and ate heartily, praising the food by his actions
much as his words, the Texan ate lightly, yet all that he wanted--not
touching the bread, but using meat entirely.

"There'll be the more left for you," said he, when Pond noticed that he
ate no bread. "I never care for anything but meat on the plains. It
gives bone and muscle, and that is what we need here. The more simple
the food, the better the health. We use ourselves to salt, but we would
be just as well off without it. Eat hearty, and take a good nap. We have
nothing to do to-day. The party whose trail will be our guide to the
"Hills" will not start till late. We shall not move until to-morrow
morning, and then I'll show you the coals of the camp-fire which they'll
light to-night. There will be no need for any shelter but this tree
overhead. Everything looks clean and dry sky-ward--there's no better
camping ground than this for a couple on the plains. The water is good,
feed plenty, and we don't require much fire this time of year."

Pond, tired and sleepy, was only too glad to take the Texan's advice, so
he spread his blanket, lay down, and soon was in the land of dreams.

Meantime the Texan, with a small field-glass in his hand, mounted the
tree, and from a perch on its uppermost limbs, scanned the prairie in
all directions, but most often in the direction from which they had
come.

Nothing was in sight but wild game, scattered here and there, and he
soon came down and prepared to take a rest on his own account.

"They'll not pass till afternoon," he muttered, "and I may as well rest
a few hours while I can in peace and safety."

He took a long and curious look at the form of his sleeping traveling
companion, and a strange smile flitted over his face, as he muttered:

"A mystery, but I can solve it."

CHAPTER XI.
IN THE WILDS.

If ever a man was astonished, when he responded to that after midnight
signal at the mouth of Dead Man's Hollow, it was the outlaw, Persimmon
Bill. He came from his place of concealment expecting to meet the Texan
with news, and found instead Addie Neidic, and with her, on a pack
horse, all the wealth and apparel she had in the world.

"Addie, love, what does this mean?" he cried, as she sprang from the
horse and threw herself into his arms.

"It means this, Bill. I have come to stay with you, go where you go,
live as you live, and die where you die!"

"Addie, dearest, did I not tell you to wait till I could give you a h