It was three o’clock by Royal’s watch when he had worked to the top of a bluff which looked down upon a wooded valley.  His eyes swept the landscape and came to rest upon an object moving slowly in the mesquite.  He watched it incuriously, but his interest quickened when it came out of the bushes into a dry water-course and he discovered that the figure was that of a human being.  The person walked with an odd, dragging limp.  Presently he discerned that the traveler below was a woman and that she was pulling something after her.  For perhaps fifty yards she would keep going and then would stop.  Once she crouched down over her load.

Roy cupped his hands at his mouth and shouted.  The figure straightened alertly and looked around.  He called to her again.  His voice must have reached her very faintly.  She did not try to answer in words, but fired twice with a revolver.  Evidently she had not yet seen him.

That there was something wrong Beaudry felt sure.  He did not know what, nor did he waste any time speculating about it.  The easiest descent to the valley was around the rear of the bluff, but Roy clambered down a heavily wooded gulch a little to the right.  He saved time by going directly.

When Roy saw the woman again he was close upon her.  She was stooped over something and her back and arms showed tension.  At sound of his approach she flung up quickly the mass of inky black hair that had hidden her bent face.  As she rose it became apparent that she was tall and slender, and that the clear complexion, just now at least, was quite without color.

Moving forward through the underbrush, Beaudry took stock of this dusky nymph with surprise.  In her attitude was something wild and free and proud.  It was as if she challenged his presence even though she had summoned him.  Across his mind flashed the thought that this was woman primeval before the conventions of civilization had tamed her to its uses.

Her intent eyes watched him steadily as he came into the open.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“I was on the bluff and saw you.  I thought you were in trouble.  You limped as if—­”

He stopped, amazed.  For the first time he saw that her foot was caught in a wolf trap.  This explained the peculiarity of gait he had noticed from above.  She had been dragging the heavy Newhouse trap and the clog with her as she walked.  One glance at her face was enough to show how greatly she was suffering.

Fortunately she was wearing a small pair of high-heeled boots such as cowpunchers use, and the stiff leather had broken the shock of the blow from the steel jaws.  Otherwise the force of the released spring must have shattered her ankle.

“I can’t quite open the trap,” she explained.  “If you will help me—­”

Roy put his weight on the springs and removed the pressure of the jaws.  The girl drew out her numb leg.  She straightened herself, swayed, and clutched blindly at him.  Next moment her body relaxed and she was unconscious in his arms.