Her arms crept round his neck. She clung to him for safety, fearfully,
lest even now he might vanish from her sight. Long, ragged sobs shook the
body resting in his arms. He whispered words of comfort, stroked gently
the dark head of blue-black hair, held her firmly so that she might know
she had found a sure refuge from the fate that had so nearly devoured
her.

The spasmodic quivering of the body died away. She dabbed at her eyes
with a rag of a handkerchief and withdrew herself from his arms.

"I'm a nice baby," she explained with a touch of self-contempt. "But it's
been rather awful, Billie. I ... I didn't know whether ..."

"It's been the worst night of my life," he agreed. "I've been in hell for
hours, dear. If--if anything had happened to you--"

The heart of the girl beat fast. She told herself he did not mean--could
not mean what, with a sudden warmth of joy, her soul hunger had read
into his words.

Prince uncorked his canteen and she drank. He gave her sandwiches and she
devoured them. After he had helped her from the fissure he fired three
shots. Faintly from the left came the answering bark of a revolver. What
might almost have been an echo of it drifted from the right.

Lee Snaith was the most competent young woman the sheriff had ever met.
He knew her self-reliant and had always guessed her sufficient to
herself. Toward him especially he had sensed a suggestion of cool
hostility. They had been friends, but with a distinct note of reservation
on her part.

To-night the mask was off. She had come too close to raw reality to think
of her pride. The morning light was sifting into the sky now. Billie
could see the girl more clearly as she sat on a slab of rock waiting for
the other searchers to join them. Was it his imagination that found in
her an unwonted shyness of the dark eyes, a gentle timidity of manner
when she looked at him?

His emotion still raced at high tide. What an incomparable mate she would
be for any man! The rich contralto of her voice, the slow, graceful turn
of the exquisite head, the vividness she brought to all her activities!
How easy it was to light in her fine eyes laughter, indignation, the rare
smile of understanding! Life with her would be an adventure into the
hill-tops. With all his heart he yearned to take it beside her.

There were strange flashes in his eyes to-night that signaled to her a
message she had despaired of ever receiving. The long lashes of the girl
fel