e. It was very white. "He's
afraid," she gritted, and at the thought her own fear vanished, and in
its place came a wild spirit of exhilaration. This was life. Life in
the raw of which she had read and dreamed but never before experienced.
Her horse stopped abruptly. The Texan had dismounted and was pulling
at the huge fragment of riven trunk that barred the trail.

"We'll have to lead 'em around through the brush, there. We can't
budge this boy."

Scattering rain-drops fell--huge drops that landed with a thud and
splashed broadly.

"Get out the slickers, Bat. Quick now, or we're in for a wettin'." As
he spoke the man stepped to Alice's side, helped her to the ground, and
loosened the pack-strings of her saddle. A moment later he held a huge
oilskin of brilliant yellow, into the sleeves of which the girl thrust
her arms. There was an odour as of burning sulphur and she sniffed the
air as she buttoned the garment about her throat.

The Texan grinned: "Plenty close enough I'll say, when you get a whiff
of the hell-fire. Better wait here 'til I find a way through the
brush. An' keep out of reach of the horse's heels with that slicker
on. You can't never trust a cayuse, 'specially when they can't more'n
half see. They're liable to take a crack at you for luck."

Grasping his bridle reins the Texan disappeared and by the lightning
flashes she could see him forcing his way through the thicket of
willows. The scattering drops changed to a heavy downpour. The
moonlight had long since been obliterated and the short intervals
between the lightning flashes were spaces of intense blackness. A
yellow-clad figure scrambled over the tree trunk and the cowboy took
the bridle reins from her hand.

"You slip through here. I'll take your horse around."

On the other side, the cowboy assisted her to mount, and pulling his
horse in beside hers, led off down the trail. The rain steadily
increased in volume until the flashes of lightning showed only a grey
wall of water, and the roar of it blended into the incessant roar of
the thunder. The horses splashed into the creek and wallowed to their
bellies in the swirling water.

The Texan leaned close and shouted to make himself heard.

"They don't make 'em any worse than this. I've be'n out in some
considerable rainstorms, take it first an' last, but I never seen it
come down solid before. A fish could swim anywheres through this."

"The creek is rising," answere