ld
be sitting over there at supper with four moving-picture actors without
a chaperon. The whole proceeding is scandalous. I have noticed," she
added, "that it is the girls from quiet suburban towns who are really
most prone to defy the conventions when the chance comes."

We dozed for a short time.

Then Tish sat up suddenly. "What's that?" she said.

We listened and distinctly heard the tramp of horses' feet. We started
up, but Tish was quite calm.

"They've turned their horses out," she said. "Fortune is with us. They
are coming this way."

But at first it did not seem so fortunate, for we heard one of the men
following them, stumbling along, and, I regret to say, using profane
language. They came directly toward us, and Aggie beside me trembled.
But Tish was equal to the emergency.

She drew us behind a large rock, where, spreading out a raincoat to
protect us from the dampness, we sat down and waited.

When one of the animals loomed up close to the rock Aggie gave a low
cry, but Tish covered her mouth fiercely with an ungentle hand.

"Be still!" she hissed.

It was now perfectly dark, and the man with the horses was not far off.
We could not see him, but at last he came near enough so that we could
see the flare of a match when he lighted a cigarette. I put my hand on
Aggie, and she was shaking with nervousness.

"I am sure I am going to sneeze, Lizzie," she gasped.

And sneeze she did. She muffled it considerably, however, and we were
not discovered. But, Tish, I knew, was silently raging.

The horses came nearer.

One of them, indeed, came quite close, and took a nip at the toe of my
riding-boot. I kicked at it sharply, however, and it moved away.

The man had gone on. We watched the light of his cigarette, and thus, as
he now and then turned his head, knew where he was. It was now that I
felt, rather than heard, that Tish was crawling out from the shelter of
the rock. At the same time we heard, by the crunching of branches, that
the man had sat down near at hand.

Tish's progress was slow but sure. For a half-hour we sat there. Then
she returned, still crawling, and on putting out my hand I discovered
that she had secured the lasso from her saddle and had brought it back.
How true had been her instinct when she practiced its use! How my own
words, that it was all foolishness, came back and whispered lessons of
humility in my ear!

At this moment a deep, resonant sound came from the tree where