was an old one and worn, but the best I had. I came back to tell you
that I must ride after him at once. You won't be afraid to stay alone
for a little while, will you? My horse has had a rest. I think I ought
to be able to catch him."

V

THE TRAIL

But the look of horror in the eyes of the girl stopped him.

She gave a quick frightened glance around and then her eyes besought
him. All the terror of the night alone in the wideness returned upon
her. She heard again the howl of the coyotes, and saw the long dark
shadows in the canyon. She was white to the lips with the thought of it.

"Oh, don't leave me alone!" she said trying to speak bravely. "I don't
feel as if I could stand it. There are wild beasts around"--she glanced
furtively behind her as if even now one was slyly tracking her--"it was
awful--awful! Their howls! And it is so alone here!--I never was alone
before!"

There was that in her appealing helplessness that gave him a wild desire
to stoop and fold her in his arms and tell her he would never leave her
while she wanted him. The colour came and went in his fine bronzed face,
and his eyes grew tender with feeling.

"I won't leave you," he said gently, "not if you feel that way, though
there is really no danger here in daytime. The wild creatures are very
shy and only show themselves at night. But if I do not find your horse
how are you to get speedily back to your friends? It is a long distance
you have come, and you could not ride alone."

Her face grew troubled.

"Couldn't I walk?" she suggested. "I'm a good walker. I've walked five
miles at once many a time."

"We are at least forty miles from the railroad," he smiled back at her,
"and the road is rough, over a mountain by the nearest way. Your horse
must have been determined indeed to take you so far in one day. He is
evidently a new purchase of Shag's and bent on returning to his native
heath. Horses do that sometimes. It is their instinct. I'll tell you
what I'll do. It may be that he has only gone down in the valley to the
water-hole. There is one not far away, I think. I'll go to the edge of
the mesa and get a view. If he is not far away you can come with me
after him. Just sit here and watch me. I'll not go out of your sight or
hearing, and I'll not be gone five minutes. You'll not be afraid?"

She sat down obediently where he bade her, her eyes large with fear, for
she dreaded the loneliness of the desert more than any fear