The constable swung toward the Montanan.  His eyes bored into those of the prisoner.  Would this man keep his parole or not?  He would find out pretty soon.

“Saddle up, Morse.  I’ll pack my kit.  We’ll hit the trail.”

“Listen.”  Jessie stood a moment, head lifted.  “What’s that?”

Onistah moved a step forward, so that for a moment the firelight flickered over the copper-colored face.  Tom Morse made a discovery.  This man was the Blackfoot he had rescued from the Crees.

“Horses,” the Indian said, and held up the fingers of both hands to indicate the numbers.  “Coming up creek.  Here soon.”

“We’ll move back to the big rocks and I’ll make a stand there,” the officer told the whiskey-runner.  “Slap the saddles on without cinching.  We’ve got no time to lose.”  His voice lost its curtness as he turned to the girl.  “Miss McRae, I’ll not forget this.  Very likely you’ve saved my life.  Now you and Onistah had better slip away quietly.  You mustn’t be seen here.”

“Why mustn’t I?” she asked quickly.  “I don’t care who sees me.”

She looked at Morse as she spoke, head up, with that little touch of scornful defiance in the quivering nostrils that seemed to express a spirit free and unafraid.  The sense of superiority is generally not a lovely manifestation in any human being, but there are moments when it tells of something fine, a disdain of actions low and mean.

Morse strode away to the place where the horses were picketed.  He could hear voices farther down the creek, caught once a snatch of words.

“... must be somewheres near, I tell you.”

Noiselessly he slipped on the saddles, pulled the picket-pins, and moved toward the big rocks.

The place was a landmark.  The erosion of the ages had played strange tricks with the sandstone.  The rocks rose like huge red toadstools or like prehistoric animals of vast size.  One of them was known as the Three Bears, another as the Elephant.

Among these boulders Morse found the party he had just left.  The officer was still trying to persuade Jessie McRae to attempt escape.  She refused, stubbornly.

“There are three of us here.  Onistah is a good shot.  So am I. For that matter, if anybody is going to escape, it had better be you,” she said.

“Too late now,” Morse said.  “See, they’ve found the camp-fire.”

Nine or ten riders had come out of the darkness and were approaching the camping-ground.  West was in the lead.  Morse recognized Barney and Brad Stearns.  Two of the others were half-breeds, one an Indian trailer of the Piegan tribe.

“He must ‘a’ heard us comin’ and pulled out,” Barney said.

“Then he’s back in the red rocks,” boomed West triumphantly.

“Soon find out.”  Brad Stearns turned the head of his horse toward the rocks and shouted.  “Hello, Tom!  You there?”

No answer came from the rocks.