The girl's heart sank as they went on, for the sand seemed deep and

drifted in places. She felt she was losing time. The way ahead looked

endless, as if they were but treading sand behind them which only returned

in front to be trodden over again. It was to her like the valley of the

dead, and she longed to get out of it. A great fear lest the moon should

go down and leave her in this low valley alone in the dark took hold upon

her. She felt she must get away, up higher. She turned the horse a little

more to the right, and he paused, and seemed to survey the new direction

and to like it. He stepped up more briskly, with a courage that could come

only from an intelligent hope for better things. And at last they were

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rewarded by finding the sand shallower, and now and then a bit of rock

cropping out for a firmer footing.

The young rider dismounted, and untied the burlap from the horse's feet.

He seemed to understand, and to thank her as he nosed about her neck. He

thought, perhaps, that their mission was over and they were going to

strike out for home now.

The ground rose steadily before them now, and at times grew quite steep;

but the horse was fresh as yet, and clambered upward with good heart; and

the rider was used to rough places, and felt no discomfort from her

position. The fear of being followed had succeeded to the fear of being

lost, for the time being; and instead of straining her ears on the track

behind she was straining her eyes to the wilderness before. The growth of

sage-brush was dense now, and trees were ahead.

After that the way seemed steep, and the rider's heart stood still with

fear lest she could never get up and over to the trail which she knew must

be somewhere in that direction, though she had never been far out on its

course herself. That it led straight east into all the great cities she

never doubted, and she must find it before she was pursued. That man would

be angry, angry if he came and found her gone! He was not beyond

shooting her for giving him the slip in this way.

The more she thought over it, the more frightened she became, till every

bit of rough way, and every barrier that kept her from going forward

quickly, seemed terrible to her. A bob-cat shot across the way just ahead,

and the green gleam of its eyes as it turned one swift glance at this

strange intruder in its chosen haunts made her catch her breath and put

her hand on the pistols.




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