Further
progress was checked, not so much by lack of desire to go to the
top, but by an involuntary glance over his shoulder. He was not
more than ten feet above the trail, but the trail was shockingly
narrow and uneven. So down he came, quite thrilled by his discovery,
to lean against the rock and laugh scornfully over the silly tales
about Quill's Window and its eerie impregnability. Anybody could
climb up there! All that one needed was a stout heart and a good
pair of arms. Closer inspection convinced him that these niches were
of comparatively recent origin,--certainly they were not of Quill's
time. David Windom? Had that adventurous lad hewn this ladder to
the cave long before the beautiful Alix the First came to complete
the romance of his dreams?
No matter who cut them, they were still there to prove that Quill's
Window was accessible. According to tradition, no one had put foot
inside the cave since David Windom, in his youth, had ventured to
explore its grisly interior. Courtney promised himself that one
day he would enter that unhallowed hole in the wall!
Retracing his steps over the trail, he soon found himself in the
village. He was more cheerful now. He had talked himself into a
better frame of mind....She was shy. She had reached the turning
point,--the inevitable point where women tremble with a strange
mixture of alarm and rapture, and are as timid as the questioning
deer.
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