have a light."

"Bring matches!" roared the foreman.

No one had any.

"Rustle for the camp, and fetch a lantern--and be quick about it! I've
had enough of this fooling. What was she doing--how did it happen?"

Tad explained as clearly as he could how they had been disturbed by the
strange noises, resulting finally in a shot from Big-foot's gun.

"The idiot! It'll be a sorry day for him if he's done any damage,"
growled the foreman. He stooped over and ran his hand over the
unconscious woman's face. Then he applied his ear to the region of the
heart.

"Huh!" he snapped, rising.

"Find anything!" asked Tad in a half whisper.

"She's alive. Heart weak, but I don't think she's seriously hurt. I
don't understand it at all."

"No more do I. I'm getting dizzy over all this rapid-fire business,"
added the lad. "There they come with a light."

Stallings strode to the cowman who had brought the lantern. Jerking it
from the man's hand the foreman ran back.

"We'll straighten her up against the steps, and try to find out how
badly she is hurt," he said, placing the lantern on the ground.

Tad had partially raised her, when he let the girl drop with a sudden,
startled exclamation.

"What is it?" demanded Stallings incisively.

"It's Miss Ruth!"

"Who?"

"Miss Ruth----"

By the dim lantern light the foreman saw her face outlined against the
dark background of green. His eyes were fixed upon her, and Bob
Stallings seemed scarcely to breathe.

"Ruth Brayton!" he gasped.

"Yes," answered Tad in a low voice, not fully comprehending the meaning
of the scene that was being enacted before him.

"Ruth Brayton," repeated Stallings, slowly passing a hand across his
forehead. "Ruth!" he cried, throwing himself to his knees beside her.

"I tell ye I winged a spook," insisted Big-foot Sanders to a companion
as they came up.

Tad raised a warning hand for silence.

CHAPTER XXIV

CONCLUSION

"Get back to that herd!" commanded the foreman sharply. "All of you!
Tad, you stay with me. The girl has fallen and struck her head on the
flagging. I don't think she is seriously hurt."

Not understanding the meaning of it all, the cowmen drew back and
slouched to their ponies. Most of them were off duty at the time, so
they took their way back to camp to be ready for whatever emergency
might arise.

Not a man of them spoke until they had staked their ponies and seated
themselves around the camp-fire. Such a silen