but soon he was forced to sink back again into his
stumbling stride.

"One hour more, Ginger, that is all--one hour only."

As he spoke he leapt from his saddle to ease his horse in climbing a
long and lofty hill. As he surmounted the hill he stopped and swiftly
backed his horse down the hill. Upon the distant skyline his eye had
detected what he judged to be a horseman. His horse safely disposed of,
he once more crawled to the top of the hill.

"An Indian, by Jove!" he cried. "I wonder if he has seen me."

Carefully his eye swept the intervening valley and the hillside beyond,
but only this solitary figure could he see. As his eye rested on him the
Indian began to move toward the west. Cameron lay watching him for some
minutes. From his movements it was evident that the Indian's pace was
being determined by some one on the other side of the hill, for he
advanced now swiftly, now slowly. At times he halted and turned back
upon his track, then went forward again.

"What the deuce is he doing?" said Cameron to himself. "By Jove! I have
got it! The drive is begun. I am too late."

Swiftly he considered the whole situation. He was too late now to be of
any service at his ranch. The raid had already swept past it. He wrung
his hands in agony to think of what might have happened. He was torn
with anxiety for his family--and yet here was the raid passing onward
before his eyes. One hour would bring him to the ranch, but if this were
the outside edge of the big cattle raid the loss of an hour would mean
the loss of everything.

"Oh, my God! What shall I do?" he cried.

With his eyes still upon the Indian he forced himself to think more
quietly. The secrecy with which the raid was planned made it altogether
likely that the homes of the settlers would not at this time be
interfered with. This consideration finally determined him. At all costs
he must do what he could to head off the raid or to break the herd
in some way. But that meant in the first place a ride of twenty or
twenty-five miles over rough country. Could Ginger do it?

He crawled back to his horse and found him with his head close to the
ground and trembling in every limb.

"If he goes this twenty miles," he said, "he will go no more. But it
looks like our only hope, old boy. We must make for our old beat, the
Sun Dance Trail."

He mounted his horse and set off toward the west, taking care never to
appear above the skyline and riding as rapidly as the u