d it after finding the soil too light, or after losing a
crop by frost; but George was more curious to discover if there were
any other homesteads in the vicinity. His view was restricted, but
there was no sign of life on the quarter-circle it commanded. A flat,
grassy waste, broken only by a few clumps of brush, ran back to the
horizon, and by the cold blue of the sky and the drift of a few light
clouds floating before the prevalent westerly wind, he knew he was
looking north. This was the way he must take if he could escape, but
there was no house in which he could seek refuge, and scarcely any
cover. It was clear that he must obtain a good start before he was
missed. He had an idea that he would escape, though he admitted that
it was more optimistic than rational.

Then he turned with a start, to see his jailer standing beside him,
grinning. The man had a hard, determined face.

"Guess you can't get out that way; and it wouldn't be much use,
anyhow," he drawled. "The country's pretty open; it would take you a
mighty long while to get out of sight."

"That's how it struck me," George confessed with an air of good-humored
resignation. "Do you mean to keep me here any time?"

"Until the trial," the other answered, standing a little away from him
with his hand thrust suggestively into a pocket. "We'll be glad to get
rid of you when it's finished, but you certainly can't get away before
we let you go."

George cast a glance of keen but unobtrusive scrutiny at the man. They
were, he thought, about equal in physical strength; the other's
superiority consisted in his being armed, and George had no doubt that
he was proficient with his weapons. He had seen a rifle carried into
the building, the man's hand was now resting on a pistol, and there was
a light ax outside. It looked as if an attempt to escape would be
attended with a serious risk, and George realized that he must wait
until chance or some slackening of vigilance on his custodians' part
equalized matters.

He was given breakfast, and afterward told that he could go out and
split some wood, which he was glad to do. There was a pile of branches
and a few rotten boards that had once formed part of the shack, and he
set to work to break them up, while the rustler sat and smoked in the
doorway. The man ran no risk in doing so; there was not a bush within
a quarter of a mile, and George knew that a bullet would speedily cut
short his flight. He could