was soothing, and the sight of
their turbulent rush seemed to hold sympathy for her troubled heart. And
so she lay there, her head propped upon a supporting hand, and yielded
herself to the sway of her emotions.

After a while tears dimmed her eyes. They overflowed down her cheeks.
She had reached the end of endurance before yielding to her woman's
pitiful weakness. Time had no meaning now. Place had lost its
influence. She saw nothing, knew nothing but the trouble which had
robbed her of all she lived for.

Then came the inevitable. Her tears eventually relaxed the tension of
her nerves, and, after several ineffectual attempts to keep them open,
the weight of the atmosphere closed her eyes and yielded her the final
mercy of sleep.

* * * * * *

Elvine awoke with a start. She awoke with the conviction of the presence
of the man she had met in the hill regions before. She knew some one was
near her, but, for the moment----

Yes. She sat up. A pair of brown eyes were gazing down into hers. Then
came the voice, and it was low, and gentle. It had nothing startling in
it.

"Why, say, an' I've been hunting your trail this hour, taking you
for--some one else."

Nan had been standing with her arm linked through her horse's reins. Now
she relinquished them, and flung herself upon the ground before the
startled woman.

Elvine stared at her with unease in her dark eyes. Nor did she gain
reassurance from the pretty face with its soft brown hair, and the
graceful figure beneath its brown cloth riding suit. Yet she was not
insensible to the companionship. Her greater fears had been of the man,
Sikkem, who had been in her waking thoughts.

"You were following my tracks?" she demanded uncertainly.

Nan's eyes grew grave.

"I certainly was. Though I didn't guess they were yours. Say, you must
have crossed the tracks I was following," she added thoughtfully. "Did
you see anybody? Four fellers? Mighty tough-looking citizens, an'
strangers?"

The frankness of the girl reestablished confidence.

Elvine sat up.

"No," she said. Then the wonder of it possessed her. "But you--you
alone were following on the tracks of four tough strangers?" she cried
incredulously.

Nan smiled. Her smile was pretty. It was a confident, wise little smile.

"Sure," she said. "I saw them, and it was up to me. You see, Evie, we
folks out here kind of need to think diff'rent. A girl ca