RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE
ing stirred except the gentle wave of the tips of the brush. Then he pressed on past the mouths of several cañons and over ground new to him, now close under the eastern wall. This latter part proved to be easy traveling, well screened from possible observation from the north and west, and he soon covered it and felt safer in the deepening shade of his own cañon. Then the huge, notched bulge of red rim loomed over him, a mark by which he knew again the deep cove where his camp lay hidden. As he penetrated the thicket, safe again for the present, his thoughts reverted to the girl he had left there. The afternoon had far advanced. How would he find her? He ran into camp, frightening the dogs.
The girl lay with wide open, dark eyes, and they dilated when he knelt beside her. The flush of fever shone in her cheeks. He lifted her and held water to her dry lips, and felt an inexplicable sense of lightness as he saw her swallow in a slow, choking gulp. Gently he laid her back.
"Who—are—you?" she whispered, haltingly.
"I'm the man who shot you," he replied.
"You'll—not—kill me—now?"
"No, no."
"What—will—you—do—with me?"
"When you get better—strong enough—I'll take you back to the cañon where the rustlers ride through the waterfall."
As with a faint shadow from a flitting wing overhead, the marble whiteness of her face seemed to change.
"Don't—take—me—back—there!"
