"Never mind about that now. Go down into the wash and bring up my horse. It needs water." She hesitated. "You're not going to hurt him, Steve?" "That's between him and me. Do as I say." Ruth scarcely recognized in this grim, hard-faced man with the blazing eyes the gay youth whom she knew at home. She felt in his manner the steel of compulsion. Without further protest she moved to obey him. She was fearful of what was about to take place, but her heart leaped with gladness. Steve was alive and strong. It was not true that he lay with the life ebbing out of him, all the supple strength stolen from his well-knit body. For the moment that was happiness enough. Harrison, watching with narrowed eyes the stone-wall face of his captor, jeered at him hardily. "Now you got a strangle holt on me, what you aim to do?" "I'm going to take you back to the boys that are combing these hills for you. They'll do all that's done." The prisoner's sneer went out of commission. He did not need to ask what Arizona cowpunchers would do to him under the circumstances. "I figured your size was about a twenty-two--not big enough to fight it out alone with me. Once is a-plenty." The cave man's desire to beat down his enemy with his naked hands smouldered fiercely in the cowpuncher's heart. "Step out in front of me and saddle those horses," he ordered. Harrison looked at him murderously. His mouth was an ugly, crooked gash. Boiling with rage, he saddled, cinched, and watered the horses. Ruth had returned with Steve's pony. Her heart beat fast with excitement. An instinct told her they were about to come to grips in epic struggle. "You're mighty high-heeled now when you got a gun thrown on me. Put it in the discard and I'll beat the life out o' you," threatened the prizefighter. Not releasing the other man with his eyes, Yeager lent one hand to help Ruth mount. He gave clear, curt instructions in a level voice. "Take all three horses and ride to the edge of the mesa. Wait there. One of us--either him or me--will come up there after a while. If it's him, take all the horses and light out. Keep the moon on your left and ride straight forward till daybreak. You'll see a gash in the hills about where the sun rises. That's Sieber's Pass. The boys will be waiting for you. Understand?" "Yes, but--What are you going to do, Steve?" she cried almost in a whisper. "That's my business--and I'm going to attend to it. Keep your mind on the directions I've given. If it's Harrison that comes up over the hill, get right out with all the horses. Gimme your promise on that." Trembling, she gave it to him. "Don't you be afraid. No need of that. _It won't be him. It'll be me that comes._ But if it should be him, don't let him get close. Shoot him first. It will be to save you from worse than death. Have you got the nerve to do it?" Something in his manner, in his voice, rang a bell in her heart. She nodded, her throat too dry for speech.