"I could," said Hard, "but I'd rather not. I'd like to rest it for a couple of hours if I could. Scott, suppose you walk and let them ride and leave me here. There's a shady-looking spot over in those cottonwoods and I'll just rest there till I'm able to hobble back to the Soria place. You can send for me there." "There's a trail just above here that goes over and strikes the one we came on about eight miles from Athens," said Scott, doubtfully. "I've never traveled it, but Gomez told me about it last year. Rough, he said, but navigable. I guess that's what we'd better do, Hard, leave you here and I'll walk." "How far is it?" asked Mrs. Conrad. "Oh, twenty miles, maybe. It cuts off a good deal." "You shan't walk twenty miles on a rough trail, my dear man, if I can prevent it," said Clara, firmly. "You and Polly must ride, and I'll stay here with Henry. Now, please! I'm at home in this country and I'm not afraid." There was a pause, then Scott said: "I guess she's right, Hard. They don't either of 'em ride well enough to tackle a strange trail alone, and if I walk it will delay sending back for you. One of us had better ride the trail with Polly, while the other stays at Soria's with Mrs. Conrad." After a little more discussion it was decided that Scott and Polly should go, while the other two returned, after Hard had rested a bit, to the Soria place. Scott moved the suitcases which Clara had brought over to the little nook made by the cottonwoods, where they could be left until someone came with the Athens wagon, and helped Hard to hobble over there. Then, feeling rather as though they had deserted their friends, and yet not knowing what else to do, Scott and Polly rode away. CHAPTER XIV THE TRAIL In after years, Scott was wont to say that he distrusted the trail recommended by Gomez from the moment his horse started to travel it. "It was one of those trails that didn't look right--from the first," he would say with a reminiscent inflection. As a matter of fact, however, the trail looked innocent enough at the first glance, and Scott's pessimism may be laid partly to the circumstances under which the trip was attempted and partly to the fact that Scott almost always hated to change his mind. "How long will it be, do you suppose, before you can send back for the others?" queried Polly, as they rode away. "Well, we ought to make Athens to-night," replied Scott, thoughtfully. "Tom could start back with our wagon early in the morning. Cochise and this fellow I'm riding, Jasper, could make it." "They'll have to stay at the Sorias' all night. They'll be very uncomfortable." "Oh, I don't know. They're neither of them tenderfeet. They'll get along." "It'll be very romantic, of course, and very exciting," sighed Polly. "Romantic? Why?" "Well, people have a way of making love to widows," said Polly, wistfully. "And anybody with half an eye can see that he likes her."