ady Kendric was undoing the two tie ropes. He regretted the
necessity of stepping two paces from Zoraida's side, but realized that
inevitably that necessity must come soon or late and he lost no time
grieving over it. The horses were at hand, saddled and bridled; Betty
was with him; the night was too dark for eyes to watch from a distance;
the two men within Zoraida's call were still up in the tower. He was
taking his chance now and he knew it; Zoraida's period of obedience and
inactivity was no doubt near at end. Well, his luck had befriended him
thus far and for the rest it was up to Jim Kendric. And they were out
in the open!

Thus he was ready for Zoraida's outcry. He saw her whip back so as to
be beyond the sweep of his arm, he heard her crying out wildly,
commanding her retainers to stop the flight of her prisoners, shrieking
at them to shoot, to shoot to kill!

"Betty!" cried Jim. "Quick!"

Then he saw that Betty, too, had been ready. Just how she managed it,
encumbered as she was with Zoraida's cloak, he did not know. But she
was already in one of the saddles.

"Jim!" she cried wildly. "Run!"

He went up to the back of the other horse, his rifle in his hand. And
as he struck saddle leather his horse and Betty's shot forward and
away. He heard Zoraida's scream of command, breaking with rage. He
heard men's voices shouting excitedly; there came the well-remembered
shrilling of a whistle and then drowning its silver note the popping of
rifles.

"There'll be a dozen of them in the saddle and after us!" Jim shouted
at Betty. "Swing off to the right. We've got to make for the
mountains. Ride, girl! Ride, Betty! Ride for all that's in it!"

He glanced over his shoulder. Only a flare here and there as a rifle
spat its red threat, that and a blur of running figures. As yet no
horseman following them. That would take another minute or two. He
looked at Betty. She rode astride and well; no need to bid her make
haste. She leaned forward in the saddle, the loose ends of her reins
whipping back and forth regularly, lashing her horse's shoulders. He
looked ahead. There the mountains rose black and without detail
against the sky. He looked up; the stars were shining.

Abruptly, as though at a command, the rifles ceased firing after them.
And, instead of the explosions which had concerned Kendric little, came
another sound fully to be expected by now and of downright serious
import. It was t