TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 239 



with the cliff on our left, the drop down into the ravine 

 on our right, we covered a few hundred yards only 

 to find that the path was barred as the Leader had 

 feared, by a sheer drop leading down to nothingness. 

 He only smiled at me, and being a man there was no 

 triumphant, " Told you so." 



Turning to go back again, we luckily delayed our 

 return for a moment that we might watch the flight 

 of two golden eagles circling far above us in blue 

 ether. Suddenly a mighty dismemberment sounded 

 through all the ravine, a splitting, tearing noise which 

 wakened the very echoes, and the path, our road to 

 safety, receded from our very feet, leaving us with 

 but a scanty foothold. The stones and earthworks of 

 centuries caved in, loosened by the chance passing 

 over. The Leader said I must be very heavy ! The 

 gap widened to an impassable gulf, and for some 

 minutes little rivulets of earth and stones chased 

 each other down the chasm just created. We had 

 now got ourselves into a really awkward situation. 

 With the cracking away of the path behind us the 

 way we had come was effectually closed, to climb 

 upwards was unthinkable, for the face of the cliff 

 curved, prow-like, over our heads. Below was the 

 steep shale slope, then a drop, and the dried water 

 course, in the bed of which a few stunted alders 

 struggled to grow. 



The Leader looked at me. ' ' You are not fright- 

 ened?" he asked. And I was not annoyed at such 

 a question as I surely would have been at any other 

 time, for there was that in his voice which said plainer 



