his only comment was, "I can make it,
sir," as he saluted his young commander. Less than two hours from the
time they unsaddled, therefore, the troopers once more mounted, and,
following their leader, filed away down the winding gorge. Presently
there came the low rumble of thunder, and a sweep of the rising wind.
"Trot," said Dean, and without other word the little column quickened
the pace.

The ravine grew wider soon and far less tortuous, but was still a narrow
and dangerous spot. For a mile or two from the Springs its course was
nearly east of north, then it bore away to the northeast, and the
Sweetwater trail abruptly left it and went winding up a cleft in the
hills to the west. Just as they reached this point the heavens opened
and the clouds descended in a deluge of rain. Out came the ponchos,
unstrapped from the saddle, and every man's head popped through the slit
as the shiny black "shedwater" settled down on his shoulders.

"That outfit behind us will get a soaking if it has been fool enough to
follow down to the Springs," said Carey to the sergeant, as they began
the pull up the slippery trail.

"What outfit?" asked Dean, turning in the saddle and looking back in
surprise.

A blinding flash of lightning, followed almost on the instant by the
crack and roar of thunder, put summary stop to talk of any kind. Men and
horses bowed their heads before the deluge and the rain ran in streams
from the manes and tails. The ascending path turned quickly into a
running brook and the black forms of steeds and riders struggled
sidewise up the grass-grown slopes in search of higher ground. The
heavens had turned inky black. The gloomy ravine grew dark as night.
Flash after flash the lightning split the gloom. Every second or two
trooper faces gleamed ghastly in the dazzling glare, then as suddenly
vanished. Horses slipped or stumbled painfully and, man after man, the
riders followed the example of the young soldier in the lead and,
dismounting, led their dripping beasts farther up the steep incline.
Halfway to the summit, peering through the wind-swept sheets of rain, a
palisaded clump of rocks jutted out from the heights and, after a hard
climb, the little band found partial shelter from the driving storm, and
huddled, awe-stricken, at their base. Still the lightning played and the
thunder cannonaded with awful resonance from crag to crag down the deep
gorge from which they had clambered, evidently none too soon, for