l dodge them until it gets dark. I'll drop the
brat into that old well and pull the brush over the opening. I can do it
so that the well will not be found. We'll go back a short distance on
our tracks and then turn off. They'll turn at the same point and follow
us. There's no time to waste. Let me have the brat."

She fought him with all her strength.

"Never! never! never!" she panted. "You'll have to kill me first!"

In a moment or two he realized that, unless he beat or choked her into
unconsciousness, he could not take the infant from her.

"You're a fool--you always were!" he raged.

"Yes, I'm a fool!" she flung back. "I was a fool to ever have anything
to do with you! Back yonder somewhere in the carriage that is following
us is a man who loves me--a noble, manly, honest man. I knew him first,
and he would have married me. Had I not run away from him, I'd be his
wife to-day, and I'd be an honest woman."

"You--you an honest woman!" flung back the ruffian, with a sneering
laugh. "You an honest woman--the daughter of a cattle thief!"

"Laugh! Sneer! Taunt me! Fling my disgrace in my face! And you're the
man I once thought I loved! I thought I did! Ha! ha! ha! You've called
me a fool. It's true! I thought I loved you; but now I hate you--I hate
you!"

"Oh, rats! You're playing to the gallery now, Bessie. Well, we'll have
to move--we'll have to hike lively. The sun is almost down. The shadows
are growing thicker. Will darkness never come?"

"It's come for me!" she groaned. "It's in my heart! It's in my soul! For
me it is the eternal, never-ending night of sin, disgrace, and shame!"

He clutched her arm and dragged her on. Again they stumbled and lunged
and tore their way through the shadowy woods. To their right the sun had
dropped beyond the far-away hills, flinging a last reddish glow up into
the highest sky, and this glow seemed temporarily to lighten the whole
forest. Through a boggy spot they floundered. Through a jungle they
thrust themselves. And at last, as the reddish sky was fading and
turning to lead, they came upon a rutty, winding country road. Darkness
shut down quickly.

A light gleamed ahead of them. It came from the window of a house.

Hitched to a fence corner in front of the house was a horse, attached to
an old wagon.

The man paused beside the wagon.

"Get in!" he commanded.

"What are you going to do?"

"Get in! I'm going to take this team. Somebody who is calling at that
hous