lashed. Her lips opened to frame an angry retort but
the words were never spoken, for the Texan leaned suddenly toward her
and his gauntleted hand rested lightly on her arm, "For God's sake,
don't hinder--_help_!" There was no trace of harshness in the
voice--only intense appeal. She glanced into his eyes, and in their
depths read misery, pain, worry--the very soul of him was wrung with
torture. He was not commanding now. This strong, masterful man was
imploring help. A lump rose in her throat. Her eyes dropped before his.
She swallowed hard, and nodded: "All right--only--promise me--if you
don't find him, you'll return to the ranch tonight. You've got to eat,
and Blue has got to eat. I'll have a pack ready for you to start again
early in the morning."

"I promise," he said, simply. His gloved hand slipped from her sleeve
and closed about her own. Once more their eyes met, once more the girl
felt the hot blood mount to her cheeks, and once more her glance fell
before his. And then--he was gone and she was alone upon the edge of the
bad lands, listening to catch the diminishing sound of his horse's hoofs
on the floor of the black coulee.

The sound died away. Minutes passed as she sat staring out over the bad
lands. There was a strange ache at her throat, but in her heart welled a
great gladness. What was it she had read in his eyes--during the moment
of that last glance? The pain, and the worry, and the misery were still
there but something else was there also--something that leaped from his
heart straight to hers; something held in restraint that burst through
the restraint, overrode the pain and the worry and the misery, and for a
brief instant blazed with an intensity that seemed to devour her very
soul. Slowly she raised the hand that had returned the firm, gentle
pressure of his clasp and drew the back of it across her cheek, then
with a laugh that began happily and ended in a choking sob, she turned
the mare toward home.

She rode slowly, her thoughts centred upon the Texan. She had liked him
from the moment of their first meeting. His eagerness to return to the
aid of his friend, his complete mastery of Blue, his unhesitating plunge
into the bad lands to fight against odds, all pointed to him as a man
among men. "And, aside from all that," she murmured, as she reached to
smooth the bay mare's mane, "There's something about him--so
wholesome--so clean--" Her words trailed into silence, and as her
thoughts follo