from below. As he dragged his
feet from the sand the sunken tracks filled with mud. He felt the
quiver of the river-bed trembling at his weight.

Roy turned to Beulah, the old familiar cold chill traveling up his
spine to the roots of his hair. "It won't bear me up. I'm going
down," he quavered.

"Let me go, then. I'm lighter," she said eagerly.

She made the proposal in all good faith, with no thought of reflecting
on his courage, but it stung her lover like a slap in the face.

"Hurry with that rope!" Charlton sang across. "I'm sinking fast."

"Is there any way for Miss Rutherford to get over to your horse?" asked
Roy quickly.

"She can cross the wash two hundred yards below here. It's perfectly
safe."

As Roy plunged forward, he gave Beulah orders without turning his head.
"You hear, dear. Run down and get across. But go over very carefully.
If you come to a bad place, go back at once. When you get over tie
Charlton's rope to his saddle-horn and throw him the looped end. The
horse will drag him out."

The young woman was off on the run before he had half finished.

Once more Roy coiled and threw the rope. Charlton caught the loop,
slipped it over his head, and tightened it under his arms.

"All right. Pull!" he ordered.

Beaudry had no footing to brace himself. Already he was ankle-deep in
the quicksand. It flashed across his mind that he could not fight his
own way out without abandoning Charlton. For one panicky moment he was
mad to get back to solid ground himself. The next he was tugging with
all the strength of his arms at the rope.

"Keep on the job!" encouraged Charlton. "You're pulling my body over a
little so that the weight is on new sand. If Beulah gets here in time,
I'll make it."

Roy pulled till his muscles ached. His own feet were sliding slowly
from under him. The water-bubbles that oozed out of the sand were now
almost at his high boot-tops. It was too late to think of retreat. He
must go through whether he wanted to or not.

He cast one look down the dry river-bed. Beulah was just picking her
way across. She might get over in time to save Charlton, but before
they made it back across to him, he would be lost.

He wanted to scream aloud to her his urgent need, to beg her, for
Heaven's sake, to hurry. The futility of it he knew. She was already
running with the knowledge to wing her feet that a man's life hung in
the balance. Besides, Charlton was not shr