And now,—­as they approached,—­the frowning entrance of Clear Creek Canyon grew more and more clearly defined.  The higher peaks appeared to draw back and hide themselves behind the foothills, which—­as the men came closer under their immediate slopes and walls—­seemed to grow magically in height and bulk.  A little before noon, they were in the rocky vestibule of the canyon.  On either hand, the walls rose almost sheer, while their road, now, was but a narrow shelf under the overhanging cliffs, below which the white waters of the stream—­cold from the snows so far above—­tumbled impetuously over the boulders that obstructed their way—­filling the hall-like gorge with tumultuous melody.  Soon, the canyon narrowed to less than a stone’s throw in width.  The walls grew more grim and forbidding in their rocky nearness.  And then they came to that point where, on either side, great cliffs, projecting, form the massive, rugged portals of the mountain’s gate.

First seen, from a point where the road rounds a jutting corner on the extreme right, the projecting cliffs ahead appear as a blank wall of rock that forbids further progress.  But, as the men moved forward,—­the road swinging more toward the center of the gorge,—­the cliffs seemed to draw apart, and, through the way thus opened, they saw the great canyon and the mountains beyond.  It was as though a mighty, invisible hand rolled silently back those awful doors to give them entrance.

Abruptly, upon the inner side of the narrow passage the canyon widens to many times the width of the outer vestibule; and the road, crossing the creek, curves to the left; so that, looking back as they went, the two men saw the mighty doors closing again, behind them—­as they had opened to let them in.  It was as though that spirit sentinel, guarding the treasures of the hills, had jealously barred the way, that no one else from the world of men might follow.

Aaron King stopped.  Drawing a deep breath, and removing his hat, he turned his face from that mountain wall, upward to the encircling pine-fringed ridges and towering peaks.  He had, indeed, come far from the world that he had always known.

Conrad Lagrange, smiling, watched his friend, but spoke no word.

Clear Creek Canyon is a deep, narrow valley, some fifteen miles in length, and approaching a mile in its greatest width; lying between the main range of the San Bernardinos and the lower ridge of the Galenas.  The lower end of the canyon is shut in by the sheer cliff walls, and by the rugged portals of the narrow entrance; the upper end is formed by the dividing ridge that separates the Clear Creek from the Cold Water country which opens out onto the Colorado Desert below San Gorgonio Pass and the peaks of the San Jacintos.  Perhaps two miles above the entrance the canyon widens to its greatest width; and in this portion of the little valley,—­which extends some five miles to where the walls again draw close,—­located on the benches above the boulder-strewn wash of Clear Creek, are the homes of several mountain ranchers, and the Government Forest Ranger Station.