yet vivid. At
first, where the width of the trail permitted it, she rode beside him,
making an effort to talk casually and lightly, yet not too constantly, but
continually keeping a watchful eye on the drooping figure at her right,
whose hands presently sought and gripped the saddle-horn.

When they left the trail for rougher ground, she dismounted in spite of
Buck's protest, and walked beside him, and it was well she did. Once when
the horse slipped or stumbled on a loose stone and the man's body swayed
perilously in the saddle, she put up both hands swiftly and held him
there.

Before they had gone a mile her boots began to hurt her, but the pain was
so trifling in comparison with what Buck must be suffering that she
scarcely noticed it. He was putting up a brave front, but there were signs
that were difficult to conceal, and toward the end of that toilsome
journey it was evident that he could not possibly have kept his seat much
longer. Indeed, when they had ridden the short length of the little canyon
and stopped before the overhanging shelf of rocks, he toppled suddenly
sidewise, and only the girl's frail body prevented him from crashing
roughly to the ground.

She brought him water from the spring, and searching through his
belongings found a flask of brandy and forced some between his teeth. When
he had recovered from his momentary faintness, she managed somehow to get
him over to the blankets spread beneath the ledge. Then she built a fire
and set some coffee on it to boil, unsaddled Pete, fed and watered the
three horses, finally returning with a cup of steaming liquid to where
Buck lay exhausted with closed eyes.

His face was drawn and haggard, and his lashes, long and soft and thick,
lay against a skin drained of every particle of color. A sudden choking
sob rose to the girl's lips, but she managed to force it back, and when
the man's lids slowly lifted, she smiled tremulously.

"Here's some coffee," she said, kneeling down and holding the rim of the
cup to his lips.

Buck drank obediently in slow gulps.

"You're all nerve," he murmured when the cup was empty. He lay silent for
a few moments. "Don't you think you'd better be starting back?" he asked
at length.

"How can I go and leave you like this?" she protested. "You're so weak.
You might get fever. Anything might happen."

"But you certainly can't stay," he retorted with unexpected decision. "Let
alone a whole lot of other reasons," he went o