She rode a burro that was slow, continually blocking the passage for those behind, and eventually it became lame.  Thus the other women forged ahead.  Shefford dismounted and stopped her burro.  It was a moment before she noted the halt, and twice in that time Shefford tried to speak and failed.  What poignant pain, regret, love made his utterance fail!

“Ride my horse,” he finally said, and his voice was not like his own.

Obediently and wearily she dismounted from the burro and got up on Nack-yal.  The stirrups were long for her and he had to change them.  His fingers were all thumbs as he fumbled with the buckles.

Suddenly he became aware that there had been a subtle change in her.  He knew it without looking up and he seemed to be unable to go on with his task.  If his life had depended upon keeping his head lowered he could not have done it.  The listlessness of her drooping form was no longer manifest.  The peak of the dark hood pointed toward him.  He knew then that she was gazing at him.

Never so long as he lived would that moment be forgotten!  They were alone.  The others had gotten so far ahead that no sound came back.  The stillness was so deep it could be felt.  The moon shone with white, cold radiance and the shining slopes of smooth stone waved away, crossed by shadows of pinyons.

Then she leaned a little toward him.  One swift hand flew up to tear the black hood back so that she could see.  In its place flashed her white face.  And her eyes were like the night.

“You!” she whispered.

His blood came leaping to sting neck and cheek and temple.  What dared he interpret from that single word?  Could any other word have meant so much?

“No—­one—­else,” he replied, unsteadily.

Her white hand flashed again to him, and he met it with his own.  He felt himself standing cold and motionless in the moonlight.  He saw her, wonderful, with the deep, shadowy eyes, and a silver sheen on her hair.  And as he looked she released her hand and lifted it, with the other, to her hood.  He saw the shiny hair darken and disappear—­and then the lovely face with its sad eyes and tragic lips.

He drew Nack-yal’s bridle forward, and led him up the moonlit trail.

XII.  THE REVELATION

The following afternoon cowboys and horse-wranglers, keen-eyed as Indians for tracks and trails, began to arrive in the quiet valley to which the Mormon women had been returned.

Under every cedar clump there were hobbled horses, packs, and rolled bedding in tarpaulins.  Shefford and Joe Lake had pitched camp in the old site near the spring.  The other men of Joe’s escort went to the homes of the women; and that afternoon, as the curious visitors began to arrive, these homes became barred and dark and quiet, as if they had been closed and deserted for the winter.  Not a woman showed herself.