r a moment she lay close to him, heart beating against heart. Then,
with a little sobbing sigh, she relaxed and began to weep. Her tears
tugged at his sympathy, but none the less the pulses pounded in his
veins. He held her tight, with a kind of savage tenderness, while his
body throbbed with the joy of her. She had come to him with the same
sure instinct that brings a child to its mother's arms. All her pride
and disdain and suspicion had melted like summer mists in her need of
the love and comfort he could give her.

"It's all right now. You're safe. Nothing can hurt you," he promised.

"I know, but you don't know--what--what--" She broke off, shuddering.

Still with his arm about her, he led Beulah to his horse. Here he made
her sit down while he gave her water and food. Bit by bit she told him
the story of her experience. He suffered poignantly with her, but he
could not be grateful enough that the finger-tip of destiny had pointed
him to her prison. He thanked his rather vague gods that it had been
his footsteps rather than those of another man that had wandered here
to save her.

What surprised and wholly delighted him was the feminine quality of
her. He had thought of her before as a wild young creature full of
pride and scorn and anger, but with a fine barbaric loyalty that might
yet redeem her from her faults. He had never met a young woman so
hard, so self-reliant. She had asked no odds because of her sex. Now
all this harshness had melted. No strange child could have been more
shy and gentle. She had put herself into his hands and seemed to trust
him utterly. His casual opinions were accepted by her as if they had
been judgments of Solomon.

Roy spread his blankets and put the saddle-bags down for a pillow.

"We're not going to stay here to-night, are we?" she asked, surprised.

He smiled. "No, you're going to lie down and sleep for an hour. When
you wake, supper will be ready. You're all in now, but with a little
rest you will be fit to travel."

"You won't go away while I sleep," she said.

"Do you think it likely? No, you can't get rid of me that easy. I'm a
regular adhesive plaster for sticking."

"I don't want to get rid of you," she answered naively. "I'd be afraid
without you. Will you promise to stay close all the time I sleep?"

"Yes."

"I know I won't sleep, but if you want me to try--"

"I do."

She snuggled down into the blankets and was asleep in five min