lunch. I'm hungry," said Stella.

"All right. I'm a bit peckish myself," was the reply.

They were in a narrow valley which was strewn with great bowlders, and
on the sides of the hills grew a great many scrub pines. Through the
center of it ran the broad trail.

The lunch was tied to the cantle of Bud's saddle, while Stella carried a
canteen of coffee, for she was a great favorite of McCall, the cook, and
when she started out for the day he invariably put up the best lunch a
cow camp could afford.

Bud, in the meantime, had found a spring on the hillside and had watered
the horses, then made a fire of pine boughs over which they heated the
coffee and warmed themselves. Then they began their luncheon.

Bud was so busily appeasing his hunger that he did not say much, and did
not think it strange that Stella said nothing. They were seated on
opposite sides of the fire, and Bud, thinking that perhaps Stella might
need something, looked across at her.

What he saw caused him to stare.

Stella was looking over his head with an expression of horror on her
face. Her wide, staring eyes were filled with an unspeakable horror.

Her hand was poised in mid-air, just as if she had been going to put
something into her mouth, when the action was arrested by the sight of
something that froze her with terror.

"Stella, what's ther matter?" Bud managed to blurt out.

Stella's lips moved, but no sound came from them. She was too frightened
to speak.

Then Bud, observing the direction in which she was looking, turned his
head.

In an instant he was on his feet. He had become very pale, and his hand
shook as he reached slowly toward his holster.

Standing behind him was a creature such as he never had seen before.

It was a man of great stature, clad entirely in black, over which was
thrown a long, black cloak.

But the horror of the creature was the face. Out of an expressionless
mask of silver, without nose or mouth, gleamed a pair of fierce, black
eyes, that twinkled maliciously. Midway of the face were two holes,
nostrils through which he breathed.

It was the man at whom Carl had fired his six harmless bullets--the man
with the silver face.

Bud stood staring at him like one frozen, but Stella, when she saw that
Bud was as frightened as herself, was able to take her eyes away from
those terrible orbs that shone through the silver face, and regained her
composure, and now was able to look at him without terror and w