he loveliest face of earth or heaven was
downbent over him, its tender blue eyes brimming with tears of
compassion and love. Softly his head and shoulders were raised, and
hot coffee was poured down his throat as fast as he could swallow.

He half roused from his daze. The swollen, cracked lips moved in
faintly muttered words: "Leg broken--sends love--doing fine--project
feasible--irrigation--no food--must rest--go down again."

The eyes of the two ministering angels met. Genevieve bent down and
pressed her lips to the purple, swollen-veined forehead. The heavy
lids closed over the sunken eyes; but before he lapsed into the torpid
sleep of exhaustion that fell upon him, the two succeeded in feeding
him several spoonfuls of raw egg beaten in cream. He then sank into
utter unconsciousness.

Flaccid and inert as a corpse, he lay outstretched on the grassy slope
while they bound up the cuts and bruises on his naked arms and
shoulders and cut the broken, gaping boots from his bruised feet. His
legs, doubly protected by the tough leather chapareras and thick
riding leggins, had fared less cruelly than his arms, but his knees
were raw and bleeding where the chaps had worn through on the rocks.

CHAPTER XXX

LURKING BEASTS

The moment that he had helped haul the climber to safety Gowan had
ridden away with the horses to the camp. He now came jogging back with
the tent and all else that they had not been carrying with them in
their skirting of the canyon edge. He unloaded the packs and hastened
to pitch the tent.

As he was finishing, Isobel called to him sharply. "What are you doing
there, Kid? That can wait. Come here."

"Yes, Miss Chuckie," he replied with ready obedience. But when he came
down the slope to the little group, his mouth was like a thin gash
across his lean jaws. He stared coldly at Ashton between narrowed
lids. "Want me to help tote him up by the fire?" he asked.

"No!" she replied. "It is Tom! He is down there--his leg broken--and
no food! You must go down to him."

"Go down?" queried the puncher. "What good would that do? I couldn't
help him with that climb. He weighs a good two hundred."

"You can take food down to him and let him know that help is coming.
You must!"

Gowan looked sullenly at the unconscious man. "Sorry, Miss Chuckie.
It's no go. I ain't a mountain sheep."

"But _he_ came up!"

"That's different. It's a sight easier going up cliffs than climbing
down. No, you'll ha