speck of light
shone out twinkling and gleaming like some evil eye. For the
rest--there remained the deep twilight marked by the myriads of summer
stars.

But the cries of men, the trampling of speeding hoofs held her. The
breathlessness of the whole thing was upon her now, making it
impossible to detach her regard from the main features.

The rattle of rifles had become almost incessant. And a few moments
later a blaze of light shot up from the far side of the bluff. It
grew, licking up the great, sun-dried, resinous pine wood with
paralyzing rapidity. Another great sheet of flame soared upward
further away to the right. Then another to the south. A fire trap had
been set at the far side of the great bluff, and only the hither side
remained open to those seeking shelter within it.

Effie's gaze was fascinated beyond her control. The Vigilantes had
planned their coup deliberately and well. The air she was breathing
began to reek with the pungent smell of burning. A light smoke haze
began to flood the picture. Now she beheld moving figures in the lurid
glow which backed the scene. They were horsemen. But whether or not
they were the Vigilantes she could not be certain. They were racing
across the open, and the crack of their rifles mingled with the
spluttering crackle of the conflagration beyond.

Never for one moment did the woman withdraw her gaze. The spell of it
all was almost painful. She knew that life and death were at grips
down there in that cauldron of conflict. And though at moments
shudders passed through her body, they were neither shudders of
weakness nor womanish horror. Her only emotion was excitement, and her
nerves were ready to respond in physical expression to every vision her
eyes communicated to them.

An hour passed thus. The bluff was a furnace, roaring, booming. It
lit the valley seemingly from end to end. The night shadows had been
swept aside, and the scene lay spread out before her eyes. She saw
dismounted riders moving about. She beheld one group; a number of men
huddled together, held as though they were prisoners.

At last firing altogether ceased and the straggling horsemen began to
reassemble in the vicinity of the chief group. Then, as the raging
fire ate its way through to the hither side of the bluff, and turned
the final barrier into a wall of fire, the whole party moved away down
the valley with obvious signs of haste.

Effie gazed after them with wid