reat molten mass it swept into the valleys, crawling like a great snake
here and there, pushing fiery tongues into every crevice of the hills.

The margin of its flow is a cliff or steep slope varying in height from a
few feet to that of a good-sized tree. Between the silt plain and the
general level of its bed rises a terrace. In front of it Prince stopped
and distributed the men he had reserved to search the lava bed. He gave
definite, peremptory orders.

"We'll keep about two hundred yards apart. Every twenty minutes each of
you will fire his revolver. If any of you find Miss Snaith or any
evidence of her, shoot three times in rapid succession. Each of you pass
the signal down the line by firing four shots. Those who hear the three
shots go in as fast as you can to the rescue. The others--those farther
away, who hear the four shots only--will turn an' work back to the plain,
continuing to fire once every twenty minutes. Do exactly as I tell you,
boys. If you don't, some one will be lost an' may never get out alive. If
any one of you gets out of touch with the rest of us, stay right where
you are till mornin', then come out by the sun."

The horses were left in charge of a Mexican boy. The surface of the
deposit is so broken that even a man on foot has difficulty in traversing
it. Prince crawled forward from the terrace up the rough slope of the
cliff which at this point bounded it. At the top of the rim he rose and
came face to face with another man.

"A good deal like frozen hell, Billie," the other said casually.

"Where did you come from?" demanded the sheriff, amazed.

Jim Clanton laughed grimly. "I've been with yore party half an hour. Why
shouldn't I be here when Lee Snaith is lost?"

"You were hiding in Live-Oaks?"

"Mebbeso. Anyway, I'm here. I'll take the right flank, Billie."

"Do you think there's a chance, Jim?" The voice of Prince shook with
emotion. It was the first sign of distress he had given.

Clanton reflected just a moment before he answered. "I think there's just
a chance. She saved our lives once, Billie. If she's alive we'll find
her, you an' me."

"By God, yes." Prince turned away. He could not talk about it without
breaking down.

In the stress of a great shock Billie had made a vital discovery. The
most important thing that would ever come to him in life was to find Lee
Snaith alive. How blind he had been! He could see her now in imagination,
as in reality he had seen her a hund