Wildfire

hing-rail, with Holley, the rider, and two other men. If he heard Lucy he gave no sign of

Shugrue is out huntin' hosses,

ndle the boat an' fetch Creec

nt hand, as if to wave a

spoke up. Lucy had seen him be

s is worryin' over them hosses. No wonder! Thet Blue Roan is sure a hoss. Yesterday at two miles he showed Creech he was a sig

canyon?" queried Bostil. "A

eplied the other. "An' if there was grass it wouldn't

to be brought acrost the river," said Holley, ea

be patched up," rep

hinking of Creech's thoroughbreds, but not lik

ed to conceal his anxiety. He flicked his boots with a quirt. The boots w

es fetched over?" he asked, delib

ded," replied Bostil. "I'll put

be satisfied," said the rider, as if relieved. Then h

upon Bostil. But Bostil did not notice

y guarantee thet there wasn't a lot of snow up i

't-sure,"

wake up to hear the Colorado boomi

d not rep

t's he know about the river? An' fer that matter,

ives over there riskin' his stock e

, it sure ain't." Then he turned and walked away, head bent in sober thought. Bostil came

?" he

eplied, demurely. Yet she thoughtf

Did you know Van g

es

an' jeer each other an' bet. They want MEAN hosses. They make good hosses buck. They haven't any use for a hoss thet won't buck. They all want to give a hoss a rak

you a rider on

was the

all right i

f I had any other rider who coul

ut of the King as Van can

stil. But there was

ow I

Sage King," said Bostil,

ittle, and hate him

at thet, if Van ain't in

n the race. But I'll k

o see Sarch beat him,"

teasingly. "But, Dad, I'm afra

y weight up on the King. You take him out

s,

rails, ride him for all your worth.... Now, Lucy, keep yo

you still worry abo

l my stock then have Cordts or Di

ade crossed her face. "Why, I'd run away from him, if I

. "Don't ever forget to keep your eye open. Cordts ha

fers the ho

Cordts will never leave the uplands

that horse-thief come to our ra

get uppish, the worse for them. Cordts gave his

u trus

his sight. Especially thet Dick Sears. He's a

seen it and never forgotten it, nor the thing that it was associated with-something tragical which had happened in the big room. There had been loud, angry voices of men-and shots-and then the men carried out a long form covered with a blanket. She loved her father, but there was a side to him she feared. And somehow related to that side was his hardness toward Creech and hi

nd, drove serious thoughts away. There were riders there, am

'm to take out Sage

Farlane, as he

IDE him. You know h

ooking worried and pleased at once. "I rec

fully. "Did I ever do a single thing ar

Lucy, not exactly while you was around the hosses. But I re

laughed, and Lu

m up, you know th

rs who had the care of a great horse and loved him, the

le," suggested Farlane. "Them races

ything he's used to, except

watched. He was spirited and full of life, eager to run, but when Farlane called for him to stand still he obeyed. He was the kind of a horse that a child could have played around in safety. He never kicked. He never bit. He never bolted. It was splendid to see him with Farla

ared Farlane. "Now, Miss Lucy, hold him tight

nd, so she mounted from a rock. She took to the road, and then the first trail into the sage, intending

break, but she did not give it rein while she rode Sarchedon, and assuredly now, up on the King, she never forgot him for an instant. He shied at mockingbirds and pack-rats and blowing blossoms and even at butterflies; and he did it, Lucy thought, just because he was full of mischief. Sage King had been known to go steady when there had been reason to shy. He did not like Lucy and he chose

ed up now, dark, sentinel-like, and strange. The first one, a great red rock, seemed to her some five miles away. It was lofty, straight-sided, with a green slope at its base. And beyond that the other monuments stretched out down

, and gradually merged their slopes and lines and bulk int

direction was unusual, though out toward Durango the grassy benches would ofte

g way off,"

he grass had not failed, but it was not rich grass such as the horses and cattle grazed upon miles back on the slope. The air was hot down here. The breeze was heavy and smelled of fire, and the sand was blowing here and there. She had a sense of the bigness, the openness of this valley, and then she realized its wildness and strangeness. These lonely, isolated monuments made the place different from any she had visited. They did no

spot. It seemed motionless. But the King's whistle had proved it to be a horse. When Lucy had covered a quarter of the intervening distance she could distinguish the horse and that there appeared some thing strange about h

he had heard crippled and dying horses utter that long-drawn and blood-curdling neigh. The black horse had not moved, so the sound could not have come from him. Lucy thought Sage King acted more excited

exhausted. His forelegs were braced, so that he leaned slightly back. Then Lucy saw a rope. It was fast to the saddle and stretched down into the cactus.

nly a horse had been hurt. Then on the moment rang out the same neigh of agony, only weaker and shorter. Lucy no longer feared an ambush. That was a

nch to climb-and then she rode up to the black horse. Sage

ly, as she felt him tremble, she realized that he was frightene

een smeared with heavy soap-suds. He raised his head to look at her. Lucy, accustomed to h

low, choking heaves. Probably he had broken legs or back. She could not bear to see a horse in pain. She would do what was possible, even to the extent of putting him out of his misery, if nothing

s nose and a tight noose round his neck. The one round his neck was also round his forelegs. And both lassoes were held taut by

n!" exclaimed Lucy, instantly grasping

little slope, and beyond, but she did not see anyth

and could not get up. The shaggy black horse stood there braced and indomitable. But he, likewise, was almost ready to drop. Looking at the condition of both hor

He was nearly choked. Foam and blood wheezed out with his heaves. She must do som

slack. The black seemed as glad of that release as she

lift his head. Lucy saw that the noose still held tight round his neck. Fearlessly she jerked it loose. Then she

one lasso from the pommel, she returned to the horse and pulled it from round his legs. He was free now, except the hackamore, and that rope was slack. Lucy stood near him, watching him, talking to him, waiting for him to get up. She could not be sure he was not badly h

y led him out of the hole to open ground. She seemed som

soliloquized, and then, when she got him out

What a giant! He's bigger than th

ife been afraid of any horse. Farlane, Holley, all the riders, and her father, too, had tried to make her realize the danger in a horse, sooner or later. But Lucy could not help it; she was not afraid; she believed that the meanest horse was actuated by na

n," mused Lucy. "And he's now brok

rally and spoke softly, and re

at's a good fellow. Why, I wouldn't

s. Lucy believed horses were like people, or easier to get along with. Presently she gently pulled out one of the cactus spikes. The horse flinched, but he stood. Lucy was slow, careful, patient, and dexterous. The c

these horses. They certainly hadn't been here long before I saw th

hackamore, and, coiling the loose lasso, she hung it over th

n," she

ooped behind with bowed head. Lucy was elated. But Sage King did not like the matter at all. Lu

battlemented. Lucy was hard put to it to hold Sage King, but the horses behind plodded along. The black horse struck Lucy as being an ugly, but a faithful and wonderful animal. He

hrough the millions of years the softer parts had eroded and weathered and blown away-gone with the great sea that had once been there. But the beauty, the solemnity, the majesty of these monuments fascinated her most. She passed the first one, a huge square butte, and then the second, a ragged, thin, double shaft, and then w

g on the ground. He lay inert. But his eyes were open-dark, staring

e King. She ran to the prost

ace was ghastly. "Oh!

head," he sa

trained, passionate, terrible

e-the black an' t

" replied Lucy. "Oh!

them-fetch them ba

ure

hed him-back to me?" went on the wo

breast against his. The pounding of his heart was like blows. The first instant she wanted to laugh, despite her pity. Then the powerful arm-the contact affected her as nothing ever before. Suppose this crippled rider had t

act-to hug-a person," she

y,

a boy. I'

ha

s revealed her face fully, and her hair came tumbling down. The rider

'scuse me, miss. I-

so scared, and withal, so haggard and weak,

t's no matter.... You've

d a weak

did not like the way he

d so. I ca

What sh

ater?" he whisper

crossed several times ran near where the rider lay. Green grass and willows bordered it. She ran down and, hurrying along, searched for water. There was water in places, ye

gratefully. His voice was

broken bones

ow. I can't

ou in

feel sort

rt and used to its needs, had not often encounter

y broken bones.... THAT arm

his right arm badly bruised, but not broken. She made sure his collar-bones and shoulder-blades were intact. Broken ribs were harder to locate; still,

it's my-spin

eplied. "If your back was-was broken o

nocked out. I was-pretty weak befo

ldf

red stalli

s named

ago. He's known

he

trailed him-days-weeks-months.

rand C

st be

" said Lucy, pointing. "I live o

.. But I stayed with Wildfire. An' I put a rope on him. An' he got away.... A

dark, staring eyes. A li

say you were weak?

rved.... I starved

biscuits out of the pockets of her

erstand. That wonderful flame of a horse! I'd have stayed, too.

remember, but it was long ago. I spent a night with a wagon-train, a camp of many men and w

called the

t count his horses-that he was a rich man, har

head. "Yes, t

t seem to see ho

" she said. "I must start home. Yo

u to say, Bost

blushing painfully, "I mean I'll be

e very

t face bore traces of what might have been a fine, strong comeliness, but now it was only thin, worn, wan, pitiful, with that look which always went to a woman's heart. He ha

t I think best fo

covered him with the saddle blanket. Before she had finished this task he turned his eyes upon her. An

n tie Wildfire here on a d

lead him," re

follo

" The rider shud

ight that had been between man and horse. "Yes;

omething in his eyes that made her think of a child. She left him, had no trouble in waterin

," she said

he

-morrow, early, and brin

. Look what a ragamuffin I am.... An' there's Wildfire. I don't want him seen till

" replied L

-a lot.... What did y

Lucy B

you sure you tied Wi

go now. I hope you'll

tle stir of excitement at her pulses. She was so strangely preoccupied that she forgot it was necessary for her to have a step to mount Sage King. She realized it quickly enough when she attempted it. Then she led him off in the sage till she found a rock. Mounting, sh