visibly. They would have been incapable of deceit to serve
any purpose of their own; they were too timid to have initiated any
actions not in strict accordance with household laws; but the same gentle
timidity which made them subservient to the rules of their world, made
them also abject worshippers at the shrine of Judith's beauty and force
and fire.

"Shore, shore," they both whispered in a breath.

"I hate to have ye go Jude--" began Cliantha; but Pendrilla interrupted
her.

"An' yit ef Jude would ruther go--and wants to slip out unbeknownst, why
we wouldn't say nothin' about it, and jest tell granny and grandpap in
the mornin' that she left soon to git the boys' breakfast."

They watched her pass quietly out the back door and toward the log
stable, their big blue eyes wide with childish wonder and interest.
Judith with her many suitors, moving in an atmosphere of romance, was to
them a figure like none other, and she was now in the midst of tragic
doings; the glamour that had always been upon her image was heightened by
the last week's occurrences. They turned back whispering and shut the
door.

Thus it was that Judith found herself on Selim, moving, free from
suspicion or espionage, toward the point below Foeman's Bluff where she
had sent word to Creed to meet her.

The big oaks shouldered themselves in black umbels against the horizon;
pointed conifers shot up inky spires between them. The sky was only
greyish black, lit by many stars, and Judith trembled to note that their
dim illumination might almost permit one to recognise an individual at a
few paces distance. Without misadventure she came to the spot designated,
urged Selim in under the shadow of a tree, dismounted, and stood beside
him waiting. Would Creed come? Would Huldah persuade him that the message
was only a decoy? Would he come too late? Would some of the boys
intercept him, so that he should never come at all?

At the last thought she started and leaned out recklessly to search the
dark path with desperate eyes. Perhaps she had better venture forward and
meet him. Perhaps after all it would be possible for her to get closer to
Nancy Card's. Then in the midst of her apprehensions came the sound of
shod hoofs.

She had chosen this point for two reasons: first the old trail she meant
to follow down the mountain passed in close to the spot; and second it
was the last place they would expect Bonbright to approach; his way to it
would never be