breathed confidence back into us.

And after we had found a deep niche capable of holding
the entire caravan we filed within, ponies and all, I for one
perfectly willing thus to spend the night, let the air at
dawn be what it would. We dined within on bread and
tea, and then, tired to the bone, sought each his place upon
the rocky floor. I slept well, waking only once or twice
by Chiu-Ming's groanings; his dreams evidently were none
of the pleasantest. If there was an aurora I neither knew
nor cared. My slumber was dreamless.





CHAPTER III

RUTH
VENTNOR

The dawn, streaming into the niche, awakened us.
A covey of partridges venturing too close yielded three to
our guns. We breakfasted well, and a little later were
pushing on down the cleft.

Its descent, though gradual, was continuous, and therefore
I was not surprised when soon we began to come
upon evidences of semi-tropical vegetation. Giant rhododendrons
and tree ferns gave way to occasional clumps