food. Helen simply stared at her.

"Bo, you CAN'T EAT!" she exclaimed.

"I should smile I can," replied that practical young lady. "And you're
going to if I have to stuff things in your mouth. Where's your wits,
Nell? He said we must eat. That means our strength is going to have some
pretty severe trials.... Gee! it's all great--just like a story! The
unexpected--why, he looks like a prince turned hunter!--long, dark,
stage journey--held up--fight--escape--wild ride on horses--woods
and camps and wild places--pursued--hidden in the forest--more hard
rides--then safe at the ranch. And of course he falls madly in love with
me--no, you, for I'll be true to my Las Vegas lover--"

"Hush, silly! Bo, tell me, aren't you SCARED?"

"Scared! I'm scared stiff. But if Western girls stand such things, we
can. No Western girl is going to beat ME!"

That brought Helen to a realization of the brave place she had given
herself in dreams, and she was at once ashamed of herself and wildly
proud of this little sister.

"Bo, thank Heaven I brought you with me!" exclaimed Helen, fervently.
"I'll eat if it chokes me."

Whereupon she found herself actually hungry, and while she ate she
glanced out of the stage, first from one side and then from the other.
These windows had no glass and they let the cool night air blow in.
The sun had long since sunk. Out to the west, where a bold, black
horizon-line swept away endlessly, the sky was clear gold, shading
to yellow and blue above. Stars were out, pale and wan, but growing
brighter. The earth appeared bare and heaving, like a calm sea. The wind
bore a fragrance new to Helen, acridly sweet and clean, and it was so
cold it made her fingers numb.

"I heard some animal yelp," said Bo, suddenly, and she listened with
head poised.

But Helen heard nothing save the steady clip-clop of hoofs, the clink of
chains, the creak and rattle of the old stage, and occasionally the low
voices of the men above.

When the girls had satisfied hunger and thirst, night had settled down
black. They pulled the cloaks up over them, and close together leaned
back in a corner of the seat and talked in whispers. Helen did not have
much to say, but Bo was talkative.

"This beats me!" she said once, after an interval. "Where are we, Nell?
Those men up there are Mormons. Maybe they are abducting us!"

"Mr. Dale isn't a Mormon," replied Helen.

"How do you know?"

"I could tell by the way he spoke of his friends