his grief;" if we had seen the two start, we should have
believed it was for one of the usual gallops which the young lady is
so fond of taking; but, Vose, if we would have certainly gone astray
in the mountains, without your guidance, how will it be with them,
when she has never been over the trail and he has ridden over it but
once?"

"They are sure to have a tough time of it which will make it all the
harder for us."

"How is that?"

"Some good luck may lead them right; more than likely, howsumever,
they'll get all wrong; therefore, if we stick to the path we may pass
'em a half dozen times. You see it's the blamed onsartinty of the
whole bus'ness."

"I would not question your wisdom on such matters, Vose, but when I
remember that each of them is riding a horse, and that the two must
leave traces behind them, I cannot apprehend that we shall go very far
astray in our pursuit. The most likely trouble as it seems to me is
that they will travel so fast that it will be almost impossible to
overtake them."

"If they can manage to keep to the trail, it is going to be hard work
to come up with them. You haven't forgot that when I'm pushing through
the mountains I sometimes have to hunt a new trail altogether."

"That is due to the trouble with Indians?"

"Precisely; sometimes it's a long, roundabout course that I have to
take, which may keep me off the main course for a couple of days, or
it may be for only a part of the day, but Injins is something that
you must count on every time."

"And they are as likely to meet them as we?"

"More so, 'cause they're just ahead of you. Oh, it was the biggest
piece of tomfoolery ever heard of for them to start on such a journey,
but what are you to expect of two young persons dead in love with each
other?"

This was not the kind of talk that was pleasing to the father, and he
became morosely silent. It was equally repugnant to Ruggles and the
parson to hear Nellie Dawson referred to as being in love with the
execrated officer. Ruggles was grim and mute, and the parson deftly
drew the conversation in another direction.

"I would like to ask you, Vose, how it was that Lieutenant Russell did
not take the other horses with him, so as to make it impossible for
anything in the nature of pursuit?"

"There might be two reasons; he may have thought it would be mean to
hit you below the belt like that; he was too honorable--"

"It warn't anything like _that_," fiercely interrupt