where, on examination, I discovered a big bruise. So much for the outside of my head. Within, my brain was also throbbing, partly with bewilderment, but a good deal more with exultation. I might be the sport of an hallucination, but I flatly refused to believe it had no foundation in fact. If I didn't know, I _felt_ that help was coming. I rose silently to my feet and stole across to the tracery-window. From that spy-hole I could see two of the watchers standing at some distance away, motionless but clearly awake, alert but seeming to have no suspicion that anything out of the common had happened inside the house. They could have heard neither my talk nor the thud I must have made when I fell. I then crept back to my couch, and went carefully over the events of the night. I wanted to fix them on my brain, for I had a very pronounced impression they were going to be of use to me. I determined, too, that to-morrow I would get ready to escape exactly as if the chance were really on its way. The day passed without much in the way of incident, but it was one of the most exciting I ever spent, and long before nightfall I was in a downright fever. I watched myself minutely for any recurrence of the great depression, but there was no hint of it; my brain remained clear, my spirits buoyant, and had it not been for the very noticeable discoloration of my bruised knees, I should have found it difficult to believe I'd been through the unspeakable tortures of the past week.