"One more crawl," said Foy, leading the way. "We'll go up on top.
Regular fort up there. If we've got to die we'll die in the sun."

He stooped at what seemed the end of the passage and crawled out of
sight under the low branches of a stunted cedar. Pringle followed and
found himself in the pitch dark.

"Grab hold of my coat tail. I know my way, feeling the wall. Watch
your step or you'll bark your shins."

The cave floor was smooth underfoot, except for scattered rocks; it
rose and dipped, but the general trend was sharply upward.

"You're quite an institution, Pringle. You've made good Stella's word
of you--the best ever!" said Foy as they mounted. "But you can't do
me any good, really. I'll enjoy your company, but I wish you hadn't come."

"That's all right. I always like to finish what I begin."

"Well," remarked Foy cheerfully, "I reckon we've reached the big
finish, both of us. I don't see any way out. All they've got to do
is to sit tight till we starve out for water. Wish you was out of it.
It's going to be tough on Stella, losing her friend and--and me, both
at once. How's she making out? Full of fight and hope to the last,
I'll bet."

"They had me under herd; but she was wishing for the Bar Cross buddies
to butt in, I believe. Reckon your sheriff-man guessed it. He had her
under guard, too."

"Nice man, the sheriff! How'd you get away from your herder?"

"He don't just remember," said Pringle.

"Who was it?"

"Applegate. Dreadful absent-minded, Applegate is. Ouch! There went my
other shin. Had any sleep?"

"Most all night. Something woke me up about two hours ago, and I kept
on the look-out ever since."

"That was me, I guess. I had to step lively. They was crowding me."

"If the Bar Cross happened to get word," observed Foy thoughtfully,
"we might stand some hack. But they won't. It's good-by, vain world,
for ours! Say, in case a miracle happens for you, just make a memo
about the sheriff being a nuisance, will you?"

"I'll tie a string on my finger. Anything else?"

"You might stick around and cheer Stella up a little. I'll do as much
for you sometime. I'm thinking she'll feel pretty bad at first. Here
we are!"

A faint glimmer showed ahead. They crawled under low bushes and
stumbled out, in what seemed at first a dazzle of light; into a
small saucer-shaped plat of earth a few feet across, enclosed by
an irregular oval made by great blocks of stone, man-high. Below, a
succession of li