e no telltale smoke. The
Ranger and his riders are out by now, as like as not."

"You seem very familiar with the country," she said, moving easily toward
the rifle which he had leaned against a tree, while he busied himself with
the pack of supplies.

"I am," he answered. "I have been forced to learn it thoroughly. By the
way, Miss Andres,"--he added, without turning his head, as he knelt on the
ground to take food from the pack,--"that Winchester will do you no good.
It is not loaded. I have the shells in my belt." He arose, facing her, and
throwing open his coat, touched the butt of a Colt forty-five that hung in
a shoulder holster under his left armpit. "This will serve in case quick
action is needed, and it is always safely out of your reach, you see."

The girl laughed. "I admit that I was tempted," she said. "I might have
known that you put the rifle within my reach to try me."

"I thought it would save you needless disappointment to make things clear
at once," he answered. "Breakfast is ready."

The incident threw a strong light upon the character with which Sibyl had
to deal. She realized, more than ever, that her only hope lay in so
winning this man's sympathies and friendship that he would turn against
whoever had forced him into his present position. The struggle was to be
one of those silent battles of the spirit, where the forces that war are
not seen but only felt, and where those who fight must often fight with
smiling faces. The girl's part was to enlist her captor to fight for her,
against himself. She saw, as clearly, the need of approaching her object
with caution. Eager to know who it was that ruled this man, and by what
peculiar power a character so strong could be so subjected, she dared not
ask. Hour after hour, as they journeyed deeper and deeper into the
mountain wilds, she watched and waited for some sign that her companion's
mood would make it safe for her to approach him. Meanwhile, she exercised
all her womanly tact to lead him to forget his distasteful position, and
so to make his uncongenial task as pleasant as possible.

The girl did not realize how far her decision, in itself, aroused the
admiring sympathy of her captor. Her coolness, self-possession, and
bravery in meeting the situation with calm, watchful readiness, rather
than with hysterical moaning and frantic pleading, did more than she
realized toward accomplishing her purpose.

During that long forenoon, she sought to enga