Page 114 (1/1)

Nevertheless, it was the Isbel blood that dominated him The wind blew cool on his face The burden upon his shoulders seerew fainter in his ears And by the time he had retraced his cautious steps back to the orchard all his physical being was strung to the task at hand So had come between his reflective self and thisthe lane, he took to the west line of sheds, and passed beyond therass he crawled silently away to the right, using the same precaution that had actuated him on the slope, only here he did not pause so often, nor ht to pass the end of the embankment behind which the rustlers had found such efficient cover This ditch had beenthaws and su off the slope to flood the corrals

Jean miscalculated and found he had come upon the embankment somewhat to the left of the end, which fact, however, caused hiain he heard voices After a time a shot pealed out He did not see the flash, but he calculated that it had come from the north side of the cabins

The next quarter of an hour discovered to Jean that the nearest guard was firing from the top of the embankment, perhaps a hundred yards distant, and a second one was perfor the same office from a point apparently only a few yards farther on Two rustlers close together! Jean had not calculated upon that For a little while he pondered on as best to do, and at length decided to crawl round behind them, and as close as the situation made advisable

He found the ditch behind the embankment a favorable path by which to stalk these eneh weeds The only drawback was that it was alainst the dry, invisible branches of the weeds To offset this he wor tiure of a ainst the dark-blue sky This rustler had fired his rifle three ti Jean's slow approach Jean watched and listened a few moments, then wormed himself closer and closer, until the man ithin twenty steps of hiht of pipe or cigarette, because the fellow's back was turned