SAWYER’S PHAK 31 
‘*We’ve got our work cut out for us here,’’ he re- 
marked casually. ‘‘Look at that canyon down there. 
Isn’t it a corker?”’ 
My exalted mood vanished as completely as died 
the light on the distant peaks. I gazed on the scene 
with new eyes. The spectacle that a moment before 
had been inspiring, full of a vague, beautiful prom- 
ise, was gone. In its place loomed a land of menace 
and mystery. The darkening hills seemed to frown 
ominously, the forest, gloomy and vast, to hold dire 
threats, the rocky canyons to hide dark secrets, 
grimly guarded from profanation by man. For a 
moment a feeling of awe akin to fear swept over me. 
I felt small and quite insignificant. For the first 
and only time during the season I wished heartily 
that I were well out of the whole business. 
Frazer glanced at me and laughed. 
‘“Don’t get scared,’’ he said; ‘‘you’ll live through 
it. Everybody who starts on reconnaissance over- 
estimates the difficulties. You mustn’t let your im- 
agination run away with you. One thing above all 
you’ve got to remember: don’t let any little bit of 
striking scenery get your goat ’til you come to it. 
You'll ofteri see ahead what appears to be a straight- 
away cliff, but when you get there it may turn out 
to be an easy slope. Besides, if you can’t manage to 
get over a bluff or peak you can offset a few chains 
and go round it.’’ 
This sounded all right but I didn’t feel much bet- 
