ddled the horse and tied it to
a shrub. "You're sure all in, Black Jack. Mebbe you'll never be the same
bronc again. I've got this to say, old pal. I never straddled a better
hawss than you. That goes without copperin'." He patted its
sweat-stained neck, fondled its nose for a moment, then turned briskly
to the business in hand. "Get behind that p'int o' rocks, Steve. I'll
cover the trail up. Girl, you'll find a kind of cave under that flat
boulder. You get in there an' hunt cover."

'Mona did as she was told. Inside the cave were blankets, a saddle, the
remains of an old camp-fire, and a piece of jerked venison hanging from
a peg driven between two rocks. There were, too, a rifle leaning against
the big boulder and a canvas bag containing ammunition.

The rifle was a '73. She busied herself loading it. Just as she finished
there came to her the crack of Dinsmore's repeater.

The outlaw gave a little whoop of exultation.

"Tally one."

CHAPTER XXXIX

A CRY OUT OF THE NIGHT

Night fell before the rescue party reached Palo Duro. The canon was at
that time a _terra incognita_ to these cattlemen of the Panhandle. To
attempt to explore it in the darkness would be to court disaster. The
Apaches might trap the whole party.

But neither the Ranger nor Wadley could endure the thought of waiting
till morning to push forward. The anxiety that weighed on them both
could find relief only in action.

Jack made a proposal to Ramona's father. "We've got to throw off and
camp here. No two ways about that. But I'm goin' to ride forward to Palo
Duro an' see what I can find out. Want to go along?"

"Boy, I had in mind that very thing. We'll leave Jumbo in charge of the
camp with orders to get started soon as he can see in the mo'nin'."

The two men rode into the darkness. They knew the general direction of
Palo Duro and were both plainsmen enough to follow a straight course
even in the blackest night. They traveled at a fast road gait, letting
the horses pick their own way through the mesquite. Presently a star
came out--and another. Banked clouds scudded across the sky in
squadrons.

At last, below their feet, lay the great earth rift that made Palo Duro.
It stretched before them an impenetrable black gulf of silence.

"No use trying to go down at random," said Jack, peering into its
bottomless deeps. "Even if we didn't break our necks we'd get lost down
there. My notion is for me to follow the bank in one directio