brother with a glad little cry of apparent relief, and ran swiftly to
him.

"Oh, Phil!" she almost sobbed, and the stress of her emotion was genuine
enough, even if she dissembled as to the cause.

The boy patted her dark hair gently. They were twins, without other near
relatives except their father, and the tie between them was close.

"What is it, Phyllie? Why didn't you stay where we left you?"

"I was afraid for you. And I rode a little nearer. Then he came straight
toward me--and I rode away. I could hear him crashing through the
mesquite. When I reached the trail of Jim's mine, I followed it, for I
knew he would be here."

"Sure. Course she was scared. What woman wouldn't be? We oughtn't both
to have left her. But there wasn't one chance in a thousand of his
stumbling on the very spot where she was," said Healy.

Phil gentled her with a caressing hand. "It's all right now, sis. Did
you happen to see the fellow at all?"

"Yes. At a distance."

"I don't suppose you would know him," Healy said.

She gave a strained little laugh. "I didn't wait to get a description of
him. Didn't you boys recognize him?"