hen his mother received a letter from him
explaining the nature of the work that required his presence in Dry
Bottom she would approve his course. At least he was certain that she
would not advise surrendering.

After riding for more than an hour he came to a shallow draw and urged
his pony through the deep sand of its center. On the other side of the
draw the country became suddenly rocky; great boulders were strewn
indiscriminately about, as though some giant hand had distributed them
carelessly, without regard to their final resting place. A lava bed,
looming gray and dead under a barren rock hill, caught his attention,
and he drew his pony to a halt and sat quietly in the saddle examining
it. From the lava bed his gaze went to a weird mineral shape that rose
in the distance--an inverted cone that seemed perfectly balanced on its
narrowest point. He studied this long without moving, struck with the
miraculous stability of the thing; it seemed that a slight touch would
send it tumbling down.

He realized that he had stumbled upon a spot that would have provided
pleasure to a geological student. To him it was merely a source of
wonder and awe. Some mighty upheaval of nature had created this, and he
continued to gaze at it, his mind full of conjecture.

To his right rose a precipitous rock wall surmounted by a fringe of
thick shrubbery. On the left was another wall, perpendicular, flat on
its top and stretching away into the distance, forming a grass plateau.
Directly in front of him was a narrow canyon through which he could see
a plain that stretched away into the unknown distance.

It was a magnificent country; he did not now regret his decision to
remain here. He pulled out his watch, noting that its hands pointed to
ten, and realized that he must be off if he expected to reach the Circle
Bar by noon.

He sat erect in the saddle, about to wheel his pony toward the draw
through which he had entered, when he heard a sharp sound. Startled, he
glanced swiftly to his right, searching the immediate vicinity for the
agency which had created sound in this vast silence. He stiffened slowly
in the saddle, his face gradually paling. Not over a hundred feet from
him, partly concealed by a big boulder, stood a man with a rifle, the
muzzle of the weapon trained fairly on him.

CHAPTER V

THE GIRL OF DRY BOTTOM

Hollis was not frightened, though he was in a position that might have
aroused fear or apprehension in