hed. The senor was a strange man. Even now he hummed a song in
the starlight. Was he, then, so unafraid of death that he could sing in
the very shadow of its wings?

"You've got a hunch that the rurales are on our trail," said Waring, as
they rode on.

"It is so, senor."

"How do you know?"

"I cannot say. But it is so. They have left the railroad and are
following us."

Waring smiled in the dark. "Dex, here, has been trying to tell me that
for an hour."

"And still the senor does not hasten!"

"I am giving your cayuse a chance to make the grade. We'll ride an hour
longer."

Ramon bowed his head. The horses plodded on, working up the first
gentle slope of the foothills. The brush loomed heavier. A hill star
faded on the edge of the higher range. Ramon's lips moved and he crossed
himself.

Waring hummed a song. He was not unhappy. The tang of life was his
again. Again he followed a trail down which the light feet of Romance
ran swiftly. The past, with its red flare of life, its keen memories and
dulled regrets, was swept away by the promise of dawn and the unknown.
"A clean break and a hard fight," he murmured, as he reined up to rest
his horse. Turning, he could distinguish Ramon, who fingered the
crucifix at his throat. Waring's face grew grim. He felt suddenly
accountable for the boy's life.

The half-moon glowed against the edge of the world. About to ride on
again, Waring saw a tiny group of horsemen silhouetted against the
half-disk of burning silver. He spoke to his horse. Slowly they climbed
the ridge, dropped down the eastern slope, and climbed again.

In a shallow valley, Waring reined up, unsaddled Dex, and turned him
loose. Ramon questioned this. "Turn your horse loose," said Waring.
"They'll keep together and find water."

Ramon shook his head, but did as he was told. Wearily he followed Waring
as he climbed back to a rocky depression on the crest. Without a word
Waring stretched behind a rock and was soon asleep. Ramon wondered at
the other's indifference to danger, but fatigue finally overcame him and
he slept.

Just before dawn Ramon awakened and touched

Waring. "They are coming!" he whispered.

Waring shook his head. "You hear our horses. The rurales won't ride into
this pocket before daylight. Stay right here till I come back."

He rose and worked cautiously down the eastern slope, searching for Dex
in the valley. In the gray gloom he saw the outline of his horse grazing
alone. H