ght crept on, and there was no change in the position, except
that the man sought the sheltering doorway of one of the barns, and
covered his damp shirt with a jacket. But the woman did not move. She
was beyond all conception of time. She was beyond any thought of
personal comfort or fatigue. All she knew was that she must wait--wait
for the coming of her now hated lover, that at least she might snatch
her child from his contaminating arms. And after that--well, after
that--She had no power to think of the afterwards.

The moon rose amidst the obscurity of the fog. It mounted, and at last
reached a height where its silvery light could no longer be denied by
the low-lying mists. But its reign was brief. Its cold splendor
rapidly began to shrink before the pink dawn, and in less than two
hours it was but a dim white circle set in the azure of the new-born
day.

Still the woman remained at her post, her dark eyes straining with her
vigil. She was drenched to the skin with the night-mists, but the
chill of her body was nothing to the chill of her heart. The spy was
still at his post in the barn doorway, but he was slumbering, as was
his canine servitor, lying curled up at his feet. The sun rose, the
mists cleared. And now the warming of day stirred the cattle in the
corrals.

Suddenly the waiting woman started. Her attention had never once
relaxed. She moved out with stiffened joints, and, shading her eyes
with her hand, stared into the gleaming sunlight. Her ears had caught
the distant thud of horses' hoofs, and now her eyes confirmed. Away
down the valley she could see the dim outline of a number of horsemen
riding towards the ranch.

Her heart began to thump in her bosom, and her limbs quaked under her.
What could she do? What must she do? Every thought, every idea that
her long vigil had suggested was swept from her mind. A blank
helplessness held her in its grip. She could only wait for what was to
come.

The pounding of hoofs grew louder, the figures grew bigger. They were
riding out of the sun, and her eyes were almost blinded as she looked
for that which she trembled to behold. She could not be certain of
anything yet, except that the return of her lover was at hand.

Nearer, nearer they came. Nearer, nearer still. Then suddenly a sharp
exclamation broke from the watcher. It was a cry which had in it a
strange thrill. It might have been the gasp of the condemned man at
the sound of the word "reprieve." It mi