s, he helped his prisoner
to them and gently propelled him forward by a kick of his own
moccasined toe. Thus compelled, Ferd led the way, the shepherd at his
heels, carrying the basket slung upon the staff over his shoulder, and
his free hand pressed closely against his breast where he had placed
the gleaming stone. Behind him walked impatient Jessica, with the
lantern, and in suchwise the little procession came swiftly and
silently to the end of the passage and stood once more under the free
air of heaven. Here they had to halt, for a moment, till their vision
became accustomed to the dazzling light; then with a cry of rapture,
the "captain" darted from her comrades and sped wildly down the rocky
gorge.

CHAPTER V.

JESSICA'S STORY

Though it had seemed as a lifetime to impatient Jessica that she had
been kept in the cave, after Pedro's arrival there, in reality it was
less than an hour; and it was yet early in the day when a cry she had
expected never to hear again, rang through the room where Gabriella
Trent was lying.

"Mother! My mother! Where are you?"

Another instant, and they were clasped in close embrace as if nothing
should ever separate them again. Words were impossible, at first, and
not till she saw that even joy was dangerous for her overwrought
patient did Aunt Sally, the nurse, interpose and bodily lift the
daughter from the parent's arms. All at once her own calmness and
courage forsook good Mrs. Benton, and now that she saw the lost girl
restored, visibly present in the flesh, anger possessed her till she
longed to shake, rather than caress, the little captain.

"Well, Jessica Trent! These are pretty goings on, now ain't they?"

Gabriella sat up and her child nestled against her, their hands
clasped and their eyes greedily fixed upon each other's countenance.
The unexpected brusqueness of the question was a relief to their high
tension, and Jessica laughed, almost hysterically, as she answered:

"They didn't seem very 'pretty' to me, Aunt Sally."

"What a sight you be! Where you been?"

"In the canyon cave."

"Didn't know there was one."

"Nor I--before."

"What for? What made you stay? Didn't you know you'd raised the whole
countryside to hunt for you? Don't believe there's an able-bodied man
left on a single ranch within fifty miles; all off huntin' for you.
You--you ought to be spanked!"

"Mrs. Benton!" warned Gabriella, in a tone of such distress that the
reproved one p