g straight for the middle course of the black space dividing
two of the fires ahead. There was little to choose in any direction, so
complete was the circle around the farm, but she had been quick to see
that that little lay here.

She measured the distance she had to go with her eye. It was not far, and
instinctively she reined her horse up to give him breathing for the great
effort to come; an effort which she knew was to be very real indeed.
Approaching steadily she made her preparations. Freeing her right arm from
her blanket she drew one of her revolvers and saw that it was fully
loaded. Then she closely scrutinized the fires. She could make out the
general outline of two vast camps away to the right and left of her. The
fires were in the midst, and right to the limits of the lurid light, she
could see the dim outlines of innumerable tepees, and crowds of moving
figures. It was a sight to put fear into the heart of a daring man, then
how much more so into the heart of a frail woman?

The black stretch before her seemed devoid of tepees, but she was not
sure. Of one thing she felt convinced, even if the camps were confined to
the fires there was no likelihood of these wide intervals being left
unguarded.

Her horse refreshed, she put him into a strong gallop, and in a few
minutes had entered the danger zone. Almost on the instant her surmise
proved correct. The air directly ahead of her split with a fierce yell.
She knew it. It was the Sioux war-cry. The supreme moment had come. It
must be now or never. Clinching her moccasined heels into her horse's
barrel she sent him racing headlong. And as he rushed forward she gripped
her revolver ready for immediate use.

An Indian mounted on a pony suddenly loomed ahead of her. Such was her
pace that he seemed to rush out of the darkness upon her. Yet his pony had
not moved. There was a clatter of speeding hoofs on either side, and she
knew that the alarm had been taken up, and the bloodthirsty warriors from
the camps were in pursuit.

The man ahead appeared only for an instant. Her revolver was covering him,
the terrific speed of her horse helped her aim. She saw the sights of her
weapon; she saw the man. The hammer fell. There was a cry, and the biting
report of the revolver died away in the darkness. She had passed the spot
where the man had been. Horse and rider had vanished. She had no thought
for anything now. She was conscious of only one thing, the din of
pursuit