the open."

"Where does it lead?"

"To an old cow-camp on the Cimarron. There is a trooper there waiting.
Shall I tell you the story?"

"I wish you would."

"And then I am to have yours in return--everything?"

"Yes," she said, and their eyes met. "There is nothing to
conceal--from you."

He told his tale simply, and in few words; how he had missed, and
sought after her in Dodge; how that searching had led directly to the
discovery of crime, and finally the revealment of Major McDonald's
body. He told of his efforts at organizing a party to follow the
fugitives, inspired by a belief that she was a prisoner, of the trip
through the blizzard, and of how he had succeeded in outstripping
Dupont in the race.

The girl listened silently, able from her own experience to fill in the
details of that relentless pursuit, which could not be halted either by
storm or bullets. The strength, the determination of the man, appealed
to her with new force, and tears welled into her eyes.

"Why, you are crying!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"That is nothing," her lips smiling, as she loosened one hand from the