Her face was pale, her mouth was set. The doctor looked keenly at her a moment and then, comprehending, said: "All right, I will"; and in ten minutes the mudstained buckboard with a fresh horse in it was speeding over the foot of Cedar Mountain on the trail to Bylow's. * * * * * While Belle was fretting under the delay and marshalling her forces for the trip to the Corner, Hartigan lay in the quiet Bylow cabin and under the influence of cold water, coffee, and a more collected mind, gradually acquired some degree of composure. He had risen and dressed and was sadly musing on the wreck of all his life which that one fiery sip had brought about, when the thought of Blazing Star came to him. He went eagerly to the stable and as he rubbed the animal down he found help in the physical action. He hammered the currycomb on a log to clean it before putting it in the box, then gazing to the eastward along the trail that climbed around the shoulder of Cedar Mountain, he saw a buckboard approaching. In the Black Hills one identifies his visitor by his horse, and Jim recognized the Carson outfit. Sitting beside the doctor was a woman in a light-coloured dress with a red parasol raised above her. It smote him as no man's fist had ever done. He turned into the stable, put saddle and bridle on Blazing Star, swung to the seat, gave rein to the willing beast and, heading away from Cedar Mountain on the Deadwood Trail, went bounding, riding, stricken, too hard hit and shamed to meet the eyes of the woman whose praise he had come to value as the best approval he might hope to win. The doctor's buckboard came to the door, tied up, and the two occupants went in. "Where is your patient, Mrs. Bylow?" The woman pointed to the bedroom door, went to it, knocked, opened it, and finding the room empty said: "He was here a few minutes ago. I expect he is out to the stable." Belle sat down. The nervous strain of the past hours was telling on her. She felt unstrung and vaguely depressed. The doctor and Mary Bylow went to the stable. The empty stall, with no sign of saddle, bridle, or preacher, were enough. They returned to the house. In answer to Belle's look the doctor made a gesture, and said simply: "Gone." "Where?" The doctor shook his head and pointed northward. "Please tell me all about it, Mrs. Bylow," said Belle. "There is times to tell lies," said Mary naively, "but this ain't. I'll tell you the whole truth," and she did in a quivering voice, while tears ran from her eyes. "Trapped, trapped," was Belle's only comment. "Where do you suppose he went?" "Not to Cedar Mountain," said Carson, "that's sure. No one passed us." Charlie Bylow, coming into the cabin, heard the doctor's last comment. "He was heading due north and going hard when last we saw him," was his contribution.