Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/104

"If I meet one of 'em coming down, it will be Good Night, for one of us," he panted; "and it won't be me, either," he added, as he glanced toward the holster where the rubber-plated butt of his Service revolver showed within easy reach of his hand. Without warning, his head and shoulders emerged into bright sunlight, and before him, not ten yards distant, was a cabin. Back into the crack he popped, and held his breath« Silence. He removed his cap and cocked a scrutinizing eye over the edge—the cabin looked tenantless, and he saw that it was a very small cabin, and that it was cunningly built upon the rim of the high cliff, but cleverly concealed from the valley below by a thick growth of scraggy cedars, that extended out over the edge. Toward the south and west the ground slanted abruptly into the timber. The valley lay to the northward, and on the east, a higher shoulder of rock cut off all view. Warily the boy drew himself up and, after a reassuring survey, crossed noiselessly to the door. It was of heavy whip-sawed timber, and instead of windows there were narrow slits between the logs. "Loopholes," thought Connie, and noticed that the slits commanded the head of