t
every detail--the glint of arms, the movement of hat-brims, the lift and
fall of elbows--pounding straight for the camp. Another blast of the
bugle, crisp and metallic, and they swerved; they drew near, nearer
still, came close on the right, and swept past in a whirlwind of sounds,
thundering hoofs, cursing men, slamming carbines, creaking saddles,
snorting horses. So they swept on into the north, pushing, crowding,
jostling, throwing back flying gravel, odors of sweat, swirling
dust-clouds. They mounted rapidly over the rise, and became, as the
pursued, vacillating specks, and then disappeared in the hollow beyond.

Stephen recovered himself. He swept his eyes again over the horses. He
saw a change among them. Three were calm, but not the other two. Both of
them were weaving faintly, and, even as he sprang to them, one sank
slowly to the ground. Wondering, dazed, gripped in apprehension, he bent
over it. The horse was a stranger, and it was gasping its last breath.
Dismayed, he turned to the other. This horse also was a strange horse,
and it was white with foam and panting, also run to death. Astonished,
cold with apprehension, he looked for Pat. But neither Pat nor the
sorrel was to be seen. Then the truth overwhelmed him. The renegades,
seeing fresh horses here, had made a swift change. Pat was gone!

For one tense moment he stood spellbound. Then he sprang into action. He
dressed as best he could, called to the others to bridle and saddle a
horse, and leaped into the saddle. His whole body rebelled at the
movement. But he set his jaw grimly, and, clutching at his bandaged arm,
yet keeping his grip on the reins, he spurred frantically after the
cavalry. As he dashed away he shouted back his purpose.

But the men, standing with wide eyes turned after him, heard only the
end:

"I'll get him in spite of hell!"

CHAPTER XX

FIDELITY

Meantime Pat was running at top speed across the desert. Yet he was
trying to understand this strange call to duty. Roused from fitful
slumber by trampling hoofs, he had felt an excited hand jerking him to
his feet, and after that a slender rope looped round his lower jaw. Then
he had been urged, with a wriggling form on his bare back, frantic heels
drumming his sides, and a strange voice impelling him onward past a
surging crowd of horsemen, still only half awake, out into the open.
When he was well in the fore, he had found himself crowded to his
utmost--over sand-dune,