. He backed off, jerking the
halter taut, but she kept her hold, springing again to the surface of the
rock. Loose splinters of granite began to clatter down the slope; then, in
the moment she paused to gather her equilibrium, she felt Tisdale's arm
reaching around to take the strap. "Creep by me," he said quietly. "No,
between me and the bluff, sidewise; there's room." She gained safe ground
and stood waiting while he brought the bay across. A last rain of rock
struck an answering echo through the gorge.

"What made you?" he asked. "You knew I would hurry back. What made you?
handicapped, too, by those skirts and abominable heels."

"I saw you were hurt--the vixen meant to hurt--and I knew I could manage
Tuck. I--I thought you might need me."

Her breath was coming hard and quick; her eyes were big and shadowy and,
looking into their depths, the light began to play softly in his own. "You
thought right," he said. "I am going to."

He turned to lead the horse around to the cleft where he had left his
mate. Miss Armitage followed. She regarded his broad back, pursing her
lips a little and ruffling her brows. "It is only a bruise," he said
presently over his shoulder, "and it served me right. Lighter warned me of
that trick."

Nevertheless the handkerchief with which he had wrapped the bruise was
showing a red stain, and past the break in the road he changed the halter
to his left hand. The hitching-place he had chosen was in a cleft formed
by a divided spur of the mountain. It was roofed by the boughs of two
pines, and the boles of the trees offered secure hold. She seated herself
on a boulder, set benchwise against the rocky wall, and watched him
critically while he tied the second horse.

"How pleasant," she said intrepidly; "it is like coming unexpectedly into
a room ready furnished in brown and green."

Tisdale turned. "I could make you comfortable in this pocket, if it came
to that," he said. "It's sheltered and level as a floor, and I could make
you a bed, springy and fragrant, of boughs; the camp-fire would close the
door. And you needn't go hungry with Lighter's lunch and your apples; or
thirsty with my drinking-cup to fill down there at the stream."

Even before he finished speaking her brows arched in protest, and he felt
the invisible barrier stiffen hard as a wall. "We really must hurry, Mr.
Tisdale," she said, rising. "Though it may be impossible to reach
Wenatchee to-night, we must find some sort of