g him for that, anyway," he flung back, and swung
lightly into the saddle, "I must be goin'."

"And you don't even deny cutting the pack?"

He looked her squarely in the eyes and shook his head. "No. You kind
of half believe Monk about the partnership. But you don't believe I
cut that pack, so what's the use denying it?"

"I do----"

"If you should happen to get lost, don't try to outguess your compass.
Always pack a little grub an' some matches, an' if you need help,
three shots, an' then three more, will bring anyone that's in hearin'
distance."

"I hope I shall never have to summon you for help."

"It is quite a bother," admitted the other. "An' if you'll remember
what I've told you, you prob'ly won't have to. So long."

The cowboy settled the Stetson firmly upon his head, and with never a
glance behind him, headed his horse down the little creek.

The girl watched him for a moment with angry eyes, and then, urging
her horse forward, crossed the plateau at a gallop, and headed up the
valley. "Of all the--the _boors_! He certainly is the limit. And the
worst of it is I don't know whether he deliberately tries to insult
me, or whether it's just ignorance. Anyway, I wouldn't trust him as
far as I could see him. And I do believe he cut daddy's pack sack, so
there!" The heavy revolver dangling at her side attracted her
attention, and she pulled up her horse and changed it to the opposite
side. "I suppose I did look like a fool," she admitted, "but he
needn't have told me so. And I bet I know as much about a compass as
he does, anyway. And I'll tie my horse up with a rope if I want to."

Beyond the plateau, the valley narrowed rapidly, and innumerable
ravines and coulees led steeply upward to lose themselves among the
timbered slopes of the mountain sides. Crossing a low divide at the
head of the valley, she reined in her horse and gazed with thumping
heart into the new valley that lay before her. There, scarcely a mile
away, stretched a rock ledge--and, yes, there were scraggly trees
fringing its rim, and the valley was strewn with rock fragments! Her
valley! The valley of the photographs! She laughed aloud, and urged
her horse down the steep descent, heedless of the fact that upon the
precarious, loose rock footing of the slope, a misstep would mean
almost certain destruction.

Directly opposite the face of the rock wall she pulled her horse to a
stand. "Surely, this must be the place, but--where is the crack