Up and on all day, and at
evening, passing out of the great zone of timber, he came on the bald,
thunder-smitten summit ridge, where one ruined tree held up its skeleton
arms against the sunset, and the wind came keen and frosty. So, with
failing, feeble legs, upward still, toward the region of the granite and
the snow; toward the eyry of the kite and the eagle.
* * * * *
Brisk as they all were at Garoopna, none were so brisk as Cecil and Sam.
Charles Hawker wanted to come with them, but Sam asked him to go with
Jim, and, long before the others were ready, our two had strapped their
blankets to their saddles, and followed by Sam's dog Rover, now getting
a little gray about the nose, cantered off up the river.
Neither spoke at first. They knew what a solemn task they had before
them; and, while acting as though everything depended on speed, guessed
well that their search was only for a little corpse, which, if they had
luck, they would find stiff and cold under some tree or crag.
Cecil began: "Sam, depend on it, that child has crossed the river to
this side. If he had been on the plains, he would have been seen from a
distance in a few hours."
"I quite agree," said Sam. "Let us go down on this side till we are
opposite the hut, and search for marks by the river-side.
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