that he be warned; and so she
decided to tell him, without giving her source of information, that
Blind Charlie proposed to sell him out.

Nelly's pace had slowed into a walk, and even then the gale at times
almost swept the poor horse staggering from the road. The rain drove
down in ever denser sheets. The occasional flashes of lightning served
only to emphasize the blackness. So dense was it, it seemed a solid.
The world could not seem blacker to a toad in the heart of a stone.
The instants of crackling fire showed Katherine the river, below her
in the valley, leaping, surging, almost out of its banks--the trees,
writhing and wrestling, here and there one jaggedly discrowned. And
once, as she was crossing a little wooden bridge that spanned a
creek, she saw that it was almost afloat--and for an instant of
terror she wished she had followed the higher back-country road taken
by the two automobiles.

She had reached the foot of Red Man's Ridge, and was winding along the
river's verge, when she thought she heard her name sound faintly
through the storm. She stopped Nelly and sat in sudden stiffness,
straining her ears. Again the voice sounded, this time nearer, and
there was no mistaking her name.

"Miss West! Katherine!"

She sat rigid, almost choking. The next minute a shapeless figure
almost collided with Nelly. It eagerly caught the bridle-rein and
called out huskily:

"Is that you, Miss West?"

She let out a startled cry.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"It's you! Thank God, I've found you!" cried the voice.

"Arnold Bruce!" she ejaculated.

He loosened the rein and moved to her side and put his hand upon the
back of her saddle.

"Thank God I've found you!" he repeated, with a strange quaver to his
voice.

"Arnold Bruce! What are you doing here?"

"Didn't you hear me shout after you, when you started, that I was
coming, too?"

"I heard your voice, but not what you said."

"Do you think I would let you go out alone on a night like this?" he
demanded in his unstrung tone. "It's no night for a man to be out,
much less a woman!"

"You mean--you followed me?"

"What else did you think I'd do?"

"And on foot?"

"If I had stopped to get a horse I'd have lost your direction. So I
ran after you."

They were moving on now, his hand upon the back of her saddle to link
them together in the darkness. He had to lean close to her that their
voices might be heard above the storm.

"And you have r