in finding it, but when they approached the base of the cliff at the point where he had expected to find it it was not there.
Along the foot of the beetling escarpment he searched, almost frantically now, but there was no sign of the opening through which he had crawled into the valley of the land of Midian . Finally, crushed, he faced Lady Barbara. 'I cannot find it,' he admitted, and there was a quality of hopelessness in his voice that touched her.
'Never mind,' she said. 'It must be somewhere. We shall just have to keep searching until we find it.'
'But it's so hard on you young ladies,' he said. 'It must be a bitter disappointment to you. You don't know how it makes me feel to realize that, with no one to depend on but me, I have failed you so miserably.'
'Don't take it that way, please,' she begged. 'Anyone might have lost his bearings in this hole. These cliffs scarcely change their appearance in miles.'
'It's kind of you to say that, but I cannot help but feel guilty. Yet I know the opening cannot be far from here. I came in on the west side of the valley, and that is where we are now. Yes, I am sure I must find it eventually; but there is no need for all of us to search. You and Jezebel sit down here and wait while I look for it.'
'I think we should remain together,' suggested Jezebel.
'By all means,' agreed Lady Barbara.
'As you wish,' said Smith. 'We will search toward the north as far as it is possible that the opening can lie. If we don't find it we can come back here and search toward the south.'
As they moved along the base of the cliff in a northerly direction Smith became more and more convinced that he was about to discover the entrance to the fissure. He thought that he discerned something familiar in the outlook across the valley from this location, but still no opening revealed itself after they had gone a considerable distance.
Presently, as they climbed the rise and gained the summit of one of the numerous low ridges that ran, buttress-like, from the face of the cliff down into the valley, he halted in discouragement.
'What is it?' asked Jezebel.
'That forest,' he replied. 'There was no forest in sight of the opening.'
Before them spread an open forest of small trees that grew almost to the foot of the cliffs and stretched downward to the shore of the lake, forming a landscape of exceptional beauty in its park-like aspect. But Lafayette Smith saw no beauty there—he saw only another proof of his inefficiency and ignorance.
'You came through no forest on your way from the cliffs to the village?' demanded Lady Barbara.
He shook his head. 'We've got to walk all the way back now,' he said, 'and search in the other direction. It is most disheartening. I wonder if you can forgive me.'
'Don't be silly,' said Lady Barbara. 'One might think that you were a Cook's Tour courier who had got lost during a personally conducted tour of the art galleries of Paris and expected to lose his job in consequence.'
'I feel worse than that,' Smith admitted with a laugh, 'and I imagine that's saying a lot.'
'Look!' exclaimed Lady Barbara. 'There are animals of some sort down there in the forest. Don't you see them?'
'Oh, yes,' cried Jezebel, 'I see them.'
'What are they?' asked Smith. 'They look like deer.'
'They are goats,' said Jezebel. 'The North Midians have goats. They roam over this end of the valley.'
'They look like something to eat, to me,' said Lady Barbara. 'Let's go down and get one of them.'
'They will probably not let us catch them,' suggested Lafayette .
'You've a pistol,' the English girl reminded him.
'That's a fact,' he agreed. 'I can shoot one.'
'Maybe,' qualified Lady Barbara.
'I'd better go down alone,' said Smith. 'Three of us together might frighten them.'
'You'll have to be mighty careful or you'll frighten them yourself,' warned Lady Barbara. 'Have you ever stalked game?'
'No,' admitted the American, 'I never have.'
Lady Barbara moistened a finger and held it up. 'The wind is right,' she announced. 'So all you have to do is keep out of sight and make no noise.'
'How am I going to keep out of sight?' demanded Smith. 'You'll have to crawl down to them, taking advantage of trees, rocks and bushes—anything that will conceal you. Crawl forward a few feet and then stop, if they show any sign of nervousness, until they appear unconcerned again.'
'That will take a long time,' said Smith.
'It may be a long time before we find anything else to eat,' she reminded him, 'and nothing we do find is going to walk up to us and lie down and die at our feet.'
'I suppose you are right,' assented Smith. 'Here goes! Pray for me.' He dropped to his hands and knees and crawled slowly forward over the rough ground in the direction of the forest and the goats. After a few yards he turned and whispered: 'This is going to be tough on the knees.'
'Not half as hard as it's going to be on our stomachs if you don't succeed,' replied Lady Barbara.
Smith made a wry face and resumed his crawling while the two girls, lying flat now to conceal themselves from the quarry, watched his progress.
'He's not doing half badly,' commented Lady Barbara after several minutes of silent watching.
'How beautiful he is,' sighed Jezebel.
'Just at present the most beautiful things in the landscape are those goats,' said Lady Barbara. 'If he gets close enough for a shot and misses I shall die—and I know he will miss.'
'He didn't miss Lamech last night,' Jezebel reminded her. 'He must have been aiming at someone else,' commented Lady Barbara shortly.
Lafayette Smith crawled on apace. With numerous halts, as advised by Lady Barbara, he drew slowly nearer his unsuspecting quarry. The minutes seemed hours. Pounding constantly upon his brain was the consciousness that he must not fail, though not for the reason that One might naturally assume. The failure to procure food seemed a less dreadful consequence than the contempt of Lady Barbara Collis.
Now, at last, he was quite close to the nearest of the herd. Just a few more yards and he was positive that he could not miss. A low bush, growing just ahead of him, concealed his approach from the eyes of his victim. Lafayette Smith reached the bush and paused behind it. A little farther ahead he discovered another shrub still closer to the goat, a thin nanny with a large udder. She did not look very appetizing, but beneath that unprepossessing exterior Lafayette Smith knew there must be hidden juicy steaks and cutlets. He crawled on. His knees were raw and his neck ached from the unnatural position his unfamiliar method of locomotion had compelled it to assume.
He passed the bush behind which he had paused, failing to see the kid lying hidden upon its opposite side- hidden by a solicitous mamma while she fed. The kid saw Lafayette but it did not move. It would not move until its mother called it, unless actually touched by something, or terrified beyond the limit of its self control.
It watched Lafayette crawling toward the next bush upon his itinerary—the next and last. What it thought is unrecorded, but it is doubtful that it was impressed by Lafayette 's beauty.
Now the man had reached the concealment of the last bush, unseen by any other eyes than those of the kid. He drew his pistol cautiously, lest the slightest noise alarm his potential dinner. Raising himself slightly until his eyes were above the level of the bush he took careful aim. The goat was so close that a miss appeared such a remote contingency as to be of negligible consideration.
Lafayette already felt the stirring warmth of pride with which he would toss the carcass of his kill at the feet of Lady Barbara and Jezebel. Then he jerked the trigger.
Nanny leaped straight up into the air, and when she hit the ground again she was already streaking north in company with the balance of the herd. Lafayette Smith had missed again.
He had scarcely time to realize the astounding and humiliating fact as he rose to his feet when something struck him suddenly and heavily from behind—a blow that bent his knees beneath him and brought him heavily to earth in a sitting posture. No, not to earth. He was sitting on something soft that wriggled and squirmed. His startled eyes, glancing down, saw the head of a kid protruding from between his legs—little Capra hircus had been terrified beyond the limit of his self-control.
'Missed!' cried Lady Barbara Collis. 'How could he!' Tears of disappointment welled to her eyes.
Eshbaal, hunting his goats at the northern fringe of the forest cocked his ears and listened. That unfamiliar
