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"Turn back, Colter! Turn back!"

With an oath Colter wheeled his mount "If I didn't run pluoaded horse gotten a start when a shot rang out Ellen felt a violent shock, as if her momentum had suddenly met with a check, and then she felt herself wrenched from Colter, frohted on soft ground and thick grass, and was unhurt save for the violent wrench and shaking that had rendered her breathless Before she could rise Colter was pulling at her, lifting her to her feet She saw the horse lying with bloody head Tall pines loomed all around Another rifle cracked "Run!" hissed Colter, and he bounded off, dragging her by the hand Another yell pealed out "Here we are, Colter!" Again it was Queen's shrill voice Ellen ran with all herto record reen wall of spruce Then she lost her balance, was falling, yet could not fall because of that steel grip on her hand, and was dragged, and finally carried, into a dense shade She was blinded The trees whirled and faded Voices and shots sounded far away Then so

It turned to gray, toblankness, to dim, hazy objects, spectral and tall, like blanketed trees, and when Ellen fully recovered consciousness she was being carried through the forest

"Wal, little one, that was a close shave for y'u," said Colter's hard voice, growing clearer "Reckon your keelin' over was natural enough"

He held her lightly in both ar above his left elbow Ellen saw his face as a gray blur, then taking sharper outline, until it stood out distinctly, pale and clammy, with eyes cold and wonderful in their intense flare As she gazed upward Colter turned his head to look back through the woods, and his ilance The veins of his lean, brown neck stood out like whipcords Two co beside him Ellen heard their stealthy steps, and she felt Colter sheer fro cautiously, fearful of the rear, but not wholly trusting to the fore

"Reckon we'd better go slow an' look before we leap," said one whose voice Ellen recognized as Springer's

"Shore That open slope ain't to my likin', with our Nez Perce friend prowlin' round," drawled Colter, as he set Ellen down on her feet