nd turned over at a
more propitious time. Margaret's whole thoughts now were bent on her
present predicament.

The packing was short work. She stuffed everything into the two bags
that were usually hung across the horse, and settled them carefully
across her shoulders. Then she rolled the blanket, took it in her arms,
and started. It was a heavy burden to carry, but she could not make up
her mind to part with any of her things until she had at least made an
effort to save them. If she should be left alone in the desert for the
night the blanket was indispensable, and her clothes would at least do
to drop as a trail by which her friends might find her. She must carry
them as far as possible. So she started.

It was already high day, and the sun was intolerably hot. Her heavy
burden was not only cumbersome, but very warm, and she felt her strength
going from her as she went; but her nerve was up and her courage was
strong. Moreover, she prayed as she walked, and she felt now the
presence of her Guide and was not afraid. As she walked she faced a
number of possibilities in the immediate future which were startling,
and to say the least, undesirable. There were wild animals in this land,
not so much in the daylight, but what of the night? She had heard that a
woman was always safe in that wild Western land; but what of the
prowling Indians? What of a possible exception to the Western rule of
chivalry toward a decent woman? One small piece of corn bread and less
than a pint of water were small provision on which to withstand a siege.
How far was it to anywhere?

It was then she remembered for the first time that one word--"Walpi!"
uttered by the Indian as he came to a halt the night before and pointed
far to the mesa--"Walpi." She lifted her eyes now and scanned the dark
mesa. It loomed like a great battlement of rock against the sky. Could
it be possible there were people dwelling there? She had heard, of
course, about the curious Hopi villages, each village a gigantic house
of many rooms, called pueblos, built upon the lofty crags, sometimes
five or six hundred feet above the desert.

Could it be that that great castle-looking outline against the sky
before her, standing out on the end of the mesa like a promontory above
the sea, was Walpi? And if it was, how was she to get up there? The rock
rose sheer and steep from the desert floor. The narrow neck of land
behind it looked like a slender thread. Her heart sank at th