pointment could not be assuaged.

In the early morning she heard the clatter of horses' hoofs in the yard.
During the night she had not undressed. Now she rose and went out to meet
her lover. He was at the stable, a gaunt figure, hollow-eyed, dusty, and
stern. He had failed to recapture his prisoner.

"Jack," she pleaded, reaching out a hand timidly toward him.

Again he rejected her advance in grim silence. Swinging to the saddle, he
rode out of the gate and down the road toward Live-Oaks.

With a little whimper Polly moved blindly to the house through her tears.

Chapter XXXII

Jim Takes a Prisoner

After Goodheart left the room where his prisoner was confined, Clanton
waited a few moments till the sound of his footsteps had died away. He
rose, moved noiselessly across the floor, and raised the trapdoor slowly.
The creaking of the rusty hinges seemed to Jim to be shouting aloud the
news of his escape. The young fellow descended into the cellar and stood
there without moving till his eyes became accustomed to the darkness. He
groped his way to the door, which Pauline had left open an inch or
two. Carefully he edged through and crouched in the gloom at the foot of
the steps.

Not far away some one was whistling cheerfully. Clanton recognized the
tune as the usual musical offertory of Brad. He was giving "Uncle Ned" to
an unappreciative world.

The fugitive crept up the steps and peered over the top. Brad was sitting
on a bench against the wall. Evidently he was quite comfortable and had
no intention of moving. The guard was so near that it would not be a fair
risk to try to make a dash across the moonlit open for the aspen grove.
He was so far that before the prisoner could reach him his gun would be
in action. There was nothing to do but wait. Jim huddled against the
sustaining wall while with the passing minutes his chance of escape
dipped away.

Pierre Roubideau came round the corner of the house and joined Brad. The
guard made room for him on the bench. If Roubideau sat down, the man
in the shadow knew he was lost. They would sit there and chat till
Goodheart came back and discovered his absence.

The rancher hesitated while he felt for his pipe. "Reckon I left it in
the kitchen," he said.

Brad followed him round the corner of the house. Clanton waited no
longer. They might return, or they might not. He did not intend to stay
to find out.

Swiftly he ran toward the aspens. Half the distance