mit set for the
trip by Mary Bransford. With no delay whatever, Williams and his men
and the Double A cowpunchers were headed for the ranchhouse, their
horses running hard.

Sanderson was leading them, though close behind came several of the
Double A men, their faces set and grim; and then one of Williams' men,
a young fellow who had admired Mary Bransford from afar; then some more
of the Double A men, and Williams and the remainder of his band of
engineers.

There was no word spoken. In a few swift sentences Sanderson had told
them what had occurred, and there was no need for words as they fled
southwestward.

For a few miles the trail was hard and smooth, and the posse made good
time. Then they struck a stretch of broken country, where volcanic
action had split the surface of the earth into fissures and chasms,
thus making speed impossible.

It took them long to cross the section, and when it was behind them
they found themselves in a hilly country where the going was not much
better than it had been in the volcanic area.

The trail was narrow, and they were forced to travel in single file.
Sanderson led the way, Streak thundering along, a living blot splitting
the brown, barren wasteland, followed closely by other blots, rushing
over the hazardous trail, the echoes of their passing creating a rumble
as of drumfire reverberating in a canon.

They came to a point where the trail led upward sharply, veering around
the shoulder of a hill and dropping precipitously into a valley.

For an instant, as the riders flashed around the shoulder of the hill,
they caught a glimpse of a group of riders coming toward them, visible
to Sanderson and the others as they were for a second exposed to view
in a narrow defile. Then the view of them was cut off, and Sanderson
and the men following him were in the valley, riding desperately, as
before.

Still there had been no word said. Sanderson had seen the oncoming
riders, but he attached no importance to their appearance, for
cowpunchers often rode in groups to some outlying camp, and these men
might belong to some ranch in the vicinity.

There was a straight stretch of hard, smooth trail in the center of the
valley, and Sanderson made Streak take it with a rush. Sanderson
grinned grimly as he heard the other men coming close behind him--they
were as eager as he, and as vengeful.

Up out of the valley went Streak, running with long, smooth leaps that
gave no indicatio