Page 159 (1/1)

Colter, or one of the men, had saddled Spades, and he was now tied to the corral fence, cha the sand Ellen wrapped bread andthis behind her saddle she was ready to go But evidently she would have to wait, and, preferring to remain outdoors, she stayed by her horse Presently, while watching the e round his head under the briy Shuddering at the sight, Ellen refused to conjecture All too soon she would learn what had happened, and all too soon, perhaps, she herself would be in thea hurried slipshod job of packing food supplies froleaaze on her, and she did not like it

"I'll ride up an' say good-by to Sprague," she called to Colter

"Shore y'u won't do nothin' of the kind," he called back

There was authority in his tone that angered Ellen, and soer What was there about Colter hich she hed aloud, to be suddenly silenced by Colter's harsh and lowered curses Ellen walked out of hearing and sat upon a log, where she remained until Colter hailed her

"Get up an' ride," he called

Ellen co up behind the threewhat for years had been her home Not once did she look back She hoped she would never see the squalid, bare pretension of a ranch again

Colter and the other riders drove the pack horses across the meadow, off of the trails, and up the slope into the forest Not very long did it take Ellen to see that Colter's object was to hide their tracks He zigzagged through the forest, avoiding the bare spots of dust, the dry, sun-baked flats of clay where water lay in spring, and he chose the grassy, open glades, the long, pine-needle matted aisles Ellen rode at their heels and it pleased her to watch for their tracks Colterhis trail, and he showed the skill of a rustler But Ellen was not convinced that he could ever elude a real woods to leave a trail difficult to follow and which would allow hie ahead of pursuers Ellen could not accept a certainty of pursuit Yet Colter er and Wells also, for they had a dark, sinister, furtive deely contrasted with the cool, easy manner habitual to them