mpassable barrier across the road.
Suddenly, just as Jose and Gallito had almost reached them and the
sheriff was gaining upon the fugitives in great leaps, he saw them
swerve their horses aside and dash into a clump of trees to the right of
the rocks.

"Oh, the fools! the fools! I got 'em now. Instead of going for the
rocks, they've made for the trees."

A few minutes later he and his men found the horses ridden by Gallito
and Jose blown and hard-breathing among the trees, but no trace could
they discover of the men they sought. Beyond the three rocks the
character of the hills changed strikingly. Instead of the wide,
undulating, wooded plateau, over which riding was so easy, the mountains
suddenly seemed split by mighty gashes, a great pocket of crevasses and
towering cliffs.

The sheriff and his men beat about aimlessly and conscientiously for
several hours, but in vain. Jose and Gallito had long before "hit" the
secret trail. So finally the sheriff, who was inclined to put less faith
than ever in Hanson's representations, and convinced in his own mind
that Gallito was merely conniving at the escape of an unregenerate
brother, and that Mrs. Nitschkan's tale was true, called off his men and
rode home. "The cuss ain't important," he remarked, "and I guess
Gallito'll be glad enough to make up Nitschkan's loss to her and keep
her mouth shut."

* * * * *

It was evening. Pearl and Seagreave sat in the door of the cabin. Her
head drooped, her hands lay listlessly in her lap, and her brooding gaze
was fixed on the soft, dark night. "Oh," she cried at last, "how can I
do anything but leave you? Look at the mischief I've done in the world.
Look at it!"

Seagreave clasped his arms about her and laid his cheek on hers. "Let's
forget it all, Pearl, forget that you've been a firebrand and I've been
a quitter, and begin life all over again. There's only one thing in it,
anyway, and that's love."

"Just love," she answered softly. "Well, love's enough."

* * * * *

APPLETON'S RECENT BOOKS

NOVELS

JAPONETTE (The Turning Point). By Robert W. Chambers, author of "The
Common Law," "The Firing Line," "The Fighting Chance," "Iole," etc. With
26 pictures by Charles Dana Gibson. Inlay on Cover. Cloth, $1.35 net.
Postpaid, $1.47.

"Japonette" is one of the most delightful stories Mr. Chambers has ever
written. It is the romance of a bewilderingly prett