o lose. She sprang to a crouching position
under the bush. Another shot rang viciously upon the still air. The
bullet tore its way through the bush. This time it was still wider of
her hiding place. But already she had begun her retreat--swiftly, and
crouching low.

She reached the shelter of the barrier just as another bullet whistled
overhead. Then she set off at a run.

And as she ran she calculated the chances. She had a big start, and
the horsemen had to face the zigzag climb. If she made no mistakes
there was little chance of their discovering her. They could never
make that climb before she reached her pony.

She increased her pace. Her nerves were steadying. Strangely her
control was wonderful. There was no real fear in her--only tension.
Now as she ran down the open way her eyes were alert for every
landmark, and her woodcraft was sufficiently practised to stand her in
good stead. She recognized each feature in the path until she came to
the point where she had first entered it In a moment she was battling
her way through the thick bush, and the tension she was laboring under
took her through it in a fraction of the time her first traversing had
been made. Her pony was standing within ten yards of the spot at which
she had left him.

She breathed a great relief. In a moment she had unbuckled the hobbles
on his forelegs. Then, with the habit of her life on the plains, she
tightened the cinchas of the saddle. Then she replaced the bit in its
mouth.

As she swung herself into the saddle the distant plod of hoofs pounding
the cattle tracks reached her. For one instant she sat in doubt.
Then, with a half-thought fear lest her hard pursuit of the wounded
deer had left her tough broncho spent, she swung him about and vanished
like a ghost into the gloomy depths of the woods.

CHAPTER IV

THE WEAKER VESSEL

The homestead rested upon the southern slope of a wood-crowned hill,
which was merely one of a swarm of hills of lesser or greater
magnitude. Westward, away in the distance, the silver sheen of the
main mountain range still continued to reflect the rainbow tints of a
radiant sunset.

It was a homestead to associate with hands less than 'prentice. There
was neither imagination nor very definite purpose in its planning. It
rather gave the impression of the driving of sheer necessity than the
enthusiasm of effort toward the achievement of a heartily conceived
purpose. Furthermor