im had
ceased. He knew he was safe. The ledge could only be reached by a
circuitous route three miles away. He knew, too, that if he could only
reach a point of outcrop a hundred yards away he could easily descend to
the stage road, down the gentle slope of the mountain hidden in a growth
of hazel-brush. He bound up his wounded leg, and dragged himself on his
hands and knees laboriously to the outcrop. He did not look up; since
his pick had crashed into Marshall's brain he had but one blind thought
before him--to escape at once! That his revenge and compensation would
come later he never doubted. He limped and crept, rolled and fell, from
bush to bush through the sloping thickets, until he saw the red road a
few feet below him.

If he only had a horse he could put miles between him and any present
pursuit! Why should he not have one? The road was frequented by solitary
horsemen--miners and Mexicans. He had his revolver with him; what
mattered the life of another man if he escaped from the consequences of
the one he had just taken? He heard the clatter of hoofs; two priests on
mules rode slowly by; he ground his teeth with disappointment. But they
had scarcely passed before another and more rapid clatter came from
their rear. It was a lad on horseback. He started. It was his own son!

He remembered in a flash how the boy had said he was coming to meet the
padre at the station on that day. His first impulse was to hide himself,
his wound, and his defeat from the lad, but the blind idea of escape
was still paramount. He leaned over the bank and called to him. The
astonished lad cantered eagerly to his side.

"Give me your horse, Eddy," said the father; "I'm in bad luck, and must
get."

The boy glanced at his father's face, at his tattered garments and
bandaged leg, and read the whole story. It was a familiar page to him.
He paled first and then flushed, and then, with an odd glitter in his
eyes, said, "Take me with you, father. Do! You always did before. I'll
bring you luck."

Desperation is superstitious. Why not take him? They had been lucky
before, and the two together might confound any description of their
identity to the pursuers. "Help me up, Eddy, and then get up before me."

"BEHIND, you mean," said the boy, with a laugh, as he helped his father
into the saddle.

"No," said Steptoe harshly. "BEFORE me,--do you hear? And if anything
happens BEHIND you, don't look! If I drop off, don't stop! Don't get
down,