It was a close shave, but I had accomplished my purpose and at last was on the southern side of the lake, and a moment later Lobo came bounding to my side and shaking the water from his shaggy coat.
My pack containing provisions and hides had gone with the raft, for I had slipped it from my shoulder to more easily handle the pole, but I still retained my precious bow and arrows and I discovered my spear sticking in the shallow water where it had been cast by the final lurch of the raft.
With my weapons and fire-making appliances intact I had little cause to worry over the loss of my supplies. Thankful that I had escaped with so little damage, I set off down the banks of the stream.
To my left a high, wooded hill rose steeply, but the forest by the riverside was fairly open and level, and I had little trouble in making my way down-stream, although several times I was obliged to make wide detours to avoid jutting ledges and ramparts of rock.
In a few hours I reached the spot where the old wood road ended at the river’s bank and, turning to the south, I left the brawling stream behind and entered the old trail.
On either side were lofty, wooded hills, and these increased in height and steepness until, when some five miles from the river, I found myself in a deep, narrow cleft or pass. Then, rounding a precipitous, rock-strewn promontory, the road entered a wider valley with a low, rounded hill on the farther side and with a tiny brook babbling through the center.
Stepping to one side, I approached the brook to drink, when suddenly I stopped short—listening with bated breath and thumping heart, for my ears had caught a faint, far-away sound of marvelous import—the whistle of a locomotive! Then breaking into a run, I tore madly up the hillside, with Lobo at my heels.
I reached the summit, peered through the thicket, and looked upon a broad, fair valley with a silvery river winding through its fresh green meadows.
Wildly, insanely, I shouted in a very delirium of joy, for gleaming in the soft spring sunshine were the white buildings and shingled roofs of a little village.
