be after you by morning?"

Kut-le laughed, deliberately walked up to the girl and lifted her in
his arms as he had on the morning of their meeting. Rhoda gave one
scream and struggled frantically. He slid a hand over her lips and
tightened his hold. For a moment Rhoda lay motionless in abject fear,
then, with a muffled cry of utter helplessness, a cry that would have
driven a white man mad with pity, she slipped into unconsciousness.
Kut-le walked on for a short distance to a horse. He put Rhoda in the
saddle and fastened her there with a blanket. He slipped off the
twisted bandana that bound his short black hair, fillet wise, and tied
it carefully over Rhoda's mouth. Then with one hand steadying the
quiet shoulders, he started the horse on through the dusk.




CHAPTER IV

THE INDIAN WAY

It was some time before the call of a coyote close beside her
penetrated Rhoda's senses. At its third or fourth repetition, she
sighed and opened her eyes. Night had come, the luminous lavender
night of the desert. Her first discovery was that she was seated on a
horse, held firmly by a strong arm across her shoulders. Next she
found that her uneasy breathing was due to the cloth tied round her
mouth. With this came realization of her predicament and she tossed
her arms in a wild attempt to free herself.