and courage of desperation, for he had been hunted by tireless
men who were then close behind him, and had travelled for the most part
starving and without sleep. With a good horse and provisions he could
yet escape his enemies, and the man looked scarcely human as he stood
watching the sleeper with a sullen glow in his eyes.

There was nothing audible but the sighing of the pines and the faint
sound of breathing, and moving a pace nearer he stopped again. The man
he watched was very still, but a little breeze fanned the fire, and
when the flickering radiance passed across his face the watcher almost
betrayed himself with a cry as he recognized him. There was only one
course open to him now, and with the muscles of his right arm
contracting and the lean soil-stained fingers he had clawed his way up
the ravine with closing on the knife, he crept forward another pace.
He had no great fear of anything Horton and the ranchers could do
without the help of this man who could condemn him, and he knew his
capabilities. Now one swift thrust would silence him forever, and once
he could reach the railroad there was a man who for his own sake would
help him safely out of the country with as many dollars as he might
demand. Still, he slipped out of the firelight next second, and the
knife shook a little in his hand.

Alton had lain with his right arm under him, and the starched shirt he
had worn when he left the city showing white where the jacket and
blanket had fallen apart, but now the arm was stretched across his
body. Still, his eyes were closed, and the man who surmised that he
must have moved while he glanced at the provisions closed with him
swiftly, crouching. He stopped again, stooping further, for the arm
and blanket were in the way, and he knew he might have no opportunity
for a second thrust. Something must be risked, and moving his eyes
from the sleeper's face he endeavoured to draw the blanket gently aside.

That was a blunder, for the soil-stained fingers had scarcely touched
the fabric when a fist was dashed full in his face, and as he staggered
backwards something hove itself partly upright and fell upon him.
After that neither of them knew all that had happened, but the knife
fell from a hand whose wrist yielded under a crushing grasp, and was
kicked away and trampled on. Then breathing stertorously they reeled
into a fir, and the assailant's hand was free again, while stones
rattled beneath them as Alt