bility Tex and Bat will be there. If they are
not we will have to find them."

"Of course!" assented the girl. "Oh, Win, I'm so proud of you! I
couldn't be any prouder if you were a--a real cowboy!" Endicott
laughed heartily, and urged his horse forward. The animals crossed
several low ridges and struck into a coulee which they followed
unhesitatingly. When it petered out in a wide basin, they struck into
another coulee, and continued their course, covering the miles at a
long, swinging trot. At sundown Endicott reined in sharply and pointed
to the northward. "It's the ridge of the Split Rock!" he cried; "and
look, there is the soda hill!" There it was only a mile or two
away--the long black ridge with the huge rock fragment at its end, and
almost touching it, the high round hill that the Texan had described.

The horses pressed eagerly forward, seeming to know that rest and water
were soon to be theirs. "I wonder if they are there," breathed the
girl, "and I wonder if they are--all right."

A few minutes later the horses swung around the base of the hill and,
with an exclamation of relief, Endicott saw two figures seated beside
the detached fragment of rock that lay near the end of the ridge.

The Texan arose slowly and advanced toward them, smiling: "Good
evenin'," he greeted, casually, as he eyed the pair with evident
approval. "You sure come a-runnin'. We didn't expect you 'til along
about noon tomorrow. And we didn't expect you at all," he said to the
girl. "We figured you'd shove on to Timber City, an' then Win would
get a guide an' come back in the mornin'."

Endicott laughed: "When I learned there was such a place as Timber
City, I intended to leave her there and return alone--only I was not
going to wait 'til morning to do it. But she wouldn't hear of it, so
we compromised--and she came with me."

Tex smiled: "It's a great thing to learn how to compromise." He stared
for a few moments toward the west, where the setting sun left the sky
ablaze with fiery light. Then, still smiling, he advanced toward them
with both hands extended: "I wish you luck," he said, softly. "I cared
for you a mighty lot, Miss Alice, but I'm a good loser. I reckon,
maybe it's better things worked out the way they did." Endicott
pressed the outstretched hand with a mighty grip and turned swiftly
away to fumble at his latigo strap. And there were tears in the girl's
eyes as her fingers lingered for a moment in th