The Hunted Woman

n hours she had been a keenly attentive, wide-eyed, and partly frightened bit of humanity in this onrush of "the horde." She had heard a voice behind he

ce, gruffened in its beard, had told her that ten thousand of the Horde had gone up ahead of them. Then it whispered something that made her hands suddenly tighten and a hot flush sweep through her. She lifted her veil and rose slowly from her seat, as if to rearrange her dress. Casually she looked straight into the faces of the bearded man and his companion in the seat behind. They stared. After that she heard nothing more of the Straying Angels, but only a wildly mysterious confabulation about "rock hogs," and "coyotes" that blew up whole mountains, and a hundred and one thing

heir eyes met across the aisle. For a moment the big, dark, sick-looking eyes of the "angel" stared. Like the bearded man and his companion, she, too, understood, and an embarrassed flush added to the colour of the rouge on her cheeks. The eyes that looked across at her were blue-deep

g to Tête Jau

for a few minutes? I want

girl made room fo

are

new-t

h they were spoken, made the othe

Tête Jaune," she said. "It is

you are

ends there.

N

amazement. Her voice and

going-there?" she cried. "You

sing her veil so that she could look steadily in

. "There's one of the big camps of the railroad builders down on the F

ain stop her

rugged her thin sho

he mighty late to-night," she compl

and something to eat. I'm not very hungry-but I'm terribly du

ion very funny. She had a gig

the Flats. It's pretty good. They'll give you a room, plenty of water, and a looking-glass-an' charge you a dollar. I'd go with you, but I'm expecting a

t secret, and yet she was filled with an inward antagonism that this stranger with the wonderful blue eyes had dared to see them and recognize them. She stared after the retreating form-a tall, slim, exquisitely poised figure that filled her with envy and a dul

new friend

rld. She's that innocent she wonders why Tête Jaune ain't a nice place for ladies without escort. I thought I

merriment, and her companion seized th

the mountains, and she understood now why some one in the coach had spoken of the Miette Plain as Sunshine Pool. Where-ever she looked the mountains fronted her, with their splendid green slopes reaching up to their bald caps of gray shale and reddish rock or gleaming summits of snow. Into this "pool"-this pocket in the mountains-the sun descended in a wonderful flood. It stirred her

looked at them it was not with revulsion or scorn but with a sudden quickening of heartbeat and a little laugh that had in it something both of wonder and of pride. This was the Horde, that crude, monstrous thing of primitive strength and passions that was overturning mountains in its fight to link the new Grand Trunk Pacific with the seaport on the Pacific. In that Horde, gathered in little groups, shifting, sweeping slowly toward her and past her, she saw something a

tself all about her. From farther on in the mountains came the deep, sullen detonations of the "little black giant" that had been rumbling past her in the car. It came again and again, like the thunderous voice of the mountains themselves calling out in protest and defiance. And each time she felt

come out to save the world. I thought I'd help eggicate her a little, an'

agon to pass. The wagon was loaded with boxes that rattled and crashed about as the wheels bumped over stones and roots. The driver of the team did not look at her. He was holding back with his whole weight; his eyes bulged a litt

re coming

f them was saying. "I was there three minutes after the explosion and there wasn't even a ravellin

oe-drivin' down this hill a doze

pass. The explosion of Joe's dynamite could not have startled them more than

she said, speaking the Little Sister's words h

old enough to regard feminine beauty as a trap and an illusion, turned aside t

ght, with canvas striped like a barber-pol

nk y

went

had left them. They did not move. The

then. "I've a notion to te

interjecte

he heart of her clean gone. I never saw anything so white an' so be

and palpitating heart. Quickly the olde

gh in this camp to mix in with Bill. Besides," he lied, seeing the waverin

hat they might hear every word that was spoken. The girl's head was high. She was beginning to understand that it would have been less embarrassing to have gone hungry and dusty. But she had come this far, and she was determined to get what she wanted-if it was to be had. The colour shone a little more v

" she said unemotionally. "May I hire one u

ave him the confidence he needed to offset the fearless questioning in the blue eyes. None

nd turned to the drawn

e with gray. He was perhaps thirty-eight, no taller than the girl herself, slim-waisted, with trim, athletic shoulders. His eyes, as they rested on the still-fluttering curtains, were a cold and steady gray. His face was thin and bronzed, his nose a trifle prominent. He was a man fa

t rubbing his huge hands, his face crinkling with a sort of exultant satisfaction. The girl preceded him. She flung the curtains aside and stood there for

he expostulated. "Look here-a

ad advanced, placing himself at the girl

ade a mista

, strangely attractive face, his slim bui

e a mistake-a te

to take offence," Quade

with as terrific effect as the gray-eyed stranger struck then. There was one blow, and Quade w

s voice. "I thought you were making a mistake. I heard you ask for

or you, I will go," she said. "