sation sent a chill through him. The rise up which he was
climbing must be the ridge which formed the bluff above the cave. If he
were not over it quickly, the Rider would be the first at the cave and
Durham's scheme for his capture defeated.

The thought drove the last vestige of dizziness from his brain. He faced
the slope and forced his way through the tangled undergrowth until he
came to the top and saw the moonlight gleaming on the surface of the
pool and illuminating with its silvery sheen the open space at the foot.

There was no sign of the horse he expected to see, and no sound came
from the cave. With his carbine ready, he crept slowly and silently down
until he was at the mouth. A stray moonbeam fell upon the spot where he
had seen the clothes on his former visit. The spot was bare.

He was about to step into the cavern when he heard the distant tread of
the horse. Quickly drawing back, he hid himself behind a clump of shrubs
which sheltered him, while leaving him a clear view in front up to the
line of bushes stretching from the bank to the water's edge. There he
waited, while the sound of the horse approaching became more and more
distinct.

Presently it was so clear he could hear the snapping of the twigs of the
undergrowth as they were trampled down, and he levelled his carbine so
as to cover the man immediately he and his horse emerged from the line
of bushes. But when the animal appeared, for the moment Durham thought
it was riderless. Only when it reached the middle of the open space and
was almost directly below him did he see the man, lying forward over the
withers, with his arms weakly clinging to the horse's neck and his legs
swaying limply as they dangled with the feet out of the stirrups.

Of its own accord the horse stopped. The man painfully pushed himself up
until he was able to turn his head and look from side to side.

He was scarcely ten yards from Durham, and the clear light of the moon
revealed the face as distinctly as though it were day. The close-cropped
hair, fair almost to whiteness, the eyebrows and eyelashes of the same
hue; the general form of the face showing above the beard were
incongruously, yet elusively, familiar, while the pallor of the cheeks
and the anguish of the eyes told of the terrible injury the man had
sustained.

He was trying to push himself up so as to sit in the saddle. Only his
arms seemed to have any strength, for the legs still dangled limply and
the f