preparation than kicking the kitten out
of doors, and removing the kettle of boiling stew from the fireplace
to the ground before the door. A fleeting smile did cross Elsa's face,
as she reflected that the meddler with her knitting would probably
scald itself in the pot, but she didn't care. Her whole mind was now
set upon Sobrante and its mistress, and so eager was she to reach the
spot that she set off on her long walk with an alacrity she had not
shown since the discovery of the robbery.

Wolfgang and Otto armed himself each with a sharp, iron-pointed staff,
and silently, with one accord, started toward El Desierto. Why, even
they could not have explained, beyond the fact that it seemed a place
for hiding things. It was a long walk, and so weary had the "little
boy" become by the time the deserted ranch was reached that Wolfgang
left it unfatherly to force a return trip on that same day, although
no signs of recent occupancy had rewarded their search.

So it was in every case. Jessica had simply and completely disappeared,
and there settled upon the home the darkest night it had ever known.
Even that on which its master had been brought back dead did not
equal in intensity of anguish the uncertainty which drove the waiting
mother frantic. At times she would call for a horse and ride wildly
to and fro, peering into every shadowed spot and call pitifully upon
her child, at others she would hasten to the house, eagerly
demanding of Aunt Sally, "has she come?"

"Not yet, honey. Not quite yet. Just wait a spell, and you'll see her
all right. Best be here at home when she does come, Gabriella. You'd
hate to have anybody else the first to meet her, you know."

This advice, uttered in tones so gentle they were hardly recognizable
as Mrs. Benton's, would be followed for the moment, till the torture
of dreadful possibilities would send the distracted ranch mistress
again afield.

So the night wore away, and sunrise came, and still there was no
returning party that brought good cheer. Each tarried, for a brief
time, to attend to the live stock under his immediate care, and some
even to snatch a morsel of food, but mostly they were off and away
again, a flask of water and a bit of hardtack in pocket, oftener than
not forgetting even this meager nourishment.

By the end of the second day the sorrowful news had spread all over
the countryside, and other ranches were well-nigh as deserted as
Sobrante, while their forces join