remount. The thickly strewn flat rocks made
treacherous footing, and more than one man had taken a nasty fall
because he had chosen to ride that mile of lava when he should have
walked. It was somewhere along this stretch of rock outcropping that
Shorty had broken his knee so that he would never ride again to the
round-up.

Lance was walking along with his head down, brooding over his trouble,
when he fancied he heard a faint halloo. Sorry stopped and craned his
head. But Lance could see nothing save the barren stretch of lava and
the monotonous wilderness beyond, with mountains in the far background
and the Black Rim stretching grim on the left of him. He started on,
thinking that perhaps some animal or bird was responsible for the
sound. But he had gone but a short distance when it came again, more
distinctly because he was half listening for it.

He waited, made a guess at the location of the person who shouted, and
turned that way, changing the reins from his right hand to his left
and pulling his holstered six-shooter within easy reach of his hand.
This was not the country, his was not the errand, for carelessness,
and Lance was taking no risk.

As he walked his eyes roved continually over the brown expanse of
rocks and stunted juniper that formed the Lava Beds. Behind him came
Sorry, his worn shoes slipping now and then on a smooth rock, his head
bobbing patiently, close to Lance's shoulder. As so often happens, it
was the horse that first discovered the object of their search. He
pulled away from the direct line, looking and looking at what Lance,
keen-eyed though he was, mistook for a black rock with a juniper bush
growing beside it.

Lance turned that way, focussed his glasses upon the object and saw
what had happened. A horse had fallen with its rider, the two lying
together, the man pinned under the horse. A black horse which he
recognized, and a big, red-faced cowpuncher with gray eyes that did
not twinkle. While Lance looked, the man lifted his head, seemed to be
staring straight into Lance's face, opened his mouth and contorted his
pain-racked face in a shout. It was strange to have the sound reach
Lance's ears thinned and weakened by distance, while the glasses
brought the injured man so close that he could see the wild look of
entreaty in his eyes. Lance put up the glasses and began running, with
Sorry stumbling and slipping behind him.

"I been here since morning," the big cowpuncher chattered fev