Captain Wells, naturally grave and silent from his long training among
savages, grew more and more reticent and watchful as we progressed,
riding often at my side for hours without uttering a word, his keen
eyes warily searching the dark openings upon every hand as if
suspecting that each spot of gloom might prove the chosen place for an
ambuscade. Our Indian allies moved like shadows, gliding over the
ground noiselessly; and the occasional outbursts of merriment from De
Croix and his equally reckless companion grew gradually less frequent,
and appeared more forced. The constant and never-ending toil of our
progress, the depressing gloom of the sombre primeval forest on every
side of us, the knowledge of possible peril lurking in each league of
this haunted silence, weighed upon us all, and at last closed the lips
of even the most jovial of our number.

It was the tenth day, as I remember,--though it may have been later,
for I have no writing to guide me concerning dates,--when we emerged
into a broad valley, treeless save for a thin fringe of dwarfed growth
skirting the bank of a shallow stream which ran almost directly
westward. I cannot describe how sweet, after our gloomy journey, the
sunlight appeared, as we first marked it play in golden waves over the
long grass; or the relief we felt at being able to gaze ahead once more
and see something of the country that we were traversing. 'Twas like a
sudden release from prison. Our jaded horses felt with us the
exhilaration of the change, and moved with greater sprightliness than
they had shown for days. As the sun began its circle downward, vast
rolling hills of white and yellow sand arose upon the right of our line
of march,--huge mounds, many of them, glistening in the sunshine, some
jagged at the summit, others rounded as if by art, so unusual in form
and presence that I ventured to address our leader regarding them, as