istence well enough to be confident he would be back on the Gap
road, and within the cover of the mountains, before a storm should
overtake him. On the north the brown curtain had risen fast and
already enveloped the farthest peaks of the range. Letting his horse
stretch its neck, he hesitated a moment longer trying to decide
whether to follow the men to the south or the wagon to the north. A
woman might have done better. But no good angel was there to guide his
decision, and in another moment he was riding rapidly to the south
with the even, brown, misty cloud behind him rolling higher into the
northern sky.

CHAPTER XXXI

DE SPAIN RIDES ALONE

He had ridden the trail but a short time when it led him in a wide
angle backward and around toward Calabasas, and he found, presently,
that the men he was riding after were apparently heading for the stage
barns. In the north the rising curtain had darkened. Toward Sleepy Cat
the landscape was already obliterated. In the south the sun shone, but
the air had grown suddenly cold, and in the sharp drop de Spain
realized what was coming. His first thought was of the southern
stages, which must be warned, and as he galloped up to the big barn,
with this thought in mind he saw, standing in the doorway, Bull Page.

De Spain regarded him with astonishment. "How did you get here?" was
his sharp question.

Page grinned. "Got what I was after, and c'm' back sooner'n I
expected. Half-way over to the Gap, I met Duke and the young gal on
horseback, headed for Calabasas. They pulled up. I pulled up. Old Duke
looked kind o' ga'nted, and it seemed like Nan was in a considerable
hurry to get to Sleepy Cat with him, and he couldn't stand the
saddle. Anyway, they was heading for Calabasas to get a rig from
McAlpin. I knowed McAlpin would never give old Duke a rig, not if he
was a-dyin' in the saddle."

"They've got your rig!" cried de Spain.

"The gal asked me if I'd mind accommodatin' 'em," explained Bull
deprecatingly, "to save time."

"They headed north!" exclaimed de Spain. The light from the
fast-changing sky fell copper-colored across his horse and figure.
McAlpin, followed by a hostler, appeared at the barn door.

Bull nodded to de Spain. "Said they wanted to get there quick. She
fig'erd on savin' a few miles by strikin' the hill trail in. So I
takes their horses and lets on I was headin' in for the Gap. When they
got out of sight, I turned 'round----"

Even as he spok