t the dreary wail of wind in
the neighboring bluff. His fingers were so numbed that he could scarcely
hold his carbine, his horse stood wearily with drooping head, and when a
minute or two had passed Curtis struck the door violently. It opened, and
Jepson stood in the entrance, holding a lamp.

"All alone?" he remarked good-humoredly. "Where's your partner? But come
in; it's fierce to-night."

"Then stand out of my way. I've come for Glover."

Jepson laughed.

"Looked as if you were after somebody. He isn't here, but you had better
see for yourself. Walk right in; you're welcome to find him."

The house contained four small rooms, which had nothing in them that
would hide a man, and in a minute or two Curtis sprang out of the door
and scrambled to his saddle. He did not think Glover would seek refuge in
any of the outbuildings, and he rode toward the thin bluff that hid the
ravine. The man might have reached the trees, unseen, by keeping the
house between himself and the slope down which Curtis had come. He had
not left the house long before he heard the sharp drumming of a gallop,
and drove his horse at the belt of timber. All had turned out as he had
expected. Stanton had headed off Glover as he slipped away down the
ravine, and the outlaw had broken out to the north, making for a tract of
lonely, bluff-strewn country. He was now between the corporal and the
trooper, and his capture might be looked for, provided that Curtis's
mount could bear a sharp gallop, which was doubtful.

The sides of the ravine were steep and clothed with brush, there were
fallen logs in the fringing bluff, but Curtis urged his jaded horse
mercilessly toward the timber, and went through it with rotten branches
smashing under him. Once or twice the beast stumbled, but it kept its
feet, and in a few more moments they reeled down the declivity. A fall
might result in the rider's getting a broken leg and afterward freezing
to death, but Curtis took risks of this nature lightly, and, reaching the
bottom safely, somewhat to his surprise, he struggled up the opposite
ascent.

From the summit he saw two dark, mounted figures pressing across the open
plain some distance apart. By riding straight out from the ravine he
thought that he could cut off the leader. His weariness had fallen from
him, the mad drumming of hoofs fired his blood, and as he burst out of
the timber at a gallop the moon came through. The fugitive seemed to hear
him, for he a