ly thirty of Welsh's raiders had come on this trip, the rest remaining
to help with the sheep, but their horses had been brought so that there
might be ample provision for everybody.

With a feeling of being once more at home, Larkin climbed into a deep
saddle, and a wave of triumph surged over him. He was again free, and at
the head of a band of brave men. He had the ascendency at last over his
misfortune, and he intended to keep it. Then when everything was finished
he could come back and he would find Juliet--

The remembrance of her brought him to a pause. Must he go away without as
much as a word from her, the one for whom he cared more than all the rest
of the world? Quietly he dismounted.

"Let Jimmie go on with the prisoners and the rest of the boys," he said to
Sims. "You wait here with me. I must leave one message."

A minute later the cavalcade stole away, following the winding river bank
for a mile before setting foot on the plain.

Then, with Sims crouching, armed, behind the nearest protection, Bud
Larkin walked softly to the house. He knew which was her window and went
straight there, finding it open as he had expected. Listening carefully he
heard no sound from within. Then he breathed the one word, "Julie," and
immediately there came a rustling of the bed as she rose.

Knowing that she had been awake and was coming to him, he turned away his
eyes until he felt her strong little hand on his shoulder. Then he looked
up to find her in an overwrap with her luxuriant hair falling down over
her shoulders, her eyes big and luminously dusky.

"Darling," she said, "I have heard everything, and I am so glad."

"Then you could have given the alarm at any time?"

"Yes."

"God bless your faithful little heart!" he said fervently, and, reaching
up, drew down her face to his and kissed her.

It was their second kiss and they both thrilled from head to foot with
this tantalization of the hunger of their love. All the longing of their
enforced separation seemed to burst the dam that had held it, and, for a
time, they forgot all things but the living, moving tide of their own
love.

At last the girl disengaged herself from his eager hands, with hot cheeks
and bright, flame-lit eyes. Her breath came fast, and it was a moment
before she could compose herself.

"Where are you going now, Bud?" she asked.

"Back to the sheep."

"Can I do anything to help you?"

"I can only think of one thing, and that is to