But Nimrod was blithe and uncon- 

 cerned, so I made no sign of the craven 

 soul within me. For an hour or two we 

 followed the trail, urging our horses as 

 much as possible, but the ascent was 

 difficult, and we could not gain on the 

 speed of the pack train. Then the trail 

 was lost in a gully where the animals had 

 gone in every direction to get through. 



My nerves were now on the rack of 

 suspense. 



Where were they ? Surely, we must 

 have passed them! We were on the 

 wrong trail, perhaps going away from 

 them at every step ! 



The screws of fear grew tighter every 

 moment during the following hours. 

 Nimrod soon found what he considered 

 to be the trail, and we proceeded. 



At last we got to the top. No sign 

 of them. I could have screamed aloud; 



