ling for more of the
precious fluid.

"Easy," cautioned Jack. "Only a little now--more when you're stronger."

"Who is it?" cried Dick. Not waiting for Jack to enlighten him, he
continued: "No matter--you came in time. I couldn't have held out any
longer. All the springs are dry--I figured on reaching Clearwater."

Jack helped Dick to his feet. Taking his stricken friend's right arm,
he drew it across his shoulders. With his left arm about his waist,
Jack led him to a seat upon a convenient rock.

"I came by Clearwater yesterday," explained Jack. "It is nothing but
mud and alkali."

"My horse dropped three days ago. I had to shoot the pack-mule. I--"
Dick opened his eyes under the ministrations of Jack. Gazing upward
into his face, he shouted joyfully:

"Why--it's Jack--Jack Payson."

"Didn't you know me, Dick?" asked Jack sympathetically.

"Not at first--my eyes went to the bad out yonder in the glare."

The effort had been too much for Dick. He sat weakly over Jack's
knees. Jack turned him partly on his back, and let more water trickle
down his throat.

Dick clutched madly at the canteen, but Jack drew it back out of his
reach. With his handkerchief he moistened lips and neck. When Dick's
strength returned, Jack helped him to sit up.

"I've been hunting you for months," he told him.

"Hunting for me?" echoed Dick.

"Yes," answered Jack. "I traced you through the Lost Cities, then to
Cooney, then up in the Tularosas. At Fort Grant they put me on the
right trail."

As the clouds break, revealing the blue of the heavens, so Dick's
memory came back to him. He shrank from the man at his side.

"Well?" he asked, as he stared at his betrayer.

Jack gazed fixedly ahead. He dared not look in the face of him he had
wronged so bitterly.

"She wants you," he said, in a voice void of all emotion.

"Who wants me?" asked Dick, after a pause.

"Echo."

"Your wife?" gritted Dick. He fingered his gun as he spoke.

Huskily Jack replied: "Yes."

Bitter thoughts filled the mind of one; the other had schooled himself
to make atonement. For the wrong he had done, Jack was ready to offer
his life. He had endured the full measure of his sufferings. The hour
of his delivery was at hand. Hard as it was to die in the midglory of
manhood, it was easier to end it all here and now, than to live unloved
by Echo, hated by Dick, despised by himself.

"She sent me to find you. 'Bring him back to me.'