took fright and fled,
its course easily marked by the howls of the crippled members. Duane
reloaded his gun, and, making certain all the hounds had gone, he
descended to the ground and set off at a rapid pace to the northward.

The mist had dissolved under a rising sun when Duane made his first
halt some miles north of the scene where he had waited for the hounds. A
barrier to further progress, in shape of a precipitous rocky bluff, rose
sheer from the willow brake. He skirted the base of the cliff, where
walking was comparatively easy, around in the direction of the river. He
reached the end finally to see there was absolutely no chance to escape
from the brake at that corner. It took extreme labor, attended by some
hazard and considerable pain to his arm, to get down where he could fill
his sombrero with water. After quenching his thirst he had a look at his
wound. It was caked over with blood and dirt. When washed off the arm
was seen to be inflamed and swollen around the bullet-hole. He bathed
it, experiencing a soothing relief in the cool water. Then he bandaged
it as best he could and arranged a sling round his neck. This mitigated
the pain of the injured member and held it in a quiet and restful
position, where it had a chance to begin mending.

As Duane turned away from the river he felt refreshed. His great
strength and endurance had always made fatigue something almost unknown
to him. However, tramping on foot day and night was as unusual to him as
to any other riders of the Southwest, and it had begun to tell on him.
Retracing his steps, he reached the point where he had abruptly come
upon the bluff, and here he determined to follow along its base in the
other direction until he found a way out or discovered the futility of
such effort.

Duane covered ground rapidly. From time to time he paused to listen. But
he was always listening, and his eyes were ever roving. This alertness
had become second nature with him, so that except in extreme cases
of caution he performed it while he pondered his gloomy and fateful
situation. Such habit of alertness and thought made time fly swiftly.

By noon he had rounded the wide curve of the brake and was facing
south. The bluff had petered out from a high, mountainous wall to a
low abutment of rock, but it still held to its steep, rough nature and
afforded no crack or slope where quick ascent could have been possible.
He pushed on, growing warier as he approached the dang