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"Where is she?" it asked "Where is she? Where is she?"
That night Kent did not sleep
The next day there lay ahead of hie, the first of the deeper mountains He climbed this steadily, and at noon had reached the crest And he knew that at last he was looking down into the Valley of Silent Men It was not a wide valley, like the other On the far side of it, three or fourdown upon the greendistance, and in the vivid sunlight he saw the shilow of thick patches of cedar and spruce and balsas of velvety luster areen of the valley Northward, three or four e which he had climbed made a sharp twist to the east, and that part of the valley--following the swing of the range--was lost to him He turned in this direction after he had rested It was four o'clock when he came to the elbow in the valley, and could look down into the hidden part of it
What he saw at first was a giant cup hollowed out of the surrounding mountains, a cup two miles from brim to brim, the end of the valley itself It took him a few moments to focus his vision so that it would pick up the ss half a mile under him, and yet, before he had done this, a sound came up to him that set aquiver every nerve in his body It was the far-down, hollow-sounding barking of a dog
The warathering between hih this he made out after a tiht under hi creek, and close to this lake, yet equally near to the base of the s and a stockade which looked like a toy He could see no ani for a doard trail he began to descend Again he did not question hi certainty possessed him Of all places in the world this must be the Valley of Silent Men
And below him, flooded and half-hidden in the illusive sun-mist, was Marette's old hoed to hi to it he was achieving his last great resting place, his final refuge, his own hoely a part of hi for hily between his lips and he was forced to rest And at last he found hiain and again he was forced to climb back and detour around treacherous slides and precipitous breaks which left sheer falls at his feet The mist thickened in the valley The sun sank behind the western peaks, and swiftly after that the glooht deepened It was seven o'clock when he cae of the plain, at least a mile below the elbohich shut out the cup in the valley He was exhausted His hands were bruised and bleeding Darkness shut him in when he went on