te silence followed this announcement, then Samson's great voice
started the wild "Hurrahs" which made the wide valley ring. The cheers
were long and lusty, but when they subsided at last, Mrs. Trent bade
her daughter finish the tale.

"It wasn't a little, but a long way up the canyon; yet I was so eager
to right Ephraim's wrong that I didn't feel afraid, though I never
have liked Ferd. He can't help being queer, maybe, with his queer body
to keep his half mind in----"

The hisses that interrupted her were almost as loud as the cheers had
been, and it would have fared ill with the dwarf had he at that moment
been visible. Fortunately, he was still under the surveillance of the
grim shepherd, in the locked office, and the majority of those present
were ignorant of his whereabouts.

"Quit hindering the captain. Her story is what we want!" cried
"Marty." "The dwarf can wait."

"So we went on and on, and into a strange, dark tunnel, that scared me
a little, yet made me more curious than ever to see the end of it all.
The tunnel led to a cave, and in the cave there was a deep hole; and
before I knew what he was doing, Ferd had slung a lariat about me and
dropped me into it."

Again an interruption of groans and howls, that were promptly
suppressed by a wave of the mistress' white hand; then Jessica
continued:

"As soon as he had put me there, he told me he would keep me till my
mother paid him great money to let me up. Yet he wouldn't even go to
her and ask for it. He said I must promise, and that she would do
anything I said. He told about a boy in 'Frisco, he'd heard the men
say, was taken from his folks and kept till they paid lots for his
release--even thousands of dollars! Antonio had taught him that money
was the best thing to have. He believed it. He took it whenever he
could find it. That's what made him take Elsa's, and blame it upon
Ephraim. And I wouldn't promise. How could I? My dear has no money to
give wicked men, and I knew the dear God would take me back to her
when He saw fit. As He did, indeed. For it must have been He who put
it into Pedro's heart to seek the cave just when I needed him most.
Only the Lord could see through all that darkness and lead the
shepherd by that crooked way."

She paused, and, turning to her mother, laid her sunny head upon the
shoulder that was shaken by such sobs as moved her faithful ranchmen
to thoughts of deep revenge. Eyes that had not wept for years grew
dim, and