of her interest in other things, she urged her pony about
and cantered it slowly over the back trail. A little later, seeing an
arroyo which seemed to give promise of leading to the shallow she sought,
she descended it and found that it led to a flat and thence to the river.
The crossing seemed unfamiliar, and yet she supposed that one crossing
would do quite as well as another, and so she smiled and continued on
toward it.

There was a fringe of shrubbery at the edge of what appeared to have once
been a swamp, though now it was dry and made fairly good footing for her
pony. The animal acted strangely, however, when she tried to urge it
through the fringing shrubbery, and she was compelled to use her quirt
vigorously.

Once at the water's edge she halted the pony and viewed the crossing with
satisfaction. She decided that it was a much better crossing than the one
she had encountered on the trip out. It was very shallow, not over thirty
feet wide, she estimated, and through the clear water she could easily see
the hard, sandy bottom. It puzzled her slightly to observe that there were
no wagon tracks or hoof prints in the sand anywhere around her, as there
would be were the crossing used ever so little. It seemed to be an
isolated section of the country though, and perhaps the cattlemen used the
crossing little--there was even a chance that she was the first to
discover its existence. She must remember to ask someone about it when she
returned to the Double R.

She urged the pony gently with her booted heel and voice, but the little
animal would not budge. Impatient over its obstinacy, she again applied
the quirt vigorously. Stung to desperation the pony stood erect for an
instant, pawing the air frantically with its fore hoofs, and then, as the
quirt continued to lash its flanks, it lunged forward, snorting in
apparent fright, made two or three eccentric leaps, splashing water high
over Sheila's head, and then came to a sudden stop in the middle of the
stream.

Sheila nibbled at her lips in vexation. Again, convinced that the pony was
merely exhibiting obstinacy, she applied the quirt to its flanks. The
animal floundered and struggled, but did not move out of its tracks.

Evidently something had gone wrong. Sheila peered over the pony's mane
into the water, which was still clear in spite of the pony's struggling,
and sat suddenly erect, stifling cry of amazement. The pony was mired
fast! Its legs, to a point just a