The sun was sinking toward the western hilltops, and a chillness began creeping about him as the shadows lengthened across the base of the mountain, leaving only the heights in the glowing light.

“Really, you know, I can’t say what I am to do. I’m a stranger here — ”

It seemed odd to him at the moment, but her face, framed in the huge sunbonnet, — a delicate flower set in a rough calyx, — suddenly lost all expression. She did not move nor open her lips. Thryng thought he detected a look of fear in the boy’s eyes, as he crept closer to her.

In a flash came to him the realization of the difficulty. His friend had told him of these people, — their occupations, their fear of the world outside and below