"I'll find you there. I may be delayed for a while!"

Charleton laughed too. "Just so you get there by dawn!" he called; and
Douglas saw the two figures, dim in the starlight, move upward on the
barren shoulder of the mountain. He allowed the Moose to circle for a
moment, then he drove the rowells deep. The snorting horse leaped up the
steep incline, at a pace that shortly left him groaning for breath. But
Douglas spurred him relentlessly to the far tree line. Here he permitted
him to breathe while he listened to the receding thud of hoofs above.

When his horse had ceased to groan, Douglas turned him toward the dark
shadow of the forest. The Moose reared and turned, falling heavily. Doug
was out of the saddle when it cracked against the gravel and in it when
the trembling horse rolled to his feet. Doug brought the knotted reins
smartly across the animal's reeking flanks.

The Moose bolted. Doug laughed and swore and for a time made no effort
to guide his mount. The Moose leaped fallen trunks and low bushes. He
jumped black abysses. He thrashed into trees and rocks. But he could not
dislodge the figure that clung to his back with knee and spur. Douglas
did not know how long this mad fight lasted, but he was beginning to be
exhausted, himself, when the Moose stopped on the edge of a black drop.
The horse was shaking and groaning.

"Now listen here, you Moose," said Douglas. "If you expect to be friends
with me, you've got to begin to show some interest in me. I sure do
admire your speed and your nerve. You're a better horse than Buster,
and I don't want to break you more than I have to. But how about showing
interest in me? I'm here to stay, you know, so you might as well begin to
put me in your calculations. Now, just to show you're a changed horse,