his love, but she
was deeply attached to her poor mother, whose health was utterly broken,
and who seemed to stand in dread of her father. The girl could not bear
to leave her mother, though he had implored her to do so and be married
at once. "She told me the last time I saw her that old Burnham had sworn
to kill me if he caught me around the place, so I have to come armed,
you see;" and he exhibited his heavy revolver. "There's something shady
about the old man, but I don't know what it is."

At last we crossed the stream, and soon reached a point where we
dismounted and fastened our horses among the willows; then slowly and
cautiously began the ascent to the ranch. The slope here was long and
gradual, and before we had gone fifty yards Baker laid his hand on my
arm.

"Wait. Hush!" he said.

Listening, we could distinctly hear the crunching of horses' hoofs, but
in the darkness (for the old moon was not yet showing over the range to
the east) we could distinguish nothing. One thing was certain: those
hoofs were going towards the ranch.

"Heavens!" said Baker. "Do you suppose that Gleason has got the start of
us after all? There's no telling what mischief he may do. He swore he
would stand inside those walls to-night, for there was no Chinaman on
earth whom he could not bribe."

We pushed ahead at the run now, but within a minute I plunged into some
unseen hollow; my Mexican spurs tangled, and down I went heavily upon
the ground. The shock was severe, and for an instant I lay there
half-stunned. Baker was by my side in the twinkling of an eye full of
anxiety and sympathy. I was not injured in the slightest, but the breath
was knocked out of me, and it was some minutes before I could forge
ahead again. We reached the foot of the steep slope; we clambered
painfully--at least I did--to the crest, and there stood the black
outline of Starlight Ranch, with only a glimmer of light shining through
the windows here and there where the shades did not completely cover the
space. In front were three horses held by a cavalry trooper.

"Whose horses are these?" panted Baker.

"Lieutenant Gleason's, sir. Him and Corporal Potts has gone round
behind the ranch with a Chinaman they found takin' in water."

And then, just at that instant, so piercing, so agonized, so fearful
that even the three horses started back snorting and terrified, there
rang out on the still night air the most awful shriek I ever heard, the
wail of a w