rairie without speech. A chill,
damp wind stung their faces. The immense and empty plain with its cold
shadows wore an ominous look under the lowering sky; a look that
clutched at the breast.

"I t'ink it snow bam-by," Rina had said.

It would need only snow to complete their difficulties. Garth ground his
teeth; and urged his horse afresh up every little rise, eagerly
searching the expanse ahead from the top. A glance at last at the
stretched nostrils and wet flanks of their mounts told him plainly such
a pace would be slowest in the end. Hardest of all to bear was the
necessity of going slowly.

"What do you know of their plans?" he demanded of Rina.

She shook her head. "They not tell me moch," she said. "They t'ink I too
friendly for you!"

Little by little as they rode, the story was drawn painfully out. "Soon
as Charley come to you, they get ready right away," said Rina. "They
catch all horses, and keep them up coulee, and pack everyt'ing. Mary
Co-que-wasa, her go down and watch your house all the time, for good
chance to tak' _her_. When you go out she mak' little fire under the
bank for signal; and Nick Grylls and 'Erbe't and Xavier, them all go
down. They not tak' me."

Garth cursed himself to think how he had played directly into their
hands.

"I wait, and bam-by they bring her back," continued Rina in her toneless
voice. "She ver' quiet. She mak' no cry. By the fire I see her face. It
is the face of a dead woman."

A groan was forced between Garth's clenched teeth. "Did they hurt her?"
he demanded, waiting for the answer like a condemned man waits for the
final stroke.

But Rina shook her head. "Nick Grylls, him tak' off his hat, polite,"
she said. "'Erbe't not say anyt'ing to her."

He breathed again. "Did they refuse to take you along?" he asked.

The stolid brown face was twisted with pain again. She lowered her head,
and clung to the horn of her saddle. "No," she said very low. "They
'fraid to leave me be'ind. But they don' want me. And I want to die when
I see 'Erbe't with _her_. They all glad when t'ink I to die!"

Garth forbore to question her further.

His impatience could scarcely brook the necessary pause to let the
horses feed at noon. It was a camp of wretchedness; none of the three
riders thought of eating. All the while the horses cropped, Garth strode
ceaselessly up and down, biting his lips; while the white-faced boy, who
had not spoken all morning, sat holding his bursting he