The Last of the Plainsmen 



the slope to the notch where the wall curved and 

 followed the base line of the yellow cliff. Quite sud 

 denly I saw a very small black object moving with 

 snail-like slowness. Although it seemed impossible 

 for Sounder to be so small, I knew it was he. Having 

 something now to judge distance from, I conceived 

 it to be a mile, without the drop. If I could hear 

 Sounder, he could hear me, so I yelled encourage 

 ment. The echoes clapped back at me like so many 

 slaps in the face. I watched the hound until he 

 disappeared among broken heaps of stone, and long 

 after that his bay floated to me. 



Having rested, I essayed the discovery of some of 

 my lost companions or the hounds, and began to 

 climb. Before I started, however, I was wise enough 

 to study the rim wall above, to familiarize myself 

 with the break so I would have a landmark. Like 

 horns and spurs of gold the pinnacles loomed up. 

 Massed closely together, they were not unlike an 

 astounding pipe-organ. I had a feeling of my little 

 ness, that I was lost, and should devote every moment 

 and effort to the saving of my life. It did not seem 

 possible I could be hunting. Though I climbed diag 

 onally, and rested often, my heart pumped so hard 

 I could hear it. A yellow crag, with a round head 

 like an old man s cane, appealed to me as near the 

 place where I last heard from Jim, and toward it I 



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