The St. Johns herald., 1921-06-09

all three ponies were in the corral; he had seen them while coming down. No. that theory might be dismissed at once, and secretly he was glad it was so easily disposed oft had vaguely haunted him at first, causing him to dread the discovery that 1t might be true.
 Then what was true2 Who could be guilty of such al outrage? Indians? White outlaws? Joe Macklin? These three possibilities alone remained, but | the first two seemed quite impossible. He was used to Indian foray, but this act bore no resemblance to the work of savages on the warpath. There had | been no attempt to plunder, or de- stroy. The very fact that the ponies remained undisturbed convinced him that this was no deed of Indian raid CTS. That 1t might have been white out laws was not quite so easily dis missed. There were desperate men hiding out yOnder in the Bad Lands, but he never had known of their ven- turing to attack any settler, except oc- casiOnally to run off cattle on the range. In this case there was no ap- parent object-they had taken noth- ing, neither food nor stock. Then 1t must have been Macklin.
 His sudden disappearance was, at least, proof he must have had a hand in 1t. But why? To what end? Shelby strengthened up, a new flash of intel ligence in his eyes. Perhaps this all harked back to that early mystery in her life. She had told him that Cal kins had taken her from place to place, apparently always afraid that he was being followed. Was 1t pOs- sible that he had been hunted down at last; that he recognized the approach of the end, and had committed suicide on that account? And was this strange seizure of Olga part of the plot, either of revenge, or restitution? This ex- planation seemed more probable than any other; in a way 1t appeared to fit the case, although he possessed no more knowledge of what 1t all meant than he did before. Only, evidently all that had been desired was posses sion of the girl, and that was deemed of sufficient importance to even justify murder. He had been left for dead, in order that she might be borne away alive.
 No longer doubting but what this theory at least approximated the truth. Shelby faced the facts frankly, and with no further hesitation. It was up to him to act promptly; there was no one to whom he could turn for help. His eyes darkened, and his jaws set. All right then, he would certain ly give the Kid a run for his money. There must be some trail left; such deed as this could never be accom- plished without leaving some mark behind. Whether they travelled on foot, or horseback, the party must surely leave some trace of passage, and Shelby, who had been the best trailer in his regiment, felt confident of being able to run the outfit down.
 With this once settled In his mind. and his plan of pursuit outlined, Shel- by threw off his depression, and be- came cool and resOlute. First he searched over every foot of ground within a quarter of a mile of the house, seeking to discover just how Macklln had operated, and, whether or not, he was alone. The result was only partially successful. The hard packed earth revealed little of value. Down below the cabin on the slOping side of the hill, he found the mark of a high-heeled boot such as the Kid plain impression of a mOccasin. A hundred yards to the north the im- prints were again visible, making 1t clear to his mind that the fugitives were then making for the lower ford. The girl was evidently being carried, and two men must have been engaged on the job, one of them possibly an h. dian. He passed straight on to the ford to verify this theory, and here the mud exhibited clearly the move ments of both the fellows, while close at the waters edge he came upon a narrow pink ribbon, which. the girl had evidently hurriedly dropped in guidance.
 It was clearly manifest now the di- rectiOn in which they had disappeared, but Shelby remained unsatlsfed. He could not believe that they would at- tempt to escape thus on foot with their burden. If Macklin had one as- sistant, it was highly probable there would be others also engaged in the affair. The opposite shore was de- serted, and he crossed over, wading to his thighs in the swift water, with rife flung forward, and eyes intently searching the further bank. The trail
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