eyed him fearlessly. The boy slowly lowered the threatening hand and
returned her gaze, belligerently.

Prince, a gray, short-haired dog, of intricate ancestry, squatted on his
haunches in the snow with his tongue between his teeth and his eyes on
the two horses. Swift sagged with a sigh onto three legs. Perhaps the
little mare deserved some of the aspersions Douglas and his father daily
cast upon her. She was a half-broken, half-fed little mare which Douglas'
father had cast off. She did not look strong enough to bear even Judith's
slim weight. But as the only horse Judith was permitted to call her own,
the little bay was the very apple of the young girl's eyes, and she
wheedled wonderful performances from Swift in endurance and cat-like
quickness.

Buster was a black which the older Spencer had bred as a cow-pony but had
given up because he could not be broken of bucking. Doug had begged his
father for the horse, and Buster, nervous, irritable and speedy, was a
joy to the boy's sixteen-year-old heart.

Douglas sat tall in the saddle. He measured, in fact, a full five feet
ten inches without his high-heeled riding-boots. He was so thin that
his leather rider's coat bellowed in the wind, and the modeling of his
cheekbones showed markedly under his tanned skin. His sombrero, pushed
back from his forehead, disclosed a thick thatch of bright yellow hair
above wide blue eyes that were set deep and far apart. His nose was
high bridged, and his mouth, though still immature, gave promise of
full-lipped strength in its curves.

Judith was fourteen and only a couple of inches shorter than Douglas. She
was even thinner than he, but, like him, glowing with intense vitality.