not think of going," exclaimed Miss
Harvey. "You're far too seriously hurt, far too weak, to attempt such
a thing. Please lie down again. Surely Mr. Wing will do all that any
man could do to recover the safe. All the others are in pursuit. They
must have overtaken them by this time. Come; I am doctor now that he
is away. Obey me and lie still."

Drummond's one available hand found itself clasped by warm, slender
fingers. He would have drawn it away and striven to carry out his
design, but a glance at his two troopers told him that they plainly
and earnestly advocated Miss Harvey's view of the case. He was in no
condition to make the attempt. And at the moment, too, even as he
strove to release his hand, another voice was heard, almost imploring.

"Oh, don't let him go, Fan; don't let him try to ride!"

And turning suddenly at the sound, Mr. Drummond found Ruth Harvey
standing close behind her sister, her eyes suffused, her cheeks
blushing red. It was the first time he had seen her to speak to since
they landed at the old wharf at San Francisco a year gone by, and for
the moment he forgot the safe, the funds, the crippled arm, the
bandaged head, and every other item that should have occupied his
thoughts.

"Why, Ruthie, is this you? How you have grown!"

And then the imprisoned hand was released only to be transferred to
the clasp and keeping of another. In her fear that her knight, her
soldier, would leave them, and, wounded though he was, insist on
attempting to follow his men in their pursuit, the shyness of
maidenhood was forgotten. Ruth had seized and clasped the long, brown
fingers, and Drummond forgot for the moment all thought of quitting
her presence for the field.

And then having--as she supposed--won her point, and having caught the
new light in his admiring eyes, it became necessary to struggle for
the release of the hand she had so unhesitatingly used to detain him.
This might have proved a difficult matter, judging from the expression
in Drummond's face, but for a sudden hail from Patterson.

"Can the lieutenant come up here a moment? There's something going on
down there I can't understand."

Old Moreno, whose bonds could not restrain his shifting, glittering
eyes, glanced quickly upward. Then, as he caught a menacing look in
the sunburned face of the Irish trooper Walsh, he became as suddenly
oblivious to all earthly matters beyond the pale of his own physical
woes. And now it was Ruth's hand t