remember," she said as she prepared to mount again, "to all
intents and purposes these are real bandits and to be treated
accordingly. Our motto is 'No quarter.' I shall be harsh, and I expect
no protest from either of you. They deserve everything they get."

But when, after another mile or two, we came to a side trail, leading,
by Tish's map, not to Many Glaciers, but up a ravine to another pass,
and Tish saw that they had taken that direction, we were puzzled.

But not for long.

"I understand now," she said. "It is all clear. The photographer was
riding ahead to get them up this valley somewhere. They've probably got
a rendezvous all ready, with another camera in place. I must say," she
observed, "that they are doing it thoroughly."

We rode for two hours, and no sign of them. The stove polish had come
off the handles of our revolvers by that time, and Aggie, having rubbed
her face ever and anon to remove perspiration, presented under her
turban a villainous and ferocious expression quite at variance with her
customary mildness.

I urged her to stop and wash, but Tish, after a glance, said to keep on.

"Your looking like that's a distinct advantage, Aggie," she said. "Like
as not they'll throw up their hands the minute they see you. I know I
should. You'd better ride first when we get near."

"Like as not they'll put a hole in me," Aggie objected. "And as to
riding first, I will not. This is your doing, Tish Carberry, and as for
their having blank cartridges--how do we know someone hasn't made a
mistake and got a real one?"

Tish reflected on that. "It's a possibility," she agreed. "If we find
that they're going to spend the night out, it might be better to wait
until they've taken off all the hardware they're hung with."

But we did not come up with them. We kept on finding traces of the party
in marshy spots, and once Tish hopped off her horse and picked up a
small handkerchief with a colored border and held it up to us.

"It's hers," she said. "Anybody would know she is the sort to use
colored borders. They're ahead somewhere."

But it seemed strange that they would go so far, and I said so.

"We're far enough off the main trail, Tish," I said. "And it's getting
wilder every minute. There's nothing I can see to prevent a mountain
lion dropping on us most any time."

"Not if it gets a good look at Aggie!" was Tish's grim response.

It began to grow dark in the valley, and things seemed to move on ei