She did not hear him. Her ears were attuned to voices floating to her across the desert. Of course she was beginning to wander in her mind. She knew that. There could be no other human beings in this sea of loneliness. They were alone; just they two, the degenerate ruffian and his victim. Still, it was strange. She certainly had imagined the murmur of people talking. It must be the beginning of delirium. “Do you hear me?” screamed Struve, striking her on the cheek with his fist. “I'm your master and you're my squaw.” She did not cringe as he had expected, nor did she show fight. Indeed the knowledge of the blow seemed scarcely to have penetrated her mental penumbra. She still had that strange waiting aspect, but her eyes were beginning to light with new-born hope. Something in her manner shook the man's confidence; a dawning fear swept away his bluster. He, too, was now listening intently. Again the low murmur, beyond a possibility of doubt. Both of them caught it. The girl opened her throat in a loud cry for help. An answering shout came back clear and strong. Struve wheeled and started up the arroyo, bending in and out among the cactus till he disappeared over the brow. Two horsemen burst into sight, galloping down the steep trail at breakneck speed, flinging down a small avalanche of shale with them. One of them caught sight of the girl, drew up so short that his horse slid to its haunches, and leaped from the saddle in a cloud of dust. He ran toward her, and she to him, hands out to meet her rescuer. “Why didn't you come sooner? I've waited so long,” she cried pathetically, as his arms went about her. “You poor lamb! Thank God we're in time!” was all he could say. Then for the first time in her life she fainted. The other rider lounged forward, a hat in his hand that he had just picked up close to the fire. “We seem to have stampeded part of this camping party. I'll just take a run up this hill and see if I can't find the missing section and persuade it to stay a while. I don't reckon you need me hyer, do you?” he grinned, with a glance at Neill and his burden. “All right. You'll find me here when you get back, Fraser,” the other answered. Larry carried the girl to the water-hole and set her down beside it. He sprinkled her face with water, and presently her lids trembled and fluttered open. She lay there with her head on his arm and looked at him quite without surprise. “How did you find me?” “Mainly luck. We followed your trail to where we found the rig. After that it was guessing where the needle was in the haystack It just happened we were cutting across country to water when we heard a shot.” “That must have been when he fired at me,” she said. “My God! Did he shoot at you?” “Yes. Where is he now?” She shuddered. “Cutting over the hills with Steve after him.” “Steve?” “My friend, Lieutenant Fraser. He is an officer in the ranger force.”