s crept on and he did not come, her anxiety
increased. The sun had gone more than an hour past the midheavens before
he came. He had ridden fast; she had heard the quick strokes of the
horse's hoofs on the ground before she saw him. "Why comes he riding
like that?" she thought, and ran to meet him. As he drew near, she saw
to her surprise that he was riding a new horse. "Why, Alessandro!" she
cried. "What horse is this?"

He looked at her bewilderedly, then at the horse. True; it was not his
own horse! He struck his hand on his forehead, endeavoring to collect
his thoughts. "Where is my horse, then?" he said.

"My God! Alessandro," cried Ramona. "Take the horse back instantly. They
will say you stole it."

"But I left my pony there in the corral," he said. "They will know I
did not mean to steal it. How could I ever have made the mistake? I
recollect nothing, Majella. I must have had one of the sicknesses."

Ramona's heart was cold with fear. Only too well she knew what summary
punishment was dealt in that region to horse-thieves. "Oh, let me take
it back, dear!" she cried, "Let me go down with it. They will believe
me."

"Majella!" he exclaimed, "think you I would send you into the fold of
the wolf? My wood-dove! It is in Jim Farrar's corral I left my pony. I
was there last night, to see about his sheep-shearing in the autumn. And
that is the last I know. I will ride back as soon as I have rested. I am
heavy with sleep."

Thinking it safer to let him sleep for an hour, as his brain was
evidently still confused, Ramona assented to this, though a sense of
danger oppressed her. Getting fresh hay from the corral, she with her
own hands rubbed the horse down. It was a fine, powerful black horse;
Alessandro had evidently urged him cruelly up the steep trail, for
his sides were steaming, his nostrils white with foam. Tears stood
in Ramona's eyes as she did what she could for him. He recognized her
good-will, and put his nose to her face. "It must be because he was
black like Benito, that Alessandro took him," she thought. "Oh, Mary
Mother, help us to get the creature safe back!" she said.

When she went into the house, Alessandro was asleep. Ramona glanced
at the sun. It was already in the western sky. By no possibility could
Alessandro go to Farrar's and back before dark. She was on the point
of waking him, when a furious barking from Capitan and the other dogs
roused him instantly from his sleep, and springing to hi