eppingham had not spoken since they left the park grounds. He came
second in the single file that they observed, striding silently and
obediently at the given twenty paces behind Selim. They kept to the
grassy roadside and moved swiftly and with as little noise as possible.
By this time, their eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness; they
could distinguish one another quite clearly. The starlight filtered down
through the leafy canopy above the road, increasing rather than
decreasing the density of the shadows through which they sped. None but
strong, determined, inspired men could have followed the pace set by the
lithe, surefooted Selim.

Mile after mile fell behind them, with no relaxation of energy or
purpose. Chase found time and opportunity to give his thoughts over to
Genevra. A mighty longing to clasp her in his arms and carry her to the
ends of the earth took possession of him: a longing to drag her far from
the conventions which bound her to a world he could not enter into. Down
in his heart, he knew that she loved him: it was not a play-day folly
with her. And yet he knew that the end would be as she had said. She
would be the wife of the man she did not love. Fate had given her to him
when the world was young; there was no escape. In story-books, perhaps,
but not in real life. And how he had come to love her!

They were coming to the ridge road and Selim fell back to explain the
need for caution. The ridge road crept along the brow of the deep canyon
that ran down to the sea. This was the road, in all likelihood, he
explained, that the abductors would have used in their flight from the
cavern. Two miles farther south it joined the wide highway that ran from
Aratat to the mines.

Selim crept on ahead to reconnoitre. He was back in ten minutes with the
information that a party of men had but lately passed along the road
toward the south. Their footprints in the soft, untraveled road were
fresh. The stub of a cigarette that had scarcely burned itself out
proved to him conclusively that the smoker, at least, was not far ahead
of them.

They broke away from the road and took a less exposed course through the
forest to their right, keeping well within earshot of the ridge, but
moving so carefully that there was slight danger of alarming the party
ahead. The fact that the abductors--there seemed to be no doubt as to
identity--had spent several hours longer than necessary in traversing
the distance between the