GRACE HARLOWE'S OVERLAND RIDERS ON THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT

BY

JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. 

ILLUSTRATED

CHAPTER I--WHEN THE COWBOYS LAUGHED

Picking out the ponies for the desert journey. The Overland girlsmeet Hi Lang. Grace selects an "outlaw" pony. "Don't reckon you'llbe able to stick on him, " warns the guide. Grace Harlowe flingsherself into the saddle, braced for the shock. 

CHAPTER II--AN "OUTLAW" MEETS HIS MATCH

Grace fights a stubborn battle with the vicious bronco. "Lookout!" yells the guide. "Wall, ef thet don't beat the Dutch!"exclaims a cowboy. A fainting conqueror. Cowboys voice theiradmiration of the Overland girl, and Bud offers his services inthe event of trouble. 

CHAPTER III--A THRILLING MOMENT

Enthusiastic plainsmen give Grace a Mexican lasso. The start forthe desert. A rousing good-bye that ends in disaster. Elfreda andGrace accomplish a difficult feat. "Hang on! We'll stop him!" Therunaway bronco is thrown. "They're caught!"

CHAPTER IV--PING WING MAKES A DISCOVERY

Elfreda confesses to being "all mussed up, " and gives first aid toan injured cowboy. The lure of the desert. Welcomed at their firstcamp by Ping Wing. The Chinaman as a songbird. The Overland Eidersare aroused by cries and shots. 

CHAPTER V--STALKING A MOUNTAIN MYSTERY

Ping uses a frying pan and a can of tomatoes as his weapons. Scooting for a mysterious foe. "Put up your hands! I have youcovered!" Grace Harlowe exchanges shots with her adversary, thensuddenly sinks out of sight. 

CHAPTER VI--INTO THE GREAT SILENCE

Hi stalks an unseen enemy and wings him. The hole in the mountain. "The hound! He hit her! I'll kill him for that!" Grace, unconscious, is carried into camp. "This is not a gunshot wound!"Bullets are fired into the camp of the Overlanders. 

CHAPTER VII--THE FIRST DESERT CAMP

Hi Lang shows his charges how to make a campfire on the desert. Awater hole is found. "Some one is trying to poison us!" groansHippy. The guide warns the campers against scorpions. Emma Deanwishes she had gone to the seashore. 

CHAPTER VIII--CALLERS DROP IN

Amid scenes of desolation. "A party of horsemen coming this way!"The Overland party prepares for trouble. Hippy is doused by a wilddesert rider. "Get off my desert!" orders Lieutenant Wingate. Theleader is kicked into a water hole. The battle at the water hole. 

CHAPTER IX--PIRATES GET A HOT RECEPTION

Bullets fly fast in the desert camp. Grace protests against HiLang's order to shoot the attackers' ponies. Miss Briggs dressesthe wounds of the victims. The guide reads danger signals in thesky. 

CHAPTER X--WHEN THE BLOW FELL

"It's here!" mutters Hi Lang. Enveloped in a wild desertsandstorm. "Down! Everybody down!" Overland girls nearly buriedunder drifting sands, and camp equipment is wrecked and blownaway. "The water hole is lost!" announces the guide. 

CHAPTER XI--FACING A NEW PERIL

Ponies stray away in the storm. On the trail of the missing ones. The Overland girl makes a capture. Headed for Death Valley. GraceHarlowe is lost, but doesn't know it. Hi Lang goes to the rescueand follows her trail. 

CHAPTER XII--A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT

"We must find water!" declares Hi Lang impressively. The searchfor a desert "tank" begun by the weary Riders. Directed to smellfor water. A thrilling discovery. Hopes dashed to earth. "Get backto your positions!" orders the guide. 

CHAPTER XIII--A STARTLING ALARM

Supper is eaten without water or tea. Hi Lang shows the girls howto extract food and moisture from a cactus plant. "This isheavenly!" gasps Emma, and wonders why they did not bring anartesian well. Shouts and screams suddenly disturb the camp. 

CHAPTER XIV--THE MYSTERIOUS HORSEMAN

Hippy Wingate falls into the desert. A happy accident. "Water! Ismell it!" cries Grace. Signal shots are fired. A desert wandererrides in begging for water. A solitary horseman views theOverlanders from afar. 

CHAPTER XV--THE GUIDE READS A DESERT TRAIL

A stranger's warning interests Hi Lang. Why the desert wanderer isalways listening. More desert secrets revealed. Emma Dean dreamsof snakes and things. Grace Harlowe is complimented. Hi tells theOverlanders what the mysterious horseman is. 

CHAPTER XVI--THE CROSS ON THE DESERT

Grace learns to throw the lasso. An unpleasant discovery. Themystery box at the foot of the cross. Emma is eager to see theirfind opened. "It rattles like gold, " declares Hippy. LieutenantWingate raises the cover of the mystery box. 

CHAPTER XVII--ANOTHER MYSTERY TO SOLVE

What the Overland Riders found in the buried tin box. The map thataroused the curiosity of all. "I'll bury the old thing, " declaresHippy. Hi Lang empties his rifle at the mysterious horseman, andlater makes discoveries. 

CHAPTER XVIII--AN OLD INDIAN TRICK

The most trying day of all. Hi Lang utters a warning. A cloud thataroused suspicion. Overlanders meet with a keen disappointment. "Folks, the tank is dry! The water hole has been tampered with!"announces the Overlanders' guide. 

CHAPTER XIX--THE WARNING

An all-night ride for Forty-Mile Canyon. The red star is Hi Lang'sbeacon. Hippy Wingate mourns at missing a meal. Emma comes acropper in a mountain stream. "The last spot made when the worldwas built. " In camp in the Specter Range. Grace Harlowe'sdiscovery. 

CHAPTER XX--CONCLUSION

Grace Harlowe wades into the mountain stream and suddenlydisappears. A remarkable scene behind the waterfall. Grace makesan important capture. Mountain and desert mysteries unveiled. Lindy becomes the daughter of five mothers. Home!

GRACE HARLOWE'S OVERLAND RIDERS ON THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT

CHAPTER I

WHEN THE COWBOYS LAUGHED

"Grace Harlowe, do you realize what an indulgent husband youhave?" demanded Elfreda Briggs severely. 

"Why, of course I do, " replied Grace, giving her companion a quickglance of inquiry. "Why this sudden realization of the fact onyour part!"

"I was thinking of the really desperate journey we are about toundertake--the journey across the desert that lies just beyond theCactus Range you can see over yonder, " answered Miss Briggs, asshe gazed out through the open window of their hotel at Elk Run, to the distant landscape to which she had referred. "What I amcurious about is how Tom ever came to consent to your attemptingsuch an adventure. "

"I presume he really would have made serious objection had it notbeen for the fact that he had signed up for that forestry contractin Oregon. Tom knew that I would have a lonely summer at home, and, I believe, deep down in his heart, felt that were he to denyme the pleasure of this trip, I might break my neck driving mycar. You see, since I drove an ambulance in France I do notexactly creep along the roads with my spirited little roadster. "

"He did not object to the trip then?"

"Well, he did threaten to balk when I told him that we Overlandershad planned to ride horseback across the Great American Desert, starting from Elk Run, Nevada. However, he listened to reason. Tomis such a dear, " reflected Grace. 

"Yes, reason in the form of Grace Harlowe Gray, " nodded Elfredaunderstandingly. "Should I ever have the misfortune to possess ahusband I hope he may be as amenable to reason. Where is Tom, bythe way?"

"He has gone out with Hippy Wingate to look for one Hiram Lang, known hereabouts as Hi Lang, the man who is to act as our guideand protector across the desert. He is Mr. Fairweather's cousin, you will recall, and my one great hope is that he may prove to beas fine a character as the man who piloted us over the Old ApacheTrail last summer. "

"I sincerely hope, for our sake, that he knows his business, "nodded Elfreda Briggs. 

"Where did you leave the girls?" questioned Grace. 

"I left Emma Dean, Anne Nesbit and Nora Wingate at the generalstore where they were selecting picture cards of wild west scenesto send to the folks back home. By the way, when does Tom leavefor Oregon?"

"To-night. I wish it were possible for him to go with us, knowingthat it would prove an interesting experience for him, but nowthat he is out of the army he feels that he must get to workwithout loss of time. Tom now has a large family to look after--Yvonne and my own little self. "

"I should say that, after fighting Bolshevists in Russia for thebetter part of a year, the desert would be a rather tameexperience for him, " observed Miss Briggs. "Of course he cannot beblamed for desiring to get to work. I feel the same way aboutmyself, but since my return from France my law practice has beenabout what it was while I was serving my country on the other sideof the Atlantic Ocean--nothing at all--so I might as well be onthe desert as in my office. "

"Your practice will come back, Elfreda. Don't worry, but in themeantime try to have the best kind of a time and set what happensthis fall. I hear Tom's step. "

A knock followed the brisk step in the hallway, and Grace'shusband entered. Elfreda rose, but Grace held out a hand as asignal that her friend was not to leave. 

"Well, Tom dear, did you find him?" questioned Grace. 

"Oh, yes. This town isn't so large that one can well miss findingany one. Your man, Hi Lang, is getting the ponies into the corraland you girls are to go out there and make your selections. "

"Did Mr. Lang say why he had not called here to see us?" askedGrace. 

"No, he didn't say much of anything. He is not of the saying kind. I suppose he expected you to look him up. Besides, he is very busygetting ready for you, I could see that. If you are ready we willgo over to the corral now. "

"Where did you leave Hippy?" asked Miss Briggs. 

"Talking horse with the owner of the ponies, " Grace's husbandinformed her, whereat both girls smiled understandingly, knowingquite well that Hippy Wingate was posing as an expert on horses, whereas about all the knowledge he possessed in that direction hadbeen gained from the ride over the Apache Trail during theprevious summer. 

Tom led the two girls to the corral at the extreme edge of thelittle western village. Anne, Emma and Nora already had foundtheir way there and were watching the wranglers, as the men whocatch up the ponies are called, roping broncos and leading themout for the inspection of Lieutenant Wingate and the guide. 

"My, but they are a lively bunch, " exclaimed Miss Briggs. 

The roped ponies were bucking and squealing and biting andkicking. A suffocating gray cloud of alkali dust hung over thecorral, and, altogether, the scene was not only exciting, but itstirred feelings of alarm in some of Grace Harlowe's OverlandRiders. 

"Surely, Grace, you girls aren't going to ride those wildanimals!" protested Tom Gray. 

"Judging from the performances I have just witnessed, I aminclined to think we are not, " replied Grace whimsically. "Whichis Mr. Lang?"

"The man with his hat off leading the pony from the corral. "

Tom beckoned to the man who was to guide the Overlanders acrossthe desert, and, as soon as he had turned the protesting broncoover to a cowboy, the guide responded to Tom Gray's summons. 

"Lang, this is Mrs. Gray and Miss Briggs, " said Tom by way ofintroduction. 

"Reckon I'm mighty glad to know you all, " greeted the guide, mopping the perspiration from his forehead with his sleeve. 

Hi Lang interested Grace at once. Of medium height, thin-featured, with a complexion that reminded her of wrinkled parchment, eyesthat, though intelligent and alert, frequently took on a dreamy, far-away expression, Hiram Lang proved a new type of westerner toGrace Harlowe. 

"Got your telegram that you reckoned on starting to-day, " he toldher. 

"Yes. Of course we do not wish to hurry you, but we are eager toget on our way. What about the supplies and equipment! Have youordered everything that I suggested?"

The guide nodded. 

"The stuff already has gone on ahead in charge of Ping Wing--"

"Who?" laughed Elfreda Briggs. 

"Ping Wing, a Chinaman, with four lazy burros. Good man. Can cook, too. Been on the desert before. Lively as a cricket. Only troublewith Ping is that he thinks he can sing. Ride and shoot?" hedemanded, abruptly changing the subject. 

"I am not much of a rider, but manage to stick to the saddle mostof the time, " answered Grace. "I shoot a little. We are allnovices, with the exception of Lieutenant Wingate who is anexcellent shot. The lieutenant was a fighting aviator in the war. "

Hi nodded and stroked his chin. 

"Reckoned you could ride some. When we get out on the desert I'llsee how you can shoot. When do you think you want to start?"

"I will leave that to you, " replied Grace. 

"Three o'clock this afternoon. We'll make the range where Pingwill be waiting for us, and have chow there, then go on in thecool of the evening. Want to look over the broncos?"

"If you please. I should like to try the ponies that we are toride. "

"Do--do they always kick and buck as we saw them do just now?"questioned Miss Briggs apprehensively. 

The guide shook his head and grinned. 

"They don't like to be roped, that's all. No bronco does. They'llbe as all right as a bronc' can be, so long as you don't use thespur or get the critters stubborn. "

"If you say they are perfectly safe for my friends to ride, I amsatisfied, though I should like to try them out. Hippy, have youridden any of these animals?" asked Grace, turning to LieutenantWingate. 

"He tried to, " observed Tom Gray dryly. "Hippy mounted one on oneside and promptly fell off on the other before getting his feet inthe stirrups. It was not the pony's fault, however, but Hippy'sclumsiness that caused the disaster. "

"That's right, have all the fun at my expense you wish. I am thecomedian of this outfit anyway, " protested Hippy. "Let's see youride one of them, Brown Eyes, " he urged, speaking to Grace. 

"Please have them saddled one by one and I will try them, Mr. Lang, " directed Grace. "Any pony that I can ride, the otherssurely can. "

The guide nodded and turned away. Grace watched the saddling withkeen interest, especially the saddling of the first pony selectedfor her, which squealed and pawed and danced as the cinch-girthwas being tightened. 

"Vicious!" objected Elfreda Briggs. 

"No, " answered Grace. "Just playful. If the others are no worse, we shall have a good bunch of horses. "

The saddle being secured, Grace stepped up and petted the littleanimal for a few moments, then mounted. The pony danced under her, then, at a word, galloped off. The Overland girl rode but a shortdistance, and, turning back, trotted up to the group smilingly. 

"Spirited but sweet, " was her comment as she dismounted. "He willbe all right if he is used right. Try him, Elfreda. I know youwill like him. "

Miss Briggs took her test without falling off, and promptlyclaimed the little brown animal as her own private mount. 

"You made a most excellent selection, Mr. Lang, " complimentedGrace, after she had tried the ponies for the rest of the girlsand found them suitable. Each girl also tried out and selected herown mount from those that Grace had approved, the cowboys and halfthe village being interested spectators. Grace was pleased, bothwith the ponies and with the riding of her girl friends. Not theleast of those who were pleased was Hi Lang, who, before thecoming of the outfit, had felt considerable doubt as to thesuccess of the proposed jaunt. Now he knew that the OverlandRiders were not rank greenhorns, as he expressed it to himself. 

"Which animal did you think of selecting for me!" asked Gracesmilingly. 

"Reckoned you'd do that for yourself, " answered the guide. 

"Thank you. Please have that black roped and brought out. He isthe one I think will please me, " replied Grace promptly. 

"What, that black bronc'? He's a lively one, Mrs. Gray. Don'treckon you'll be able to stick on him at all, " warned Hi Lang. 

"I have fallen off before, sir. Have him roped and brought out. I'll try him out. "

The guide shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the headwrangler. 

"Why take such unnecessary chances!" begged Tom Gray. "Surelythere are plenty of ponies in the bunch that are safe for you toride. "

"Tom, surely the black one can be no worse than that wild westernpony that I bought last fall and rode. You know he was supposed tobe the last word in viciousness and bucking ability, but I rodehim successfully. "

"Very well, go ahead. You won't be satisfied until you have triedhim, but remember, I warned you, " returned Grace's husband withsome heat. 

"Now, Tom, " begged Grace pleadingly. "Please don't be a cross bearand spoil my trip. You have been so perfectly lovely about itright up to this moment, that it would be too bad if you were toget peevish now. If you say I must not, of course I will not tryto ride the animal, but I do so want him. "

Tom Gray shrugged his shoulders and laughed. 

"Go to it, little woman. You have my full permission to break yourneck if you insist. I will see that little Yvonne keeps yourmemory green. "

"Oh, Tom! You are such a dear, but I promise you that you won'thave occasion to keep my memory green so far as that mischievouslittle black pony is concerned. "

Grace Harlowe's confidence in herself was not without good andsufficient reason. The western pony that she had ridden theprevious winter had demonstrated nearly all the tricks known tothe stubborn broncos of the great west. At first Grace had hadsome bad spills, but eventually she learned to outwit her pony andride him no matter how savagely he tried to unhorse her. 

Not only had Grace learned to ride, in anticipation of anothersummer in the saddle, but, under her husband's instruction, shehad taken up revolver shooting, and by spring was capable ofqualifying as an expert, especially in quick shooting at movingtargets. Thus fitted for the strenuous life in the wilder parts ofher native land, Grace looked forward with calm assurance to theexperiences that she knew lay before her. 

"Bring out the black, " Hi Lang had directed. "Cinch him so tightit will make him squeal. "

When a wrangler's rope caught him, the wiry little animal foughtviciously for a few moments, then suddenly surrendered and was ledout as docile as a lamb. 

"Who said that black is vicious?" demanded Hippy Wingate. 

"Want to ride him?" asked the guide good-naturedly. 

"No. I have a real pony for myself. "

"Watch those ears, Grace, " warned Tom Gray. 

"I am, " replied Grace, and Hi Lang, overhearing, grunted hissatisfaction. 

The black pony's ears were tilted back at an angle of forty-fivedegrees, and there he held them while the saddle was being set inplace, and the girth cinched, both forefeet spread wide apart andhead well down. He winced a little as the girth was drawn a holetighter so that the saddle might not slip, but otherwise made nomove, which, the cowboys said, was an unusual thing for him to do. 

The pony's sudden surrender was of itself suspicious to those whowere familiar with the western bronco, and the laid-back ears weresignificant to them of trouble to come. 

"Is he an outlaw!" asked Grace, meaning an animal naturally sovicious that he never had been satisfactorily broken. 

Hi Lang, to whom the question had been addressed, gave Grace aquick glance of inquiry. 

"Some call him that. At least he's got the ginger in him, andmebby he is an outlaw. Keep a tight rein on him; don't let him gethis head down if you can help his doing so, and stick to yourleather. Watch him every second, for he's got a box full oftricks. "

"Thank you for the suggestions. I shall not forget. "

"I ought not let you ride him. I reckon you'll get enough of thecritter before you have ridden him many minutes, even if you stickon that long. "

"Mr. Lang, I intend to ride that 'critter, ' as you call him, across the desert. Will he bolt while I am mounting?"

"Mebby. All ready now. "

"Have you any last requests to make, Grace Harlowe?" asked ElfredaBriggs frowningly. Elfreda strongly disapproved of Grace's"foolhardiness, " as she called it. 

"Yes, keep back and give me plenty of room. See that the othergirls do the same. The black may do a little side-stepping. "

Grace, as she had done with the other ponies before mounting, stepped up to the black and began petting and caressing him, nowand then straightening up the animal's ears, chiding him as shemight a child. This made the cowboys laugh. Cowboys when subduingbroncos do not ordinarily do so with anything resembling babytalk, and it was their firm conviction that this pretty youngtenderfoot from the east was about to get the surprise of herlife. Instead of feeling sorry for her, however, the souls of thecowboys were filled with joy at the prospect of some real fun. Itwas not often that they were privileged to see an innocenteasterner make an exhibition of himself on a vicious western pony, and this was the first time they had ever seen a woman from theeast attempt to ride a bucking bronco, which made the occasion allthe more interesting. 

"Stand clear, please, " warned Grace, giving the pony's neck afinal pat, and at the same time edging her way back from his head, measuring the distance to the stirrup with her eyes. 

"I'll give you the word when to hit the leather, " directed Hi in alow voice. "Watch your step. "

Grace acknowledged the warning with a brief nod, watching theblack's head narrowly. The animal still stood with forefeet bracedapart, head slightly lowered, ears, it seemed, flatter than ever. 

"If I miss it I'm lost, " muttered Grace, referring to the stirrup. 

"Ready, " warned the voice of the guide. 

The girl's left hand holding the bridle rein crept cautiously tothe pommel of the saddle. 

"Now!"

Grace's left foot caught the stirrup and, like a flash, theOverland girl landed hard and firmly seated on the saddle, theright foot in the stirrup on that side, then, with the aid ofstirrup and cantle, she braced herself to meet the shock that sheknew was right at hand. 

CHAPTER II

AN "OUTLAW" MEETS HIS MATCH

The black did not move a muscle for a few seconds, then, with asudden turn of the head, he made a grab for his rider's leg. 

Grace, never having taken her eyes from the laid-back ears, gave aquick kick with her left foot, catching the pony fairly on thenose. As he hastily withdrew his head, she took advantage of theopportunity to tighten up on the reins, which brought the animal'shead well up. 

All these preparatory activities were observed with intenseinterest by cowboys and Overlanders. 

"Watch him!" called Hi Lang in an urgent tone. 

Grace was watching, her every faculty beat to the task ofdiscovering what the next move of her mount was to be. 

The black, as she tightened the rein, reared high in the air untilhis rider seemed to be standing straight up. One moment she feltthat they were both going to fall over backwards, and was about toclear the stirrups to jump. Instead she brought her crop down onthe black's head, with a resounding whack. 

"Yeow!" howled the cowboys, but Grace did not hear them, for thepony had dropped to all fours, and no sooner had his feet touchedthe ground than he leaped clear of it, coming down stiff-leggedwith a jolt that jarred Grace Harlowe throughout her body in spiteof her effort to soften the shock by throwing most of her weighton the stirrups. 

"He's going to buck, " warned the steady voice of Hi Lang. 

Grace knew it in advance of the guide's warning, but, though shetugged with all her might, she was not strong enough to get theblack bronco's head up so he could not carry out his intention. There followed a series of bucks and squeals, accompanied withflying hoofs, that sent the spectators fleeing for safety. 

As for the Overland girl, her head was spinning, her hair was downand her sombrero long since had fallen off and been trampled inthe alkali dust by the hoofs of her mount. The jolting she wasgetting was almost more than she could endure and sharp pains wereshooting through her body. This bronco indeed was a master at theart of bucking, but vicious as were his movements the black hadnot succeeded in ridding himself of his rider. 

"Look out!" yelled the guide. 

All four feet went from under the pony and he struck the ground onhis side with a force that brought a grunt from him. In the cloudof dust the spectators thought that Grace had been caught underthe horse and crashed. Emma Dean uttered a cry of alarm, and NoraWingate turned her head away that she might not see. 

"She's all right!" shouted Hiram Lang, who had sprung forward togive assistance if it were needed. 

The pony had thrown itself on its right side. Mr. Lang found Gracesitting calmly on the side of the saddle, free of the body of thehorse, but breathing heavily. Her quickness had been the means ofher disengaging herself as the bronco threw himself to the ground. 

After giving the black a few seconds on his side, the OverlandRider brought her crop down on his rump with a vicious whack. Itstung. Like a flash the pony was on his feet, with Grace's feetnow planted firmly in the stirrups. 

As Grace had expected, the bucking was resumed the instant thepony felt the smart of the crop. How the dust did fly then, andhow those cowboy wranglers did yell!

"Who's a tenderfoot!" howled Hippy Wingate. "Just watch hersmoke. "

Grace Harlowe's whole body was weary, but her grit was notdiminishing in the least. However, she decided that the time hadarrived when she must do a little fighting for herself, and notleave it all to the pony, so, having arrived at this decision, Grace watched narrowly for a favorable opportunity to begin. 

The opportunity came a few seconds later when the horse threw uphis head preparatory to pitching forward in another series ofsavage bucks. Grace jerked the animal's head to one side, broughther quirt down sharply, and, at the same time, jabbed the littleblack fighter with her spurs. 

She continued to apply this treatment for several seconds untilthe bronco, goaded to a change of tactics, whirled and startedaway at a run, driving straight through the assembled crowd. Thecrowd fled for their lives with Grace unable now to do more thanstay on the saddle. 

The black had not gone far before he stopped as suddenly as he hadstarted, stopped stiff-legged, braced himself and slid on his feetthrough the alkali for several yards. 

Grace Harlowe had been alert for this very thing, but just thesame the suddenness of the move had nearly unhorsed her. As it wasshe fell forward on the neck of the bronco, but, recoveringherself before the animal could begin bucking again, she regainedher former position in the saddle and applied crop and spurvigorously. 

The bronco again tried to buck, but under Grace's lively treatmenthe gave it up and started to run, and for the next few minutespony and rider went like a black streak across the landscape, theOverland girl giving the pony no time for anything but to travelas fast as his legs would carry him, until they were a full twomiles from the village. 

Grace finally turned him about, without resistance on the pony'spart, and raced for the corral, driving and urging the pony withcrop and word, bound to wear him down and convince him once andfor all that she was his master. 

As the Overland Rider came up to the corral now at a jog trot, thebronco covered with white foam, the cowboys broke loose. Shrillcowboy yells, whoops and cat calls and a rattling fire of revolvershots into the air greeted her achievement. 

"Grab him, you duffers!" shouted Hi Lang, running toward thebronco as he saw Grace wavering on her saddle. "Can't you see thatgame kid's all in?"

It was only by the exercise of sheer pluck that Grace Harlowe hadheld her seat on the saddle throughout that grilling ride. She hadfought and won a battle with an "outlaw" pony that many a hard-muscled cowboy had fought only to lose. Now that she hadconquered, however, Grace felt weak and dizzy, and the reaction, she found, was worse than the experience itself. 

At Hi Lang's command, half a dozen cowboys had sprung to herassistance, but it was Hi who held up his arms to help her down. 

"Fall over. I'll catch you, " he urged. 

Grace shook her head and tried to smile. 

"I--I think I can make it, tha--ank you, " she gasped, freeing herfeet from the stirrups and slipping limply until her feet touchedthe ground. For a moment she stood leaning against the bronco forsupport, one hand clinging to the pommel of the saddle. 

The guide sought to draw her away, fearful that the pony mightspring to one side and let loose a volley of kicks. 

Grace shook her head, her left hand grasped the mane of the ponyand she pulled herself to his head. Fumbling in her pocket, shedrew forth a piece of candy and felt rather than, saw the bronco'slips close over the sweet morsel. 

"Wall, ef thet don't beat the Dutch!" exclaimed a cowboy. "Abronc' eatin' outer a lady's hand. What's the alkali flats a-comin' to!"

"She's a reg'lar lion tamer, thet's the shorest thing I know, "declared another. "Hey! What's up now?"

Grace's fingers had slowly relaxed their grip on the blackbronco's mane, a faint moan escaped her lips, and the Overlandgirl slipped down under the pony's neck in a dead faint. Thebronco, merely by lifting a forefoot and bringing it down on hisconqueror, could have crushed the life out of Grace Harlowe. 

Instead, the horse arched his neck, curled his head down and nosedher with the nearest approach to affection that any man there everhad seen a bronco exhibit. 

Hi Lang gathered the unconscious girl up cautiously and carriedher to a safe spot where he laid her down. 

"Get water. Everybody stand back and give her air, " he directed. 

"I will look after her, " said Elfreda Brigg hurrying to Grace'sside. 

The water, fetched in a cowboy's hat, came hand just as Graceregained consciousness Elfreda bathed her face from the hat andfanned her with her own sombrero. 

"What a per--perfectly silly thing for me do, " muttered Grace, raising herself on elbow. 

"If you mean riding that wild animal, I agree with you, " frownedMiss Briggs. 

"I mean the faint. What will these men think of me!"

"I reckon if you'll give them a chance they'll tell you what theythink, " interjected Hi Lang. "Bud, come here, " he called, beckoning to one of the wranglers. "This little lady wants to knowwhat you fellows think of a woman who rides a horse and thenfaints away. Tell her. "

Bud stepped up, flushing painfully under his tan, awkwardlyfumbling his hat. 

"Ah--Ah reckon they think thet you're 'bout the gamest littlesport thet ever hit the leather, " declared Bud. "Any feller thetsez you ain't, is a liar and a hoss thief!" Bud glared about himas if challenging some one to take up his defi. 

Grace laughed so merrily that, for the moment, she forgot that shewas supposed to be in a fainting condition. Getting up ratherunsteadily, she offered her hand to the cowboy, who, in hisembarrassment, instantly dropped his bravado and half held out alimp paw for Grace to shake. 

"Them's our sentiments. We double cinch what Bud jest articulated, Lady, " called a cowboy voice. 

"Thank you, Bud. Thank you all, fellows. It is much higher praisethan I deserve, " she replied, smiling and waving a hand to thegroup. 

"Where do you all reckon on goin', Miss?" questioned another ofthe men. 

Grace told him that they had planned to cross the American Desert. 

"And maybe we're going to look for a lost gold mine or a diamondmine or an iron mine down in the Specter Range, or somethingequally exciting, " added Hippy Wingate. 

"Reckon there ain't no such animal in these here parts, " drawledBud. "If you all need help any old time, Ah reckon you all knowwhere to come for it, Lady, " he added. 

Grace thanked him and said she would remember. 

"You are not thinking of riding that black bronco, are you!"questioned Tom Gray. "What's the next move?"

"Yes, to your first question. We expect to make our start thisafternoon, unless Mr. Lang advises to the contrary. What do yousay, Mr. Lang?"

"I reckoned that, after what you've been through, you'd be wishingto lay up for the rest of the day, " replied the guide. 

"That would be the sensible course to follow, " agreed Grace'shusband. 

"No. No change of plans is necessary so far as I am concerned, "she replied. "Mr. Lang, will you please ask one of the boys togroom Blackie--that is what I shall call my pony--and not to becross with him? I do not wish the little fellow stirred up. I havehim temporarily under control, and am certain that after I haveridden him for a day he will be as manageable as the rest of them. Where shall we meet you, Mr. Lang?"

"Eight here at the corral. Three o'clock. " Hi turned his back onthem and walked away to give Grace's directions about the broncoto one of the wranglers. 

"I am going back to the hotel to lie down for an hour, " announcedGrace. "Tom, you may go out and do a little shopping for me whileI am resting. Girls, " she said, turning to her companions, "Iwould suggest that all of you turn in for a beauty sleep. You willneed it, for we shall have a hot, dusty ride between here and themountains, which we shall not reach until some time this evening. If you have any further purchases to make at the general store, you had better make them now, or let Tom do it for you. We must beon time at the corral. Mr. Lang probably has timed our departureto fit certain plans of his own. "

The girls said they had completed their purchases, and shortlyafter that all were sound asleep, fortifying themselves for theexperiences before them, experiences that were destined to be themost strenuous that they had ever met with, outside of the battlefront in France. 

CHAPTER III

A THRILLING MOMENT

"We are ready, Mr. Lang, " greeted Grace Harlowe as she and herparty came up to the corral where the guide was supervising thesaddling of the ponies for the outfit. 

The girls now wore the overseas uniforms that they had worn intheir ride over the Old Apache Trail. In addition, a red bandanahandkerchief was twisted about the neck of each Overland Rider, intrue western style, to keep the alkali dust from sifting downtheir necks. 

All the equipment except mess kits and emergency rations, and acanteen of water for each, had been sent forward on the burros incharge of the Chinaman, Ping Wing, whom the Overland girls had notyet met. 

"How is Blackie behaving at present, Mr. Lang?" questioned Grace, stepping over towards the guide, who was readjusting the cinch-girth on the little animal. 

"Quiet as a kitten after finding a nest of young mice. Better putyour revolver in the saddle holster where it will be handy. That'swhere I carry mine. The lieutenant is stowing his now. Never knowwhen the 'hardware' is going to come in handy on the desert. "

A lump of sugar found its way into the black bronco's mouth fromGrace Harlowe's hand, as she petted and talked to the littlefellow. This time his ears were tilted forward, and he stoodmotionless while his new master was caressing him. The instantGrace stepped away, however, the black grew restless. He draggedthe cowboy who was holding him and threatened to break away, norwas he quieted until Grace herself intervened and, slipping thebridle rein over her arm and leading the pony, walked over to TomGray. 

"No wonder you are successful in managing a husband, " observedTom. "Even the dumb animals bow to your will. "

"Now, Tom, " protested Grace laughingly, the color mounting to hercheeks. "That wasn't a bit nice of you. "

"Ready whenever you are, Mrs. Gray, " interrupted the voice of HiLang. 

Grace turned to her husband, the laughter gone from her face. 

"I shall miss you, Tom dear. Write to Yvonne as often as you can, and to me, but Yvonne needs our letters to keep her from gettinglonely at school. Good-bye and the best of luck, as we used to saywhen we were in France. "

Grace patted the neck of the black bronco, and Tom assisted her tothe saddle. Blackie began to prance, but, though he threatened tobuck, he did not. Grace finally subdued him and sat waiting forher companions to mount, all of whom managed the operationsuccessfully, though Emma Dean was twice nearly unhorsed. 

The cowboys, as the Overland girls observed, were saddled up as ifthey too were going along, but she supposed they were starting outon some duty connected with their work. All but two of themmounted, and there followed an exhibition of prancing and buckingthat furnished amusement and interest to Grace and her friends. 

Bud and a companion finally rode up before Grace and dismounted, the former removing his sombrero and approaching her awkwardly. 

Glancing inquiringly at Mr. Lang, Grace saw that he was smiling. 

"Bud has something on his mind. I reckon he wants to unload, Mrs. Gray, " announced the guide. 

"Yes, Bud?" smiled Grace encouragingly. "What is it?"

"It's yourself, Miss. The bunch here reckoned as I, bein' giftedwith the knack of gab, it fer me to speak for 'em. They're tongue-tied when there's a woman on the premises. "

"What is it the 'bunch' wishes you to say to me?" asked theOverland girl. 

"They seen you bust the black bronc' this morning, and bein' as nofemale woman ever pulled off a stunt like it in these parts, theyreckoned it might not make you mad if they told you you was all tothe good. "

"Thank you--thank you all. " Grace waved a hand and smiled at theeager faces of the cowboys who, lined up on their ponies, just tothe rear of Bud and a companion, were eagerly hanging on Bud'swords, but not taking their gaze from Grace Harlowe's face for aninstant. 

"The bunch reckoned, too, that bein' a champeen mebby you'd take alittle present from 'em. I ain't much on spreadin' the dough, evenif I have some gab, " added Bud, floundering for the rest of hisspeech. 

"Bud, I'm just as excited as you are, and, were I in your place, Ishould not know what to say next, " comforted Grace seriously. "What is it that the 'bunch' wished you to give to me?"

Bud reached a hand behind him, whereupon his companion placedsomething in it. Emma Dean whispered to Nora that it looked like ablacksnake all coiled up and ready to jump. 

"This here, " resumed the cowboy, holding up the coil that had beenpassed to him, "is a real Mexican lariat, made by a Greaser, butreal horsehair, and warranted not to kink or to miss in the handsof a lady. The bunch reckons they'd like to give it to you toremember 'em by, " concluded Bud, stepping forward and handing thelariat to Grace. 

"Bud--boys, I don't need anything to make me remember you, but ofcourse I will accept your thoughtful gift. I never threw a ropeand could not hit the side of a barn with one, but now that youhave given me this beautiful piece of rope I am going to learn tothrow it. Mr. Lang, will you teach me how to rope--to throw thelasso?"

The guide nodded. 

"If we come back this way, I hope I shall see all you boys here, and I will then throw the rope for you and you shall tell mewhether or not I am a hopeless tenderfoot. "

"You ain't no tenderfoot already, " called a cowboy. 

"Thank you. Good-bye, all. " Grace waved her sombrero, and, blowinga kiss to her husband, clucked to her pony and was off at agallop, following in the wake of Hi Lang, who had already startedon. 

The others of the Overland party swung in and the party began itsjourney. They had gone but a short distance when, hearing shoutsto the rear, they turned to discover the cowboys racing towardthem in a cloud of dust. 

"What do they want, Mr. Lang!" called Grace, urging her pony up tohim. 

"I reckon they're coming out to give you a send off, " answered theguide. 

As they approached, the cowboys spread out and began circling thegalloping Overlanders, yelling, whooping and firing theirrevolvers into the air. Now and then one's sombrero would fly off, whereupon a following cowboy would swing down from his saddle andscoop up the hat. 

Ropes began to wiggle through the air as the western riders soughtto rope each other. They were giving Grace Harlowe a demonstrationof what western roping was, and, as she rode, Grace observed andenjoyed, as did her companions. 

Suddenly a rope darted into the air behind her, and, had she notseen its shadow, Grace surely would have been caught. Interpretingthat shadow for what it was the Overland Rider threw herselfforward on her pony's neck just as the loop descended. It droppedlightly on her back, but she was out from under it in a flash, and, as she sped on, she turned a laughing face to the roper, whowas being rewarded by the jeers of his companions who had chancedto see him make the cast and fail. 

Howling and whooping like a wild Indian, another rider shotdirectly across Grace's path, his glee spinning his sombrero ashigh in the air as he could throw it, intending to ride under andcatch it. Grace's revolver, the same weapon that she had takenfrom Belle Bates, the wife of the bandit of the Apache Trail, whipped out of its holster in a second. Her first shot at thespinning hat missed, but her second shot was a hit. She put a holeright through the crown of the hat. 

The whooping and yelling was renewed as the owner of the hatscooped it up from the ground and held it up for the others tosee. There were two, however, who were taking no interest in theshooting--the cowboy who had tried to rope Grace, and a companionwho was chasing and trying to rope him in payment for hisunsportsmanlike attempt to cast his lariat over Grace Harlowe'shead. 

The two were darting in and out among the racing cowboys andOverlanders at the imminent peril of running down some one; thedust was a suffocating, choking cloud except as they rode ahead, and then only those in the lead were out of the worst of it. TheOverlanders were coughing and perspiring, and the shouting andshooting at times made conversation well nigh impossible. 

"What is this, a wild west show?" cried Elfreda Briggs, ridingtoward Grace Harlowe, who was entering into the sport with a zestthat set Hi Lang's head nodding in approval. 

"The real wild west, Elfreda. It is not easy to find, but we havefound it in earnest. Oh! Look at that!"

The pursuing cowboy had now roped a hind foot of the pony riddenby the man who had attempted to lasso Grace Harlowe. 

The lariat being attached to the pommel of the thrower's saddle, the roped pony went down on its nose, violently hurling its riderto the ground, but the little horse was up in a flash, gallopingaway and dragging along the rope which it had jerked free from theowner's hands and from the saddle pommel. 

Not only was it dragging the lasso, but also its cowboy rider, who, with one foot caught in a stirrup, was being bumped along onhis back over the uneven ground. 

Elfreda Briggs, nearest to the fallen cowboy, instantly spurredher pony after the runaway. She was abreast of it in a moment. Grasping the bridle of the runaway, Elfreda tugged at it with allher might in her endeavor to stop the animal, shouting, "Whoa!Whoa!"

In the meantime, Grace on Blackie was heading for the scene at topspeed, seeking to head off the runaway. 

Others also were trying to stop the animal and rescue the fallencowboy, but it was Elfreda's race, with Grace following her. Elfreda was clinging desperately to the bridle of the runaway withone hand, the other holding fast to the pommel of her saddle, butdespite all her efforts she failed to check the speed of therunaway, leaning over toward it further and further as the spacebetween the two ponies widened. 

This meant a fall for Elfreda, as she suddenly realized. 

"Let go!" cried Grace, but Elfreda was too busy to hear and stillheld on to the runaway. 

The runaway swerved sharply to the right. Miss Briggs had thepresence of mind to kick back with both feet as she felt herselfgoing to fall off. She did this to clear her feet from thestirrups so that when she fell she might not be dragged along onthe ground by one foot. She was now leaning too far over to beable to recover her balance on her own saddle. 

Miss Briggs suddenly let go of the pommel of her saddle as shefelt herself slipping, and threw both arms about the neck of therunaway, to which she clung with all her might. 

"Whoa! Whoa!" she gasped chokingly, her feet whipping the groundwith every leap of the runaway as she was dragged along. Elfredawas taking severe punishment, but she was enduring it pluckily, determined to hang on until either the runaway stopped or her armscame off. 

Grace Harlowe drew down rapidly on the runaway and its victims, having so timed her arrival that she succeeded in heading the ponyoff, with several yards between it and herself. 

"Whoa! Whoa!" commanded Grace sharply, at the same time hurlingher sombrero into the face of the runaway. Instead of slowingdown, he came on with a rush, and Grace, who was now directly inhis path, saw that she could not avoid a collision. 

The bronco ridden by Grace braced himself, seeming to knowinstinctively what was coming. 

In the next moment the runaway plunged against Blackie, and theimpact bowled Blackie over flat on his side. 

Grace already had slipped her feet from the stirrups, and, whenthe collision came, she too threw herself on the neck of therunaway. 

"Ha--ang on! We'll stop him!" she cried, her arms now tightlyencircling the runaway's neck, her feet dragging on the groundjust as Elfreda's were. 

By this time the two girls on the running pony's neck weresurrounded by mounted cowboys. 

"Let go! Jump clear so we kin rope him!" shouted Bud, for the mendared not rope and throw the horse, fearing that he might fall onone of the girls and crush her. 

The cowboys did not seem to realize that neither girl would let goof her own free will until the runaway had been stopped. 

The end came suddenly. The heavy burden on his neck was too muchfor the bronco, and, his knees weakening, all at once he stumbledand went down on his nose, then toppled over on his side, enveloped in a cloud of dust. 

"They're caught!" shouted Hi Lang. 

CHAPTER IV

PING WING MAKES A DISCOVERY

When the cowboys, with Hi Lang in the lead, reached the Overlandgirls, they discovered Grace Harlowe calmly sitting on the runawaybronco's head to hold him down. 

"Get Miss Briggs out from between the pony's legs. She can't helpherself. Drag the man out, too. The pony fell on him, " urgedGrace. 

"Are you hurt, Mrs. Gray!" begged Hi anxiously. 

"No. "

"And Miss Briggs!"

"I think not. She was a little stunned when we fell with thebronco. Hold down his head so I can get to her. "

Surrendering her seat on the bronco's head to a cowboy, Grace gotup and insisted in removing Elfreda from her perilous position. They stood Miss Briggs on her feet, Grace supporting her with anarm about her waist to give Elfreda opportunity to collectherself. 

"How do you feel now!" asked Grace. 

"All--all mussed up, " was J. Elfreda's characteristic reply. 

Both girls showed the effects of their experience. Their hair washanging down their backs, their uniforms were covered with dustand their faces were grimy from the alkali dirt of the plain. 

"Let me walk you about to see if all your joints function, "suggested Grace. 

"They never again will do so properly as long as I live, "complained Miss Briggs. "Did the ponies run away? I mean ourponies. "

"I have been too busy to notice. If you will sit down I will seewhat I can do for the poor fellow who was dragged. "

Elfreda insisted on assisting, and a moment later both girls werekneeling beside the dazed, but conscious, cowboy whose clothingwas in tatters and whose face was scarcely recognizable from thedust that was ground into it. 

Grace moistened her handkerchief with water from her canteen andbathed the man's face, and Elfreda, producing a bottle of smellingsalts, held it to his nostrils. The cowboy quickly came out of hisdaze. One arm was doubled up under his body, and this ElfredaBriggs carefully drew out. The cowboy groaned as she did so. 

"Can you lift your arm!" she asked. 

"No, " gritted the cowboy, his face twisting with pain as he triedto raise the arm. 

"His left arm is broken, " announced Elfreda. "Men, you must getthis poor fellow to town as quickly as possible. I will make asling to support the arm until you can get him to a surgeon. "

"Do you folks reckon you want to go back to Elk Run, too?"questioned the guide. 

"I was about to ask that question of you, " replied Grace, turningto Elfreda. 

"You should know better than to ask, " returned Miss Briggs. 

"We will go on, Mr. Lang. Perhaps it is as well that we have beenbroken in properly at the start. We shall be in better form tocope with real emergencies if such arise, " declared Grace. 

"Real! Huh!" grunted Hi Lang. 

"Oh, you'll get used to having things happen, " soothed HippyWingate. "Wherever this outfit goes there is trouble and then somemore. "

"Yes, but this is the worst, " complained Emma Dean. 

"Alors! Let's go, " urged Elfreda Briggs as she got up after havingarranged a sling to support the cowboy's injured arm. 

Their ponies were led up by the cowboys and the girls mounted fora fresh start, Grace and Elfreda considerably rumpled and bothvery tired after their lively experience. The cowboys, havingloaded their injured companion on a pony, now gave the Overlandgirls a rousing farewell whoop and trotted slowly homeward. 

Hi Lang had uttered no comment on what had occurred, but he waskeeping up a constant thinking, now and then scowling observinglyat his charges. Of Grace and Elfreda he had no doubts, for, in hisestimation, they had graduated from the tenderfoot class. Theothers had yet to prove themselves. 

The ride was hot and dusty, and, in order to make up for losttime, the party was riding fast, but the ponies, though alreadyflecked with foam, appeared to be as fresh as at the start. 

"What time do you think we will reach the mountains?" called Anne, who was suffering tortures from the heat and dust. 

"Sundown, " briefly answered the guide. "It will be worse than thisafter we reach the desert. "

"Worse!" groaned Emma. "I shall expire, I know I shall. "

The mountains, for which they were heading, were looming largernow, and looked cool and inviting compared to the heat of theirpresent position. 

"What is that smoke?" asked Grace Harlowe, as they neared therange, pointing to a thin spiral of vapor rising from themountains. 

"I reckon it's in our camp. Ping should have chow ready by thetime we get there. "

"You intend to go on this evening, do you not?" asked Grace. 

"Yes. You said you were in a hurry to get to the desert. "

"I shouldn't put it that way, Mr. Lang, but I am rather eager toget into the real phase of our journey, and eager to know what thedesert is like. I have a feeling that I shall love it. "

"Some do--some hate it, " replied the guide thoughtfully. 

"Do you hate it?" questioned the Overland Rider. 

"I love it, " murmured Hi Lang after a brief silence. "Littlewoman, I love the white sands, the burning heat of the day, thedeadly, sweet silence of the night when all the stars come down soclose you can almost reach out and touch them. I love the deadodor, and then--"

"Yes?" urged Grace. 

"I hate it, I fight it--and I win, " added the guide in a tone thatwas almost triumphant. "Yet, I'd rather be out there where thestarving coyotes howl the night through, where the great, gauntgray wolves loom up in the night seeking what they may kill andeat, or where a step in the dark may be your last should you treadon a desert rattler. I'd rather be there and face all of that, andthe peril of dying from thirst, than be anywhere else in theworld, " he concluded, and then lapsed into silence. 

"I understand, Mr. Lang. It is the lure of the desert that appealsto you, though none knows better than you the perils that lurkthere for the unwary traveler. I hope and believe that I may feelas you do about it. "

"You will, and so will Miss Briggs. I am not so certain about theothers. "

"When you get to know us better, Mr. Lang, you will find that, though some of us complain and fret, all are true blue. "

"Humph! Beckon I know something about that myself. What I saw to-day shows me that I don't have to worry about you and Miss Briggs. Did you know that Ike Fairweather wrote me a long letter about youfolks!"

Grace looked her interest. 

"Yes. Ike said I'd have my hands full, and that you folks wouldtrot a pace that would make my legs weary trying to keep up withyou. Said you weren't afraid of anything that walked, crept orcrawled. "

Grace laughed merrily. 

"Mr. Fairweather is mistaken. I am terribly shy of snakes and--and--well, I don't know what else" she added lamely. 

Hi Lang chuckled under his breath. 

"Yes, that's our camp where you see the smoke. I just caught aglimpse of Ping. I reckon when we get closer we'll hear hisvoice. "

"We are almost there, girls, " Grace called back to her companions. "That is Ping's smoke you see yonder. "

"Is Ping on fire?" answered Emma so innocently that theOverlanders shouted with laughter, and Hi indulged in the hearty, soundless laugh that they had already discovered wascharacteristic of him. 

A few moments later a cooling breeze from the range was wafteddown to them, heavy with, odors of mountain and foliage andsuggestive of cooling mountain water as well. 

"What's that screeching?" demanded Hippy Wingate, as they fellinto single file and began climbing a narrow mountain trail. 

"Screeching?" answered Anne Nesbit. "Why, that's our Celestialbeing singing a lullaby to the coyotes lurking in their dens. "

As they drew nearer those in advance could make out some of thewords of the song. The guide pointed to a rock, behind which Pingwas cooking supper, and held up a hand to indicate that the partywas to stop and listen. 

"What on earth, is he saying?" wondered Nora Wingate. 

"I should call it a heathen version of 'Little Jack Horner, '"suggested Miss Briggs. 

Hi nodded. 

"Listen!" urged Grace. "I want to hear it. Perhaps he will sing itagain. "

The guide said that when Ping got started on a song he ordinarilykept it up for some time unless interrupted. 

"Sh--h--h!" warned Grace as Emma began to laugh. "He is singingagain. "

Ping, in a high falsetto voice that was almost a screech, sang:

"Littee Jack Horner Makee sit inside corner, Chow-chow he Clismaspie; He put inside t'um, Hab catchee one plum, Hai yah! what onegood chilo (child) my!"

The Overland girls, unable longer to contain their laughter, burstinto a shout of merriment. The song ceased instantly, and a momentlater Ping appeared at the top of the rock, clad in a white linensuit, the blouse, with its wide-flowing sleeves, being cut innative Chinese fashion The queue, which Ping had declined to partwas tucked into a side pocket, being all braided up and shiny, like a snake. 

The Chinaman, in greeting, bowed and scraped and smiled and shookhands with himself cordially. 

"Hulloa, Ping Pong! Is supper ready?" called Hippy jovially. 

"Him come along, top-side piecee Heaven pidgin man, " answered theChinaman without an instant's hesitation, which, being freelytranslated, meant, "Supper is ready, high Heaven-born man. " Theretort brought a peal of laughter from the girls and a flush tothe face of Hippy. 

"All right, old top. You win, " was the way Hippy confessed hisdefeat. 

It was a happy, laughing group that rode around the rock and intothe camp where odors of cooking food, and the smiling face of PingWing, met them. Horses were quickly unsaddled and tethered, thenthe guide introduced his charges. Ping shook hands with himself ateach introduction, and smiled and bowed with a profound grace thatwould have done credit at a king's reception. 

"You belongee plenty smart inside, " was his greeting to GraceHarlowe, which she interpreted correctly, Ping having meant toconvey that, in his opinion, she was an intelligent woman. 

"Thank you. Is mess ready?"

"Les. You belongee one time Flance!" he questioned, touching thesleeve of her Red Cross uniform. 

"Yes, we all were in France. I drove an ambulance there; Mr. Wingate was an aviator, and the other young ladies worked inhospitals and canteens. How do you know about France?"

"Me cook-man in Melican army. No likee war. Belongee too mucheenumber one blam, blam!"

"You mean the shooting? You mean you did not like to have the bigGerman shells come over?" smiled the Overland girl. 

"No likee. "

Hippy's appetite was getting the better him and at this juncturehe voiced his desire for food. 

"Come, come, Ping. We are hungry. Rustle some grub for us, for wemay wish to on our way, " urged Hi Lang. 

Ping, thus reminded of his duty, hurriedly gathered the mess kitsof the party and soon produced a really fine supper, which theOverlanders ate sitting on the ground. 

"Are you people pretty tired?" questioned Grace. 

A chorus of yeses answered her. Elfreda Briggs said she was solame that she would be glad never to look at a saddle again, andEmma Dean declared that her body felt as if it had beensandpapered. 

"I have been thinking that perhaps we had better make camp righthere and go on to the desert some time to-morrow. Will thatinterfere with your plans Mr. Lang?" asked Grace. 

The guide said it would not, and the girls of the party eagerlyurged that they be permitted to stay where they were and have agood night's rest, so it was decided to pitch their little tentson the spot and lay up for the night. 

"Ping tells me that a man visited this camp late in the afternoonand asked a great many questions, " Hi Lang then informed them. "The caller, according to Ping, showed a heap of interest in whatwe were here for, where we were going and what we proposed to do, and said that the best thing for you ladies to do would be to turnabout and go back to Elk Run. Do you know of any one who might beinterested in heading off your journey over the desert, Mrs. Gray?" he asked, bending a searching look on Grace. 

"I do not, Mr. Lang. If I did it would make no difference in ourplans. Ping may be mistaken about the man's motive. "

The guide shook his head. 

"Ping Wing is not easily deceived. He the caller was a 'number oneblad man, ' only he expressed it with some further words toemphasize his point. There's something about this business that Idon't like. I'll keep my eyes peeled. "

"Don't worry, Hi, " soothed Hippy. "This outfit can take care ofany bad characters that get in its way. I--"

"Merciful Heaven! What's that!" cried Emma Dean. 

"Ping is in trouble!" cried Elfreda. 

A shrill screeching, accompanied by the clatter of tinware, astruggle, then two quick shots brought the Overlanders to theirfeet. There was a quick rush toward the scene of the disturbance, the guide, Grace and Hippy in the lead as they ran stumbling overthe rough ground in the darkness. 

CHAPTER V

STALKING A MOUNTAIN MYSTERY

"Ping! Ping!" shouted the guide. 

"Where are you, Ping Pong?" added Lieutenant Wingate. 

A groan revealed the Chinaman's presence. They found him sittingon the ground, rocking back and forth holding the thumb of hisright hand. A brief examination revealed that a bullet had clippedoff the end of the thumb. 

"I observe that we have started in early, " declared Miss Briggs. "Who did it?"

"That's what I want to know, " growled Hi Lang. 

"Let me dress the wound, then you can question him, " suggestedElfreda. 

This having been done, Ping was led into camp and placed with hisback against a rock where the light of the campfire lighted up hiscountenance. 

"Tell me what happened!" demanded the guide. 

"Big piecee man come 'long. Him clawl like dog. Him listen to whatsay. "

"To what we were saying!" interjected Grace. 

"Les. Him bad piecee man. "

Hi Lang and Grace exchanged glances of inquiry. Each was wonderingwhat the meaning of what Ping had discovered, might be. 

"What then!" urged Mr. Lang. 

"Him clawl like a dog. "

"So you said, " piped Emma Dean. 

"Me clawl like dog too. One timee me tlow can tlomatoes and habhit piecee man on head. "

"You threw a can of tomatoes and hit him on the head?" nodded theguide, whereupon Emma Dean laughed, but no one paid the slightestheed to her. "What did the man do then!"

"Him jlump. Me hit piecee man with flying pan; then me run. Himshoot--blam, blam! and run away. Hab hit thumb. Hab makee me stop, and run away. Why for big piecee man makee so fashion?"

"We do not know why, Ping. That is what we are trying to findout, " answered Grace Harlowe. "Can you tell us how the manlooked!"

The Chinaman shook his head. 

"What would you advise, Mr. Lang!" she asked. 

"We must beat up about the camp to make certain that he is nothiding near, then I will stand the watch to-night so that he maynot surprise us. I will get out the rifles, but be careful that youdon't shoot each other. In case you discover some one prowling, make them stand and put up their hands, then call for assistance. Ping, you will stay here. Three of us will be sufficient to goout. "

"Whom do you wish to accompany you?" asked Grace. 

"You and the lieutenant will go, if agreeable to you. "

"It will be more agreeable to go than to stay. Elfreda, you willplease watch the camp, " directed Grace. "If disturbed, you knowwhat to do. "

Rifles were laid on the ground by the campfire, Hi, Hippy andGrace having decided that the rifles would be cumbersome to carry, and that their revolvers would be much more serviceable. After HiLang had given final instructions as to how they were to operate, the three started out and soon were out of sight of theircompanions. 

A new moon, fast sinking into the west, shed a faint light overthe mountains, bringing out the bare spots and deepening theshadows cast by rocks and trees. The stalkers laid their course bythe moon so that they might keep going in one direction and notget in each other's way, though some little distance separatedthem, and only now and then did they come within speaking distanceof one another. 

Not a sound did the guide make as he moved forward. Grace wasalmost equally quiet in her movement, but now and then HippyWingate would stumble, followed by a grunt or a growl of disgustthat might have been heard several yards away. 

Hippy, being between the guide and Grace, knew that two pairs ofears were alert for any fumbling on his part, which irritated morethan it helped him to be quiet. 

Grace finally halted at the edge of an open space, faintly lightedby the moon's rays, and waited watchfully before attempting tocross the open spot. Crouching low, she gazed and listened, everyfaculty on the alert. The Overland Rider's heart gave a jump whenshe saw something move out there behind a clump of bushes. 

With revolver at ready, she waited, then leveled the weapon assomething moved out from behind the bushes. 

"A coyote, " she whispered to herself. "He hasn't heard me. "

He heard her whisper, however. The alert ears tilted forward asthe beast halted; then he bounded away and disappeared in atwinkling. 

Grace was now well satisfied that she was proceeding withsufficient caution. If she could approach a keen-eared coyotewithout disturbing it, how much easier would it be to stalk ahuman being. Having decided upon this, Grace got up and steppedinto the moonlit space, feeling more confidence in herself. 

She had barely reached the middle of the open space when, from theother side, and plainly at close range, a revolver banged. Sheheard the bullet, as it sped past her head too close for comfort. 

Without an instant's hesitation, Grace fired two shots from herrevolver at the flash made by the other weapon, then throwingherself on the ground, wriggled away into a shadow and lay flat onthe ground, screened by the short shrubbery and the unevenness ofthe ground. 

Two shots were now fired from the other weapon, aimed, as nearlyas she could see, at the place where she had thrown herself down. To the last two shots Grace made no reply. She lay waiting, hopingthat the person who had fired them, would come out and showhimself. 

This he was too wary to do, and finally, becoming impatient, shegroped for a stone, and, finding a small piece of rock, flipped itinto the air, so that it might fall some little distance from her, hoping thereby to draw the other's fire. 

Still there was no response from her adversary. 

"He must have slipped away, and here I have been waiting all thistime, afraid of what proves to be nothing. I'm going to start on, "decided the Overland girl. 

Instead of getting up where she was, Grace crawled further to theright for some little distance, until she was in a heavier shadow. There she arose cautiously, weapon at ready, prepared to see aflash and hear the report of a weapon. 

Not a sound nor a movement followed her revealing herself. Gracenow pushed on with still greater caution than before, but rathermore rapidly, believing that her companions by this time hadgained a considerable lead over her. 

The moon was getting lower, Grace observed, and soon the rangewould be enveloped in darkness, though she was certain that shecould find her way back by the stars, from which she already hadtaken her bearings. 

In the meantime, Hi Lang, having heard the exchange of shots, hadstarted for the scene at a long, loping trot, now and then givingan agreed upon signal whistle to warn Lieutenant Wingate of hisapproach. 

Hippy had heard the shots too, but his orders were to keep hisposition and continue on until directed to stop. As Hi got withinspeaking distance of him, Hippy challenged. 

"Move forward and keep going until I fire three signal shots tocall you in, " directed the guide. "The man may run along theridge. Wing him if you see him. He may have shot Mrs. Gray. Bothof them fired. There they go again!" Hi Lang was off at top speed. 

Grace, in the meantime, thinking that she had heard a twig snap, halted sharply. Then, to her amazement, a man stepped out into thelight a few yards to the rear of her. She saw him the instant heemerged from the shadows, and he was looking in the direction ofthe Overland camp. 

"Now I have you!" muttered Grace Harlowe, taking a cautious steptoward the man who was standing with his back toward her. 

"Put up your hands! I have you covered!" she commanded sharply. 

The man whirled like a flash and fired point blank at the Overlandgirl. Grace fired almost in the same instant. So close was he toher when he fired that she imagined she could feel the hot powderstrike her face. 

Each fired again. It was close quarters for Grace. She sprang tothe right hoping to disconcert her adversary and make a moredifficult mark for him to hit. He pulled the trigger of hisrevolver, and, at that second, Grace, uttering a little gasp, toppled over, half turning as she plunged forward with armsoutstretched. 

Black night instantly enveloped the Overland Rider, nor did shehear a rattling exchange of shots that followed almost instantlyafter her fall, for consciousness had left her. 

CHAPTER VI

INTO THE GREAT SILENCE

Hi Lang had reached the scene just as the last shots were beingfired by Grace and her adversary. The guide had seen neither ofthe combatants, but he had seen the flashes of their revolvers. 

At first he was not certain which was which, but in a moment theman who had been shooting at Grace revealed himself for a second. It was then that the guide took a hand. 

Hi Lang was a quick and accurate hand with both revolver andrifle, and he feared no man, nor collection of men. At his secondshot he heard his man utter an exclamation and knew that he hadscored a hit. For the next several minutes the two indulged insnap-shooting, firing at the slightest sound or movement; then themysterious stranger suddenly ceased firing. 

The guide was cautious. He did not take advantage of the lull inhostilities for some little time, and when he did he crawled toone side and crept noiselessly around to the position that thestranger had occupied when he had fired his last shot. The man haddisappeared. 

Mr. Lang was anxious about Grace Harlowe, but it might beequivalent to suicide to search for her until he had satisfiedhimself that his adversary was either wounded or had gone away. Finally, having searched all the surrounding bushes and rocks andfinding no one, he returned to the scene of the shooting, softlycalling to the Overland girl. 

There was no response. 

Hi stood still for a moment trying to recall where he had seen theflash of her weapon. 

"It must have been about where I am standing now. I--"

Hi Lang suddenly disappeared from sight. The guide had fallen intoa crevice in the rocks, a crevice that had been hidden by dwarfshrubs and mountain grass, and it seemed a long way to the bottom. Hi bumped his way to the bottom at the expense of some bruises anda badly ruffled temper. 

"Hulloa!" he exclaimed. "What's this?"

He had touched something that was not rock--something that feltlike a human form. The guide struck a match and peered down atGrace Harlowe, who lay face down at the bottom, and, as he turnedher face up to the light, he saw flecks of blood on it. 

"The hound! He hit her! I'll kill him for that, whoever he maybe!"

Placing a hand over Grace's heart, Hi Lang found that she wasalive. 

"Thank God for that! Give me the luck to meet the critter that didthis thing, " breathed the desert guide. 

Hi lifted the unconscious Overland girl in his arms and beganscrambling toward the top of the big crevice. Finding that hecould not make it without freeing one hand, he slipped an armabout Grace's waist, holding her with it while he used his freehand to assist him in climbing to the top. He reached it a littleout of breath. 

Without giving a thought now to the peril he was inviting byshowing himself so boldly, Hi stepped out into the open space, raised his revolver and fired three shots into the air, the signalof recall for Lieutenant Wingate. Then, gathering Grace in hisarms, he started for the camp in long strides, raging silently atthe ruffian who had tried to kill her. 

Elfreda, who was on watch just outside of their camp, heard himcoming and challenged. 

"It's Hi. I've got Mrs. Gray. "

"Is--is she hurt?" questioned Elfreda more calmly than she felt. 

"She's been shot, but she's alive. "

Miss Briggs ran to meet the guide, and, walking along at his side, she placed a finger on Grace's pulse and held it there until theyreached the camp. Nora, Anne and Emma paled as they caught sightof the limp figure in Hi Lang's arms. 

"Who shot her!" asked Elfreda. 

"The critter who tried to kill Ping, I suppose. "

"Oh, this is terrible!" wailed Emma. 

"Get water, " directed Miss Briggs, after the guide had placed herwhere the light from the fire would shine in her face. 

Nora fetched water from the spring near which the camp had beenpitched, and Elfreda bathed the wound that she found on Grace'shead. Elfreda's hospital training during the war, in France, hadalready stood her in good stead on several occasions since herreturn from Europe. 

"This is not a gunshot wound, " she announced after a criticalexamination of the patient's head. 

"Not--not a gunshot--" exclaimed Hi. 

"No. It is a severe scalp wound, however. "

"What made it, then?" demanded the guide. 

"Either she has been struck over the head or she has fallen andbumped her head against the sharp edge of a rock, " answered MissBriggs. 

The Overland girls drew long breaths of relief. 

"I found her in a hole in the ground. Fell into it myself. That'swhere she got hurt, " said Hi. "She and that critter were shootingat each other when I came up, then all at once the shootingstopped. I got in a few shots on him myself. Reckon I winged himfor he quit pretty soon after I got there. What do you think?"

Elfreda, still noting Grace's pulse and peering into her face, nodded encouragingly, and placed her smelling salts under Grace'snostrils. 

"I feared it might be a fracture, but I believe it is not thatbad. Concussion is the word. She must have struck hard, and it isa wonder she did not break her neck. You see how the neck isswollen. Her pulse is getting stronger, and I think she will beout of her faint in a few moments. "

Grace regained consciousness shortly after that, but she was stilldizzy and weak from the severe shock of her fall and the loss ofquite a little blood. 

"Where--where was I hit!" was her first question, weakly asked. 

"You were not hit anywhere, " replied Elfreda. "You fell into ahole and landed on your head. Mr. Lang, will you carry her to hertent? She must be quiet for the rest of the night, and it won't dofor us to start across the desert until she has had a good rest. "

"That suits me. I've got a little job on hand for the morning. Here's the lieutenant, " he added, as Hippy came in, wiping theperspiration from his forehead. 

"What's this! Brown Eyes knocked out again?" he demanded. 

"She fell down and hurt herself, " answered Elfreda. 

"What was the shooting, Hi?"

"Mrs. Gray and that critter out there were doing it. I reckon shepinked the pirate, for he was shooting with his left hand when heopened up on me. I reckon I touched him up too, and, gettingenough of it, he cleared out. I'll get him for that, " added Hi, gathering Grace up and carrying her to her tent. "To-morrow we'llgo out and see if we can't round up that critter. Can't doanything to-night except to see that he doesn't do any more damageto this outfit. "

"I think I'd like to get a shot at him myself, " observed Hippy. 

"There, Mrs. Gray! You keep quiet. If there's any more scouting tobe done this evening, the lieutenant and I will do it, " directedthe guide, laying down his burden. 

Hippy nodded. 

"Lieutenant, what do you think of this business? Are you certainthat you folks haven't any enemies!" asked Mr. Lang when the twohad walked out beyond the camp and sat down to talk over theaffair. 

"Not that I know of, in these parts, Hi. "

"It's mighty queer. I can't figure it out, " pondered the guide. 

"Have you any?" asked Hippy carelessly. 

"Reckon I have plenty. They know better'n to cross my trail, though. "

"It strikes me, Hi, old man, that one of them crossed your trailthis evening, " chuckled Hippy Wingate. 

The guide made no reply then, and for some moments thereafteroccupied himself with his own thoughts. 

"You asked me just now if I had any enemies. I'll say this, Lieu--"

BANG! BANG!

Two quick shots were fired from behind Hippy and the guide. Onebullet passed between the two men, the other clipped the crown, ofLieutenant Wingate's sombrero. 

The answer came, it seemed, within a second after the two shots. Hippy and the guide leaped to their feet, drawing their revolversas they did so, and emptying them into the bushes, firing low andtrying to cover all the ground where a man might be lurking. 

"As you were about to say, " drawled Hippy, slipping another clipof ammunition into his revolver. 

"That there is one man who might and would get me if he thought hecould get away with it. But why should he wish to shoot a woman?Crawl out to the left and then go in and let the folks knoweverything is all right now. I'm going to hang around a bit andtry to tease that cayuse into shooting at me again. "

"They're at it again, " complained Grace Harlowe in her tent. "Goout, Elfreda, am see if any one is hit. "

Hippy was reassuring the girls when Elfreda came out. 

"Humph!" exclaimed Miss Briggs. "We surely are making a brilliantstart. I think I shall be glad to get on the desert. One can seesuch a long way there. Grace is anxious to know about those shots, so I will run in and tell her. Are you going out again, Hippy?"

"Not unless I get a word from Hi. You see I do not know where heis, and it would not be safe for either of us were we both to beout there without either knowing where the other is. "

Ping, wide-eyed, was an eager listener to what Lieutenant Wingatehad to say, but he made no comment, and no song that fitted thesituation found expression on his lips. 

An hour passed, and the guide had not returned. The girls weregetting anxious, but Hippy said that, no shots having been heard, it was safe to assume that no one could have been hit. 

No one had, and all this time Hi Lang, almost within sound oftheir voices, had been lying flat on top of a rock, listening withevery faculty on the alert. For two hours the guide remained inone position, watching, waiting and eagerly hoping. 

"One shot--just one second when I can see my mark, is all I ask, "he muttered. "I'll get that shot yet!"

A few moments later Hi crept down from his hiding place andreturned to camp, on the alert every second of the way for thereport of a revolver and the whistle of a bullet. 

"This beats me, " he declared in answer to Hippy's question as towhether or not he had discovered anything. "You folks turn in, How's Mrs. Gray?"

"Asleep, " answered Miss Briggs. "I think she will be ready for astart some time to-morrow. "

The guide told Lieutenant Wingate to turn in also, saying that hewould watch the camp through the night, so the Overland Riderswent to bed for what sleep they could get, but they passed arestless night, starting up at every sound, listening for thereport of rifle or revolver or a call for help. Nothing disturbingoccurred. Shortly after daylight, Grace got up and dressed andwent out to breathe in the invigorating, sweet mountain air. Shefelt strong and able to meet whatever emergency she might becalled upon to face. 

Hi Lang was nowhere in sight. Ping, who was fussing with a cookfire preparatory to getting breakfast, shook his head when Graceasked him where the guide was. 

"No can tell, " he said, caressing his injured hand. 

Breakfast was served at seven o'clock, but long before that Gracehad been out looking for trail signs and finding some, though shecould not tell whether they had been left by a prowler or by oneof her own party. 

It was eleven o'clock that forenoon when Hi Lang strode into camp, his rifle slung under one arm, a heavy revolver on either hip. 

The greeting of the girls brought a smile to the face of theguide. They were relieved and glad to see him, and he saw it. Healso was glad to be with them once more, for, in the brief time hehad known them, he had grown to feel a genuine affection for thesebright-eyed, plucky young women who preferred to spend theirvacation on his beloved desert rather than dance away the weeks oftheir vacation at some fashionable summer resort. 

"Mr. Lang, where have you been?" cried Emma Dean. 

"Out looking for game, " he answered briefly, laying aside hisrifle. 

"Did you find it?" asked Grace smilingly. 

"No. Ping, bring me some chow. How you feeling this morning, Mrs. Gray?" he asked after he had begun eating his breakfast. 

"Fit and fine, sir. You found a trail, I take it, " she added in alower voice. 

"Yes. " Hi gave her a quick look of appreciation for her keenness. "You hit your man all right. I found blood where he was standingwhen you two were shooting at each other. I also found the trail, further on, the trail of the same man and another. There were twoof them. "

"I wonder which, one it was that put a hole through my perfectlynew hat, " grumbled Hippy. 

"At least one of them has left the range, " resumed the guide. "Ifound the trail of a pony and footprints of one man on the otherside of the range, but what became of the other fellow, I don'tknow. I'm going out again after breakfast and look further. Do youfeel like making a start to-day?"

"Yes. I think we should be moving, " replied Grace. 

"We'll leave after chow this evening. Better get what rest you canto-day. Lieutenant, I wish you would stick around and see that thecamp is not bothered. "

"If you need him, Mr. Lang, we can protect ourselves. Do not worryabout us, " interjected Grace. 

"Don't need him. Ping, put some grub in my pack, then I'm off. "

After the guide's departure time dragged rather heavily for thegirls. Later in the day Grace took her pony out for a gallop andfelt better for the change. At four o'clock Mr. Lang came in, and, though he had been up all night and had been hiking in themountains all day long since early morning, he appeared fresh andalert. 

"Pack up and get out!" he ordered, nodding to Ping Wing. "Servethe grub on our mess kits first. Follow the foothills and we willcatch up with you. I give it up, folks. This mystery has got tosolve itself. It's too much for me. "

"Don't worry, Mr. Lang. If our friend the mystery man keeps at uslong enough we shall catch him. I wish we knew why he is botheringus so, " said Grace. "I should prefer to stay here until we solvethe mystery, but we must be on our way, and perhaps he may followus. "

"That sounds interesting, " observed Miss Briggs. 

Ping and his lazy burros started about an hour before the rest ofthe party got under way, and when they did get under way theyjogged along slowly through the foothills of the range, where thegoing was fairly easy. The guide said they should come up withPing before dark, and that they would, after having mess, thencontinue on at a slower pace until they reached a suitable campingplace for the night. 

Dusk was upon them when they finally overtook the Chinaman, whowas sitting on the rump of a burro chattering to his mount to gethim to go faster, but without much success. The ponies of theparty then took the lead, which, Hi Lang said, would induce theburros to move faster in an effort to keep up, but it was a muchslower pace than the Overland Riders were in the habit oftraveling, that they now dropped into. 

Night enveloped the outfit suddenly, it seemed to them, and withthe cool of the evening their spirits rose. Even Ping's spiritsrose, until he forgot his aching thumb and broke into song. 

The ground began to slope away under the hoofs of the horses, forthey were now moving down a sharp descent, and the air seemed totake on a strange new quality, a new odor. No longer could thegirls hear the rustling of foliage. A great and impressive silencesettled over them, in which even the footfalls of the ponies weresoft and subdued. Glancing up, they saw the stars shining with abrilliancy that none of the party had ever observed before. 

The chatter of the Overland Riders died away, and Ping Wing's songdied away, also, in a throaty gurgle. 

"What is it?" cried Emma Dean. "I feel queer, and my pony istrembling. Oh, Grace, I'm afraid of something. "

Grace knew what it was that was disturbing Emma, for she feltsomething of the same sensation that Emma was experiencing, butshe made no reply. 

"It is the desert!" answered the guide solemnly. "It is themystery of the desert, a mystery that no man can solve. Perhaps itis the mystery of centuries; perhaps it is the spirits of thethousands who have perished here on this sweet, cruel sea ofburning sand, that have come back to warn us living ones of thefate that may be in store for us who dare. "

"The mystery of the desert, " murmured Grace Harlowe, but Hi Langspoke no more. His lips seemed sealed, though could they have seenhis face they would have observed a new and more tender expressionthere, and seen him inhale in deep breaths, heavy draughts of thefaintly scented air of the desert that he both loved and hated. 

CHAPTER VII

THE FIRST DESERT CAMP

"How far do we go to-night?" asked Grace, after a long silence, during which the party moved steadily forward. 

"Until we find a tank, " was the brief reply uttered by Hi Lang. 

"What's that he says?" questioned Hippy. 

"Mr. Lang says that we must keep on going until we reach a tank, whatever that may be, " answered Grace. "Will you please explain, Mr. Lang?"

"Tank is a water hole covered by a thin crust of alkali. Sometimesthe crust is there but the water isn't, " the guide informed her. 

"Do you know where to find one?" questioned Hippy. 

"I know where one ought to be, but you can't most always tell. Ought to reach this one about midnight. If we get water there wewill be all right. Go easy with your canteens, for if we shouldn'tfind water you will need what you have. "

"Mine is all gone now, " spoke up Emma Dean. "May I have a drink ofyours, Grace? My throat is burning. "

"One little swallow, " admonished Grace, passing her canteen toEmma. "You heard what the guide said. "

"Yes, you'll wish you were a camel before you have done with thisjourney, " added Lieutenant Wingate. 

Too weary to talk, Anne and Nora were nodding on their saddles, but Elfreda was wide awake and alert, filled with a wonder thatwas akin to awe at the vast mysteriousness of the desert night. 

It was shortly after midnight when Hi Lang halted and satsurveying his surroundings. 

"Dismount and rest!" was his brief command. 

The Overland girls slid from their saddles, and the guide, afterhanding his bridle-rein to Ping, strode off into the darkness. 

"Oh, this is terrible!" wailed Emma. "I know I shall expire. "

"Good! Then we shall have a little peace, " retorted Hippylaughingly. 

"Don't, " begged Grace. "The poor girl really is suffering, butwhen she gets used to the heat and discomforts out here I thinkshe will really enjoy it. " Grace petted the wet neck of her ponyand he nosed her cheek and nibbled at the brim of her sombrero. "How do you feel, Elfreda?"

"As if I had been wearing a mustard-plaster suit. I am burned fromhead to foot. "

"Yes, that's the way I feel, " cried Emma. "What is good for it, Grace?"

"Sand, " interjected Miss Briggs, which sally caused a laugh andmade the girls feel better. 

At this juncture Hi Lang came up to them, walking briskly. 

"Stake down and make camp, " he ordered. 

"You have water?" questioned Hippy. 

"Yes. Ping! Hustle your bones. Get some firewood and make a blazeso we can see what we're doing. When that is ready, get supperready, and then pitch the camp. "

"Firewood!" scoffed Hippy. "I should like to know where you aregoing to find it?"

"Sagebrush! Plenty of that hereabouts. "

Hippy could not understand how a fire could be made from greensagebrush, but he waited to be shown before making furthercomments. In a few moments the Chinaman had a little fire blazing, the guide and Hippy, in the meantime, having staked down theponies and relieved the burros of their packs. The burros wereleft to roam where they would, Hi assuring his charges that thepack animals were too lazy to run away. 

The girls, while Ping was preparing a light supper for them, setto work to pitch the tents. Carrying canvas buckets, Hippy and theguide then hurried to the water hole. 

"It won't do to wait for the water, for it has a habit, in thiscountry, of suddenly disappearing while you wait, " explained Hi. 

"Yes, but where's the water?" wondered Lieutenant Wingate, as Higot down in a hole that he had opened by breaking down the crustwith his boots. 

"Give me that blanket and I'll show you, " he said, reaching for acanvas square, which he spread out in the opening and pressed downwith his hands. 

In a few moments water began seeping up through the blanket, whichwas so placed that it was lower in the middle than at the sides. 

"That beats me, " marveled Hippy. "How did you know there was waterhere?"

"I didn't. I knew where I found it the last time I was this way, but that didn't mean it would be here this time. These desertunderground streams shift their courses almost as often as thewind does. Hand me a bucket. "

Two buckets were finally filled and passed up to Hippy. 

"Water the ponies first. Give them only a little at first. They'retoo warm to drink their fill. When you come back bring the redbuckets for water for us to drink, " directed the guide. 

Hippy, marveling at the ways of the desert, took the buckets andbegan watering the ponies. The two bucketfuls answered for four ofthem, and by the time he returned to the water hole Hi had twomore bucketfuls ready for him. In this way all the ponies and theburros were supplied with water, and Hi, working as fast as hecould, filled all the buckets for the night's use of man andbeast, then scrambled out of the water hole. 

"I hope we still find water here in the morning, " he said. 

"What if we do not?"

"Then we go without it, Lieutenant. One has to get used to thirstout here. You will see many a dry day before we finish ourjourney. "

"Hm--m--m--m!" mused Hippy reflectively. 

"Him come along, " cried Ping Wing in a shrill voice, meaning thatsupper was ready, as the two men with their water buckets enteredthe camp. 

"Four meals a day, eh?" grinned Hippy. "That is what I call theproper thing. I shall have to readjust myself so as to know how tolive on four meals a day, but I am so hungry now that you can seeright through me. "

"We always could, " teased Miss Briggs. 

Now that the supper was ready, Ping piled more sagebrush on thefire and made a blaze that lighted up the little desert camp, itswhite tents standing out clearly defined in the light andappearing very small. Just beyond them the "crunch, crunch" of theponies' teeth as they tore at the sage, which was to be their onlyfood for a long time to come, could be heard, and it really was asoothing sound in this sea of silence and mystery. 

There was bacon, biscuit with honey, and tea for their midnightluncheon. Emma and Hippy were first to try the bacon, but nosooner did they taste of it than they began to choke and sputter. 

"Awful! What stuff are you feeding me?" cried Emma. 

"Yes, some one is trying to poison us, " groaned Hippy. 

"What's the matter?" grinned the guide. 

"It is the most awful stuff I ever put in my mouth, so bitter Isimply can't eat it, " complained Emma. 

Grace smiled. She had nibbled at a slice of bacon and knewinstantly what caused its bitter taste. 

"Alkali, " the guide told them. "Everything you eat and drink outhere will taste bitter, but time you will not notice the bittertaste. "

Emma uttered a suppressed wail. There were complaints from each ofthe other girls, except Grace, who, though she disliked thatbitter taste as much as did her companions, was too plucky tovoice her dislike. 

"You must make certain that your tents are cleared of tarantulasbefore you take off your shoes, folks. If you get out of bed inthe night be certain to put your shoes on first so you do not stepon one of the pesky fellows, " warned the guide. 

"Any other cheerful little features about this camp that you canthink of?" asked Hippy solemnly. 

"Plenty, but I'll tell you about them some other time, unless youdiscover them for yourselves before then. "

"I wish to goodness that I had gone to the seashore where theworst that can happen to one is to be pinched by a crab or todrown in the surf, " complained Emma. 

A laugh cleared the atmosphere, and the girls, immediately aftersupper, prepared for bed, which they welcomed eagerly; and soonafter that the camp settled down for the night, enveloped in deepand profound silence. A gentle breeze, sweetly cool after theburning heat of the day, crept in and lulled the tired Overlandersto sleep. 

Now and then the silence was broken by the far off echoing screamof a prowling coyote or the distant hoot of an owl. But theOverlanders did not hear. They were sleeping soundly, storing upenergy for the coming day, a day that was destined to be filledwith hardships and excitement and peril for them. 

CHAPTER VIII

CALLERS DROP IN

Heat waves were shimmering over the eastern horizon when theOverland girls awakened next morning. The guide had been up sincedaybreak fetching "bitter water, " as the girls called it, andserving it to the ponies and burros. 

"Whew!" exclaimed Elfreda. "This looks like a warm day. "

"Regular Russian bath day, " agreed Anne Nesbit. 

"I fear we girls will not have any complexions left after thisjourney, " added Nora Wingate. "I wonder if that husband of mine isstill asleep?"

"Hippy is always sleeping--when he isn't awake or eating, "declared Emma ambiguously, causing a laugh at her expense. 

"You folks made a mistake that time, " chuckled Hippy from theadjoining tent. 

"Everybody makes mistakes. That's why they put erasers on leadpencils, " retorted Emma quickly. 

"Good night!" they heard Hippy Wingate mutter, after which herelapsed into silence, while a shout of laughter greeted Emma'ssally. 

"Come, girls, turn out, " urged Grace. "We have a day ahead of us. "

Breakfast was ready when they emerged from their tents, and thistime they ate without complaining of the bitter taste of food andwater. 

The sun came up while they were at breakfast, lighting up thecheerless landscape and whitening the sands. The mountain rangewhere they first camped had disappeared in the distance and theywere alone in the burning silence. Ahead, here and there, uglybuttes lay baking in the morning heat, some showing a variety ofdazzling colors, others a dull leaden gray. 

"How far do we go to-day, Hi?" questioned Lieutenant Wingate. 

"Until we find water, " was the brief, but significant reply. 

After breakfast, and while Ping, singing happily, was strikingcamp and packing the equipment on the burros, Mr. Lang and Hippybrought in and saddled the ponies, turning each one over to itsrider as it was made ready; then the start was made. HippyWingate, the girls observed, held a small package under one arm, which he guarded so carefully that it aroused the curiosity of hiscompanions, but Hippy merely grinned in response to theirquestioning. 

As the sun rose higher the heat became well nigh unbearable tosome of the party, and especially to Emma, if one were to judge byher bitter complaints. Emma declared that she never could livethrough it, and Grace began to have doubts herself with referenceto her little friend. 

As they progressed, the landscape grew more and more desolate andforbidding. Gaunt ravens soared staring over the wan plains, hairytarantulas now and then hopped from the path of the ponies, andthe "side-winder"--the deadly horned rattlesnake, which gets itsname from its peculiar side-long motion as it crawls across theburning sands--squirmed out of the way, following snorts of fearfrom the ponies. 

They halted at noon, for a rest and a light luncheon, near one ofthe barren buttes. Grace asked if it would not be possible to finda resting place on the butte where they might shade under a rock. Hi Lang shook his head. 

"Too many snakes up there, " he replied. "Dangerous!"

"Br--r--r--r--r!" shivered Emma. 

The water carried in canvas receptacles on the burros wasapportioned among the horses and burros, but there was only asmall quantity left for each animal, not more than a quart apiece. This, however, was enough to take the keen edge from their thirst. 

Following the resumption of the journey, Hippy carefully unwrappedhis package, eager eyes observing the operation. The girls gaspedwhen he threw the wrapping paper away and revealed a dainty bluesilk parasol, which he raised and held over his head. 

"Every man his own shade tree, " chuckled Hippy. "If any of youladies find you are being overcome by the desert heat, you are atliberty to ride in the shadow cast by my Christmas tree. "

"You are very considerate. We thank you, " answered Anne. 

"Selfish!" rebuked Emma. 

Hi Lang laughed silently, but made no comment. Neither heat norhardship appeared to affect him unpleasantly. Hi, Grace observed, appeared always to be in a listening attitude, as if he wereexpecting something or some one. Grace asked him why he did so, but the guide merely smiled and rode on with head slightly tiltedto one side, listening, listening!

Early in the afternoon the guide began looking for water, now andthen dismounting to search about for a tank, breaking in crusts ofalkali, putting an ear to the ground to listen for the murmur ofan underground stream, or feeling with his hands over severalyards of hot sand in search of a cool spot that might indicatewater. 

"Nothing doing yet, " he announced. "There ought to be a tank aboutfive miles further on. "

However, they had journeyed on ten miles more before a promisingspot was reached, and the guide and Hippy began to dig for theprecious water that Hi said surely was somewhere below them. 

They found it finally, but there was so little of it that he wasnot certain that they would get enough for their ponies. There wasbut little water left in the canteens, none at all in the bags, and it became necessary to find a supply sufficient for bothponies and riders. 

"Every drop here is precious, " warned the guide. "Be careful thatyou do not spill any. "

Water was first carried to the ponies, small quantities beinggiven to them as before, the girls assisting in the operation, andthe supply was getting alarmingly low when Grace, returning fromcarrying a quart to Blackie, suddenly halted and gazed off acrossthe desert. 

A cloud of dust, that appeared to be approaching, had attractedher attention. The Overland girl wondered if it was a wind-squall, such as she had heard was quite common on the desert. Afterwatching it for a few moments she decided to speak to the guideand call his attention to it. 

"I see it. It's horses, " said Elfreda, stepping up beside Grace. 

"Do you think so?"

"I know it is. "

"Then your eyes are better than mine, " answered Grace. "I supposeit is some party headed for Elk Run. Mr. Lang!" she called. 

"What is it?" demanded Hippy, who was standing over the hole inwhich the guide was working. 

"A party of horsemen coming this way, sir!"

"You don't say! That's right, Hi, " said Hippy, speaking to Mr. Lang. "Quite a bunch of them, too, I should say. "

The guide's head appeared above the rim of the water hole and hegazed searchingly at the oncoming alkali cloud. 

"Bunch of cowboys or wild horse hunters, " he observed. "Anyway, we've got first claim on the water. " Hi returned to his work andHippy resumed passing water to the girls, but kept the approachinghorsemen under observation, as did also Grace Harlowe. 

"Those fellows are kicking up an awful lot of dust, it seems tome, " observed Nora Wingate. 

"Yes, I hope they slow down before passing us, " answered Anne. "Ihave swallowed about all the dust to-day that I can digest. "

Emma Dean, not to be outdone, declared that she too had swalloweda lot of dust--so much of it that a good wind would blow her awayand sift her over the desert. 

"You surely would be the plaything of the winds in that event, "murmured Anne. 

"They are heading directly for the camp, " Hippy was saying to HiLang, but the guide gave no heed. He wished to get all the waterout of the tank that he possibly could before the party reachedthem, knowing very well that they, the newcomers, would also wantwater. 

A few moments later the desert riders galloped up on foamingponies. They were not a prepossessing looking lot, and the eightmen of the party carried rifles in their saddle boots andrevolvers on their hips. 

"Water!" shouted the one who appeared to be the leader. 

"Here's water, old top, but pass it around. We haven't much, ofthe alkali beverage on hand this evening. " Hippy handed up apartially filled bucket to one man and another to the rest untileach man had been supplied. 

"I'll take the buckets now, " announced Hippy. 

"Hey, you! Where you all headed for?" demanded Hi, straighteningup and surveying the newcomers narrowly. 

"Reckon we might ask the same question of you. Who's them gals?"questioned the leader. 

"That is none of your business who they or we are!" retorted HippyWingate sternly. 

"Say, you fellow! Looking for trouble?!" demanded Hi in an evenvoice. 

"Pass that bucket to me!" commanded Hippy. 

"Ye want thet bucket, hey?" leered the desert rider. Then, quickas a flash he emptied the contents of it over Lieutenant Wingate'shead. 

"Get ready for trouble, " ordered Grace Harlowe sharply to ElfredaBriggs, at the same time raising her right hand above her head, asignal that Emma, Anne and Nora understood. It was the OverlandRiders' signal of distress and meant that all hands shouldinstantly prepare to defend themselves. 

All the girls expected to see Hippy's revolver out of its holsterafter that insult. Instead, the desert rider was violently yankedfrom his saddle and stood on his head in the sand. So quick hadLieutenant Wingate been in unhorsing the man that the ugly visitorhad not even time to draw his weapon. 

Up to this juncture, Hi Lang had remained in the water hole, industriously dipping up water, at the same time keeping a waryeye on the progress of affairs above. He did not think best totake a hand until hostilities actually began, knowing that were heto spring out and draw his weapon, the desert riders would shootbefore his revolver was out of its holster. 

Peering out cautiously he saw that every man of the desert riderswas resting a careless hand on the butt of his revolver. At thesame time Hi observed something else in the opposite direction. Grace Harlowe and Elfreda Briggs had stepped up close to the waterhole and each was standing with a hand on her hip. 

The situation was resting on a hair trigger, and, even in thetenseness of the moment, Hi Lang found himself keenly interestedin what he saw--the Overland Riders in action. 

The leader of the newcomers sprang to his feet raging. HippyWingate, now close to the man, pushed the flat of his hand againstthe fellow's face. 

"Get off my desert, you imitation rough-neck, " invited Hippysweetly. In the same breath he added in a savage tone: "Keep yourhand away from that gun!" emphasizing his command by thrusting themuzzle of his own revolver against the desert rider's stomach. 

The visitor's back was toward his companions, so that they did notget the full import of what was taking place, but they lookedtheir amazement when they saw their leader turn his back on Hippy. They did not know that he was doing this in obedience toLieutenant Wingate's order, nor that the leader's revolver at thatmoment was in Hippy's hand, Hippy having slipped it from itsholster while still pressing his own weapon against the man whohad ducked him. 

"I told you to get off my desert, " said Hippy, incisively. "I'vechanged my mind. I'm going to kick you off!"

Lieutenant Wingate retreated a step, sprang clear of the ground, and with a kick that had sent many a ball over the goal, he kickedthe desert leader into the water hole. Hi Lang was not soconsiderate. As the fellow scrambled to his feet, Hi laid him flaton his back with a blow between the eyes that instantly put thefellow to sleep. 

The battle between the two parties of desert travelers was on in asecond. 

CHAPTER IX

PIRATES GET A HOT RECEPTION

The desert riders, who had been laughing over their leader'sdownfall after Hippy jerked him from his pony, suddenly awakenedto a realization that the scene they had witnessed had ceased tobecome a joke. 

The rider nearest to the water hole whipped out his revolver andfired, but the bullet went over Hippy's head for the very goodreason that, expecting this very thing, he had ducked. 

Hippy fired in return, hit the pony, and the rider tumbled off asthe pony went down. 

Hi Lang was out of the water hole in a twinkling. 

"Keep your hands off your guns!" he shouted to the visitors, drawing his own weapon. 

A bullet went through his hat. Another spun him around as itfurrowed the fleshy part of his left arm, but the man who hadfired the second shot got his reward in the next second. A bulletfrom Grace Harlowe's revolver went through his shoulder. 

"Let them have it!" commanded Hi Lang. "They're out to do us!"

Two rifles, in the hands of Anne and Nora, banged from the tent inwhich they, with Emma Dean, were crouching, waiting for orders totake a hand in the battle. Bullets were flying rather thickly, butthe desert riders' ponies, under the touching up they were gettingfrom the revolvers of the defenders, were making careful shootingimpossible for their riders. The defenders had the advantage of asteady footing under them, and they were shooting with extremecare, trying their best not to kill any one, but endeavoring topunish the attackers, and to keep themselves from getting killed. 

The grilling fire was getting too hot for the desert ruffians, handy as they were with weapons and horses. Several, too, had beenhit or unhorsed, though the Overland party did not really know howmuch damage they had done to the attackers. 

"Shoot their ponies from under them!" commanded Hi Lang. "It's theonly way. "

"No, no! Please, not that, " protested Grace. "The ponies haven'tharmed us. "

The guide shrugged his shoulders and, taking quick aim at a riderwho was jerking his rifle from the saddle boot, shot the fellowout of his saddle. 

Hi Lang's next shot downed a pony, its rider being thrown heavilyto the ground, where he lay stunned from the fall. Four men werenow down and a fifth, the leader of the party of ruffians, wasstill in the water tank where Lieutenant Wingate had kicked himand where the guide had then put him to sleep. The leader had longsince recovered consciousness, but, being unarmed, he wiselydecided to remain where he was, knowing very well that, were he totry to reach his companions or his mount, he would be shot down. 

There were now only three mounted men of the attacking party leftand these suddenly began galloping away from the water hole. 

"Rifles!" called Hi. 

Grace and Elfreda sped to their tent and quickly returned carryingfour rifles and ammunition. The guide had instantly divined thepurpose of the attackers in drawing off. They wished to get out ofrevolver range of the Overlanders and then use their rifles onthem, but by the time the desert ruffians turned, facing the sceneof their late battle, Hi, Hippy, Grace and Elfreda were shootingsteadily with their rifles, pouring a hot fire into them. 

One ruffian was seen to sway in his saddle and pitch to theground. One of his companions gathered him up, then, with thewounded man across a saddle, the two remaining bandits gallopedaway, leaving their fellows to whatever fate might be in store forthem. 

"Cowards!" growled Hippy Wingate. 

"No. Common prudence, " answered the guide. "Help me get thefellows who are down. Look out that they aren't playing possum. Keep your gun in your hand and watch them. Mrs. Gray, will youfollow a short distance behind us, so that you may have all thewounded men under observation?"

"Yes, Mr. Lang. "

"If you see a suspicious move from any of them, shoot!"

"Yes, sir. Come along, Elfreda, your services probably will beneeded. Mr. Lang, you were hit. May we not do something for youfirst?"

The guide shook his head and strode over to the water hole, intowhich he peered. 

"You stay where you are!" he commanded sternly, to which there wasno reply from the leader of the ruffians, who sat scowling up athim. "Mrs. Nesbit! Watch that fellow and if he tries to get out, drill him! He isn't fit to live anyway. "

The two men, with Grace and Elfreda following, went out to disarmand examine the men who had been downed. They found that two hadmerely been stunned by falls, two others having been wounded inshoulders and arms, with numerous bullet holes through theirclothing. 

Elfreda examined their wounds and announced that none wasseriously hurt, but that the men ought to be taken where theycould have proper attention. Hi Lang laughed. 

"Fiddlesticks!" he scoffed. "The only way you can kill this sortof critter is to kill 'em. We'll fix 'em up and send 'em on. Theones who got away will be waiting for 'em, so don't worry aboutthat. "

"I shall dress their wounds and give them whatever furtherattention I can before you send them away, Mr. Lang, " repliedElfreda firmly. 

Grace nodded her approval. 

"Lieutenant, help me carry them in. It is wise to keep them wellbunched, you know, " advised the guide. 

While he and Hippy were doing this, Grace watched the other men. Elfreda returned to camp with the first ruffian, and there dressedhis wounds, gave the man water and made him as comfortable aspossible. She treated the second wounded man with similarconsideration. 

"I do not see that there is anything at all the matter with thesemen, " announced Elfreda after examining those who had been stunnedby falls. "They should be able to take their wounded companionsback with them. Are there enough ponies left to carry all?"

"I reckon. They're out yonder browsing on the sage. I'll catchthem up and stake them down here. When you say the word, we willstart these critters off, and good riddance it will be. "

Just before dark Elfreda "discharged" her patients, as sheexpressed it, and they were led to their ponies, assisted tomount, and told to get out as fast as horseflesh would carry them. Not a word of information had the guide been able to get from anyof them, not even their names nor why they were on the desert. 

"I've seen that cayuse before, " declared Hi, referring to theleader, and regarding the rapidly disappearing horsemen with adeep frown on his face. "I can't remember where, but one of thesedays I'll think of it. Too bad we can't turn them over to asheriff, but we're too far out to go back now. "

"That gang was looking for trouble when they rode up, " averredHippy. 

"Yes, I reckon they were after us. Somebody sent them after us, too. Got any ideas on the subject, Mrs. Gray?"

"No, sir. I am thinking of you at the moment. Where were you hit?"

"Shoulder. "

"Oh! Why didn't you say so?" cried Elfreda. "Here we have beenwasting time on those ruffians and neglecting you. I'll have alook, if you please. Which shoulder?"

"Left. Nothing much, I reckon. "

Elfreda bared the guide's shoulder and peered at the wound. Shesaw that it was merely a superficial flesh wound, but that unlessit had attention it might prove to be more serious. 

With skillful fingers Miss Briggs bathed the wound and dressed it, Hi Lang observing the professional manner in which she went abouther work and nodding reflectively. 

"Doctor?" he asked. 

"No, lawyer, " replied Elfreda with equal brevity. 

"Huh!" grunted the guide. 

"Were you hit anywhere else?"

"A few scratches, that's all. "

Miss Briggs demanded that he show her, which he did. Both lowerlimbs were, as he had told her, scratched by bullets that hadgrazed them, and these surface wounds she also dressed. 

"Anyone else needing surgical attention?" she demanded, smiling ather companions, shook their heads. "Grace Harlowe, how is it thatyou were not shot? I am amazed. You must have been in the waterhole too, hiding from those ruffians. "

"Mrs. Gray isn't of the hiding sort, " spoke up Hi. "Reckon webetter have supper and get set for the night, " he said, turningabruptly toward the south and gazing off over the desert. 

"Do--do you think those men will come back to-night?" questionedEmma, half fearfully. 

The guide shook his head. 

"Not to-night. We'll probably meet up with them again one of thesedays, and I hope we do, " he replied, looking thoughtfully up atthe sky. His survey took in all quarters of the compass, and whenhe turned to the Overlanders again, Grace thought he looked alittle disturbed. 

"What is it, Mr. Lang?" she asked. 

"I reckon it's the desert this time, " he replied. 

"A storm?"

"Yes. "

"Rain?" questioned Grace innocently. 

The guide grinned. "Nothing like that in these parts. Wind, Mrs. Gray. I reckon you'll meet one enemy that you can't drive off, before this night comes to an end. We better have chow now, thenmake the camp as secure as possible. Shall you tell the others?"he asked, nodding toward the Overland girls, who, after theirexciting battle, were chattering and laughing as they assistedPing Wing to prepare the supper. 

"Yes. After we eat. They should know, " replied Grace. "You seethey are not at all upset over what occurred. "

By the time they had finished supper, which had been eaten amidmuch teasing and laughter, some one discovered that the stars, before so near and brilliant, were now only faintly discernible, aveil of thin mist having intervened between them and the bakingdesert. 

Elfreda Briggs regarded the overcast sky for a moment, then turnedinquiringly to the guide. 

"Fog?" she asked. 

"No. Bad storm. Better go to bed with your clothes on to-night, "advised the guide. 

"Is it so serious as that, Mr. Lang?"

"It may be. Nobody can figure on anything on this desert--storms, water, everything here is as contrary as an outlaw bronco. Betterturn in soon and have the others do the same, for you may not havelong to sleep to-night. "

"I would suggest that you do the same, " advised Elfreda. "You needsleep and rest even more than we do. I hear Mrs. Gray telling ourfriends to prepare for bad weather, so I will run along andlisten. Good-night, Mr. Lang. "

The Overland girls, requested by Grace to turn in, after beingtold that a storm was in prospect, did so, but Hippy stillremained up talking with Ping, who was scouring the cookingequipment and carefully stowing it in the packs so that it mightall be in one place in the event that the storm was a severe one. Ping Wing had had experience with desert wind storms; he hadlearned to respect their tremendous force, and he too had read thedanger signs in the heavens that night. 

The guide being nowhere in sight, Hippy finally crawled into histent and lay down with his clothes on, first, however, placing hisrevolver where it might be quickly reached in an emergency, butthere was to be no use for his weapon that night. The enemy thathe was to face later on would be proof against bullets, an enemythat no human courage, skill or ingenuity could stay. 

Out by the water hole, Hi Lang sat keeping silent vigil, narrowlywatching those film-mists overhead, his nerves on the alert tocatch the first cooling breath, which he knew from past experiencewould be the vanguard of what he fully expected was in store forthem. 

CHAPTER X

WHEN THE BLOW FELL

A faint, cooling breath, wafted across the desert, fanned thecheek of Hi Lang. He inhaled deeply of it, not once, but severaltimes. 

"It is here!" he muttered, "I hope it may be a light one. " Sayingwhich the guide rose and walked briskly to the ponies' tetheringground. The animals were restive, they were stepping from side toside and an occasional snort was heard, but they quieted down whenhe went among them and spoke soothing words, petting an animalhere, restaking another one there until he had spoken to eachbronco in the outfit. 

The guide's next move was to step to Hippy's tent and awaken him. 

"What is it? Have the desert pirates returned?" questioned Hippy, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. 

"No! Something worse is coming. Do not awaken the young ladiesjust yet. Come out I will show you a great sight. "

Hippy sprang up and followed the guide. Hi paused by the embers ofthe camp fire long enough to stamp them out. 

"So they do not blow about and set our equipment on fire, " heexplained. 

"Where's the sight?" demanded the lieutenant. 

"Look yonder!" directed Hi, pointing toward the western horizon. 

The mist had disappeared from the sky like magic and the starsonce more shone out with all their former brilliancy. Off to thewestward, however, there were no stars to be seen. In their place, stretched clear across the horizon, lay a cloud, black as ink. 

"Watch the upper edge of the cloud, " said the guide in a low tone. 

"It is rolling like the surf, " exclaimed Hippy. 

"Yes, and in that cloud are tons upon tons of sand that the cloudis carrying along with it. We'll lose a stretch of our desert herein a few moments. "

"Is there nothing that we can do to protect ourselves, Hi?"

"Not a thing. The equipment has been securely packed. I had Pingput the rifles in a sack and stand them upright in a hole in theground so we may find them after the storm. Without weapons weshould be in a bad way, especially if our friends, the pirates, return, but I reckon that what's left of that crowd will be prettywell sanded. This storm is going to pile right up on the rangethat we left behind us. "

A distant, menacing roar now became audible to the two men, such aroar as one can hear by placing an ear to the opening of a conchshell, but magnified perhaps a million times. 

The cool breeze, that had shortly before warned Hi Lang, nowbecame a chill blast, moderate, but plainly thrust ahead by amighty force behind it. 

"Good night!" exclaimed Lieutenant Wingate. "That breeze must havebeen born up in Iceland. Talk about your heat on the desert!Perhaps we shall have some cool weather here after the stormpasses. "

Hi Lang laughed. 

"Don't fool yourself, Lieutenant. It will be hotter than ever to-morrow, blistering, sizzling hot; and the water courses probablywill dive deeper into the earth and give us no end of trouble tofind them. I---"

"It is coming, isn't it?" questioned Graces who had been awakenedby the breeze and had come up behind Hippy and Mr. Lang withouttheir hearing her. 

"It's well on the way, Mrs. Gray. Perhaps it might be well toawaken the young ladies. Knock down your tents and sit on them oryou won't have any tents left. Reckon we'd better do the same, Lieutenant. "

It was plain that the storm soon would be upon them and all hastewas made to prepare for the blow. The tents were laid flat, weighted with such equipment as might be expected to hold themthere, and the Overland Riders stood or crouched a little fearfulin this new mystery of the desert. 

"Getting closer!" announced the guide. 

"What shall we do?" asked Hippy. 

"Lie down when you can no longer stand up, and take pot luck. "

"Any orders, Mr. Lang?" called Grace Harlowe. 

"Yes. Lie down facing the storm and wind your blankets about you. Be sure to keep your heads covered. If you find that the sand ispiling up on your backs, shake it off. "

"If you get buried perhaps you may find a tank down there, "suggested Hippy, but no one laughed at his sally. "There goes thatcrazy Chinaman again. I hope he chokes. "

"He will if he keeps his mouth open much longer. "

Ping had broken out in song, which the wind was not yet strongenough to smother. 

"Sometim' you look-see piece sand he walkee mountain high, Jistt'hen wind knock top-side off an' blow 'um up to sky. Jist so myheart walk up inside--befo' he sinkee down--"

That was the last heard of Ping Wing for some time, the concludingwords of his song having been lost in a burst of wind that drownedout every other sound. 

"Down! Everybody down!" yelled the guide just before the blaststruck them. 

The sandstorm swooped down on them suddenly, bringing with itblack night, a roaring, booming, hideous thing. Sand rained on theblankets, covering the girls of the Overland Riders, and now andthen some heavier object, they knew not what, struck one or moreof them, adding to the terror of the moment. 

Emma Dean struggled and moaned in her fright. Her blanket, loosened by her movements, was whisked into the air and out ofsight in a twinkling. She screamed for help, but no one heard her, and Emma threw herself down in the sand, or was blown over whenshe struggled to a sitting position. There she lay, her faceburied in the sand, sobbing and moaning. 

Not a sound had been uttered by any of the other girls. They werelistening, listening, wondering how much longer they would be ableto endure the terrific strain under which they were laboring. 

Such wind no person there, except Hi Lang, had ever dreamed couldbe possible. Grace found herself wondering if the Arabian simoon, of which she had read, could possibly be deadlier. She doubted it. 

By now the girls were fighting to keep from being buried alive, and in their choking, suffocating condition they tried to sit upfor air. All lost their blankets instantly. The sand beat on theirfaces and heads like sharp-pointed tiny hailstones. Their eyeswere blinded by it, and their bodies burned as if they had beenrubbed with sandpaper, but there was nothing that could be done torelieve their suffering because no person could stand up againstthe mighty force of the wind. 

The storm, it seemed to them, lasted for hours, though as a matterof fact it had blown itself out within fifteen minutes from thetime it struck them. 

"Backbone of the storm is broken, " yelled the guide in Hippy'sear, both being under the same blanket. 

"So is mine, " Hippy howled back. "There's a ton of sand, if thereis a pound on it, this very minute. Hope the girls are safe. Canwe get out?"

"No. The wind is too strong. It will die out in a few moments. I'll go out the minute I can crawl. "

The men waited several minutes, during which the gale was steadilydecreasing. The guide finally poked his head from under theblanket, shading his eyes with a hand to keep the blowing sandout, before opening them. 

"Cover your eyes and come on, " he said, crawling out and startingto beat his way against the gale toward the spot where theOverland girls were supposed to be. 

They were huddled together, with their arms about each other tokeep from being blown away, every head resting on an arm as theylay face down on the ground. 

"Stand up, but protect your eyes, " shouted Hi. "Gale's almost overand done for. "

"So--o--o are we, " gasped Grace, staggering to her feet, andalmost instantly landing on her back on the ground where the windhad hurled her. 

Hi assisted her to her feet, Grace laughing and choking at thesame time. The others, in turn, were lifted up by Hi and Hippy, all leaning against the wind, clinging to each other, and, withhandkerchiefs in their mouths, breathing what air they could getin this way without taking in any more sand than they could help. 

The wind stopped with a suddenness that left every one of theparty unprepared. The result was that they fell forward on theirfaces, and for a few moments there was a mixup that, in ordinarycircumstances, would have brought merry peals of laughter, butthere was no laughter this time. 

The eyes of the Overland Riders were so filled with sand that theywere too blinded to see the stars that once more were shining"just above them. "

"Wet your handkerchiefs with water from your canteens and wipeyour eyes, " suggested Grace. 

"Go easy on the water, " commanded the guide. "Let's see where weare at before we use water. "

"You are right, sir. I had not thought of that, " agreed Grace. 

"Our buckets are full, aren't they?" questioned Anne. 

"Yes--of sand, " spoke up Elfreda. 

"The first thing to do is to settle the water question. Ping!"

Ping Wing came running up, his white suit the color of thelandscape, for Ping had been rolled in the sand to his utterundoing. 

"Go see how many horses we have left. "

"Me savvy. Tlee. "

"Three? That is better than I hoped for, " chuckled the guide. "With three we can reasonably look forward to finding the otherssomewhere on the desert, but we can't do much to improve oursituation until daylight. No use to search for our equipmentbefore then. I will look into the water question, however, rightnow. "

"This is the most violent landscape that it has ever been mymisfortune to gaze upon, " declared Elfreda Briggs, tossing herfallen hair up and down to shake the sand out of it, a proceedingthat was followed by each of the girls. 

"At least we have one thing to be thankful for, " observed Anne. "Ithank my stars that it is so dark that we cannot see how reallytough we do look. "

"If I look as bad as I feel I must be a terrible sight, " wailedEmma. "Here comes Hi. Have we water?"

"Not a drop except what you have in your canteens. The water holeis buried so deep that we have lost it. Guard every drop. We arein a serious situation. "

CHAPTER XI

FACING A NEW PERIL

"Aren't the water bags safe?" asked Hippy. 

"They're gone, " said the guide. 

"Everything but the sand seems to be gone, " observed Miss Briggs. "I suppose we should thank the kind fates that we still haveplenty of sand. "

"Plenty of some things is too much, " declared Nora Wingate. "Hippy, my darlin', you weren't hurt, were you?"

"Yes, I was killed, but I have come to life again. Hi, what is thenext thing to be done?"

"Kill time until daylight!"

That was practically what the Overland Riders did, but with thefirst streaks of dawn the barren spot assumed an appearance ofactivity. 

"Lieutenant, we'll go out and look for the horses, " announced theguide. 

"Is Blackie still here?" questioned Grace. 

"No, but there are three ponies left, as you know. Wish to goalong?"

"Yes. "

Ping was directed what to do, and Miss Briggs was left to see thatthe orders of the guide were carried out during his absence. Hi, Hippy and Grace then mounted the remaining ponies and startedaway, working back toward the range that they had left two daysbefore. The wind had blown in that direction and it was reasonableto suppose that the lost animals had been driven before it. 

"Spread out, but keep within sight of the lieutenant, who will bemiddle man, " directed the guide. 

When they had finally taken up their positions, some three milesseparated Grace Harlowe and the guide, with Hippy a mile and ahalf from each of the two outside riders. 

The sun was not yet up, and the morning, while not uncomfortable, gave promise of what Hi Lang had said it would be--a sizzler. 

The three had ridden for a full hour, when off to her right Gracediscovered what she thought was one of their ponies. Urging hermount forward, she galloped rapidly in that direction, but afterriding for some time she was amazed to find that the animal seemedto be as far away as when she had started toward him. 

"I hope to goodness the pony I see isn't a desert mirage, "muttered Grace. "Mirage or no mirage I am going to run it toearth. "

She galloped on at a more rapid pace, but it was a long time, itseemed to Grace, before she saw that she really was nearing thelittle animal, who was browsing on desert sage, or what few scrapsof it remained after the storm. 

Hoping fervently that it was her own little spirited Blackie, Grace urged her mount forward at a lively clip and bore down onthe bronco who began edging off when he saw her heading for him. 

"It's Elfreda's pony!" cried Grace. "Here, boy; here, boy!" shecalled. 

The "lost" animal kicked up its heels and started away at agallop, with Grace Harlowe in full pursuit. 

"How provoking!" cried Grace as the bronco kept galloping from herwith aggravating persistence. The Overland girl rode and coaxeduntil she tired of it, then, touching her mount lightly with thecrop, she dashed straight for the tantalizing roamer. 

It was a race for a little while, the runners steadily drawingaway from Hippy Wingate and Hi Lang, but to this Grace gave nothought. Once she nearly got her hand on the bridle of Elfreda'smount, but the little fellow dodged her at the critical moment. 

"Oh, for a rope and the skill to throw it. I'll learn to throw alasso at once. I see it is necessary out here. Whoa, boy!" shecommanded sharply. 

The runaway bronco stopped short, and, with feet spread apart, stood gazing at her as if daring the Overland girl to come andcatch him. Grace decided to try new tactics. Dismounting, andslipping her bridle rein over one arm, she walked slowly towardthe animal, plucking a bunch of sage as she went, and holding itout toward him. 

The pony looked interested, his ears sloped forward and he took astep or two towards her. Grace walked up to him confidently, gavehim the handful of sage and, after petting him, grasped the leadrope and then the bridle. 

"All of which goes to prove the assertion that it is easier tocatch flies with molasses than with vinegar. Now be a good boy, and we will jog back home to Elfreda, " she soothed to the capturedpony. 

Mounting, and attaching the end of the lead rope to the pommel ofher saddle, Grace started for camp. At least she thought that waswhat she did. Instead she was headed for the range of mountains onwhich they had first made camp. After a little the Overland Ridercame to a realization that the guide and Hippy were nowhere insight. Still, she was not greatly disturbed, but she was thirsty. A few drops of water from her canteen was all that she dared allowherself. 

Grace had been traveling for the better part of an hour, from timeto time glancing up at the glaring sun that was just rising, whenshe suddenly brought her pony up short. 

"Do you think you can find the way back if I give you the rein?"she asked, petting her mount. 

The pony pawed the dirt and whinnied, but his rider knew that itwas because he too was thirsty, instead of being an answer to herquestion. 

Grace paused to reflect over her situation, to consider what wasthe wise thing to do, finally deciding that she would follow hertrail back to the spot at which she captured the pony. 

"From there it should be easy for me to find my original trail;then all I shall have to do will be to follow it to the camp. Wemust go back, " decided Grace, turning about and starting away at atrot, finding no difficulty in making out the tracks of the twoponies. 

The spot at which she had found the lost bronco was reached atlast. Grace sat for some moments, staring at the landscape, turning in her saddle until she had looked all the way around thecompass, then, clucking to the two animals, trotted away, following her original trail. 

As she progressed, the trail grew fainter, a desert breeze havingalmost obliterated the tracks her pony made on the way out with HiLang and Hippy Wingate. To make certain that she was on the rightroad, Grace got down and compared her mount's footprints withthose that she was following. 

"Yes, I am positive that I am right, " she decided and once moreset out. "Hark!" she exclaimed sharply. 

Three faraway shots had been fired. Grace waited, and in a fewmoments the shots were repeated. She raised her revolver and firedthree signal shots in return. She did this twice, then reloadedand thrust the revolver into its holster. 

"It is doubtful if my shots can be heard, but I have thesatisfaction of knowing that some one probably is out looking forme. We'll go in under our own power. They shan't say that we couldnot find our way home in broad daylight. "

The rifle signal shots were repeated shortly after Grace gotstarted again. She answered them, but was unable to tell fromwhich direction the signals had come, though the shots sounded offto the right of her, but she decided to continue on in thedirection she had chosen however, believing that she was headedtowards the camp. 

It was nearly noon when Grace discovered a horseman far to theright. He was too far away to be recognized, and, evidently, hehad not seen her. 

The Overland girl fired three shots into the air, which wereanswered by a similar signal, then the distant rider was seen toturn and gallop towards her. Grace headed for him, riding moreslowly than she had been doing, and finally discovering that thehorseman was Hi Lang. 

Despite the confidence that Grace had felt in her ability to findher way in, she experienced a sense of relief. Now he wouldcompliment her on her ability to find her way on a trackless wastesuch as this. 

"Where have you been?" shouted Hi when near enough to make hisvoice heard. 

"I went after Miss Briggs' pony, then got on the wrong trail, ifthere be such a thing as a trail on this landscape, " answeredGrace. 

"We've been worrying about you. Did you get lost?"

"Well, not exactly. I was puzzled at first, but I was following mytrail back towards the camp when you discovered me, or when Idiscovered you, to be exact. "

"Hm--m--m--m!" mused the guide. "Do you know where you were headedfor when I first saw you?"

"Why, yes. I told you. For the camp, was I not?"

Hi shook his head. 

"If your canteen and rations had held out, and you'd kept on goingthe way you were headed, eventually you would have landed in DeathValley, " the guide informed her. 

"But I followed the tracks left by the pony I was riding, " sheprotested. 

"I reckon you followed some other pony's tracks, for I was on thetrail of the bronc' you are riding. "

"Mr. Lang, as a plainswoman I fear I am a miserable failure, "complained the Overland girl. 

"On the contrary you are very much of a success. You did not getpanic-stricken when you found you had lost us, but you used yourhead. You found and followed a trail that would have fooled me asit did you. "

"Thank you! How many of the ponies did you find?"

"All of 'em, lacking the one you have here; also found one thatdidn't belong to us. We sent him adrift. "

"Oh, I am so glad. Then you have Blackie. "

"Yes. Let's be going. Things at the camp are not very encouraging. Much of the equipment has been blown away or buried, but thatisn't the worst of the situation. "

"You mean water?" questioned Grace, regarding him inquiringly. 

"Yes. We haven't been able to locate a tank to-day, and thereisn't more than a quart altogether left in the canteens. "

"What are we to do now?" asked Grace. 

"We've got to pull up stakes and move. All hands must search forwater--search until water is found, and keep moving forward at thesame time. If we don't find it by night---" The guide shrugged hisshoulders and clucked to his pony. Grace, her face reflecting theconcern she felt, followed at a gallop and they were soon raisinga cloud of dust on the baking desert. 

CHAPTER XII

A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT

A wan and considerably mussed up party of girls met Grace and theguide when the two rode into what was left of their camp. 

"Well, here we are at last, " cried Grace cheerily. 

"We thought you were lost. How could you have missed such anopportunity?" wondered Miss Briggs. 

"I did not miss it, Elfreda dear. I got beautifully lost anddidn't know it. Most persons when they get lost are very muchalive to the fact, but I traveled on in blissful ignorance of thefact that I was headed straight for Death Valley. "

"I wish you wouldn't talk about it. Death Valley reminds me of theexperience we had last night, " complained Emma. 

"Oh, then you have been to Death Valley?" questioned Anne. 

"No, I said--I mean I said--I mean I meant to have said that---"

"Let it go at that. You will get tongue-tied if you keep on, "warned Hippy Wingate. "We have something more serious on hand thanto listen to your--"

"Yes, girls, " interrupted Grace. "Mr. Lang tells me that we MUSTmove on immediately, that we MUST find water, and that, too, without delay. What shape are we in with regard to equipment?"

"We have our tents, " answered Elfreda. 

"Some cooking utensils, and our food, which Ping had the foresightto take to bed with him, " said Anne Nesbit whimsically. 

"Were the rifles saved?"

"All secure, and the ammunition too, " replied Lieutenant Wingate. "I believe that a few blankets were blown away and lost, togetherwith numerous odds and ends that weren't nailed down. What couldyou expect with a wind strong enough to blow our horses far out onthe desert. Got any water?"

"I have some. Do you mean to tell me, Hippy Wingate, that an oldcampaigner like yourself has drunk up all the water he had in hiscanteen, and in the face of a great drouth?" demanded Grace, trying hard not to smile. 

"Every last drop of it, " admitted Hippy. "But what's a fellow todo when he is thirsty and his throat is cracking open?"

"Use the precious stuff sparingly. Here! Take a sip from mycanteen. Only a sip, Lieutenant. "

With the eyes of the entire party on him, Hippy dared not takemore than enough water to moisten his throat. Grace then took thecanteen from him, passing it to Emma. 

"The same holds good for you, Emma, " she said, "Take a sip andpass it along. What water is there may have to be our only supplyall the rest of the afternoon. "

"That's right, Mrs. Gray, " spoke up Hi Lang. "Ping!"

"Les?"

"Are you all packed and ready?"

"Me belongee chop-chop, " answered Ping, meaning that he was readyto move. 

"Follow along behind us, but make those lazy burros keep close up. We don't want to lose you and have to look all over the desert foryou. Now, folks, please listen carefully to what I have to say. While I do not wish to alarm you, it is well that you thoroughlyunderstand what our situation is. We must find water. You will allspread out with an interval of a hundred yards, say, betweenponies, and scrutinize every foot of ground on either side. "

"Who goes where?" interrupted Emma. 

"Please be quiet, " rebuked Grace. 

"I am coming to that, " resumed the guide. "Two things I wish youto look for, alkali crusts that may cover a tank, anddiscolorations on the desert. That is, if you find a spot darkerthan the prevailing color of the ground, that discoloration may bethe result of moisture. Do you get me?"

"Yes, " answered the Overlanders in chorus. 

"In the event of such a discovery, shout, or if I am too far awayto hear your voice, fire one shot into the air. About the cruststhat I spoke of, when you find one, hop off and break it in. Youprobably will not see water, even though it is there, but, afteryou have broken open the crust, thrust your head into the openingand sniff the air. "

"What we need is a thirsty bird dog in this outfit, " observedHippy, without the suggestion of a smile on his face. 

Hi Lang permitted himself a brief silent laugh. 

"What are we to sniff for?" questioned Emma in all seriousness. 

"For a damp odor. The air under the crust, too, will be perhaps adegree cooler than the outer air. If it is a dry tank you will geta dry, earthy odor that you cannot mistake. The one who findswater will, as I have suggested, shout or shoot. The others willhold their positions until I have investigated. 

"Another thing. Ponies familiar with desert conditions, as most ofours are, sometimes can smell water when they can't see it. If oneof your animals suddenly bolts in a direction that you think heshould not go, give him his head for a little way. He may lead youto water. "

"Why didn't I think to put a divining rod in my pocket?" chuckledHippy. 

"You brought a sweet little parasol, that blew away on the wingsof the storm, " reminded Nora. "Why didn't you bring somethinguseful while you were about it?"

"Nora darling, didn't I bring you along? What, tell me, could bemore useful to this outfit than your own beautiful little self?"

"Go on, go on with ye! If there were a Blarney Stone here I'dthrow it at ye!" rebuked Nora, laughing in spite of her effort tobe stern, joined in her merriment by the other girls of theoutfit. 

"Take your positions!" ordered the guide. "The lieutenant willtake the center. To the right, Miss Dean, Miss Briggs. Left, Mrs. Nesbit, Mrs. Wingate and Mrs. Gray. I will take the extreme right. You, Mrs. Gray, will look after the extreme left. Keep yourformation as well as you can so that we do not straggle too much. All ready!"

The Overland Riders swung themselves to their saddles and moved tothe positions assigned to them, then started away, walking theirponies. Their line looked like a troop of cavalry going intoaction, except that the horses moved listlessly. 

Emma found the first alkali tank, and getting off, broke the crustand thrust her head in the opening. 

"What do you find?" called Hippy. 

"Ugh! It smells like a rummage sale, " answered Miss Dean. 

"Dry!" announced Hippy. "Move along. "

All along the line the girls were trying to make merry, trying toforget the terrible heat, a deadly burning heat, but their effortsin this direction were not very successful. 

Heat waves shimmered over the white sands of the desert with not abreath of air stirring to relieve the deadly monotony. It did notseem possible to Elfreda Briggs that human beings long couldendure such heat, and she wondered at the cheerfulness of hercompanions. 

Hi Lang rode around behind the line of riders to see what it wasthat Emma Dean had discovered, but he paused at the dry water holefor but a moment, then hurried back to his position. Now and thenone of the riders would dismount and examine a patch of ground, only to meet with disappointment. 

They had come up to a vast cup-like depression in the desert, white with the alkali crust that covered its bottom, when Hi fireda signal shot to indicate that they were to halt for a rest. 

"What is that big hole?" called Lieutenant Wingate. 

"A prehistoric lake, in whose alkaline dust no plant, not evensage-brush, can grow, and upon which a puddle of rainwater becomesan almost deadly poison. This is one of the most thoroughly hatedspots on the desert, hated and shunned by most of those who travelthis way. "

"Is there not water under the crust at the bottom?" asked MissDean. 

"Not a drop. There probably has not been in centuries. No water isknown to have been found within a few miles of this spot either, but, as I have said, one never knows, and the traveler must takenothing for granted. "

"Fine place for a summer outing, " observed Hippy. 

"Probably there is on all the globe no other spot more forbidding, more desolate, more deadly, " added the guide. "We must be going. Move on!"

All that afternoon the Overland Riders plodded wearily along, nowand then hopes suddenly raised being dashed to earth by dry waterholes. At the next halt, Hi passed along the line, giving eachrider a sip of water from the slender supply in his canteen, Gracesmilingly declining to drink. 

"Have you any left in your canteen?" he asked. 

"A few drops, but I am saving them until I am thirsty. I have beensucking the cork for the last hour. " Grace then asked about thedry lake, and the guide repeated what he had said to Emma andHippy. 

"How are the girls standing the strain?" she questioned. 

"Very well indeed. I hope they hold out as well until we findwater. "

"Now that there is no one but ourselves present, please tell mewhat the prospects are?" requested Grace. 

"I can't, Mrs. Gray, for the very good reason that I don't know. Of course water we must have or we shall perish, and so will theponies. As a last resort we can head for the nearest mountainrange, but it would take us nearly two days to make it with poniesand riders in good working condition. "

"Then the situation really is serious!" asked Grace. 

"No, not yet, but we are on the verge of a serious situation. Yes, that about expresses it. However, I have hopes that we may find atank about ten miles from here, one that I have never failed tofind some water in, though at times it has been a mighty slowprocess to get it. I must get to the other end of the line now. Good luck. "

Several tanks were found during the next few hours, but not a dropof water in any of them. It fell to Emma Dean to make a discovery, however, that thrilled all within sound of her voice. 

"Water!" she screamed. "Water!"

"I believe you are right. Hooray!" shouted Hippy Wingate. 

"I know I am. It's a lake, a lake full of beautiful blue water!"cried Emma. "Quick! Shoot to let the others know. "

Instead of the agreed-upon single shot as the signal that waterhad been found, Hippy Wingate emptied his revolver into the air, then, urging on his weary pony, rode on ahead, with Emmafollowing, shouting and urging her pony to go faster that she andHippy might reach the precious water ahead of the others. EvenHippy was excited at the sight that had burst so unexpectedly onhis smarting eyes, for there, a mile or so ahead, surely was abody of water that the guide himself had not known of or he surelywould have told them. 

Attracted by the shots, Hi Lang looked, first in the direction fromwhich the shots had come, then off across the desert. What he sawled him to head towards Hippy and Emma, who themselves weretraveling as fast as they could make their ponies go. 

Some of the other Overland Riders had followed Emma and Hippy, they too having discovered the blue lake in the near distance. 

The guide fired into the air, to recall the excited riders, butthey gave no heed to his signal. 

"Stop!" he shouted when near enough to make himself heard. "Stop, I say! You'll run your ponies to death. "

"Water! Don't you see it?" cried Emma. 

"No! That isn't water. Stop, I say!"

"The heat has gone to Hi's head, " laughingly confided Hippy toEmma. "All right, old man, just trail along behind us and we'llshow you, " he flung back. 

"Stop, Lieutenant! Listen to reason, won't you? What you see is adesert mirage. There isn't a lake within a hundred miles of us. "

Hippy Wingate brought his pony to a slow stop, and Emma, who hadheard, stopped about the same time. 

"Mirage?" wondered Hippy stupidly. 

"M--m--mister Lang, do--do you me--ean that wha--at we see isn'twa--ater at all?"

"It's a mirage, I tell you. Get back to your positions!"

CHAPTER XIII

A STARTLING ALARM

Elfreda Briggs and Grace Harlowe did not give way to the panicthat had seized their companions. Both had seen the mirage, eachknew instinctively what it was, but when they saw Hi Lang overhaulthe two leaders, Grace and Elfreda hurried in from their positionsand joined their companions. 

"Grace! Oh, Grace, " moaned Emma as her friend rode up to them. "Give me water or I shall die. "

"Have courage, Emma dear. We are all suffering from thirst. Handme your cup and I will give you a swallow. I don't dare trust youwith the canteen. "

Grace poured out about a tablespoonful of water, which Emma drankin one choking gulp. Each of the others got about the samequantity, but it was not much of a relief. 

"Shall I return to my position now, sir?" questioned Grace of theguide. "Yes, please. I have told the others to do so at once. Hereafter, in no circumstances are you people to run away as youdid just now. We must go on as rapidly as is consistent, untildark. I wish to reach a certain point before we stop for thenight. We may find some relief there unless the storm has buriedeverything so deep that we cannot find the place, " said Hi Lang. 

"Do you mean water?" asked Elfreda. 

"I am in hopes that it may be so, Miss Briggs. "

"Alors! Let's go!"

The party broke up at once and rode to their positions, Emma Dean, red of face, her hair down her back, tear drops still tricklingdown her cheeks, leaving little furrows behind them, summoning allher courage and doing her best to regain control of herself. 

The mirage had disappeared by the time the start was made, and didnot appear again to tantalize the suffering Overland Riders. Allthe rest of the afternoon, eager eyes, reddened by the glare ofthe sun on the white desert, sought for water holes. None werefound, not even dry tanks, but when darkness settled over thedesert a faint breeze sprung up. They drank it in eagerly, takinglong, deep breaths and uttering sighs of satisfaction. 

Hi called the party together with a signal shot. 

"How long before we make camp?" called Grace as she rode up. 

"About five miles if my reckoning is right, " answered the guide. "No need to look for water holes now that it is dark. We shan'tfind any unless we accidentally fall into one. "

"You are about the most cheerful prophet I've ever known, "declared Lieutenant Wingate. "Glad you weren't with us in thewar. "

"At least, Mr. Lang has made good all his forecasts. You mustadmit that, " reminded Miss Briggs. 

"He has, bad luck to him!" growled Hippy, which brought a grin tothe thin, bronzed face of the desert guide. 

It was nearly ten o 'clock when Hi finally ordered a halt. TheRiders, upon looking about them, observed that there wasconsiderable vegetation there, sage, cactus, dwarfed trees andshrubbery, scattered, twisted, misshapen things, all of them. 

"Turn the ponies loose immediately, " directed the guide. "Theywill get a little moisture from the green stuff. Never mindstaking down. They will not run away. Ping, start a fire and cooksomething. Sorry, folks, but it will have to be a dry supper thistime. "

"Where is that relief you were promising us a century or so ago?"demanded Nora Wingate. 

"Yes, Mr. Lang. We have been patient and borne our thirstuncomplainingly. Now, we MUST have relief. I don't want a drysupper, I want water!" cried Emma. 

Anne said she feared that she too had about reached her limit. 

"Be patient, girls. Mr. Lang is doing the best he can, " urgedGrace. 

"Yes, don't we know that?" agreed Miss Briggs. "He is splendid. Ihope these unsolicited compliments do not turn your head, Mr. Lang, " teased Elfreda. 

The guide laughed silently. 

"Come with me. We can pitch our tents later on, " he directed, striding away. He led them through mesquite bushes, finallyhalting before a patch of odd, pumpkin-shaped cactus, that, withits grotesque shape, its spines and fishhooks, was far from beingattractive-looking. 

Hi's knife was out as he halted, and, with it, he laid open acactus plant, revealing to the eager eyes of his charges a silver-white pulp glistening with water. 

"This will relieve your thirst, " he said, handing the white, moistmass to Emma. 

"Oh--h--h--h!" gasped Miss Dean. "This is heavenly. "

To each of the others Hi gave a handful of pulp. 

"Nectar straight from Heaven, " murmured Elfreda at her firsttaste. "Who would think that so much heavenliness could come fromsuch a hideous plant, so hideous that, were I alone, it would giveme the shivers to look at?"

Uttering exclamations of satisfaction and delight, the Overlandgirls ate and ate, soothing their throats and satisfying theirthirst. 

"Please tell us what this is, Mr. Lang, " asked Grace. 

"It is the bisnaga, sometimes called the 'niggerhead, ' belongingto the cactus family, a plant that is ever hailed with joy by thethirsty traveler. "

"It's a life saver, " agreed Lieutenant Wingate. "Where is thatChinaman? Doesn't he ever get thirsty?"

"Don't worry about him. He is out there in the bushes now, swallowing 'niggerheads' as fast as he can gulp them down. This isone of the secrets of the desert. There are others--but a man mustknow them before he can take advantage of them. "

"Tell us about them. I just dote on secrets, " exclaimed Emma, hergood nature now fully restored. 

"They might answer for an emergency, but nothing short of realfood would answer for me, " declared Hippy. 

"Just the same a man might live on what we see before us here fora long time, " replied the guide. "If you will examine thosemesquite bushes you will find a bean pod on them. It is a rich andnourishing food. Then there are the pears of the tuna and thefruit of the sahuaro or giant cactus. "

"We saw a forest of them on the Apache Trail, " Grace informed him. 

"Yes, I know. You will find all of these nourishing foods aboutyou here, hideous, some of them, but furnishing food and waterthat have saved the lives of many desert travelers. 

"Besides these food plants of the desert, we have the cat's-claw, mesquite and cholla shrubs for fuel; the bear-grass and yuccas forcamp-building. Better than a mirage, is it not, Miss Dean?"

Emma flushed. 

"I don't know about that. The sight of that lake that wasn't alake made me forget for the moment that I was thirsty, " answeredEmma spiritedly. 

The Chinaman's shrill call for supper sounded while they werestill talking. The girls, now greatly refreshed, turned campwardand sat down on the ground to eat "poisoned pig, " as Hippy Wingatehad named the bacon with its bitter alkaline taste. 

"I fear we are forgetting that we still are without water, "reminded Grace after they had finished their supper, feeling morelike themselves than at any time in the last two days. 

"Don't throw a monkey-wrench in the machinery, " begged Hippy. "Let's live while the living is good, and die when we haven'tanything else to do. "

"Grace is quite right, " agreed Anne. "I am worrying about to-morrow myself. "

"I have been thinking it over, " spoke up Hi Lang. "I believe Iwill go out early in the morning and ride until noon. I can covera lot of ground in that time, and if I do not find water, thechances are against our getting any in the direction we are going. In that event we will head for the mountains and fight our waythrough. I never knew so many water holes to fail, but the stormis largely responsible for that condition. "

"Why didn't we bring an artesian well with us? I have heard thatone could have water anywhere with one of those. Are they veryheavy to carry?" asked Emma innocently. 

A shout greeted her question, and the guide brushed a hand acrosshis mouth to hide his silent laughter. 

"What's the matter? Have I said something funny?" demanded Emma, bristling. 

"That would be impossible, " answered Hippy. "No, Emma Dean, anartesian well would be no burden to carry at all if one were ableto solve the problem of how to carry it. All the makin's are righthere, too. Hi, why didn't you bring a medium-sized artesian wellwith you! I am amazed that you would neglect to find a way tobring one along, " rebuked Hippy. 

"You are all making fun of me. I think you are real mean, " poutedEmma. 

"We're not, " protested Hippy. 

"Yes, he is, dear. Hippy, stop teasing Emma. She is worn out andirritable. By the way, Mr. Lang, what is an artesian well?" askedNora, which brought down another shout of laughter, this time ather expense. 

"I'm not irritable, " objected Emma. 

"An artesian well is a hole in the ground, Miss Dean, " the guidegravely informed her. 

"I'm going to bed!" announced Emma, getting up. "Am I to sleep inthe open, or do we have tents to cover us to-night?" she askedwith much dignity. 

"Ping will pitch the tents. He is getting out the canvas now, "replied Grace. "Before I turn in I am going out to eat some more'niggerheads. ' Any one going with me?"

All signified their desire to have more of the luscious whitepulp, and in a few moments they were gorging themselves among thebisnagas. 

The moon was now well along in its first quarter, and in the coolof the evening the Overland girls were in a frame of mind toappreciate and enjoy the scene. 

"The desert has a strange and beguiling beauty all its own, "murmured Grace. 

"Yes, " agreed Elfreda. "Such an evening as this makes one forgetthe awful heat, and lays hold of one's spirit. Then the silence--no whistling of wind, no rustling of leaves. Why, I find myselfholding my breath so as not to break the silence. "

"I had not observed it, " retorted Grace, presenting a smiling faceto her companion. "The camp should be ready by now. I move we goback and turn in. "

"The mystery of it all, too, " added Elfreda, turning to walk tothe camp. 

The guide told them not to be concerned at his absence if he didnot get in until late on the following day, and the OverlandRiders sought their blankets for a rest which all needed. 

The night passed without one of the girls moving, so far as any ofthem could remember, when they were rudely awakened next morning. 

Shouts and yells from Hippy Wingate, and a scream from Emma Dean, brought Grace, Elfreda, Anne and Nora to their feet, hurriedlythrowing on sufficient clothing to make themselves presentable. 

"Girls! Hurry, hurry!" shrieked Emma. 

"Coming! Hold fast!" shouted Elfreda Briggs, running out ahead ofthe others. 

CHAPTER XIV

THE MYSTERIOUS HORSEMAN

"For mercy sake, what is it?" cried Elfreda. 

Emma was dancing about in a high state of excitement. 

"Hippy's gone down! Hippy's gone down!" she cried. 

"Gone down where?" demanded Grace, appearing on the scene at thatjuncture. 

"He must have gone very suddenly, for I surely heard him yell lessthan five minutes ago, " averred Elfreda. 

"Look, look!" urged Emma, pointing to Hippy's tent, only the topof which was visible above the ground. 

Grace was already running towards the tent, believing she knewjust what the trouble was. 

"Hippy, are you there?" she called. 

"I am that, what's left of me, " answered a voice that sounded somedistance away. 

"Are you hurt?"

"No, Brown Eyes, I am not hurt. Please clear away the wreckage, sowe can see what we have here. "

Grace and Elfreda hauled the tent out of the hole in the alkalicrust and peered in. Hippy was sitting at the bottom, about fivefeet below the surface, and the instant Grace thrust her head intothe opening she uttered a cry. 

"Water!" she exclaimed. "I smell it!"

"I tasted it when I landed on my head in the wet sand, " answeredHippy. "It was good, but I'd a heap sight rather drink my waterstanding. One doesn't take in so much sand that way. "

"Wa--ater!" gasped Emma Dean. "And it isn't another mirage?"

"It is water, my dear, but how much of a supply there is remainsto be seen. What were you doing out so early?"

"I was going out to get some water food from that horrible lookingpumpkin plant, or whatever it is. "

"Ping! Oh, Ping! Fetch the water buckets. Hurry! Mr. Lang hasgone, so we must do what is to be done before the waterdisappears. What happened, Hippy?" asked Grace. 

"This did, Brown Eyes. I turned over on my blanket, then the earthyawned and swallowed me down. I slid in head first. "

"Here are the buckets and the canvas. I think I will get downthere and assist you. Girls, drink your fill, then water theponies. No, you carry the water out and let Ping do the watering. "

Hippy assisted Grace down. She dropped to her knees andimmediately began digging in the sand, which was wet and sticky. With Hippy's aid, she patted the canvas blanket down as she hadseen Hi Lang do it, and in a moment the water began seepingthrough. Grace observed that it seeped much more rapidly than whenthe guide had performed a similar operation. 

"Buckets!" demanded Hippy. 

They were lowered, and, in a few moments, half a dozen of themwere filled and handed up to the outstretched hands waiting toreceive them. 

"This is splendid! I wish Mr. Lang were here. Too bad, " saidGrace. 

"Might it not be a good idea for us to fire signal shots to recallhim? He may be within hearing. Sound carries a long distance onthe desert, " suggested Miss Briggs. 

"Fine, J. Elfreda. Will you fire the shots?"

Miss Briggs said she would, and, in a few moments, three intervalshots rang out. Elfreda fired the signal six times, listeningafter each signal for a reply. None was heard, however, and Gracesuggested that she wait half an hour or so, then try it again. 

The baling went on, but the ponies and burros drank the waterfaster than Grace and Hippy could get it out of the tank and passit up to those who were carrying water to Ping who was giving itto the horses, singing as he worked. This was the happy refrain hesang:

 "Look-see you bucket, 'fore you tly, Got lopee (rope) 'nuf to pump 'um dly. One piecee mouse can dlink at liver, But let he mousey tly for ever, All he can do top-sidee shore Is squinch (quench) he t'hirst an 'nuffin more. "

"Every 'r' is an 'l' with a Chinaman, " laughed Anne. 

"That is what makes their pidgin English so quaint, " answered MissBriggs. 

"Ping says the horses don't care for any more water, " announcedNora, returning with two empty buckets. 

"Pass them down, " directed Hippy. "We will fill everything incamp, including ourselves. "

When, they had finished with their work, the familiar, "Him comealong, " in Ping Wing's shrill voice, brought Hippy out of thewater hole in a hurry. 

"Are you going to leave me down here, Hippy Wingate, or are yougoing to assist me out?" reminded Grace. 

"A thousand pardons! The thought of food drives every otherthought from my mind. " Hippy reached down and gave Grace a hand. 

"Please fire another set of signal shots, " suggested Grace, shaking out her skirt to free it from the damp sand. "Mr. Langwill be surprised when he finds that we have a water tank righthere in camp. I hope he hears our shots. "

Elfreda, having shot into the air six times, put down her rifleand joined her companions. 

"Oh, doesn't that coffee smell good?" she cried. "A warm drink iseven more necessary out here than it is in the city. I hope wenever have another such a dry time as we have just experienced. "

"Listen!" warned Grace, holding up a hand for silence. 

The reports of two rifle shots were faintly borne to their ears. 

"That's a signal. I heard the first a second before I spoke. Answer them, Elfreda. "

Miss Briggs sprang up and fired the rifle three times. An answercame in the form of three reports that plainly were from a longdistance away. 

"That must be Mr. Lang. I am glad, " said Grace, her face lightingup in a pleased smile. 

"Him come along, " announced Ping a few moments later, using theelastic expression that stood for the dinner call, as well as toindicate that some one was approaching. 

The Overland girls stood up and, shading their eyes, gazed offover the desert. They saw a horseman approaching, but the pony hewas riding appeared to be almost dragging himself along. 

"That isn't Lang, " exclaimed Hippy. 

"I see it isn't, " agreed Grace. 

Being a lone rider the Overlanders knew they were safe fromtrouble so far as he was concerned, but they observed the ridernarrowly as he neared the camp. 

"Ping! Fetch water!" ordered Grace incisively. "That man and horseare exhausted. "

"Water!" cried the man hoarsely as he rode up to them and wouldhave fallen from his saddle had Hippy not sprung forward andgrabbed him. He placed the exhausted man on the ground, andraising the rider's head, held a canteen to his lips. 

"Take it easy, old top. Don't choke yourself. We have plenty, butyou mustn't try to drink it all at once, " admonished LieutenantWingate. 

"Get food, " directed Grace. "Coffee and whatever else you think hecan eat. "

Ping glided away to prepare the food, Nora and Anne, in themeantime, having brought water for the traveler's pony. 

In a few moments the man sat up, holding his head in his hands. 

"Here, bathe your face. It will cool you off, " urged Elfreda. Thetraveler did so, and, by the time the coffee was ready, he wasable to stand. 

Ping had fried some bacon, and, with the coffee and biscuit, thetraveler had a meal the like of which he had not eaten for many along day. As yet, the man had spoken only one word--"water"--buthe regarded the outfit with wide, inquiring eyes, as he ategreedily of the food placed before him. 

"Where going?" he asked after finishing. 

"Specter Range, I believe. Perhaps taking in the Shoshones. I amnot certain. Our guide, Hi Lang, is not here just now. "

"Bad gang there. Drove me out. Will drive you out. " He would sayno more, shaking his head when Grace pressed him for anexplanation. After an hour's rest, during which the caller drankwater until they feared for its effect on him, he filled his waterbags from the water hole and lashed them to his pony and mounted. Elfreda handed him a chunk of bacon, which he acknowledged with anod, and stuffed it into his kit. 

The traveler now threw back his shoulders and peered at eachmember of the outfit in turn as if to impress their faces on hismind, then swept off his sombrero. 

"Thankee, folks, " he said, and, putting spurs to his pony, galloped away. 

"There is one man to whom it would be perfectly safe to entrust asecret, " declared Miss Briggs with emphasis. 

"What a strange character, " murmured Anne, as she gazed after thegalloping pony. "I wonder who he can be. "

"I am curious to know what he meant by warning us against themountains, " interjected Elfreda Briggs. 

"And I am rather concerned about Mr. Lang, " added Grace. "He mustbe a long way from here, else he would have heard our signalshots. I have an idea that our late caller must have heard themand that it was he who answered. That must be it. If so I am glad, for the poor fellow was ready to drop and so was his horse. Shallwe fill the buckets?"

They did. The ponies were thirsty again, and it required severalbucketfuls to satiate thirst, after which everything fillable wasfilled with water. Grace, to pass away the time, got out her lassoand tried to throw it, but she made a complete failure. In turn, each of the others tried their hand at throwing the rope, but withno better success. Ping offered himself for a mark, chatteringlike a magpie as, each time, the loop of the lasso collapsedbefore reaching him. 

"What for you makee so fashion?" he cried between laughs, chucklesand grimaces. 

"Never mind, Ping. You will not talkee 'so fashion' one day. WhenI learn to throw the rope, which I shall, I will rope you when youare not looking, " threatened Grace. 

"No can do, " grinned the Chinaman. "HAI YAH! Man b'longey top-sidehorse, " he cried, pointing off over the desert. 

Looking in the direction in which he was pointing, the Overlandgirls saw in the far distance a horseman, sitting his mount somotionless that at first they were not positive whether it were ahorseman or a distorted cactus plant. 

Grace ran for her binoculars and for some minutes studied thestranger. 

"That's our caller, " suggested Hippy. 

Maybe he has decided to hang around for another meal. I don't knowthat I blame him. "

"No, it is not the same man, at least not same pony, " answeredGrace, snapping glasses shut. "The man yonder is riding a blackpony. The one who called on us rode a nearly white animal. I can'timagine why he is so interested, but he is surely watching us. However, we won't worry so long as we have a water tank at hand. "

At four o'clock in the afternoon the mysterious stranger was stillin practically the same place. He appeared to move only when hispony stepped forward a few paces for more sagebrush. 

"Man b'longey top-side horse!" cried Ping, again pointing inanother direction. 

The Overlanders saw a cloud of dust rolling toward them over thedesert, ahead of the cloud being a horseman riding at a swiftgallop. 

"This would seem to be our day at home, judging from the number ofcallers who are dropping in, " observed Elfreda. 

Grace threw up her glasses and took a quick look. 

"I can't make him out, " she said. "It can't be Mr. Lang, for thisman is coming from a direction different from the one he took, ifthe footprints of his pony leading out of this camp are anyindication. "

"Man b'longey horse hab go chop-chop!" volunteered Ping. 

Looking quickly toward the west the Overlanders were amazed tofind that the silent horseman who had had them under observationfor hours was no longer in view. Though not more than two or threeminutes had elapsed since Grace Harlowe last saw him, he haddisappeared as suddenly as if the sands of the desert had openedand taken him in. 

"Maybe he has fallen into a tank, just as I did, " suggested Hippy. 

"Mr. Lang is coming. It is he, after all, " cried Grace joyously, as she gazed at the swiftly moving cloud of dust that Ping hadcalled her attention to some moments before. 

CHAPTER XV

THE GUIDE READS A DESERT TRAIL

"Did you shoot?" called the guide, pulling his pony down sharply. 

Both pony and rider were gray from the desert dust, and theguide's face was lined with perspiration streaks. It was plainthat he had ridden hard and long. 

"Yes. Did you find water?" cried Emma. 

"I did, twenty miles or nigh that, from here. What's that?" hedemanded, pointing to the water hole. 

"We have water, Mr. Lang, " Grace told him, "Mr. Wingate fellthrough a crust and discovered a tank. There is water in plenty. We are so sorry that you had all that journey for nothing. Ping!Water for Mr. Lang and a bucketful for his pony. How long sincedid you hear our signal shots?"

"More'n an hour ago. I wasn't certain, but I thought I heard threeshots. My journey was not for nothing, for I have found a tank andthere we will make our next camping place. " The guide paused tolift the bucket that Ping had fetched, and to drink deeply fromit. 

"Who's been here?"

"What makes you think anyone has?" teased Emma. 

"Plain as daylight. I followed a pony's trail in for more than twomiles. There's the tracks where he went away, " answered the guidequickly. 

"You surely have sharp eyes, " nodded Elfreda. 

"He was one of those sphinxes, like some other deserts have. Thisone was not stuck fast to the ground like a regular sphinx, buthis tongue must have been stuck to the roof of his mouth, for hecouldn't say any more words than a ten-month-old baby, " declaredHippy Wingate. 

"Tell me about him, " urged Hi, turning to Grace. 

The guide nodded understandingly after Grace had told him indetail of the arrival of the stranger, choking for a drink, andhalf famished from hunger. 

"That's like him. "

"Like whom?" questioned Hippy. 

"Like the desert traveler. He is just one of those brainlessfellows like myself, who would rather be out here, suffering, choking, dying by inches, than be at home surrounded by all thecomforts that a home gives a man. Didn't say what his name is, didhe?"

"No, sir. Let me see, " reflected Grace. "He said, 'Water!' Then, later, after asking where we were going, and being informed thatwe expected to visit the Specter Range and perhaps the Shoshones, he replied, 'Bad gang there. Drove me out. Will drive you out. ' Ashe left he said, 'Thankee, folks. ' To the best of my recollectionhe opened his mouth at no other time, except to eat and drink. "

"Hm--m--m--m, " mused the guide. "In the Specters, eh?"

"I don't know whether he referred to them or to the Shoshones, "answered Grace. 

"Didn't say where he was going?"

"No, sir. Can you tell us, Mr. Lang, why it is that desert loverslike yourself, and like the stranger who was here, as a moreextreme case are so silent, so taciturn and ever listening forsomething? What is it they are listening for?"

"I reckon they take after nature herself out here. When a man isalone on this big desert he feels very small, and speaking out orraising a fellow's voice seems as much of a sacrilege as speakingout loud in church when the preacher's praying. As for listening, I don't know, but maybe we listen for the sounds that we are soused to hearing at home, the rustle of leaves, the song of a bird, but all we ever hear out here in the daytime is now and then thebuzz of a rattler's tail. We don't always shoot 'em because wesort of hate to make so much noise. I reckon that isn't much of anexplanation, but---"

"I call it very fine, " nodded Elfreda. "By the way, Mr. Lang, wehad another caller, a distant caller to-day. He didn't come nearthe camp, but sat his pony for several hours apparently observingus. Perhaps he was resting. "

Hi Lang's face showed his interest. He asked questions and frownedthoughtfully, requesting that they point out as closely aspossible the spot at which the man had been seen. 

"You say he disappeared suddenly?"

"Yes, Mr. Lang, " answered Grace. 

"Was that when I was coming up?"

"You were. "

"He evidently saw me and ducked. There's a high ridge of sand overthere where you saw him. He was on that ridge or you wouldn't haveseen him, and when he discovered me he just naturally slid hispony down the other side and walked away under cover of the ridgeor else got down and peeked over the top of it. I don't like that. You weren't thinking of going on to-night, were you?"

"Not unless you think best, Mr. Lang, " replied Grace. 

"Then I reckon I'll ride over there in the morning and see whathis tracks look like. To-morrow night we'll make camp by the waterhole I found to-day, unless some other party comes along and dipsthe water all out or it disappears between now and then. "

"Did you answer our signal shots that you say you thought youheard?" asked Hippy. 

"Of course I did, though I didn't think you would hear them, beingas there was a gentle breeze from this direction against me. Istaked the ponies down before I went away this morning, and thatblack bronco of yours gave me some trouble, Mrs. Gray. I had tolasso him. When are you going to learn to throw the rope?"

"When are you going to teach me?" returned Grace smilingly. 

"That's the talk. We'll begin right now. Get your rope. "

Grace was instructed first how to coil the rope, how to make theloop and to properly grasp it by its hondo, or knot, beforethrowing; then the real lesson began. 

It was sorry work for her at first, but by the time Ping utteredhis shrill call for supper, Grace had learned to throw the ropeand let the loop drop to the ground without destroying the form ofthe loop. Hi announced that, on the morrow, she should be able tohit a mark on the ground but that considerable practice would benecessary before she would be able to rope an object that was inmotion. 

Supper was followed by an interesting evening, during which HiLang told the Overland girls more of the desert secrets. 

"We are now in the skunk country, " he said, as they were about toturn in. 

"The what?" demanded Emma Dean. 

"I do not mean the sort you probably are familiar with in theeast. The desert skunk is an entirely different animal. He bites, and his bite is supposed to produce hydrophobia, which means deathout here. He is, therefore, known as the hydrophobia skunk. Gointo any desert camp just before turning-in time and you will hearthe desert wanderers speaking of rattlesnakes and skunks. Everyman who knows those two pests is actually afraid of them. "

"This is a fine time of day to tell us, " complained Nora. 

"That's what I say, " wailed Emma. "Why didn't you tell us afterbreakfast instead of after supper?"

"Yes. I know I shall dream of snakes and skunks and othercreeping, crawling things to-night, " added Anne. 

Hi laughed silently, masking his mouth with a hand. 

"String a rope all the way around your tent on the ground. Nosnake will go over that, especially a horsehair rope. Your lassois the thing for that, Mrs. Gray. I will have Ping keep the firegoing and that will keep the skunks away. The insects and othercreeping things we can't stop, so we shall have to take ourchances with them. Sorry, but it was necessary to tell you. If youare going to be desert travelers you must learn the desert. "

"You are perfectly right, Mr. Lang, " nodded Grace. "I am very gladyou have told us so much to-night, especially about skunks andsnakes. I will lay my lasso around the tent and sleep in perfectsecurity. Girls, let's turn in. "

Emma dreamed of snakes that night and had nightmare, crying out inher sleep and getting a violent shaking from Elfreda Briggs as herreward. Otherwise, the night was peacefully passed. 

Early on the following morning, before any of the outfit wasawake, except Ping, who seemed never to sleep, Hi Lang had caughtup his pony and ridden out on the desert and on to the spot atwhich the girls had seen the mysterious horseman the day before. Hi readily found the hoof-prints of the pony ridden by the man, and examined them with keen interest. He observed other featuresof the trail that might easily have escaped even a desertwanderer's observation, and that told him much. 

"I reckon there's going to be some lively doings before we've gotto the end of this journey, " muttered the guide, assuming alistening attitude, with head tilted to one side, eyes fixed onthe blue sky overhead. He stood motionless in that position formany minutes. Finally arousing himself from his reverie, Himounted his pony and galloped away towards the camp, reachingthere some time before the Riders were awake. Grace Harloweappeared about an hour later, and walked out over the desert ashort distance, inhaling the sweet morning air in long, deliciousbreaths. 

"What is it that smells so sweet?" she called to the guide, whowas busying himself about the camp, for there was a new andstrangely sweet fragrance in the air. 

"That's another of the desert mysteries. Supposed to have beenrain somewhere. It's like a breath straight from heaven. I loveit!" Hi straightened up, and, throwing back his shoulders, inhaleddeeply. 

Grace was thoughtful as she returned to camp, but it was not ofthe desert she was thinking. Rather was it of the man who wasguiding them. He was a poet by nature, but did not know it. He wasintelligent and he possessed a mind and a power of reasoning farbeyond what one might look for in a man of his calling. 

"Was the morning perfume what induced you to take such an earlyride, Mr. Lang?" asked Grace sweetly. 

The guide gave her a quick glance. 

"What makes you think I took a gallop this morning, Mrs. Gray?"

"In the first place your pony is not tethered where he was lastnight, and, secondly, your trail, going and returning, is plainout there, " she said, with a gesture towards the desert. 

"You're sharp, " observed Hi briefly, and proceeded with his workwithout offering further information. Grace believed, however, that he had ridden out to look at the trail left by the solitaryhorseman who had been watching their camp, but asked no furtherquestions. Hi would speak when ready to do so; that she knew. 

The Overlanders moved at an early hour and made camp that night atthe water hole found by the guide the day before. Several pairs ofkeen eyes frequently swept the horizon during the day, and againon the following morning, for the mysterious horseman, but it wasthree days later before he was again seen in the distance. 

"What's the matter with my taking a shot at him?" demandedLieutenant Wingate. 

"No!" answered the guide with emphasis. "Give the calf enough ropeand he'll hang himself. Saddle up and we'll ride that way and havea look at the trail again. "

The watcher disappeared as the Overlanders were saddling theirponies. As before, the guide made no comment after he had examinedthe hoof-prints left by the observer's pony, and the journey wasresumed. 

The days drew on, and the Overlanders, now more used to thehardships and heat of traveling on the desert, began to take areal pleasure in the work, to enjoy the free life and theexcitement that came to them in one form or another nearly everyday. Now and then a day would pass without water, but they madethe best of it, having confidence that Hi Lang would find it intime, no matter how dark the outlook. The mysterious horseman hadappeared several times, always too far away to enable them to geta good look at him. Occasionally Hi would go out for a look at thepony's trail, but it was not until they were nearing the mountainranges, after three weeks of journeying across the hot sands, thatthe guide gave a direct answer to a direct question as to whetheror not he knew what the mysterious one was up to. Hippy had askedthe question when they were at supper one evening. 

"I don't know what he's up to, of course, " replied Hi Lang. "I doknow that he is the same fellow who left the range after we folkswere shot at there, for the hoof-prints of his pony are the same. He is watching us, and we'll hear from him later, " he declaredimpressively. 

CHAPTER XVI

THE CROSS ON THE DESERT

"You should have let me take a shot at him when I had the chance, "grumbled Hippy. 

"Time enough to shoot when we are shot at, " rebuked Grace. "We arenot starting trouble, but when it comes we know how to meet it. Dowe not, Mr. Lang?"

Hi Lang nodded enthusiastically. 

Grace had been practicing persistently with her Mexican lasso, andwas now beginning to learn to rope a pony. That is, she hadsucceeded, when riding alongside a trotting pony who objected tobeing caught, in casting the lasso over its head, but so far ascatching the hind foot of a moving bronco with her loop, that wasfar beyond her. Grace doubted if she ever would gain sufficientskill to do that. 

Elfreda, too, was an apt pupil and not far behind her companion incasting the rope. She was glorying in the life of the west, whichwas becoming more and more alluring to her as the days passed. 

"Two days more and we'll be in the foothills of the Specters. Maybe you will be able to rope a wildcat there, " said the guide, smiling at the two girls. 

"Four-or two-legged?" inquired Hippy. 

"Possibly both. After we get cooled off in the mountains, if youfolks think you wish to go on down into the Colorado Desert, Iwill show you some real desert heat. By comparison, this desert isas cool as a summer resort. "

Grace said they would discuss their future movements after theyhad rested up a bit in the mountains. All the girls were lookingforward to the mountains where shade, spring water and coolingbreezes awaited them. Some of them were filled with curiosity asto what else awaited them there, having in mind the prophecy ofthe desert rider whom they had succored. 

It was with thoughts of the mountains, and with eager eyessearching the horizon ahead, that the Overland Riders set out fortheir day's journey on the following morning. A brief stop wasmade at noon for a cup of tea and biscuits, after which the dailysearch for a water hole was begun. As night approached, the searchbecame more intensive, but it was not until after nightfall that atank was found. 

A full moon hung in the heavens and the night was a beautiful one, a peaceful, restful desert night. Camp was quickly made a shortdistance removed from the water hole, and, after water had beensupplied to the ponies, and the water bags and pails filled, theparty sat down to supper and to a discussion of the topicuppermost in their minds--the attack that had been made on them, and the mysterious horseman. 

"What is that I see out there?" suddenly demanded Nora Wingate, pointing to an object out on the desert, some fifty or sixty yardsfrom where she was sitting. 

"It looks like a cross tilted on its side, " said Anne. 

"That's what it is, " nodded the guide. 

"A cross? What for?" questioned Emma. 

"Some poor desert traveler who couldn't find a water hole, "replied Hi Lang reflectively. 

"Did you know that thing was there?" demanded Emma. 

"Yes, of course. "

"And yet you camped right here? I shan't sleep a wink to-night. "

"Don't be foolish, Emma. Let it be a reminder to us to be prudentwith our water supply, " soothed Grace. "I do not suppose thiswater hole existed at that time; did it, Mr. Lang?"

"It may have. Travelers have been known to give up and die ofthirst when water was almost within reach of their hand. You willsee more such as that as we get south, " said Hi, nodding in thedirection of the leaning cross. 

"I suppose that, in most instances, they were persons who did notknow the desert well, " suggested Grace. 

"Just so, " agreed the guide. "Shall we go out and look at it?"

"Not to-night, thank you. The morning will do for that. It is nota pleasant thought to take to bed with one. "

Hi got up and strode out to look at the cross, followed by Hippy. The guide believed in investigating everything. It was aprecaution that he had learned after many journeys across theGreat American Desert. It might not mark the resting place of alost traveler at all; the cross might be a guide to water, or itmight mean nothing at all. In any event Hi's curiosity must besatisfied. 

"What do you find?" questioned Hippy, as he joined the guide bythe leaning cross. 

"The stones that held it up have been moved, as you see. They arescattered, some half covered with sand. Windstorm did that in allprobability. Queer thing, but I don't see any indications ofanything but wind having disturbed the place. "

"Hand me a stone and I'll prop it up, " requested Hippy. The guidedid so, and Lieutenant Wingate dropped the stone beside it, afterstraightening up the crude cross. 

Both men heard a metallic sound as the stone struck the ground. The quick ear of Hi Lang told him that something other than desertsand lay there at the foot of the crossed sticks. 

"See what it is, " urged Hi. 

Grace had been observing the movements of the two men and hercuriosity was rapidly getting the better of her. 

"Come, Elfreda, let us go out and see what those two men are sodeeply interested in, " she urged, rising and starting towardsthem, followed by Miss Briggs. 

"Looks like a tin box, " answered Hippy. "There's only a corner ofit sticking above the sand. "

Hi got down on his knees and peered at the object, then, lightinga match, looked it over more closely. 

"Reckon it's a cracker box. Pull it out. "

"I wouldn't do that, " protested Grace, who now saw what had sointerested Hippy and the guide. "It seems like a sacrilege todisturb it. "

"On the desert, Mrs. Gray, one's life may depend upon thethoroughness with which he investigates everything that he was notbefore familiar with--anything unusual. This is unusual. "

"I know, but---"

"Out she comes, " answered Hippy. 

"Oh!" exclaimed Grace Harlowe under her breath. 

"Another match, please, Hi. "

By the light of the flickering match the men and the two girlspeered at the object that Lieutenant Wingate took from the sandand held up for their inspection. 

"It isn't a cracker box at all. It looks more like a safe depositbox, " he declared. "What shall I do with it, Hi?"

"Take it into camp and open it, of course. "

Grace protested again, but not so insistently as before. The guidesaid he had a theory about the cross and the supposed grave, atheory which he proposed to prove or disprove before leaving thatnight's camping place. 

"I know what it is, " volunteered Miss Briggs. "I have one like itto keep my private papers in, except that this one shows wear andhas lost most of its enamel, I suppose from the action of sand andweather. "

"What is it? What is it?" cried Emma, unable longer to restrainher curiosity. Following her, as she came running to the scene, were Anne and Nora. 

"We don't know yet. It is a box, but we haven't opened it, " Graceinformed her. 

"Who found it?" demanded Emma. 

"Mr. Lang and Hippy. "

"Do--do we get what is in it?" persisted Miss Dean. 

"This is an Overland affair, Emma, " said Hippy. "Mr. Lang is anOverlander so far as this party is concerned, and, as a matter offact, he discovered the box. "

"You mean you did, Lieutenant, " corrected the guide. 

"We discovered it. That, I think, is the best way to settle it. However, we are counting our chickens before they are hatched. Let's go in by the fire where we can see. "

Hippy carried the box under his arm, followed by the entireOverland party, their curiosity being intensified by his delay inopening it. Observing this, Lieutenant Wingate took his time, helped himself to a drink of water, discussed their find with Hi, then shifted the box to the other arm and began, discussing theweather. 

"Are you ever going to open that thing?" cried Emma. "You are soaggravating. "

"Oh, yes, the box, " exclaimed Hippy. "Come over by the fire wherewe can see what we are about. "

Hippy sat down, held the box up to his ear and shook it. 

"Yep! Something in it. Sounds like gold rattling about in there, but the box is locked. Get a hammer so I can break it open. "

"I do not like the idea at all, " objected Grace somewhat severely. "It is not our property and we have no right to---"

"Everything on the desert is any man's property, " corrected theguide. "Further, it is our duty to open the box. We do not knowbut it may contain the last request of some unfortunate deserttraveler, and if that is so it may lay in our power to do him agreat service. Of course, if you say we must not open it, we willrespect your wishes in the matter. "

"You may do as you wish, " answered Grace. 

The guide produced his heavy clasp-knife, provided with a can-opening attachment, and pried the cover loose. 

"Do you wish to open it, Brown Eyes?" asked Hippy, holding the boxup to Grace. 

She shook her head. 

"Then here goes for better or for worse, " announced LieutenantWingate, throwing open the cover and revealing the contents of thebox to the eager gaze of the Overlanders. 

CHAPTER XVII

ANOTHER MYSTERY TO SOLVE

"Fiddlesticks! Nothing but paper, " wailed Emma Dean, peering intothe mystery box. 

"No. There is something more. " Hippy lifted out the paper, afolded paper, and placed it on the ground. "Here is a gold watchand a handful of gold. Let's see how much there is. " He countedout a hundred dollars, which, with some silver and a plain goldring, and the paper first removed, made up the contents of thebox. 

"Not much of a find, is it?" smiled Anne. 

"No. It's a shame, too, after our expectations had been worked upto concert pitch, " declared Nora. "Hippy Wingate, this is yourdoings. "

"Blame the fellow who put the things in the box. I only took themout, " grumbled Hippy. "Guess that's about all, Hi, " he added, looking up sheepishly at the guide. 

"You haven't looked at the paper, " reminded Elfreda. 

"It's only a piece of wrapping paper, " returned Hippy. "What do Iwant to look at that for?"

Grace Harlowe stooped over, picked up the paper and felt itgingerly. 

"There IS something here!" she exclaimed. "The wrapping paperevidently has been folded over as a protection to what is inside. "Grace thereupon opened the wrapper, revealing a tightly foldedpackage of heavier paper. The rubber band that held the innerpackage together fell apart as she placed a finger on it to removeit. 

The eyes of the party were instantly centered on Grace Harlowe, who carefully unfolded the paper and held it down so that thelight from the campfire might shine on it. 

"It is a map, " she said. "It is a map, drawn with pen and ink. This looks promising, " she added, spreading the map out on theground. "What a queer thing to bury, and who did it? Surely notthe man who lies there under the cross. "

"I should not take that for granted, " observed Hi Lang quietly. 

"Please let me see it, " requested Miss Briggs. 

Grace handed the map to her, and Elfreda studied it frowningly. 

"It means nothing in particular, I should say. It might be a mapof a scene in Switzerland for all we know, " declared Nora. "Hippy, you are a champion finder. I wonder if they give medals forpersons who find things--who make great finds. "

"Nora dear, if I had found one of the Egyptian pyramids out hereon the American Desert, you would blame me for not handing out theSphinx at the same time, " protested Hippy. 

"It may mean a great deal, " said Grace. 

"I agree with you, " nodded Elfreda, who was still studying themap. "It is a mystery map, and it plainly meant something to itspossessor or he would not have brought it out here and buried it. By the same token, I should say that it applied to something inthis part of the country. I am inclined to believe that it does. There is a name here. Mr. Lang, do you know of any person of thename of Steve Carver?"

"No, Miss Briggs. May I have a look?"

"Oh, pardon me, " begged Elfreda, handing the map to the guide. Histudied it for several minutes, then returned it. 

"It's not a picture of anything that I ever saw, I reckon, " hesaid. 

"What shall we do with it?" asked Miss Briggs. 

"I would suggest that we make a copy of it, returning the map tothe box and burying the box by the cross where we found it, "replied Grace. 

"Yes, but what about this gold, Brown Eyes?" demanded Hippy. 

"Put that back, too. It doesn't belong to us, Am I not right, Mr. Lang?" she asked. 

"I reckon you are, " agreed the guide, nodding his approval of thesuggestion. 

"What's the use in finding things?" grumbled Hippy, permitting thegold to slip through his fingers into the metal box. 

Elfreda, on a piece of wrapping paper, made a careful copy of themap, then returned it to Lieutenant Wingate, who placed it in thebox and slammed down the cover. 

"I'll bury the old thing, of course, but some one else will dig itup. That's why I should advise keeping the whole business, " saidHippy, rising and walking over to the cross with the box under hisarm. They heard him working out there and, in a few moments, hereturned. "Deed's done, " he informed them. "What are you going todo with the copy of the map, J. Elfreda?"

"Entertain myself in studying it. Nothing may come of that, ofcourse, but, like Emma, a mystery does appeal to me. "

"So it does to me, " agreed Grace. "Were it not for the fact thatmy intuition tells me that the map is going to play an importantpart in our journey, I should not have been in favor of making acopy of it, so take good care of the copy, Elfreda dear. "

The rest of the evening was spent in discussing their mysteriousfind and all sorts of theories were advanced for the box beingburied by the leaning cross. Hi Lang listened to all of this, butmade no comment. He had his own ideas on the subject. 

Next morning Hi was out long before the others were awake, makingan investigation on his own account. He had barely begun thiswhen, upon glancing up, he saw the solitary horseman far out onthe desert, sitting motionless, apparently observing the camp ofthe Overland Riders. 

The guide took his time at what he was doing, at the same timekeeping a watchful eye on the distant horseman. 

"I thought so!" exclaimed Hi Lang. "I think I'll give that fellowa run, " he decided after a moment's reflection, during which heobserved the watcher narrowly. 

Catching up his pony, the guide quickly saddled, and, mounting, started across the desert at a brisk gallop. Five minutes laterthe solitary horseman turned his pony about and dashed away. Hithrew up his rifle and sent a bullet after the man, continuing tofire until the magazine of his rifle was emptied. 

After reloading Hi thrust the rifle into its saddle boot and rodeon until he reached the point from which the horseman had beenobserving. Hi Lang got down and again examined the hoof-prints ofthe watcher's pony. 

"Huh!" he grunted. "That cayuse will keep on until something hitshim--hits him hard. I reckon I begin to smell a mouse, and I thinkMrs. Gray does, too. Hope she didn't hear me shooting back there. But none of that outfit is so sleepy or thick-headed that theydon't see or hear pretty much everything that's going on aboutthem. "

Having freed his mind, Hi remounted and rode slowly back towardsthe camp. The Chinaman was getting breakfast when Mr. Lang rode inand tethered his pony. 

"Pack up right after breakfast. We've got a long journey to-day, "he directed. 

Ping nodded his understanding and went on with his work, hummingto himself. Half an hour later the Riders began to appear, eachwith a cheery good morning for their guide and adviser. 

Grace and Elfreda came out together. Miss Briggs paused to chatwith the guide, Grace walking on and strolling about to get anappetite, as she nearly always did in the early morning. 

Hi Lang observed her narrowly when Grace halted by the cross andstood gazing down at it thoughtfully. 

"I wonder who you are, unhappy traveler?" she was murmuring. "Iwonder, too, if there are any who are wondering where you are?"Grace observed that the ground had been disturbed since last shesaw it, but she made no comment when, a few moments later, shejoined Mr. Lang and Elfreda. 

"Grace, I was just asking Mr. Lang who it was that was shootingthis morning, " greeted Elfreda. 

"I presume he told you it was a mirage of your dreams, did henot?" smiled Grace teasingly. 

"It was Mr. Lang who did the shooting, " replied Elfreda. "Grace, our mysterious horseman was on the job again this morning. "

"Did you hit him?" questioned Grace. 

Hi Lang shook his head. 

"Too far away. Knew I couldn't get him. All I expected to do wasto give him a polite hint that his attentions were displeasing tous. It was the same man that has been following us all along, Mrs. Gray. It was the same hoofprints, too, that I found up in therange where we first made camp. If that critter and I ever getclose enough to see each other's eyes there's going to be ashooting match. When we get to the hills he will have theadvantage of us, because he can get closer without being seen. "

"Please don't worry, Mr. Lang. We will meet that emergency when wecome face to face with it. Perhaps by then I may have skill enoughwith the lasso to practice on a real live man, " laughed Grace. 

"I reckon you could get most anything you cast for already. "

"Thank you! When do we start?"

"Right away. Just as soon as we finish breakfast. Ping is packingup and we will be off in no time. "

Breakfast had been eaten, and in something less than twentyminutes from that time, the party was well on its way, and thesun, red and angry, was showing its upper rim above the sands ofthe desert. 

"A hot time on the old desert to-day, " observed Hippy. "Emma, howwould you like a dish of strawberry ice cream for luncheon?" heteased. 

"I think you are real mean, " pouted Emma. 

Grace, at this juncture, galloped up beside the guide to ask himabout the water hole that they were hoping to reach, that day, butfrom his shake of the head she knew that he was not particularlyhopeful about finding water there. 

"It should be easy for you to nose out a water tank, Mr. Lang, "she said, smiling over at him. 

"How so?"

"You are so successful in unraveling the mysteries of nature thatyou surely should be able to discover water even where there isn'tany. "

"What are you driving at, Mrs. Gray?"

"I have an idea that you solved at least one mystery thismorning. "

Hi Lang flushed a little under his tan and shook his head. 

"There's no use trying to keep anything from you, and there's noreason that I know of, why I should. No one is buried in thatplace where we found the box. The cross was set up to keep peopleaway so they wouldn't find the box with the gold and the map. Itwas my idea that we should find it to be so. How did you know?"

"I saw what you had been doing, " answered Grace. "What do youthink is the most important contents of the box, the gold?"

"No. I reckon the map might be a sight more valuable than thehandful of gold if one knew where to find the place that the mappictures. There's a heap of bad actors down this way, Mrs. Gray. They are regular land pirates. We call them desert pirates. They'dmurder a man for two bits, and I reckon that maybe they hadsomething to do with that place back there, and that the fellowwho owned the map, when he saw the pirates coming, buried it sothey shouldn't find it. "

"Then this is another mystery for us to solve, Mr. Lang--themystery of the buried map. I suppose you have discovered that thegirls of the Overland Riders are possessed of the usual curiosityof their sex, have you not?"

Hi laughed silently. 

"You've got a poser this time. 'Fraid your curiosity won't begratified, so far as that map is concerned, but I reckon you'llfind so much doing before long that you will forget all about thisparticular mystery. We are not being watched out of merecuriosity, Mrs. Gray, " declared the guide. 

"I am well aware of that, Mr. Lang, " replied Grace Harlowegravely. 

CHAPTER XVIII

AN OLD INDIAN TRICK

It was the most trying day of their journey that the Overlanderswere experiencing, because of the heat and the fact that they weregetting further and further below sea level. The heat was alifeless heat, and the members of the outfit found themselvesnodding and swaying in their saddles, keeping awake only by mucheffort. 

"Water only five miles away, " called Hippy Wingate late in theafternoon in a cheerful voice. "Wake up, Overlanders! Hi says wewill be there before sundown. "

A little later the party broke into a gallop, leaving Ping Wingand his lazy burros far to the rear of them. They were nowcrossing that arid region known as the Pahute Mesa, and, just overthe horizon, lay a series of broken mountain ranges, wild, cut offfrom civilization, and shunned by all save those whose duty, fancyor love of adventure called them there. On beyond these the desertagain took up its monotonous reach, hotter, more deadly thanbefore. Just now, however, the thoughts of the Overland Riderswere on the water hole for which they were heading, and, next inimportance, the cool mountain ranges. Hi Lang beckoned to Grace toride up to him. 

"What is it, Mr. Lang?" she asked. 

"Please caution the young ladies to be sparing of the water. "

"Why, it isn't possible that we are short of water, " protestedGrace. 

"We may be. "

"Will you please explain? Your words intimate that you may havediscovered something. "

"I saw dust rising from the desert over yonder, a short time ago. It moved along in a little cloud to the westward and finallydisappeared. "

"Do you think it was our mysterious horseman?" asked Grace. 

"Maybe. There was more than one horse, as I could tell from thedust kicked up. "

Grace asked what relation that had to the shortage of water. 

"Just this, Mrs. Gray. That cloud rose--and I saw it the instantit appeared--from about where the tank that we are heading forshould be. That's all. Of course I don't know what those folkswere doing there, but I am warning you to go easy on the water. "

Grace thanked him and rode over to her companions to caution themto be sparing of the water, saying that it were possible that theymight be short of it, though Grace confessed to herself that shedid not see how even a visit of the desert "pirates" to a waterhole possibly could prevent her outfit from getting sufficientwater for their use. Of course, if there were but little water inthe tank it might take a long time to get enough for the ponies. 

"Something has occurred, has it not?" questioned Elfreda in a tonebarely loud enough for Grace to hear. 

"Mr. Lang saw a cloud of dust that aroused his suspicion. Theguide has something of an imagination, " added Grace, smiling ather perspiring companion. 

After a little Hi Lang ordered the party to drop into a slowerpace, saying that he wished to save the ponies so far as possible. 

"Dismount, but wait before you unpack, " directed the guide, whenthe party arrived at the water hole. 

"Girls, please stay where you are for the present, " called Grace. 

"What's the big idea?" demanded Hippy Wingate. 

"Mr. Lang wishes to see if any one has been here. He thought hesaw a dust cloud in this direction this afternoon and desires tohave a look around, so don't stamp about and destroy the trail, ifthere is such a thing, " admonished Grace. 

Hi Lang got down in the water hole, and for a few moments was outof their sight. He rose finally and clambered out, his facewearing a stern expression, and Grace saw at once that the guidewas trying desperately to control his temper. 

Without so much as looking at the Overlanders, Hi Lang begannosing about, now and then bending over to peer at the ground, stepping cautiously, following a crooked course, all of whichexcited Hippy Wingate's merriment. 

"He works just like a dog does when the rabbit season opens, "declared the lieutenant. "What's he up to?"

"Looking for trouble, " suggested Emma. 

Hi followed the trail he had picked up some little distance out onthe desert, which the light of the full moon enabled him to do. Hethen stood up and gazed at the sky for a brief moment. 

"Unsaddle and make camp, " he directed tersely. 

"Did you find what you expected?" asked Grace. 

"Yes. I'll tell you about it as soon as we make camp. "

"How's the water?" called Hippy. 

"There isn't a drop in the tank, Lieutenant. Ping, you will givethe ponies about a quart apiece from our supply, no more. We willstake down now. "

Camp was quickly made and the bacon was frying over a small, flickering cook-fire a few moments afterward. Efforts to be merryat supper that night were a failure, and Hi Lang was unusuallytaciturn. 

"May we hear the worst now, Mr. Lang?" asked Grace as theyfinished the meal. 

"As I told you, there is no water in the tank, but the sand isstill moist, showing that there was water there a short timesince. "

"Some one must have been rather dry, " observed Hippy, but no onelaughed at his humor. 

"There probably was not much water left there after the partybefore us finished helping themselves, but there would have beensufficient for us if they had left the tank alone. They tamperedwith it, folks!"

"How do you mean, Hi?" questioned Lieutenant Wingate. 

"By digging in and poking about in the tank they have managed tostart the water seeping deeper into the ground until it finallyfound a new course and disappeared. It's an old Indian trickthey've worked on us. "

"Is it possible that men can be so desperate?" wondered AnneNesbit. 

"Men!" exploded the guide. "They're not men. They're low-downhounds!"

"Why should they wish to do these things to us?" demanded Nora, flushing with resentment. 

"There were three men in the party this time, one being the samefellow that has followed us most of the way out here. I don't knowwho the others are. It isn't so much the water that's bothering meas it is that they don't come out and face us if they have agrudge to settle with us. I'm ready to meet them and I reckon youfolks are too. "

"I think it would be a relief to have them do so, " agreed ElfredaBriggs. "This constant tormenting gets on one's nerves after atime. "

"What is your plan? I know you have one, Mr. Lang, " spoke upGrace. 

"The clouds are making up in the south, and in a couple of hoursthey will hide the moon. It isn't advisable to do anything untilthe night gets good and dark, so I suggest that you folks lie downand get some rest, for we have a long, hard ride ahead of us. "

"To-night? Ride to-night?" questioned Emma. 

"Yes. Ride and ride hard. Even the lazy burros have got to get amove on. We must ride all night to-night, and when day dawns wemust be in or near Forty-Mile Canyon. Then let those pirates findus if they can. They will find us sooner or later, in allprobability, but by that time we shall be doing some stalking onour own account. You see, they will be expecting to find us herein the morning, but we shall be far on our journey by then, " saidthe guide. 

"What! Ride all night?" demanded Emma. "I'll die! I surely will. "

"And probably all day to-morrow, " nodded the guide. "I will startthe Chinaman on his way the moment the sky becomes overcast, andwe will follow an hour or so later. You folks will have that muchlonger to sleep. Good-night, folks. " Hi got up abruptly and walkedaway to give his orders to Ping Wing. 

"This is where we link arms with trouble, " observed Miss Briggs, with a shake of the head. 

"Stick by me. I have a rope and I know how to throw it, J. Elfredadear, " replied Grace Harlowe laughingly. 

CHAPTER XIX

THE WARNING

"Turn out!" It was Hi Lang's voice that summoned the girls fromtheir tents, and a far from welcome summons it was, for they weresleeping soundly. 

"Lieutenant, the ponies are saddled and ready, " said the guide, halting at Hippy's tent. "Please give the Riders the tentequipment to carry and assist them to lash the stuff on. Everything else has gone forward. "

"All right, old ma-an. Can't give me five minutes for a cat-nap, can you?" begged Hippy. 

"Turn out!" Hippy yawned and got up. The night was now pitch dark, and Lieutenant Wingate fell over tent stakes and ropes andwhatever else was handy for him to catch his toes on, as hestaggered about aimlessly. 

Bethinking himself of the guide's orders, Hippy suddenly beganpulling up the stakes from the girls' tent and let it down ontheir heads. Emma Dean cried out, which brought a stern commandfor silence from Mr. Lang. Following that, there was not a soundin the camp during the next fifteen minutes. 

"Packs lashed to ponies behind saddles, " announced Hippy. "Partyready to move. "

"Mount and follow me. No loud talking, please; light no matches. You understand why I am so strict?" said the guide in anapologetic tone. 

"We understand fully, Mr. Lang, " replied Grace in a low voice. 

"Start!" he commanded. 

The start was made at a jog-trot, which, after a few minutes, waschanged to a gallop. This pace was continued for some time, butfinally the guide slowed down and began peering into the darkness, looking for Ping and his burros. Elfreda marveled at the almostuncanny instinct of their guide, and how Ping could lay a coursethat could be followed in the dark was a mystery to her. She askedHi Lang how it was done. 

"See that red star over on the horizon, Miss Briggs? Ping isinstructed to keep that star between the ears of his burro and notto wobble. By keeping the same star between the ears of my broncoI am bound to overhaul Ping, provided he has held to his course. Iam, however, allowing for some deviation and keeping a closelookout. "

It was not more than ten minutes after that when Mr. Langdiscovered the Chinaman and his burden bearers plodding along lessthan a hundred yards to the right of the course that the OverlandRiders were following. Ping, though he had heard the party comingup, held to his course until directed to fall in behind them. 

"A mariner following a compass course could do no better thanthat, " declared Grace Harlowe. 

"It really is marvelous, though Mr. Lang doesn't think so, "replied Elfreda. 

From that point on the journey was slow and wearisome. No onecomplained, however, and the ponies with their riders movedthrough the night like specters of the desert. 

The first leaden streaks in the sky in the east next morning foundthe Overland Riders still a long distance from their objective, the clouds not having darkened the moon as early in the evening asHi Lang had hoped they might do, thus delaying the start. 

"I see nothing to interest us, " announced Grace after a survey ofthe desert with her glasses. 

"Neither do I. Reckon that spy will be surprised when he makes hismorning call and finds us gone, " chuckled the guide. "Yonder arethe mountains where we turn in, " he added, pointing. 

"I thought that was a cloud on the horizon, " said Miss Briggs. "How far is it from here?"

"About five miles. We'll be there in two hours. Mrs. Gray, willyou use your glasses occasionally as we go ahead? Stop now andthen and take your time in making observations. You can catch upwith us without straining the pony, I reckon, " grinned the guide. 

"Don't we stop for breakfast soon?" begged Emma. 

"Tighten your belt, " answered the guide. "It may be some hoursbefore we can settle down for rest and food. "

Emma groaned dismally, and Hippy looked serious. Missing a mealmeant taking a good part of the joy of living from his day. 

Sweltering heat followed the rising of the sun, and, as it lightedup the desert with its glare, Grace stopped and began her surveyof the horizon as requested by the guide. She sat her pony untilshe had carefully examined it all the way around. 

"All clear, so far as I can see, Mr. Lang, " she said, riding up tohim. 

Hi nodded, but made no comment, for he could read the desertbetter than could Grace Harlowe with her powerful binoculars. 

It was eight o'clock in the morning when finally they turned intoForty-Mile Canyon and began picking their way over the roughground. The desert heat followed them until the walls of thecanyon rose sheer for several hundred feet, and they came to acascade that, falling into the canyon, became a mountain brook. Here there was a marked change in the temperature. 

"Dismount and water the horses; then we will press on, " directedthe guide. "Drink cautiously yourselves. This water is too cold tobe gulped down and will chill your blood if you take too much ofit. Do not let the ponies have all they want, either. "

"You mean to say that we will go on after breakfast, do you not?"questioned Lieutenant Wingate. 

"No. We move in ten minutes. "

"Humph! France in wartime was living. This is--well, I don'tbelieve my vocabulary is quite equal to the occasion, " declaredHippy. 

"Do we go the entire length of this canyon, Mr. Lang?" askedGrace. 

"No. There are several trails leading out of it, but I shall nottake the first one. I prefer to take the second or third trail, perhaps just before night. Whoever is interested in us will surelyfind our trail leading into Forty-Mile Canyon and will follow it, but by the time they reach, say the second turning-off path, thecanyon will be as dark as a dungeon. They will then either makecamp for the night or turn back, believing that we are going allthe way through the canyon. "

Elfreda nodded her appreciation of the guide's reasoning. 

"With the easier traveling on the desert, which they probably willfollow, they will be able to take their time, knowing that theycan head us off at the lower end of the canyon. You see, astraight line isn't always the shortest distance between twopoints so far as time is concerned, " smiled Hi Lang. 

"But we won't come out at the lower end, eh?" nodded Hippy. 

"You said it, Lieutenant. "

"I always say something rather brilliant before mess, " observedHippy airily. 

"Yes, but after mess you are afflicted with what might be called a'fat mind, '" interjected Emma Dean. 

Hippy grinned and took up another hole in his belt. 

From that point on, the ponies traveled in the mountain stream. 

"There's no need to be quiet here. Make all the noise you wish, "suggested the guide. 

"May I scream?" called Emma. 

Hi Lang nodded, and Emma uttered a wild cowboy yell which sostartled her pony that the little fellow jumped, and, losing hisfooting on a slippery rock, went down on his nose. Emma landed inthe stream, and for a few moments there was excitement among theOverland Riders, Hippy and Grace succeeding in rescuing Emma andholding her pony before serious results could follow. Emma, however, was soaked to the skin; her hair was wet and tumbled, andin a short time her face took on a bluish tinge from her duckingin the icy cold stream. 

"Serves you right, " declared Hippy Wingate. "Anybody who can makea noise like that before breakfast ought to be ducked. "

"Were it not that the water is so cold, I should be inclined toagree with you, " laughed Grace. 

After the girls had walked Emma about to get her bloodcirculating, a fresh start was made. Thereafter the journey wasuninterrupted until darkness began to settle over the canyon. Inpassing, the guide had pointed out in turn three trails leading upthe mountainside, but the Overlanders were unable to see anythingthat resembled a trail in any one of them. When they reached thefourth trail Hi ordered a halt while he investigated it. 

"We shall leave the canyon by this trail. You will have to climbthe mountain and lead your ponies, " directed the guide on hisreturn. "It will be a hard climb, but it has to be made. I'll leadthe way. Dismount and follow me. "

Night had fully fallen when, after a desperately hard climb, thetop of the mountain was reached. The Overlanders were tired andhungry, but they were not to have their supper yet. Hi pusheddeeper into the mountains before he found a place to his liking. Then they had supper and soon after were sound asleep. 

Before sunrise the next morning the journey was resumed. Theirobjective was the Specter Range, still a four-days' journeydistant. 

When they at last reached the range they pitched their camp on thewestern edge, overlooking an arid desert to the south, brokenmountain ranges in all other directions. 

"Did you see any trail marks at the point where we entered theSpecters, Mrs. Gray?" asked the guide of Grace. 

"No. Should I have seen something?"

"Several horsemen passed that way only a short time before wearrived, but, from the glance I got of the trail, I don't thinkthe fellow who's been dogging us was among them. "

"Who could they have been?"

"Wild horse hunters, maybe. There're plenty of them and they'reusually a tough bunch. I'll scout about and see what else I candiscover. "

Mr. Lang discovered nothing of importance, nor was the campdisturbed that night. 

Early next morning Grace went out to familiarize herself withtheir surroundings and also to try to shoot some game, for theparty needed fresh meat. She had gone only a short distance when, her gaze focused on a yucca tree ahead. Fastened to the tree was asheet of paper, evidently recently put there, and on this was acrudely drawn heart with a bullet hole through it. Beneath theheart were scrawled the words:

 TAKE NOTICE HI LANG AND YOUR FRESH KIDS!

Grace stared in amazement for a moment, then removed the paperfrom the tree and flattened it out on a rock. Taking a pencil, shedrew a smaller heart below the one already there and filled it inentirely in black. She put the paper back in place and, drawingher revolver, put a bullet hole through the center of the blackheart. 

"I hope they'll take the hint, " she muttered, and turned backtoward the camp, knowing that the sound of her shot would causeanxiety. 

"What were you shooting at?" cried Hippy, who had started to runtoward the sound. 

"At a mark, " replied Grace truthfully. 

"Oh, all right. Breakfast's ready. "

Grace went to the stream that flowed from the foot of thewaterfall near by. The stream followed a shallow ravine for ashort distance then disappeared in a crevice in the rocks. As shewas washing her face, Grace straightened up to throw her hair outof the way. She gasped in amazement:

"Gracious, I'm getting nervous! I thought I saw a face peer outfrom behind the waterfall!"

Hi came in, stating that he had shot a bear. 

"It's a small one, and after breakfast I'll have him over here andwe'll have bear steak. "

"Did you get anything else, Mr. Lang?" asked Elfreda. 

"Well, I learned that we were not trailed here, but were headedoff. I think that's Alkali Pete's--otherwise known as SnakeMcGlory--work. Then, too, " and he turned his eyes on Grace, "I sawa black heart. "

"A black heart!" was the cry. 

After the story was told Anne asked:

"Do you know what it means?"

"No, Mrs. Nesbit. But keep away from the yucca tree. A gun may betrained on the spot. Never be without your weapons in thiscountry, " he warned, "and keep eyes and ears open. " Then he leftthem, to go for the bear. 

Grace walked to the waterfall with Elfreda. 

"Grace Harlowe Gray, I've been studying that map, " Elfreda said. "Look here. I think this is the very place meant. "

"Oh, Elfreda, I believe you're right!" cried Grace after studyingthe map, which Elfreda put before her, for a moment. "There's thepyramid rock and the waterfall. Yonder are the three rocksdesignated as 'the three bears, ' and there's the trunk of what wasa yucca tree, and the stream disappears just a few yards beyondus--'stream's end, ' as it says on the map! Elfreda---"

"Grace, look! A rag doll over there on that boulder!" interruptedElfreda. 

The two girls went over. The doll was soiled, but had evidentlynot lain out in the weather. 

"Shall we take it in?" asked Elfreda. 

"No; leave it where the child put it. But we'd better keep watchon the place. It's queer to find a child's toy here, and while itmay mean little, it may mean much. "

When the two girls returned to camp they found that Hi was justback with the bear. 

"Oh, girls! Hippy! Mr. Lang!" and the two in chorus fairly spilledout the story of the face seen by Grace back of the waterfall andthe doll and their belief that the map was of the place on whichthey now camped. 

Hi Lang took the map and studied it intently. 

"It surely is, " he finally announced. 

"What does the map mean?" questioned Anne. 

"Oh, I guess there'd been rumors of gold or silver, and some one, believing the stories, made a map, maybe by hearsay, maybe atfirst hand. Maybe he talked too much, and some other fellowknocked him on the head and took it. "

"Don't you think there's anything in it?" inquired Emma Deandisappointedly. 

"Oh, maybe so, maybe not. Can't say. "

After lunch Grace donned hip boots and went down toward the fall. Seeing Elfreda there intent on the map, she announced:

"I'm going wading, Elfreda. Want to come?"

"Emphatically not. Do your boots leak?"

"I'll tell you in a moment, " laughed Grace, stepping into thewater. "All right, so far, " she called, wading toward the fall. 

Grace thrust her bare arms through the sheet of water pouring fromabove, groping for the rocks behind. 

Sharp screams, at first loud and piercing, an instant latermuffled and seeming far away, brought Elfreda to her feet. Gracewas nowhere to be seen. 

"Help! Grace has gone in!" shouted Elfreda, plunging into the coldwater. 

CHAPTER XX

CONCLUSION

Hippy heard. Hi, farther away, heard. Both ran through the bushes. Anne, Nora, and Emma sped to the stream. 

Hippy and Elfreda were searching the bottom of the stream, whichwas not more than three feet deep. Hi stopped them and askedElfreda to tell what she knew. 

"Both hands were thrust through the fall like this, " and Elfredathrust her own hands through the sheet of water. "I was looking atthe map when I heard her scream. Looking up, she had disappeared. "

Lang nodded and plunged through the waterfall. Those on theoutside heard a shot, followed almost instantly by a second one. At the sound Elfreda and Hippy plunged through the fall. Near thebase of the fall was no wall of rock behind the water. Instead, atunnel-like cave led into the mountain. Elfreda gasped and Hippylooked in amazement. Grace lay on the floor of the cave and HiLang had a man flown and was beating him, while a little girl wastrying to aid the man by striking Hi over the head and shoulderswith a stick. 

Wingate snatched the stick from her. The child shrank back, andHi, realizing that he was going too far, ceased beating the man. 

"The fellow struck Mrs. Gray with the butt of a revolver, Ireckon, then shot at me. I put a bullet through his shoulder and weclinched. How's Mrs. Gray, Miss Briggs?"

"I'll have her around in a few minutes, " answered Elfredaconfidently. "Who's the man and what is he?"

"Some crazy loon. Strong as a giant, too. Here, you!" to the childreaching toward the man's revolver that lay on the floor. "I'lltake that. Is this man your father?"

The child nodded. 

"What's your name, kid?"

"Lindy Silver. "

"He grabbed my hands and jerked me into the cave. Then he struckme, " explained Grace, who had opened her eyes and now sat up. 

"The scoundrel!" exclaimed Hi, jerking the man to his feet. 

At Hi Lang's suggestion, Hippy and the two girls went up to thecamp. It was an hour later when the guide joined them. 

"The fellow's name is not Silver. He's Steve Carver, " Hi informedhis hearers. "He's loony. He didn't say so, but he thinks he has aclaim that's valuable. He declared, too, that we're here to robhim and threatened to get us if we didn't move on at once. "

"Was it he who put the paper on the yucca tree?" questionedElfreda. 

"No, he didn't do that. "

"Then we have other foes, " said Grace slowly. 

"What a shame to let Lindy live like a wild animal, " broke inElfreda. 

"Perhaps we can do something for her, " responded Grace. 

Just then a revolver, fired close at hand, sent a bullet a fewinches from Nora's head. Then came a rattling fire of rifle shots. The rifle bullets were going high, possibly due to the fact thatthey were being fired from a point higher than the camp. 

The men, armed only with revolvers, had gone from the camp at therevolver shot. 

"Quick, Elfreda!" cried Grace. "Rifles and ammunition for all. ForHi and Hippy, too. We're being attacked!"

"Him come along, " chirped Ping Wing, trotting up to Elfreda with arifle in either hand and two belts of ammunition. 

"Take them to the men, " ordered Elfreda. 

Grace took command of her Overland Riders and placed them atadvantageous points out of sight behind rocks and bushes. From herown position Grace saw a head and a pair of shoulders above themon the ridge and a rifle aimed toward the spot where Anne wasstationed. 

Before the fellow could fire there was a report near at hand. 

"Got him!" exclaimed the guide. 

"Now we'll get it!" muttered Grace. 

They did. Bullets from the ridge above them rained on the foliageand the rocks about the campers, but so far none was hurt, thoughthey could tell that several of the attackers received bulletwounds when raising their own rifles in order to fire. 

Creeping closer to Hi Lang, Grace held a whispered consultation, suggesting to him that they try to flank their opponents and todrive them toward the camp where it would be possible to capturethem. This was agreed to, but at Elfreda's suggestion they decidedto wait until darkness fell. 

When night came there was shooting from the ridge, but the returnfire came only from one rifle, that of Ping Wing. Even this ceasedin about half an hour, but by that time the Overlanders met in therear of the party on the ridge. Here they spread out and began tomove cautiously toward the camp, hoping to come upon theirattackers, either singly or together, and drive them before them. 

Grace had gone a short distance when she saw a man rise suddenlyabout ten feet in front of her. Without a sound she rose and, slipping her revolver to her left hand, grasped her lasso with herright. It was a true throw, and the rope fell over the man'sshoulders, pinning his arms to his sides. Without a moment'shesitation, the girl snubbed the lasso about a tree and, holdingit firmly, fired three signal shots into the air. 

The man was heavy, and the best Grace could do was to keep therope taut, taking up the slack when the fellow tried to rolltoward her to loosen the strain. 

"I'll get you for this!" raged the ruffian. 

"Keep quiet or I'll get you first. "

Rifles began to bang toward the camp. Three sides were engaged, soit seemed to Grace, judging by the sound. What was the meaning ofthat?

The sound of voices presently reached her ears. The prisonerheard, too, and began, to stir. 

"Keep quiet!" ordered Grace. "One sound from you and I will shoot. Understand?"

"Yes, " he muttered, and sank back. 

Grace strained her ears. Were the men of her party or of that ofthe roped villain? To her relief the men--apparently only two ofthem--passed by without discovering her and her prisoner, and he, intimidated, kept quiet. 

Suddenly a loud, penetrating "Coo-e-e-e-e!" woke the echoes of themountains. It was the call of the cowboy, a friendly, thrillingsound. 

A moment of silence, then "Overla-a-a-and!"

"Overla-a-a-and!" cried Grace joyfully. "Careful, man. I can yelland shoot at the same time, " she told her prisoner, who had moved. 

Two men came running over the rocks. 

"Mrs. Gray!" shouted the guide. 

"Here! Careful! I have a prisoner!"

"Hullo, kid, " cried a familiar voice. 

"That's Bud Thomas's voice! The man who gave me this lasso, "answered Grace, laughing joyously, if a bit hysterically. 

"Sure, it's me. And a lot of the other boys!"

The two men came over to Grace's side. 

"Hello, kid. You're a smart one. That fellow's Snake McGlory, thehombre we boys came out to get. "

The fighting was over, for the members of McGlory's gang, for suchthey were, were captured, some of them wounded. 

"Steve Carver got his, " said Lang, on the way back to camp, thetwo men seeing that McGlory went quietly. "He was the fellow whoshot at us and some of this man's gang got him, probably thinkinghe was one of our outfit. "

"Oh, poor little Lindy!" murmured Grace. 

Back at the camp Grace had to tell her story. 

"And I caught him because you boys gave me that lasso. Wasn't Ithankful that I had the rope and had learned to use it! But howdid you boys happen to come along?"

It seemed, according to Bud's story, that Belle Bates, the wife ofthe bandit whom Grace had wounded when he attacked the OverlandRiders on the Apache Trail the summer before was the sister ofSnake McGlory. It was she, bent on vengeance, who had instigatedthe trailing of the party and the attack on them. Snake and hisgang were delighted with their task. Through a girl of ShoshonePete's whom Belle liked and confided in, the cowboys had learnedof the plan and set forth to prevent its accomplishment. 

The prisoners were taken to the county seat, and in time receivedprison sentences for their many crimes in the countryside. 

Hi Lang spent some hours in the cave, and when he came back toldthe girls that Carver had not been "loony" after all, for in thecave he found silver, and, time proved, a considerable vein. 

Lindy grieved over her father's death. But the Overland Riderstook her in charge, first registering the mine in her name, inducing HI Lang to see to it that it was later worked. The childwas sent to school, the Overland Riders being appointed herguardians by the court. 

"But now we are to head for home, " said Grace, leaning over hercamp outfit. 

"Ping Wing is pleased over that prospect. Listen to his song, "laughed Elfreda. 

All stopped their work to watch the Chinaman pack his stores, singing as he did so:

 "Supposey you makee listen to my singee one piecee sing. Me makee he first-chop fashion, about the glate Ping Wing; He blavest man in desert side, or any side about; Me bettee you five dolla', HAI! ha blavest party out. "

THE END