aid, "and see what you would do. I'm not sorry
anyhow. I never did like the idea."

But Tish dislikes relinquishing an idea, once it has taken hold. And,
although she did not speak to Aggie again for the next hour, she went
ahead with her preparations.

"There's still a chance, Lizzie," she said. "It's not likely they'll
give up easy, on account of hiring the Indians and everything."

About a mile and a half down the trail, she picked out a place to hide.
This time there was a cave. We cleared our saddles for action, as Tish
proposed to let them escape past us with the girl, and then to follow
them rapidly, stealing upon them if possible while they were at
luncheon, and covering them with the one real revolver and the three
wooden ones.

The only thing that bothered us was Bill's attitude. He kept laughing to
himself and muttering, and when he was storing things in the cave, Tish
took me aside.

"I don't like his attitude, Lizzie," she said. "He's likely to giggle or
do something silly, just at the crucial moment. I cannot understand why
he thinks it is funny, but he does. We'd be much better without him."

"You'd better talk to him, Tish," I said. "You can't get rid of him
now."

But to tell Tish she cannot do a thing is to determine her to do it.

It was still early, only half-past eight, when she came to me with an
eager face.

"I've got it, Lizzie," she said. "I'll send off Mona Lisa, and he will
have to search for her. The only thing is, she won't move unless she's
driven. If we could only find a hornet's nest again, we could manage. It
may be cruel, but I understand that a hornet's sting is not as painful
to a horse as to a human being."

Mona Lisa, I must explain, was the pack-horse. Tish had changed her name
from Jane to Mona Lisa because in the mornings she was constantly
missing, and having to be looked for.

Tish disappeared for a time, and we settled down to our long wait. Bill
put another coat of stove polish on the weapons, and broke now and then
into silent laughter. On my giving him a haughty glance, however, he
became sober and rubbed with redoubled vigor.

In a half-hour, however, I saw Tish beckoning to me from a distance, and
I went to her. I soon saw that she was holding her handkerchief to one
cheek, but when I mentioned the fact she ignored me.

"I have found a nest, Lizzie," she cried. "Slip over and unfasten Mona
Lisa. She's not near the other horses, which is fortunate."

I th