was drawing a coil of new rope from under the
seat. "This is luck! Lighter must have meant to picket his horses. Did I
tell you he was starting to drive these bays through to the fair at North
Yakima? And here is a hatchet--he expected to cut fire-wood--and this
looks like his lunch-box. Yes,"--and he lifted the lid to glance in--"here
are biscuits, sliced ham, all we need. Lighter must have intended to spend
a night on the road. And here is that second hitching-strap. Now, we are
all right: the outfit is complete."

He took the precaution to tie one of the horses before he commenced to
unfasten the traces, and he worked swiftly, dexterously, while the girl
watched him, directing him sometimes from her seat in the buggy. Presently
he lifted the remaining strap, but before he could snap the hook in the
ring, the colt's ears flattened back, and he gripped Tisdale's hand.
Instantly Miss Armitage snatched the whip and was on her feet. "Whoa,
Nip," she cried, and cut the vixen lightly between the ears. "Whoa, now,
whoa!"

The young horse released his hold and broke forward, with Hollis dragging
at the bit. He ducked with the colt under the barrier and, keeping his
feet with difficulty, ran hugging the bluff. Rocks, slipping beneath the
bay's incautious hoofs, rattled down the steep slope. Finally mastered by
that tugging weight, he settled to an unstable pace and so passed the
break in the road.

Miss Armitage had left the buggy. She followed to the opening and stood
watching Tisdale until, unable to find a safe hitching-place, he turned
another bend. The remaining horse pulled at his halter and neighed shrilly
for his mate. She went to him. After a moment she untied him and led him
through the passage. He followed easily, crowding her sometimes, yet
choosing his steps with the caution of a superior animal in a hard
situation. Midway over the break in the road, where it was narrowest, he
halted with a forefoot on a perilous table of granite, feeling, testing
its stability. "That's right, be careful," she admonished, allowing the
strap to slacken while she, herself, balanced her weight on the rocking
slab. "But it is safe enough--you see. Now, now, Tuck, come on."

But as she started on, Tisdale reappeared at the curve and, waving her
hand to reassure him, she took an incautious step. The slab, relieved
suddenly of her weight, tilted back and at the same instant caught on its
lowered edge the weight of the following horse