TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 241 



there was no element of gambling in his schemes, 

 and they always seemed to come out as he had cal- 

 culated. He would chance very little, and was a 

 positivist, and yet when chances had to be taken he 

 took them boldly and fearlessly. There was no half- 

 hearted element in his nature. I would ever take a 

 leaf out of his book; not all the leaves, for some of 

 them won't bear translating. 



When my Marlborough asked " Ready?" I clicked 

 my heels together, stood rigid, and waited if only 

 we had never come along the treacherous path. 

 " Now!" With a sickening rush we slid right over 

 the edge of the kloof, the shaley stones following us 

 in a little shower, and in a sort of mazed shock I 

 realized that the sheer drop was before us to be 

 jumped, or fallen over, somehow. 



"Jump!" came a clear, commanding voice. I 

 jumped obediently. A friendly clump of alders 

 broke my fall, and I was not really hurt, save for the 

 knock my rifle gave me as it jerked in its sling, 

 just dazed, and shaken and very much astonished. 



"Not hurt?" he asked gently. 



" No, Marlborough, not at all." 



We went back to camp through the weird silences 

 of the black ravines, with ah occasional bleat of a 

 startled sheep to break the stillness, or a shrill whistle 

 of a disturbed marmot as he sped over the ground 

 ahead. 



After supper we sat on our terraced plateau, dwarfed 

 by mountain giants, enfiladed on all sides by mighty 

 ravines, marvelling at the wealth of beautiful stars. 



R 



