on, she began to give some attention to his
work, noting how his muscles rippled and contracted, how his sides
heaved, with what regularity his legs moved. Involuntarily, she felt of
his shoulder--it was moist, and the muscles under the smooth hair writhed
like living things. She laughed, almost hysterically, for the touch made
her feel that she was not alone--she was with the most faithful of man's
friends, and she knew that the little animal under her would do his best
for her--would run himself to death in her service, if she insisted.

She had a glorious start over her pursuers. They would never catch her.
Twice, after she entered the broken stretch she looked back, but could
see no sign of them. She did not know that at that moment Chavis and
Kester, enraged and disgusted over the trick she had played on them, were
riding slowly through the valley toward their shack.

She was almost through the broken stretch when the pony stumbled. She
pulled quickly on the reins, and the pony straightened. But instantly she
felt its forelegs stiffen, felt it slide; the thought came to her that it
must have slid on a flat rock or a treacherous stretch of lava. It
struggled like a cat, to recover its balance, grunting and heaving with
the effort, but went down, finally, sideways, throwing her out of the
saddle.

She had anticipated the fall and had got her feet out of the stirrups,
and she alighted standing, braced for the shock. Her left foot struck the
top of a jagged rock, slipped, doubled under her, and she felt a sharp,
agonizing pain in the ankle. For a moment she paid no attention to it,
however, being more concerned for the pony, but when she noted that the
animal had got up, seemingly none the worse for the fall, she suddenly
realized that the ankle pained her terribly, and she hopped over to a
flat rock and sat on it, to examine the injury. She worked the ankle
rapidly back and forth, each movement bringing tears to her eyes. She had
almost forgotten about her pursuers, and when she thought of them she got
up and limped toward the pony, which had wandered a little away from
where it had fallen.

And now the pony, which had performed so nobly for her during the miles
she had ridden to reach this spot, suddenly seemed determined to undo all
his service by yielding to a whim to avoid capture.

She tried threats, flattery, cajolery. Twice more she hobbled painfully
near him, and each time he unconcernedly walked away. The