er,
brave the darkness and locate it herself? Already, as she nerved
herself for the deed, she had typed out her location notice in
duplicate; filling in the exact description of the boundaries from the
records of the Old Juan claim. But would she dare to post that notice,
in the face of three desperate men? Would she dare risk a meeting with
drunken Ike Bray on the summit of that lonely peak? She resolved and
recanted, and resolved again and drove back to the hotel in despair.

From the day she had known him she had helped Rimrock Jones in every
way that she could; but he from the first had neglected every duty and
followed after every half-god. She had written him to come, and told
him of his peril, and that her own rights were jeopardized with his
own; and he answered never a word. A hot wave passed over her, of
passionate resentment and hatred and womanly scorn, and she drew her
lips to a line. She would jump the Old Juan, but she would jump it for
herself and hold it against both Rimrock and Stoddard!

It had once been observed that, when driven too far, Mary Fortune
became an Indian; and the man who said it knew. For the rest of that
day she was afire with a resolution which contemplated even the killing
of men. She bought her a pistol and, driving out on the desert, she
practised until she could shoot. Then as the sun sank low and Jepson
and his men were occupied with sobering up Ike Bray, she drove off in
the direction of Geronimo. She was far out on the desert when darkness
fell, rushing south on the other road to Tecolote. Within sight of the
camp she put out her lamps and, turning her machine out of the road,
she crept along until it was hidden from view, then leapt out and
started for the butte. It stood against the stars, huge and sinister
in its black bulk, and she shuddered as she took the lone trail.

Up that very same path the year before Rimrock Jones had rushed on to
defend his claim. He had been a man then, or at least a fighting
animal; but now he was a soft, pampered brute. He left his fighting to
be done by a woman while he spent his money like a fool. The fierce
anger from that thought gave courage to her heart and her resentment
spurred her on. She toiled on and rested and gazed despairingly at the
high crags, but still she kept her face to the heights. As midnight
approached and the trail had no ending she stopped and gazed doubtfully
back, and then she went hurrying on. A