d to one of these
men who like change. It must have irritated her awfully to have to pack up
and move when she was so comfortable. Oh, Henry, that's not wind blowing
the dust! It's men--horsemen!"

"It does look like it."

"They're coming this way. I don't like it."

"Neither do I." Hard's voice was anxious. "If we had a bit of
shelter----"

They looked anxiously about, but the flatness of the country offered no
opportunity for anything larger than a gopher to hide. Trees and bushes,
alike too small for shelter, and little rises of land, hard enough to
climb but easily visible to anyone on horseback, were all that offered
themselves. In the distance an arroyo looked promising, but it was far and
the line of riders very near.

"We've got to make a break for it, anyhow," said Hard, at last. "It's off
the road. It's our only chance; that, and the possibility that they may be
troops and in too much of a hurry to stop for the likes of us. Come on."

Clara sighed and quickened her pace. They left the road and struck across
country toward the arroyo.

"I don't believe they're troops," she said. "There aren't enough of them.
Oh, Henry, suppose it's Angel Gonzales and his men!"

Hard shrugged his shoulders. "They may very well be," he said. "But we'll
hope they're not. Let's be optimistic as long as we have a straw to
clutch."

Clara did not answer. She took another look at the rapidly advancing line
and felt, not unreasonably, that the straw was a weak one even for the
clutch of an optimist. They dug in, weary as they were, making small
progress, but with hopeful eyes bent upon the distant arroyo. At least
they were going in a different direction from the riders. Hard limped
painfully. His face was set in lines of determination--or was it pain?
Clara wondered. She stopped suddenly.

"Henry," she said, firmly, "this is folly. Those men must have seen us.
They're able to overtake us if they want to, and if they want to do
anything to us, they will. We can't help ourselves. I'm not going another
step. I'm going to sit down here and see what happens." As she spoke, she
sat down on a tree stump. Hard laughed ruefully.

"Well, I suppose you're right," he said. "They've got us, if they want us.
We'll hope they don't." He sat down on the ground beside her, feeling very
much as though he would never get up again.

So far the horsemen had given no indication of having seen the fugitives.
They were fox-trotting along, in tw