“A long way from here,” she replied.  “I must be off at once.”

“Let me go with you, Miss Weston,” Reynolds suggested.  “You are unarmed, and may meet another grizzly before you reach home.”

“How do you know who I am?” the girl asked.  “You never saw me before, did you?”

“We travelled up the coast together on the Northern Light,” Reynolds explained.  “I was the one who drew the captain’s attention to that canoe when the fog-bank lifted.  You remember that, I suppose.”

“Indeed I do, and too well at that.  I wish that the fog had not lifted just then.  Your eyes were too sharp that morning.”

“But the men in the canoe were not sorry, though.  They seemed to be mighty glad to be picked up.”

“It is too bad that the fog lifted when it did,” and the girl gave a deep sigh.

“You know the men, then?”

“Only one, but he is enough.”

“I saw you with him at the dance.  I suppose he is the one you mean.”

“Where is he now?” There was a note of sternness in the girl’s voice.

“At Big Draw.  Any message I can take to him?”

The girl’s face underwent a marvellous change.  It was like the sweep of a cloud over a sunny landscape.  She touched Midnight with her whip, and he sprang forward.  Down the trail he clattered at a reckless gait, and when he had reached the level below his rider swung him sharply around.  Then he bounded upward, and when near to where Reynolds was standing, Glen pulled him up with a sudden jerk.

“There is no message,” she announced.  “Why have you misjudged me?  Are all men alike?  Thank you for what you did for me to-day.  Good-by.”

She again lifted her whip and it was about to fall upon Midnight’s flank when Reynolds stepped forward and laid his right hand upon the horse’s bridle.

“Forgive me,” he pleaded.  “I meant nothing.  I was merely joking.  Perhaps I understand more than you realise.  May I accompany you home?  It is not safe for you to travel alone, unarmed as you are, in a place like this.”

“No, no, you must not come,” the girl protested.  “It is much safer for me than it would be for you.  Never cross the Golden Crest.  I have warned you, so remember.”

Again she touched her whip to Midnight, who leaped forward up the steep trail, pleased to be away from the place where he had received such a fright.  Only once did the girl look back to wave a friendly hand to Reynolds ere a sharp turn in the trail hid her from view.

CHAPTER VII

BOTTLES WILL DO

For a few minutes Reynolds stood and looked up the trail after the girl and horse had disappeared from view.  He was strongly tempted to follow to the heights above to see what lay beyond.  He refrained, however, as the afternoon was fast wearing away, and he had a heavy load to carry back to camp.  Retracing his steps to the brook, he walked up the ravine until he came to the spot where the grizzly was lying, half buried beneath the rocks and earth.