r
night, which had come so startlingly near crushing the three men to
death.

Captain Dawson drew a match from his pocket and scraping it along his
thigh, held it to the face of his watch.

"Just midnight and we are not more than half a dozen miles from
home."

"And how far do you suppose _they_ are?" asked the parson.

"Probably five times as much, if not more."

"But they will not travel at night, and by sunrise we ought to be
considerably nearer to them than now."

"You can't be certain about that. Lieutenant Russell knows me too
well to loiter on the road; he has a good horse and the pony of Nellie
is a tough animal; both will be urged to the utmost; for they must be
sure the pursuit will be a hard one."

The discomforting fact in the situation was that if the fugitives, as
they may be considered, pushed their flight with vigor, there was no
reason why they should not prevent any lessening of the distance
between them and their pursuers, and since they would naturally fear
pursuit, it was to be expected that they would use all haste. The hope
was that on account of Nellie, the animals would not keep up the
flight for so many hours out of the twenty-four, as the pursuers would
maintain it.

The trail steadily ascended and became so rough and uneven that the
horses frequently stumbled. This made their progress slow and
compelled the three men, despite themselves, to feel the prudence of
resting until daylight, but not one of them wished to do so, since the
night pursuit was the only phase of the business which brought with it
the belief that they were really lessening the distance separating
them from the two in advance.

Eager as the couple were to get through the mountains and reach
Sacramento, where for the first time they could feel safe from their
pursuers, the young officer was too wise to incur the risk of breaking
down their horses, for such a mishap would be a most serious one
indeed, and fraught with fatal consequences.

There was little fear of the pursuers going astray. Captain Dawson had
an extraordinary memory for places, as he repeatedly proved by
recalling some landmark that he had noticed on his previous trip.
Furthermore, the gorge was so narrow that in a certain sense, it may
be said, they were fenced in, and would have found it hard to wander
to the right or left, had they made the effort.

After an hour of steady climbing they reached an altitude which
brought with it a sharp chang