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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
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