human possibility of a break for freedom presented itself he would have
embraced it, but the three guns had the look of business and the three
faces back of them were flinty with purpose.

As the locks snapped into the grooves of the bracelets the telegrapher
commented in sardonic afterthought.

"Ther revenuer fergot ter leave ther key. I don't know how we'll ever
git them things loose ergin."

They led him at once back into a dark corner of the baggage room and
bestowed him there in a chair, where with a revolver against his
temple, they gagged him and lashed him by waist and legs. His hands
being sufficiently manacled they did not bind further.

Alexander had, when she came to a place which was rocky enough to leave
no footprints, slipped from her saddle, taken her rifle and saddle-bags
from their fastenings and disappeared into the timber. The mule she
knew would sooner or later be recognized and returned to the stable,
but she did not want it recognized too promptly so she led it with her
into the woods and turned it loose well up on the mountain side. From
that moment she disappeared with a completeness which attested her
woodcraft. It was as though she had been and then had ceased to be.
The way she elected to go followed the crests, since it is better when
"hiding-out" to look down than to be looked down upon.

The sodden woods gave a quieter footing than had they been frosty and
brittle underfoot, but even had it been otherwise she had the art of
silent movement.

She knew that sooner or later her ruse would be discovered by the
watchers of the conspiracy, but she asked only two hours of freedom.
After that she would be as difficult to find as the rabbit that has
gained the heart of the briar patch.

Once lying high up on a sheer and poroused precipice, she had seen a
party of horsemen ride by, far below, and she laughed inwardly to
herself, guessing at their purpose and object.

She came eventually to the sharp spur where that particular stretch of
ridge ended in a precipitous break. That meant that she must for
awhile go down to lower and more perilous levels. This was the final,
dubious stage of her journey and with it behind her, she would feel
that she had won through to security.

Because she was young and strong enough to laugh at fatigue and bold
enough to find a certain joy in recklessness, her spirits began to
mount. There are huntsmen who will tell you that the wily and
experien