A cold dread had once more clutched Lucy’s heart.  What would be the end of this flight?  The way Creech looked back increased her dread.  How horrible it would be if Cordts accomplished what he had always threatened—­to run off with both her and the King!  Lucy lost her confidence in Creech.  She did not glance again at Joel.  Once had been enough.  She rode on with heavy heart.  Anxiety and dread and conjecture and a gradual sinking of spirit weighed her down.  Yet she never had a clearer perception of outside things.  The forest loomed thicker and darker.  The sky was seen only through a green, crisscross of foliage waving in the roaring gale.  This strong wind was like a blast in Lucy’s face, and its keen dryness cracked her lips.

When they rode out of the forest, down a gentle slope of wind-swept grass, to an opening into a canyon Lucy was surprised to recognize the place.  How quickly the ride through the forest had been made!

Creech dismounted.  “Git off, Lucy.  You, Joel, hurry an’ hand me the little pack. . . .  Now I’ll take Lucy an’ the King down in hyar.  You go thet way with the hosses an’ make as if you was hidin’ your trail, but don’t.  Do you savvy?”

Joel shook his head.  He looked sullen, somber, strange.  His father repeated what he had said.

“You’re wantin’ Cordts to split on the trail?” asked Joel.

“Sure.  He’ll ketch up with you sometime.  But you needn’t be afeared if he does.”

“I ain’t a-goin’ to do thet.”

“Why not?” Creech demanded, slowly, with a rising voice.

“I’m a-goin’ with you.  What d’ye mean, Dad, by this move?  You’ll be headin’ back fer the Ford.  An’ we’d git safer if we go the other way.”

Creech evidently controlled his temper by an effort.  “I’m takin’ Lucy an’ the
King back to Bostil.”

Joel echoed those words, slowly divining them.  “Takin’ them both!  The girl. . . .  An’ givin’ up the King!”

“Yes, both of them.  I’ve changed my mind, Joel.  Now—­you—­”

But Creech never finished what he meant to say.  Joel Creech was suddenly seized by a horrible madness.  It was then, perhaps, that the final thread which linked his mind to rationality stretched and snapped.  His face turned green.  His strange eyes protruded.  His jaw worked.  He frothed at the mouth.  He leaped, apparently to get near his father, but he missed his direction.  Then, as if sight had come back, he wheeled and made strange gestures, all the while cursing incoherently.  The father’s shocked face began to show disgust.  Then part of Joel’s ranting became intelligible.

“Shut up!” suddenly roared Creech.

“No, I won’t!” shrieked Joel, wagging his head in spent passion.  “An’ you ain’t a-goin’ to take thet girl home. . . .  I’ll take her with me. . . .  An’ you take the hosses home!”

“You’re crazy!” hoarsely shouted Creech, his face going black.  “They allus said so.  But I never believed thet.”