ement he caught the outlines of the man and his
steed passing at right angles to the course he had been following
himself.

"He is off the trail!" was the alarming fact which caused Warren to make
ready to fire, for the truth was apparent that if he saw the stranger,
the latter had the same opportunity of seeing him.

To his surprise Jack uttered a neigh at the critical moment when the
other was directly opposite. A collision now seemed certain, but the
other kept straight on, and quickly passed from sight.

Not until he had been several minutes beyond hearing did the startling
thought come to Warren Starr:

"That was a white man, and not an Indian."

CHAPTER III.

COMPANIONS IN PERIL.

Warren Starr was impatient with himself that he had not thought of the
stranger being a white man until it was too late to make use of the
important fact. The sounds of firing ahead ought to have raised the
suspicion in his mind, and the act of his pony should have confirmed it,
for he never would have betrayed himself to one of his own species had
he not known that he belonged to a friend.

But it was a waste of time to bewail what could not be helped, and
nothing was to be gained by staying where he was. There was no longer
any call to push onward toward the ranch, for that was not his
destination. He was seeking his folks.

Once more the nose of Jack was turned about, and this time he was headed
toward the northwest, his course being such that it would take him
considerably to the west of the second rocky ridge to which allusion has
been made. In short, Warren had now set out to do that which he would
not have attempted but for the receipt of the message from his father.
He was about to flank both elevations by swerving far from the direct
course to his home.

The small tributary of the Big Cheyenne, which it was necessary to ford
in order to reach the ranch, made a sweeping curve southward, so that
the marked change in the course he was following would take him to it,
though at a point far removed from the regular ford.

The youth was not riding blindly forward. It has been stated that he was
familiar with the country for many miles around his home, and he was
making for a definite point. It was on the bank of the small stream, and
was not only deeply wooded, but abounded with rocks, bowlders,
depressions, ravines, and wild, dangerous places, where it was certain
death for a person to try to make his way in the