s one of the
riding-pains that made a victim of a tenderfoot on a long ride. It
was almost too much to be borne. The beauty of the forest, the living
creatures to be seen scurrying away, the time, distance--everything
faded before that stablike pain. To her infinite relief she found that
it was the trot that caused this torture. When Ranger walked she did not
have to suffer it. Therefore she held him to a walk as long as she dared
or until Dale and Bo were almost out of sight; then she loped him ahead
until he had caught up.

So the hours passed, the sun got around low, sending golden shafts
under the trees, and the forest gradually changed to a brighter, but a
thicker, color. This slowly darkened. Sunset was not far away.

She heard the horses splashing in water, and soon she rode up to see the
tiny streams of crystal water running swiftly over beds of green moss.
She crossed a number of these and followed along the last one into a
more open place in the forest where the pines were huge, towering,
and far apart. A low, gray bluff of stone rose to the right, perhaps
one-third as high as the trees. From somewhere came the rushing sound of
running water.

"Big Spring," announced Dale. "We camp here. You girls have done well."

Another glance proved to Helen that all those little streams poured from
under this gray bluff.

"I'm dying for a drink," cried Bo with her customary hyperbole.

"I reckon you'll never forget your first drink here," remarked Dale.

Bo essayed to dismount, and finally fell off, and when she did get to
the ground her legs appeared to refuse their natural function, and she
fell flat. Dale helped her up.

"What's wrong with me, anyhow?" she demanded, in great amaze.

"Just stiff, I reckon," replied Dale, as he led her a few awkward steps.

"Bo, have you any hurts?" queried Helen, who still sat her horse, loath
to try dismounting, yet wanting to beyond all words.

Bo gave her an eloquent glance.

"Nell, did you have one in your side, like a wicked, long
darning-needle, punching deep when you weren't ready?"

"That one I'll never get over!" exclaimed Helen, softly. Then, profiting
by Bo's experience, she dismounted cautiously, and managed to keep
upright. Her legs felt like wooden things.

Presently the girls went toward the spring.

"Drink slow," called out Dale.

Big Spring had its source somewhere deep under the gray, weathered
bluff, from which came a hollow subterranean gurgle and