ent was accomplished, and, breathing hard, Tresler
stepped on to the gravel-strewn plateau, gun in hand. He felt glad of
his five-chambered companion. Those rough friends of his on the ranch
were right. There was nothing so compelling, nothing so arbitrary, nor
so reassuring to the possessor and confounding to his enemies, as a
gun well handled.

The ledge was empty. He looked at the towering cliff, but there was no
sign of his man in that direction. He moved toward the hut, but at the
first step the door of the dugout was flung wide, and Julian Marbolt,
gun in hand, dashed out.

He came with a rush, without hesitation, confidently; but as the door
was thrown open, and the flood of daylight shone down upon him, he
fell back with a bitter cry of despair, and Tresler knew that he had
not reckoned on the change from comparative darkness to daylight. He
needed no further proof of what he had come to suspect. The rancher
was only blind in the presence of strong light!

For a second only he stood cowering back, then, feeling his way, he
darted with miraculous rapidity round the side of the building, and
scrambled toward the dizzy staircase in the rock.

Tresler challenged him at once, but he paid no heed. He had reached
the foot of the stairway, and was climbing for life and liberty. The
other knew that he ought to have opened fire on him, but the old
desire to trust to his hands and bodily strength overcame his better
judgment, and he ran at him. His impulse was humane but futile, for
the man was ascending with marvelous rapidity, and by the time he had
reached the foot of the ladder, was beyond his reach.

There was nothing left now but to use his gun or to follow. One look
at the terrific ascent, however, left him no choice.

"Go on, and I'll drop you, Julian Marbolt!" he shouted. "I've five
chambers loaded in each gun."

For response, the blind man increased his exertions. On he went, up,
up, till it made the man below dizzy to watch him. Tresler raised his
gun and fired wide, letting the bullet strike the rock close to the
man's right hand to convince him of his intentions. He saw the
limestone splinter as the bullet hit it, while the clutching, groping
hand slid higher for a fresh hold; but it had no other effect.

He was at a loss. If the man reached the top, he knew that somewhere
over the brink lay a road to safety. And he was nearing it; nearing it
foot by foot with his crawling, clinging clutch upon the fa