he attenuated spirals creeping from the
ground underfoot.

"I could summon every man in this town if necessary," she said; "I am
empowered by law to do so; but--I shall not--yet. Where could we find a
keeper--the nearest patrol?"

"Please follow me," he said, mounting his horse and wheeling eastward.

In a few moments they came to a foot-trail, and turned into it at a
canter, skirting the Spirit Water, which stretched away between two
mountains glittering in the sun.

"How many men can you get?" she called forward.

"I don't know; there's a gang of men terracing below the lodge--"

"Call them all; let every man bring a pick and shovel. There is a guard
now!"

Burleson pulled up short and shouted, "Murphy!"

The patrol turned around.

"Get the men who are terracing the lodge. Bring picks, shovels, and
axes, and meet me here. Run for it!"

The fire-warden's horse walked up leisurely; the girl had relinquished
the bridle and was guiding the mare with the slightest pressure of knee
and heel. She sat at ease, head lowered, absently retying the ribbon on
the hair at her neck. When it was adjusted to her satisfaction she
passed a hat-pin through her sombrero, touched the bright, thick hair
above her forehead, straightened out, stretching her legs in the
stirrups. Then she drew off her right gauntlet, and very discreetly
stifled the daintiest of yawns.

"You evidently don't believe there is much danger," said Burleson, with
a smile which seemed to relieve the tension he had labored under.

"Yes, there is danger," she said.

After a silence she added, "I think I hear your men coming."

He listened in vain; he heard the wind above filtering through the
pines; he heard the breathing of their horses, and his own heart-beats,
too. Then very far away a sound broke out.

"What wonderful ears you have!" he said--not thinking of their beauty
until his eye fell on their lovely contour. And as he gazed the little,
clean-cut ear next to him turned pink, and its owner touched her mare
forward--apparently in aimless caprice, for she circled and came
straight back, meeting his gaze with her pure, fearless gray eyes.

There must have been something not only perfectly inoffensive, but also
well-bred, in Burleson's lean, bronzed face, for her own face softened
into an amiable expression, and she wheeled the mare up beside his
mount, confidently exposing the small ear again.

The men were coming; there could be no mistake thi