ps, or wander blindly and aimlessly away. No! The train
would pass and with it that hope of rescue. Something was in his throat,
but he gulped it down and was quiet again albeit he shivered in the
night wind.

The train was nearly abreast of him now. He ran out of the tall grass,
waving his straw hat above his head in the faint hope of attracting
attention. But he did not go far, for he found to his alarm that when
he turned back again the clump of mesquite was scarcely distinguishable
from the rest of the plain. This settled all question of his going. Even
if he reached the train and returned with some one, how would he ever
find her again in this desolate expanse?

He watched the train slowly pass--still mechanically, almost hopelessly,
waving his hat as he ran up and down before the mesquite, as if he were
waving a last farewell to his departing hope. Suddenly it appeared to
him that three of the outriders who were preceding the first wagon had
changed their shape. They were no longer sharp, oblong, black blocks
against the horizon but had become at first blurred and indistinct,
then taller and narrower, until at last they stood out like exclamation
points against the sky. He continued to wave his hat, they continued to
grow taller and narrower. He understood it now--the three transformed
blocks were the outriders coming towards him.

This is what he had seen--

[Drawing of three black blocks]

This is what he saw now--

! ! !

He ran back to Susy to see if she still slept, for his foolish desire
to have her saved unconsciously was stronger than ever now that safety
seemed so near. She was still sleeping, although she had moved slightly.
He ran to the front again.

The outriders had apparently halted. What were they doing? Why wouldn't
they come on?

Suddenly a blinding flash of light seemed to burst from one of them.
Away over his head something whistled like a rushing bird, and sped
off invisible. They had fired a gun; they were signaling to
him--Clarence--like a grown-up man. He would have given his life at that
moment to have had a gun. But he could only wave his hat frantically.

One of the figures here bore away and impetuously darted forward again.
He was coming nearer, powerful, gigantic, formidable, as he loomed
through the darkness. All at once he threw up his arm with a wild
gesture to the others; and his voice, manly, frank, and assuring, came
ringing before him.

"Hold up! Good God! It's n