se to be right here on this horse," rejoined Bo.

Dale heard her, for he turned an instant, then slapped his horse and
started on.

Helen now rode beside Bo, and for a long time they climbed steadily in
silence. Helen knew when that dark hour before dawn had passed, and she
welcomed an almost imperceptible lightening in the east. Then the stars
paled. Gradually a grayness absorbed all but the larger stars. The
great white morning star, wonderful as Helen had never seen it, lost its
brilliance and life and seemed to retreat into the dimming blue.

Daylight came gradually, so that the gray desert became distinguishable
by degrees. Rolling bare hills, half obscured by the gray lifting mantle
of night, rose in the foreground, and behind was gray space, slowly
taking form and substance. In the east there was a kindling of pale
rose and silver that lengthened and brightened along a horizon growing
visibly rugged.

"Reckon we'd better catch up with Roy," said Dale, and he spurred his
horse.

Ranger and Bo's mount needed no other urging, and they swung into a
canter. Far ahead the pack-animals showed with Roy driving them. The
cold wind was so keen in Helen's face that tears blurred her eyes and
froze her cheeks. And riding Ranger at that pace was like riding in
a rocking-chair. That ride, invigorating and exciting, seemed all too
short.

"Oh, Nell, I don't care--what becomes of--me!" exclaimed Bo,
breathlessly.

Her face was white and red, fresh as a rose, her eyes glanced darkly
blue, her hair blew out in bright, unruly strands. Helen knew she felt
some of the physical stimulation that had so roused Bo, and seemed so
irresistible, but somber thought was not deflected thereby.

It was clear daylight when Roy led off round a knoll from which patches
of scrubby trees--cedars, Dale called them--straggled up on the side of
the foot-hills.

"They grow on the north slopes, where the snow stays longest," said
Dale.

They descended into a valley that looked shallow, but proved to be deep
and wide, and then began to climb another foot-hill. Upon surmounting it
Helen saw the rising sun, and so glorious a view confronted her that she
was unable to answer Bo's wild exclamations.

Bare, yellow, cedar-dotted slopes, apparently level, so gradual was the
ascent, stretched away to a dense ragged line of forest that rose
black over range after range, at last to fail near the bare summit of a
magnificent mountain, sunrise-flushed