rced to perch himself on his up-ended saddle, and so,
urging the team to its best, he spoke only to outline his plan.

"I'll drive you to the Clear Creek siding," he explained. "All trains
stop there to take on water, and No. 3 is due round about one. We can
make it easily if nothing happens, and unless the Kitsong gang get word
from some of these ranches we pass, you will be safely out of the
country before they know you've gone."

They rode in silence for some time, but as they were dropping down into
the hot, dry, treeless foot-hills the ranger turned to explain: "I'm
going to leave the main road and whip out over the mesa just above the
Blackbird Ranch, so don't be surprised by my change of plan. They are a
dubious lot down there at the Blackbird, and have a telephone, so I'd
just as soon they wouldn't see us at all. They might send word to Abe.
It'll take a little longer, and the road is rougher, but our chances for
getting safely away are much better."

"We are entirely in your hands," she answered, with quiet confidence.
Her accent, her manner, were as new to him as her dress. She no longer
seemed a young girl masquerading, but a woman--one to whom life was
offering such stern drama that all her former troubles seemed suddenly
faint and far away.

Kauffman was still suffering from his fall, and it became necessary for
Helen to steady, him in his seat. Her muscles ached with the strain, but
she made no complaint, for she feared the ranger might lessen the speed
of their flight.

Upon turning into the rough road which climbed the mesa, the horses fell
into a walk, and the ranger, leaping from the wagon, strode alongside,
close to the seat on which the girl sat.

"All this is not precisely in the Service Book," he remarked, with a
touch of returning humor, "but I reckon it will be accounted 'giving aid
and succor to settlers in time of need.'"

She was studying him minutely at the moment, and it pleased her to
observe how closely his every action composed with the landscape. His
dusty boots, clamped with clinking spurs, his weather-beaten gray hat,
his keen glance flashing from point to point (nothing escaped him), his
every word and gesture denoted the man of outdoor life, self-reliant yet
self-unconscious; hardy, practical, yet possessing something that was
reflective as well as brave. Her heart went out to him in tenderness and
trust. Her shadow lifted.

He had no perception of himself as a romantic figu