The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1914-09-18

match, and whichever way the mule
tracks went he went also, for pack
mules would take the main trail. For
two hours and more they followed on
down the stream and then Hooker
stopped his horse.
you might as we'll get down and
rest while." he said quietly This
trail is no good-it's taking us south
Well let our horses feed until the
moon comes up and I'll try to work
north by landmarks"
"Oh-are we lost?" gasped Gracia,
dropping stifly to the ground. But of
course we are" she added. 1--WE been
thinking so for some time"
ooh, that's all right" observed
Hooker philosophically; 81 don't mind
being lost as long as know where
Pm at. Well ride back until we get
out of this dark canyon and then I'll
lay line due north"
They sat for time in the dark
ness while their horses champed at
the rich grass and then, unable to keep
down her nerves, Gracia declared for
start. A vision Of angry pursuers rose
up in her mind-of Manuel del Rey
and his keen-eyed rurales. hot upon
their trail-and it would not let her
rest.
Nor was the vision entirely the re-
suit of nervous imagination, for they
| hod ho1 hA Cd 70 nf
start, as Hooker well knew, and if he
made one more false move he would
find himself called on to fight. AS
they rode back through the black
canyon he asked himself for the hun.
dredth time how 1t had all happened
why, at a single glance from her,
he had gone against his better judg'
ment and plunged himself into this
tangle. And then, finally, what was
he going to do about it?
But he knew what he was going to
do about it. He knew he was going
to take this girl through to Gadsden
and to Phil, and his loyalty was such
that he would not admit, even to him
self, that Phil did not deserve her.
Alone, he would have taken to the
mountains with fine disregard for
trails, turning into whichever served
his purpose best and following the
lay of the land. Even with her in his
care it would be best to do that yet,
for there would be trailers on their
track at sunup, and it was either ride
or fight.
Free at last from the pent-in canyon
they halted at the forks, while Bud
looked out the land by moonlight. Dim
and ghostly, the square-topped peaks
and buttes rose all about him, huge
and impossible except for the winding
trails. He turned up valley between
two ridges, squirting his horse into
fast walk.
From one COW trail to another he
picked out way to the north, but the
lay of the ground threw him to the
east and there were no passes between
the hills. The country was rocky,
with long parallel ridges extending to
the northeast, and when he saw where
the way was taking him Bud called
halt till dawn.
By the very formation he was being
gradually edged back toward For
tuna, and it would call for fresh
horses and a rested Gracia to outstrip
their pursuers by day. If the rurales
travelled by landmarks, heading for the
northern passes in an effort to out
ride and intercept him, they might
easily cut him off at the start; but II
they trailed him-and he devoutly
hoped they would-then they would
have tangled skein to follow and he
could lose them in the broken country
to the north.
So thinking, he cut grass among the
rocks, spread down their saddle
blankets and watched over the
browsing horses while Gracia
stretched out on the bed. After day
of excitement and night Of hard rid
ing there is no call for a couch OF
down, and as the morning star ap
peared In the east she slept while Bud
sat patiently by.
It was no new task for him, this
watching and waiting for the dawn
For weeks at time, after a hard
days work at the branding, he had
stood guard half the night. Sleep was
a luxury to him, like water to noun
tain-sheep-and so were all the other
useless things that town-bred people
required.
People like Gracia, people like Phil
they were different in all their ways.
To ride, to fight, to find the way
there he was better man than Phil;
but to speak to a woman, to know her
ways, and to enter into her life-there
he was no man at all.
She trusted to his courage to pro-
tect her, and that he could do, but 1t
was to a man such as Phil she
would give her love. Phil could not
love her more than he did, but Pills
ways could be more attractive to her.
His adventurous life with his father
had not been such as to cultivate the
little niceties that appealed to women.
It was only his privilege to serve, but