er."

She looked up at him with shining eyes and put her arms about his
neck, and she saw the unbelievable wonder in his face. The man
trembled. Then he took her and held her and kissed her, time after
time.

"Joe Price said I could never be satisfied away from the desert unless
I took along something that was of it," he muttered hoarsely; "I
wonder----"

"Yes, Roger, he meant me."

"We can't make it," he said softly. "Not the two of us--but Laura,
girlie, _this_ is worth the game!"

"Yes we can, Roger," she said eagerly. "Think! We can be married when
we've left the desert. It's not quite ten miles to Boxall Canon. We
can go up Boxall over the range and cross Death Flat."

"I was thinking of that, sweetheart," he replied. "But no horse can
get up Boxall, an' if he did he couldn't get across Death Flat. Few
men have crossed that stretch. It's well named. I might try it alone;
but you--no, Laura. It just ain't in the pictures!"

"We don't need horses, Roger. You've forgotten the burros. They'll
kill any horse on the desert, won't they? We can take two or three
loaded with food and water."

"But it's miles and miles an' then some--an' it all looks alike."

"But when we've reached the other side, Roger?"

He drew away from her and stepped to the door. He could not see or
hear anything. When he turned and again approached her, his face was
white. He looked at Mallory, who was standing with a look of
stupefaction on his lined face.

"Wait!" he said and stepped into another room. In a few moments he was
back, holding a money belt in his hands. He took out gold and bills
and deposited the money on the table.

The others stared.

"There's about six thousand there, Mallory. It's gamblin' money. Turn
it in to the bank to make or help out Doane's shortage. I've got just
twenty-five hundred left which I earned in a better way."

"Daddy, get the burros!" cried the girl. "We're going!"

* * * * *

Sheriff Bob Long looked down from a ledge above a narrow, deep,
boulder-strewn, awe-inspiring canyon and drew in his breath sharply.
Below he saw two human beings and three animals.

"I knew he'd try it," Long said wonderingly to himself. "I thought
he'd try it afoot. But the girl! And they're going to try to cross
Death Flat!"

His look of wonder increased, and he made no move toward the weapons
in his holsters.

"I wonder now," he mused. "Can they make it? I wonder----"