they're coming nearer! Take your
bag, and I'll hide you in the cellar. There's a corner there, behind some
barrels. If they break in, I'll say----"

"Brave girl! But they won't break in."

"How do you know?"

"Your husband won't let them. Trust him, as I do."

"He's not here. Do you think I told you a lie? Thank Heaven he _isn't_
here, or they'd kill him, and I could never beg him to forgive----" She
covered her face with her hands.

The old man looked at her gravely.

"You don't understand what's happening," he said, with a new gentleness.
"Don's out there now, defending you and his home. That's what the
shooting means. Do you think those brutes would advertise themselves with
their guns if they hadn't been attacked?"

With a cry the girl rushed to the long window, and began to unfasten it,
but Van Vreck caught her hands.

"Stop!" he commanded. "Don't play the robbers' own game for them! _How do
you know which is nearer the house, Don and his men, or the others?_"

She stared at him, panting, "Don and his men?" she echoed.

"Yes. Even if he were alone to begin with, I'll bet all I've got he
roused every cowpuncher on the ranch with his first shot; and they'd be
out with their guns like a streak of greased lightning. If you open that
window with a light in the room, the wrong lot may get in and barricade
themselves against Don and his bunch--to say nothing of what would happen
to us. But----"

Annesley waited for no more. She ran to the table and blew out the flame
of the green-shaded lamp. Black darkness shut down like the lid of a box.
But she knew the room as she knew her own features. Straight and
unerring, she found her way back to the window.

This time Van Vreck stood still while she opened it and began noiselessly
to undo the outside wooden shutters. As she pushed them apart, against
the wind, a spray of sand dashed into her face and Van Vreck's, stinging
their eyelids. But disregarding the pain, the two passed out into the
night.

Clouds of blowing sand hid the stars, yet there was a faint glimmer of
light which showed moving figures on horseback. Men were shouting, and
with the bark of their guns fire spouted.

Annesley rushed on to the veranda, but Van Vreck caught her dress.

"Stay where you are!" he ordered. "Our side is winning. Don't you
see--don't you hear--the fight's going farther away? That means the
raid's failed--the skunks have got the worst of it. They're trying to get
back to t