Shefford passed a place where the ground had been cultivated, but not as recently as the last six months.  There was a scant shock of corn and many meager standing stalks.  He became aware of a low, whining hum and a fragrance overpowering in its sweetness.  And there round another corner of wall he came upon an orchard all pink and white in blossom and melodious with the buzz and hum of innumerable bees.

He crossed a little stream that had been dammed, went along a pond, down beside an irrigation-ditch that furnished water to orchard and vineyard, and from there he strode into a beautiful cove between two jutting corners of red wall.  It was level and green and the spruces stood gracefully everywhere.  Beyond their dark trunks he saw caves in the wall.

Suddenly the fragrance of blossom was overwhelmed by the stronger fragrance of smoke from a wood fire.  Swiftly he strode under the spruces.  Quail fluttered before him as tame as chickens.  Big gray rabbits scarcely moved out of his way.  The branches above him were full of mockingbirds.  And then—­there before him stood three figures.

Fay Larkin was held close to the side of a magnificent woman, barbarously clad in garments made of skins and pieces of blanket.  Her face worked in noble emotion.  Shefford seemed to see the ghost of that fair beauty Venters had said was Jane Withersteen’s.  Her hair was gray.  Near her stood a lean, stoop-shouldered man whose long hair was perfectly white.  His gaunt face was bare of beard.  It had strange, sloping, sad lines.  And he was staring with mild, surprised eyes.

The moment held Shefford mute till sight of Fay Larkin’s tear-wet face broke the spell.  He leaped forward and his strong hands reached for the woman and the man.

“Jane Withersteen! . . .  Lassiter!  I have found you!”

“Oh, sir, who are you?” she cried, with rich and deep and quivering voice.  “This child came running—­screaming.  She could not speak.  We thought she had gone mad—­and escaped to come back to us.”

“I am John Shefford,” he replied, swiftly.  “I am a friend of Bern Venters—­of his wife Bess.  I learned your story.  I came west.  I’ve searched a year.  I found Fay.  And we’ve come to take you away.”

“You found Fay?  But that masked Mormon who forced her to sacrifice herself to save us! . . .  What of him?  It’s not been so many long years—­I remember what my father was—­and Dyer and Tull—­all those cruel churchmen.”

“Waggoner is dead,” replied Shefford.

“Dead?  She is free!  Oh, what—­how did he die?”

“He was killed.”

“Who did it?”

“That’s no matter,” replied Shefford, stonily, and he met her gaze with steady eyes.  “He’s out of the way.  Fay was never his wife.  Fay’s free.  We’ve come to take you out of the country.  We must hurry.  We’ll be tracked—­pursued.  But we’ve horses and an Indian guide.  We’ll get away. . . .  I think it better to leave here at once.  There’s no telling how soon we’ll be hunted.  Get what things you want to take with you.”