outlines of the higher bluffs. The slope between river and hill,
however, remained in impenetrable darkness. The minds of both
fugitives reverted to the same scene--the wrecked stage with its dead
passengers within, its savage watchers without. She lifted her head,
and the soft light reflected on her face.

"I--I thank God we are not over there now," she said falteringly.

"Yes," he admitted. "They will be creeping in closer; they will not
wait much longer. Hard as I have worked, I can't realize yet that we
are out of those toils."

"You did not expect to succeed?"

"No; frankly I did not; all I could do was hope--take the one chance
left. The slightest accident meant betrayal. I am ashamed of being so
weak just now, but it was the strain. You see," he explained
carefully, "I 've been scouting through hostile Indian country mostly
day and night for nearly a week, and then this thing happened. No
matter how iron a man is his nerve goes back on him after a while."

"I know."

"It was n't myself," he went on doggedly, "but it was the knowledge of
having to take care of you. That was what made me worry; that, and
knowing a single misstep, the slightest noise, would bring those devils
on us, where I could n't fight, where there was just one thing I could
do."

There was silence, her hands pressed to her face, her eyes fixed on