The Sentinel=record., 1914-11-08
CHAPTER XXXVlll.
The Upper Trail.

The Upper Trail.
 In the ten minutes delay necessi- tated by this reverse. a number of more or less innocent byetanders picked up the man Texas and carried him off to breathe his last beneath a roof; Hopi Jim picked himself up, brushed his person tolerably clear os clouds of dust and profanity, and de- parted in search of a mount to replace the horse that had been shot under him; and Judith sat her horse calmly, smiling sweet insolence into the exas- perated countenance of Marrophat.
 Incidentally the fugitiyes disap- peared round a bend in the road that led directly into the wild and barren heart of the Painted hills.
 In the brief interval that elapsed be- fore his return with Hopi Jim, Marro- phat contrived to persuade the bandit that Judith had been, at least indi- rectly, responsible for the catastrophe, with the upshOt that. temporarily blinded to her Vaccinations by the gilt ter of nineteen thousand dollars in the near distance, Mir Slade maintained his distance and a deaf ear to her blandishments. The only information as to their purpose that she was able to extract from either man, when the pursuing party turned aside from the main trail, some distance from Mesa. was that Hopi Jim knew short cut through the range, via what he termed the upper trail, by which they hoped to be able to head the fugitives off be- fore they could gain the desert on the far side of the hills.
 Only at long intervals did they draw rein to permit Hopi Jim to make re- connoissance of the lower trail that threaded the valley on the far side of the ridge.
 Toward noon he returned in haste from the last of these surveys scrambling recklessly down the noun. tain-side and throwing himself upon his horse with the advice:
 We've headed 'em-can make it now if we ride like all get-out!"
 For half an hour more they pushed on at the best speed to be obtained from their weary animals, at length drawing rein at a point where the trail crossed the ridge and widened out upon a long, broad ledge that over hung the valley of the lower trail, with a clear drop to the latter from the brink of a good two hundred feet.
 One nasty look back and down into the valley evoked a grunt of satisfac- tion from Hopi Jim.
 Just in time" he asseveTated. Here they come! Ten minutes more :"
 His smile answered Marrophat's with unspeakable cruel significance.
 Texas will sleep better tonight when he knows how I've squared the deal for him!" the bandit declared.
 What are you going to do?' Judith demanded, refining her horse in beside Marrophat as the latter dismounted.
 A gesture drew her attention to a huge boulder poised insecurely on the very lip of the chasm,
 Were going to tip that over on your friends, Miss Judith" Marrophat replied, with a smack of relish in his voice. "Simple-neat-etii etiicient-eh ? What more can you ask?"
 Sbe answered only with an irrepress- ible gesture of horror. Marrophat's s laugh followed her as she turned away.
 For some moments she strained her vision vainly. endeavoring to pene- trate the turbulent currents of super. heated air that filled the valley. Then she made out indistinctly the faintly marked line of the lower trail and immediately she caught a glimpse of three small figures, mounted, toiling painfully toward the point where death awaited them like bolt from the blue.
 Hastily she glanced over-shoulder: Hopi Jim and Marrophat, ignoring her, were straining themselves against the boulder without budging it an inch, for all it's apparent nicety of poise For an instant wild hope flashed through her mind. but it was immediately ex- orcised when Hopi Jim stepped back and uttered a few words of which only two-"dynamite" and "fuse'-reacheG her ears.
 Kneeling beside the boulder he dug busily for an instant, then lodged the stick to his satisfaction, attached the fuse, and breaking off, edged on his belly to the edge of the cliff and looked down, carefully calculating the length of the fuse by the distance of the party down below from the spot where the rock must fall.
 But while he was so engaged and Marrophat aided him, all eager inter- est, Judith was taking advantage of their disregard of her
 Hurriedly unbuttoning her jacket, she whipped a playing card from her pocket, trey O hearts, and with the stub of a pencil scribbed three words on its e-"Danger! Go back"
 Then finding a small, lattish bit of rock, she bound the card to it with - D OO4n41 N14 o