Rather there was intensified in her that slow itch of wrath which had swept away humility. So she rode in silence with Provine’s lascivious eyes upon her from behind, and Big Basford glowering in self-centered inattention ahead. The way led close along the foot of Rainbow Cliff among the weathered debris which sifted always down the rock face, and presently she was amazed to see the wall itself seem to slice in between Basford and herself, and in another second she was riding into a very narrow defile in the living stone with Provine close upon her horse’s heels. There was just room for horse and rider in the echoing aisle and none to spare. It was dimly lighted by what seemed a crack in the earth’s surface high up among the clouds. The girl looked up in wonder. This, she knew, was the secret of Rainbow Cliff and Mystery Ridge. Despite her danger she noted the passage with keen interest. The way was short for in a few minutes the rock-walled cut turned sharply to the right and ended abruptly. Before her startled vision lay spread out a little paradise, round as a cup, green with tender grass, dotted with oak and poplar trees beside its countless springs—and grazing contentedly on its peculiarly rank forage was a band of cattle, each one of which bore on its left the “B. K.” of Bossick’s brand! But stranger than all this was the straight high wall of tinted stone which completely encircled the spot, with no opening other than the one through which she and her guard had entered. This, then, was Rainbow’s Pot of which Arnold had spoken. In utter astonishment she drew Buckskin up and looked at the “secret spot” of Sky Line Ranch. It was fair to the eye, the ear and the nostril, for the sunlight fell warm upon its farther side, the songs of a myriad birds made music in the trees and the still air was drenched with the scent of some nameless flower. It was not until she had taken it all in with a slowly comprehensive glance that she became conscious of something strange in its formation, namely—the tendency of the green-clad floor to slope from all sides smoothly down to the center where there seemed to be a cave with an overhanging edge. This slanting hole was dark in the midst of the green with the late light upon it, like the sinister entrance to some underground cavern. “Well,” said Provine amusedly, “how do you like it?” The girl did not reply, but sat still with her hands crossed on her saddle horn. The snaky eyes under the black brows lost their drowsy pleasantry. “I wouldn’t advise you, purty,” he said, “to come the high-and-mighty with me. A little kindness, now, would go a long way towards an understandin’. Get off that horse.” Without a word Nance obeyed. A little cold touch was at her inmost heart, but that tight, tense feeling of strength was still with her. She measured Provine’s shoulders with her eyes as he unsaddled the animals and turned them out to graze. She looked at his long arms, his lean and sinewy back.