the crib! fire the crib!" came from fifty throats, and almost as
soon as spoken, the act was consummated.

Wild Bill, angered to find no one on whom to vent his wrath, or shake
his thirst for revenge, looked on the blaze as it rose with gloomy
satisfaction, muttering that he only wished the witch of a woman was
burning in it.

The crowd increased as the flames rose higher and tighter, but no one
tried to check them, and soon it was but a smoldering mass of ruins
where the pretty cottage had stood.

But the late occupant, unharmed, was a mile away, and having just paid
off and discharged her faithful servants, was on the point of mounting
to ride off with the Texan and Mr. Pond, when the last shout of the
dispersing crowd reached her ears.

She smiled when she heard it, and said:

"I can afford all the harm they have done, I led but a lonesome life
there. I feel that the change I am about to make will be for the
better."

The three, with two loaded horses besides those they rode, now moved
quietly but swiftly out of the suburbs of the town, where the horses had
been stabled, and with the Texan leading the way, steered to the
westward, having no compass but the stars.

For an hour the three rode on, and then, pointing to some timber ahead,
the Texan said:

"Addie, there is where you will find him whom you seek. Tell him I have
not altered any of my plans, and that I shall lay in camp to-morrow at
Lone-tree Spring, an hour's gallop south of the Twenty-mile Creek. The
next morning I will follow the trail we spoke of. And now, Addie,
good-by, and don't forgot me."

"You know I will not, I hope yet to see you happy, and to be happier
than I am now. We shall meet again, perhaps, Mr. Pond, but good-night
for now."

And while the Texan and Mr. Pond remained still on their horses, she
rode on, leading one pack-horse, toward a growth of trees seen dimly
ahead.

The Texan remained where he was until he heard her give the signal and
receive an answer, and then turning to Pond, he said:

"She is safe; we may as well move on. We have a long ride to where I
intend to camp."

"All right," said the other, "This night's work seems almost like a
dream. I can hardly realize that Wild Bill would lead such a disgraceful
crowd of ruffians, and do such a dastardly act as to burn a woman out of
house and home."

"Rum takes all the _man_ out of those who use it," said the Texan. "I
use it myself sometimes, I know, but it is wh