eir trail had been lost in the rocky soil, Harding
found that the men had not passed, so they turned back for W----,
arriving there by nightfall.

The coaches that came in from the South and East the next morning
brought valuable mail for Last Chance, and, to the surprise of all, a
lady passenger. She was young and veiled, but enough was seen of her
face to reveal its beauty.

She was dressed in perfect keeping for one on a long journey, and
carried only a small trunk with her. She told the station-agent that her
name was Celeste Seldon, and that she had come West for a double
purpose, searching for her father, and one other whom she was most
anxious to find.

The last she had heard of her father was in a letter dated from W----,
and a secret communication, also mailed from W----, was the last tidings
received from the second person she sought.

"I wrote you, Mr. Agent," she said in her sweet way, "asking about a
young man, Bernard Brandon by name, who had come West upon a special
mission. You replied that he had been to W---- and gone on from here to
Last Chance, a mining-camp, and though I have written there, no response
came, so I decided to come myself and investigate. Have you heard
anything more of Mr. Brandon?"

The agent looked troubled and, seeing it, she said quickly:

"You have heard of him, so I beg you to tell me all."

"I regret to say, miss, that he was wounded on his way to Last Chance,
shot by road-agents; but here is Harding, the driver of the Last Chance
coach, and he can tell you all."

Harding did not appear to like having to give pain to the young girl,
but he frankly told her of the wound of the young man, who could be no
other than Bernard Brandon, and the pitiful result.

"I will go to him. When do you start, sir?"

"This afternoon, miss; but the trail is a very dangerous one, and I had
better bring him back with me."

"No, I will go with you and I will speak for the box-seat, if it is not
engaged."

"Oh, no; no seats are engaged, for all dread the trail between here and
Last Chance."

"I do not, so I ride with you, sir, on the box-seat," was the determined
reply of the young girl.

She paid her fare, and when the coach started, after having dinner at
the agent's, mounted to the box with Harding's aid, and took her seat by
the young driver, while the crowd yelled lustily as they drove off to
face the dangers of the trail.

Harding drove off with the air of one who felt his fu