arly stamped, were the
hoof-prints of two mules. Near the coulee-crossing, the tracks ran into
others, and fresher ones, that diverged sharply into the corn. The
hoof-prints between these pointed eastward. He forsook the out-going
and turned back across the field.

At first, the course of the wagon puzzled. After veering north until the
canyon yawned, the team had made along the brink, keeping perilously
near it; farther on, at the upper end of the plowed strip, the direction
abruptly changed. The mules had swung out to the right upon the open
prairie, travelling straight for the middle of the gap. So far they had
gone at a furious gallop. Now, however, they slowed to a walk. When the
course no longer puzzled. To and fro, it wended, this way for a few
feet, then, the other--proof that Ben and Betty had fed.

The Squaw halted. The horizon was faintly yellow. Upon it was a moving
black object, which presently took the clearer form of a wagon and span.
He set off, his loose hair whipping at his back. The team was also
travelling rapidly. Behind was a reddish follower that lowed in protest
of the speed.

When the mules came by, Dallas was standing at the dashboard, plying the
lash. Her face was ashen, her eyes were hollow. She did not see the
Indian, for her gaze was upon the shack. He swung himself into the
rattling box. There lay Marylyn, still in the grasp of the stupor that
had bound them, brain and body, through the night.

Before the mules brought up at the lean-to, Dallas was over a wheel and
tottering in quest of her father. Out of the shack, as she searched it,
sounded her plaintive cry: "Daddy! daddy! where are you? Oh, Daddy!
_daddy!_ come back!"

Squaw Charley, bringing Marylyn in, found the elder girl kneeling
behind the partition, her arms thrown out to grasp the vacant bunk.

He put his load down gently; then, unbidden, rushed through the door for
Brannon.

When Captain Oliver arrived, with Fraser, a surgeon and a detachment of
mounted men, Dallas was seated in the doorway, rocking Marylyn against
her breast. She looked up, dry-eyed, as he hurried to her.

"What'd they do it for?" she asked him, brokenly. "How could they hurt
you, dad? Oh, the land wasn't worth it! the land wasn't worth it!"

Something to quicken life in Marylyn was the first thought. Then, food
and drink were given the girls. Meanwhile, the troopers were sent out
under Fraser to range the bend and beat the coulee.

Oliver stayed.