lar grip. Tripped, with a heel behind his calf, he fell
heavily, Lee upon him. Both arms were pinioned behind him, and Lee's
neckerchief thrust into his mouth. He writhed in impotent rage. His
outcries died in his throat, the loudest of them not reaching Marcia's
ears above the creaking of her rocking-chair. Lee still held Hampton's
tied hands gripped in his own. So the two men went out the back door,
down toward the corrals.

Seeing men hurrying from the bunk-house to the stables under Carson's
snapping orders. Lee called out for Tommy Burkitt. And in a moment,
with bulging eyes, Burkitt came running.

"Bring out three horses, Tommy," Lee commanded, giving no explanation.
"Hurry, and keep your mouth shut."

Burkitt obeyed Lee as he always did, silently and unquestioningly.
Very soon he returned, riding, leading two saddled horses.

"Get into the saddle, Hampton," said Lee sternly. "There's no time for
nonsense. Get up or I'll put you up."

"Curse you," Hampton said in smothered anger, his tone making clear the
meaning of the indistinct mutter. But he climbed into the saddle.

"Come on, Tommy." Lee, too, was up, his hand on Hampton's reins.
"We're going up to the old cabin. You're going to ride herd on Hampton
while I do something else. I'll tell you everything when we get there."

So they rode into the night, headed toward the narrow passes of the
Upper End, Hampton and Lee side by side, Tommy Burkitt staring after
them as he followed. No longer were Bud Lee's thoughts with his
captive, nor with the herds Carson's men were driving back to the
higher pastures. They were entirely for Judith, and they were filled
with fear. She had been gone for three full days; she was somewhere in
the clutch of Trevors or of one of his cutthroats. He thought of her,
of Quinnion's red-rimmed, evil eyes, and as he had not prayed in all
the years of his life Bud Lee prayed that night.

XXIV

A SIGNAL-FIRE?

Lee left Hampton securely bound and under Tommy Burkitt's watchful eyes
in the old cabin, and rode straight back to the ranch-house. Marcia
was not yet in bed and he made his first call upon her. Marcia was
delighted, then vaguely perturbed, as he made known his errand without
giving any reason. He wanted to see the note from Judith. Marcia
brought it, wondering. He carried it with him to Judith's office and
compared it carefully with scraps of her handwriting which he found
there. The result of