The Girl from Montana | Page 8

hope for better things. And at
last they were rewarded by finding the sand shallower, and now and
then a bit of rock cropping out for a firmer footing.
The young rider dismounted, and untied the burlap from the horse's feet.
He seemed to understand, and to thank her as he nosed about her neck.
He thought, perhaps, that their mission was over and they were going to
strike out for home now.
The ground rose steadily before them now, and at times grew quite
steep; but the horse was fresh as yet, and clambered upward with good
heart; and the rider was used to rough places, and felt no discomfort
from her position. The fear of being followed had succeeded to the fear
of being lost, for the time being; and instead of straining her ears on the
track behind she was straining her eyes to the wilderness before. The
growth of sage-brush was dense now, and trees were ahead.
After that the way seemed steep, and the rider's heart stood still with
fear lest she could never get up and over to the trail which she knew
must be somewhere in that direction, though she had never been far out
on its course herself. That it led straight east into all the great cities she
never doubted, and she must find it before she was pursued. That man
would be angry, angry if he came and found her gone! He was not
beyond shooting her for giving him the slip in this way.

The more she thought over it, the more frightened she became, till
every bit of rough way, and every barrier that kept her from going
forward quickly, seemed terrible to her. A bob-cat shot across the way
just ahead, and the green gleam of its eyes as it turned one swift glance
at this strange intruder in its chosen haunts made her catch her breath
and put her hand on the pistols.
They were climbing a long time--it seemed hours to the girl--when at
last they came to a space where a better view of the land was possible.
It was high, and sloped away on three sides. To her looking now in the
clear night the outline of a mountain ahead of her became distinct, and
the lay of the land was not what she had supposed. It brought her a
furious sense of being lost. Over there ought to be the familiar way
where the cabin stood, but there was no sign of anything she had ever
seen before, though she searched eagerly for landmarks. The course she
had chosen, and which had seemed the only one, would take her
straight up, up over the mountain, a way well-nigh impossible, and
terrible even if it were possible.
It was plain she must change her course, but which way should she go?
She was completely turned around. After all, what mattered it? One
way might be as good as another, so it led not home to the cabin which
could never be home again. Why not give the horse his head, and let
him pick out a safe path? Was there danger that he might carry her back
to the cabin again, after all? Horses did that sometimes. But at least he
could guide through this maze of perplexity till some surer place was
reached. She gave him a sign, and he moved on, nimbly picking a way
for his feet.
They entered a forest growth where weird branches let the pale moon
through in splashes and patches, and grim moving figures seemed to
chase them from every shadowy tree-trunk. It was a terrible experience
to the girl. Sometimes she shut her eyes and held to the saddle, that she
might not see and be filled with this frenzy of things, living or dead,
following her. Sometimes a real black shadow crept across the path,
and slipped into the engulfing darkness of the undergrowth to gleam
with yellow-lighted eyes upon the intruders.

But the forest did not last forever, and the moon was not yet gone when
they emerged presently upon the rough mountain-side. The girl studied
the moon then, and saw by the way it was setting that after all they
were going in the right general direction. That gave a little comfort
until she made herself believe that in some way she might have made a
mistake and gone the wrong way from the graves, and so be coming up
to the cabin after all.
It was a terrible night. Every step of the way some new horror was
presented to her imagination. Once she had to cross a wild little stream,
rocky and uncertain in its bed, with slippery, precipitous banks; and
twice in climbing a steep incline she came sharp upon sheer