er the pony nor the girl could see whither
they were speeding. And then suddenly the Hunter's Moon broke the frail
bars of its cloud prison, and was again free to cast its full splendor
over the blackness. Under this sudden burst of light, Anvil Rock leapt
out of the shadows--vague, black, huge, terrible--and she uttered a cry
startled and relieved at seeing it so near by, when she had thought it
much farther off. But as she looked again to make sure that it was real,
and not some delusion of the mist, the first pang of fear struck back
her leaping heart. She drew up the panting, staggering pony with a
convulsive clutch on the reins--and waited, trembling and scarcely
daring to breathe. Some large dark form moved among the shadows around
the base of Anvil Rock.

Another swirl of the shrieking wind sent the fugitive clouds flying
again across the white face of the moon. But only for an instant, and
once more the darkness fled before the light of the crystal lamp. Yet
its bright beams could not pierce the thick gloom which hung heaviest at
the foot of the dark mass. Something still stood there, large, shadowy,
and motionless. Ruth's trembling hand unconsciously went up and threw
back the wildly blown hair which obscured her vision. As the white
moonlight thus fell full on her face, the dark shape instantly sprang
out of the gloom, and she recognized Paul Colbert almost as soon as he
saw her.

Neither uttered a cry of surprise or even of relief, for neither felt
any strangeness in this most strange meeting. When two hearts and two
souls and two spirits have rushed together at the first meeting of the
eyes,--as these two had,--no separation of mere flesh and blood can ever
again really keep them apart. These two were now only facing outwardly
the images which they constantly bore within their breasts. He had been
thinking more of her through that wild ride than of the friend whose
life he was perilling his own to save. She had felt his presence at her
side with every step of the pony's flying feet; it was merely his body
which she was striving to find and shield from harm. So that when they
thus suddenly came face to face in the moonlight there was no need for a
cry or a word. He sprang from his horse and leapt to the pony's side;
and she--as silently and as naturally--held out her arms to meet his
embrace.

But they started apart before touching one another. The distant sound of
horses' beating hoofs came with a gust of