ut the girl, whose life up to this day
had never known a want unsatisfied, was faint with hunger and burning
with thirst, and this unaccustomed demand upon her strength was fast
bringing it to its limit.

The darkness in the canyon grew deeper, and more stars clustered out
overhead; but far, so very far away! The coyotes seemed just a shadow
removed all about and above. Her senses were swimming. She could not be
sure just where they were. The horse slipped and stumbled on in the
darkness, and she forgot to try to turn him from his purpose.

By and by she grew conscious that the way was leading upward again. They
were scrambling over rough places, large rocks in the way, trees growing
close to the trail, and the pony seemed not to be able to avoid them, or
perhaps he didn't care. The howling of the coyotes was growing clearer
every minute but somehow her fear of them was deadened, as her fear of
all else. She was lying low upon the pony, clinging to his neck, too
faint to cry out, too weak to stop the tears that slowly wet his mane.
Then suddenly she was caught in the embrace of a low hanging branch, her
hair tangled about its roughness. The pony struggled to gain his
uncertain footing, the branch held her fast and the pony scrambled on,
leaving his helpless rider behind him in a little huddled heap upon the
rocky trail, swept from the saddle by the tough old branch.

The pony stopped a moment upon a bit of shelving rock he had with
difficulty gained, and looked back with a troubled snort, but the
huddled heap in the darkness below him gave forth no sign of life, and
after another snort and a half neigh of warning the pony turned and
scrambled on, up and up till he gained the mesa above.

The late moon rose and hunted its way through the canyon till it found
the gold of her hair spread about on the rocky way, and touched her
sweet unconscious face with the light of cold beauty; the coyotes howled
on in solemn chorus, and still the little figure lay quiet and
unconscious of her situation.

IV

THE QUEST

John Brownleigh reached the water-hole at sunset, and while he waited
for his horse to drink he meditated on what he would do next. If he
intended to go to the fort for dinner he should turn at once sharply to
the right and ride hard, unless he was willing to be late. The lady at
the fort liked to have her guests on hand promptly, he knew.

The sun was down. It had left long splashes of crimson and gold i