A sense of delicious dreaminess overcame me, my musclesrelaxed, and I was on the point of giving way to my desireto sleep when the sound of approaching horses reached myears. I attempted to spring to my feet but was horrified todiscover that my muscles refused to respond to my will. I wasnow thoroughly awake, but as unable to move a muscle asthough turned to stone. It was then, for the first time, that Inoticed a slight vapor filling the cave. It was extremelytenuous and only noticeable against the opening which led todaylight. There also came to my nostrils a faintly pungentodor, and I could only assume that I had been overcome bysome poisonous gas, but why I should retain my mentalfaculties and yet be unable to move I could not fathom.

I lay facing the opening of the cave and where I could seethe short stretch of trail which lay between the cave and theturn of the cliff around which the trail led. The noise of theapproaching horses had ceased, and I judged the Indians werecreeping stealthily upon me along the little ledge which led tomy living tomb. I remember that I hoped they would makeshort work of me as I did not particularly relish the thoughtof the innumerable things they might do to me if the spiritprompted them.

I had not long to wait before a stealthy sound apprised meof their nearness, and then a war-bonneted, paint-streakedface was thrust cautiously around the shoulder of the cliff, andsavage eyes looked into mine. That he could see me in thedim light of the cave I was sure for the early morning sun wasfalling full upon me through the opening.

The fellow, instead of approaching, merely stood and stared;his eyes bulging and his jaw dropped. And then anothersavage face appeared, and a third and fourth and fifth, craningtheir necks over the shoulders of their fellows whom theycould not pass upon the narrow ledge. Each face was thepicture of awe and fear, but for what reason I did not know,nor did I learn until ten years later. That there were stillother braves behind those who regarded me was apparent fromthe fact that the leaders passed back whispered word to thosebehind them.

Suddenly a low but distinct moaning sound issued from therecesses of the cave behind me, and, as it reached the ears ofthe Indians, they turned and fled in terror, panic-stricken. Sofrantic were their efforts to escape from the unseen thingbehind me that one of the braves was hurled headlong fromthe cliff to the rocks below. Their wild cries echoed in thecanyon for a short time, and then all was still once more.

The sound which had frightened them was not repeated, butit had been sufficient as it was to start me speculating on thepossible horror which lurked in the shadows at my back. Fearis a relative term and so I can only measure my feelings atthat time by what I had experienced in previous positions ofdanger and by those that I have passed through since; but I cansay without shame that if the sensations I endured during thenext few minutes were fear, then may God help the coward,for cowardice is of a surety its own punishment.

To be held paralyzed, with one's back toward some horribleand unknown danger from the very sound of which theferocious Apache warriors turn in wild stampede, as a flock ofsheep would madly flee from a pack of wolves, seems to methe last word in fearsome predicaments for a man who hadever been used to fighting for his life with all the energy of apowerful physique.

Several times I thought I heard faint sounds behind me asof somebody moving cautiously, but eventually even theseceased, and I was left to the contemplation of my positionwithout interruption. I could but vaguely conjecture the causeof my paralysis, and my only hope lay in that it might pass offas suddenly as it had fallen upon me.

Late in the afternoon my horse, which had been standingwith dragging rein before the cave, started slowly down thetrail, evidently in search of food and water, and I was leftalone with my mysterious unknown companion and the deadbody of my friend, which lay just within my range of visionupon the ledge where I had placed it in the early morning.

From then until possibly midnight all was silence, thesilence of the dead; then, suddenly, the awful moan of themorning broke upon my startled ears, and there came againfrom the black shadows the sound of a moving thing, and afaint rustling as of dead leaves. The shock to my alreadyoverstrained nervous system was terrible in the extreme, andwith a superhuman effort I strove to break my awful bonds.It was an effort of the mind, of the will, of the nerves; notmuscular, for I could not move even so much as my littlefinger, but none the less mighty for all that. And thensomething gave, there was a momentary feeling of nausea, a sharpclick as of the snapping of a steel wire, and I stood with myback against the wall of the cave facing my unknown foe.

And then the moonlight flooded the cave, and there beforeme lay my own body as it had been lying all these hours,with the eyes staring toward the open ledge and the handsresting limply upon the ground. I looked first at my lifelessclay there upon the floor of the cave and then down at myselfin utter bewilderment; for there I lay clothed, and yet here Istood but naked as at the minute of my birth.

The transition had been so sudden and so unexpected thatit left me for a moment forgetful of aught else than mystrange metamorphosis. My first thought was, is this thendeath! Have I indeed passed over forever into that other life!But I could not well believe this, as I could feel my heartpounding against my ribs from the exertion of my efforts torelease myself from the anaesthesis which had held me. Mybreath was coming in quick, short gasps, cold sweat stood outfrom every pore of my body, and the ancient experiment ofpinching revealed the fact that I was anything other than awraith.

Again was I suddenly recalled to my immediate surroundingsby a repetition of the weird moan from the depths of thecave. Naked and unarmed as I was, I had no desire to facethe unseen thing which menaced me.

My revolvers were strapped to my lifeless body which, forsome unfathomable reason, I could not bring myself to touch.My carbine was in its boot, strapped to my saddle, and as myhorse had wandered off I was left without means of defense.My only alternative seemed to lie in flight and my decisionwas crystallized by a recurrence of the rustling sound fromthe thing which now seemed, in the darkness of the cave andto my distorted imagination, to be creeping stealthily upon me.

Unable longer to resist the temptation to escape this horribleplace I leaped quickly through the opening into the starlightof a clear Arizona night. The crisp, fresh mountain airoutside the cave acted as an immediate tonic and I felt newlife and new courage coursing through me. Pausing upon thebrink of the ledge I upbraided myself for what now seemedto me wholly unwarranted apprehension. I reasoned withmyself that I had lain helpless for many hours within thecave, yet nothing had molested me, and my better judgment,when permitted the direction of clear and logical reasoning,convinced me that the noises I had heard must have resultedfrom purely natural and harmless causes; probably theconformation of the cave was such that a slight breeze hadcaused the sounds I heard.

I decided to investigate, but first I lifted my head to fill mylungs with the pure, invigorating night air of the mountains.As I did so I saw stretching far below me the beautiful vistaof rocky gorge, and level, cacti-studded flat, wrought by themoonlight into a miracle of soft splendor and wondrous enchantment.

Few western wonders are more inspiring than the beautiesof an Arizona moonlit landscape; the silvered mountains inthe distance, the strange lights and shadows upon hog backand arroyo, and the grotesque details of the stiff, yet beautifulcacti form a picture at once enchanting and inspiring; asthough one were catching for the first time a glimpse of somedead and forgotten world, so different is it from the aspect ofany other spot upon our earth.

As I stood thus meditating, I turned my gaze from thelandscape to the heavens where the myriad stars formed agorgeous and fitting canopy for the wonders of the earthlyscene. My attention was quickly riveted by a large red starclose to the distant horizon. As I gazed upon it I felt a spellof overpowering fascination--it was Mars, the god of war,and for me, the fighting man, it had always held the power ofirresistible enchantment. As I gazed at it on that far-gonenight it seemed to call across the unthinkable void, to lure meto it, to draw me as the lodestone attracts a particle of iron.

My longing was beyond the power of opposition; I closedmy eyes, stretched out my arms toward the god of my vocationand felt myself drawn with the suddenness of thought throughthe trackless immensity of space. There was an instant ofextreme cold and utter darkness.