ke the
ripples on a lake, the bunches of buffalo grass here and there, and now
and then an ugly yucca."

"You see just what I see, Ned, and as there is no promise of shelter
we'd better ease our horses a little. Our lives depend upon them, and
even if the Lipans do regain some of their lost ground now it will not
matter in the end."

They let the horses drop into a walk, and finally, to put elasticity
back into their own stiffened limbs, they dismounted and walked awhile.

"If the Lipans don't rest their horses now they will have to do it
later," said Obed, "but as they're mighty crafty they'll probably slow
down when we do. Do you see them now, Ned?"

"Yes, there they are on the crest of a swell. They don't seem to gain on
us much. I should say they are a full mile away."

"A mile and a half at least. The air of these great uplands is very
deceptive, and things look much nearer than they really are."

"Look how gigantic they have grown! They stand squarely in the center of
the sun now."

The sun was low and the Lipans coming out of the southwest were
silhouetted so perfectly against it that they seemed black and
monstrous, like some product of the primitive world. The fugitives felt
a chill of awe, but in a moment or two they threw it off, only to have
its place taken a little later by the real chill of the coming night. A
wind began to moan over the desolate plain, and their faces were stung
now and then by the fine grains of sand blown against them. But as the
Lipans were gaining but little, Ned and Obed still walked their horses.

They went on thus nearly an hour. The night came, but it was not dark,
and they could yet see the Lipans following as certain as death. Before
them the plain still rolled away, bare and brown. There was not a sign
of cover. Ned's spirits began to sink. The silent and tenacious pursuit
weighed upon him. It was time to rest and sleep. The Lipans had been
pursuing for seven or eight hours now, and if they could not catch
fugitives in that time they ought to turn back. Nevertheless, there they
were, still visible in the moonlight and still coming.

Ned and Obed remounted and rode at a running walk, which was easy but
which nevertheless took them on rapidly. But it became evident that the
Lipans had increased their pace in the same ratio, as the distance of a
mile and a half named by Obed did not decrease. Ned looked up longingly
at the sky. There was not a cloud. The moon, round and