'
In a moment it was visibly larger and denser.
While with one edge it clung to the mountain, with
the other it reached farther and farther out into the
air above the lower slopes. At the same time it ex-
tended itself to north and south, joining small
patches of mist that appeared to come out of the
mountain-side on exactly the same level, with an in-
telligent design to be absorbed. And so it grew and
grew until the summit was shut out of view from
the valley, and over the valley itself was an ever-
extending canopy, opaque and grey. At Calistoga,
which lies near the head of the valley and the foot
of the mountain, there were a starless night and a
sunless morning. The fog, sinking into the valley,
had reached southward, swallowing up ranch after
ranch, until it had blotted out the town of St.
Helena, nine miles away. The dust in the road was
laid; trees were adrip with moisture; birds sat
silent in their coverts; the morning light was wan
and ghastly, with neither colour nor fire.
Two men left the town of St. Helena at the first
glimmer of dawn, and walked along the road north-
ward up the valley toward Calistoga. They carried
guns on their shoulders, yet no one having knowledge
of such matters could have mistaken them for
hunters of bird or beast. They were a deputy sheriff
from Napa and a detective from San Francisco--
Holker and Jaralson, respectively. Their business
was man-hunting.
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