The Girl from Montana

t least, free. It was a marvellous escape. Even now she could hear the echo of the man's last wor

and strained her ear; but she could no longer hear hoof-beats. Nevertheless, it behooved her to hasten. He had blanched at her suggestion of walk

She made every movement swiftly, as if she had not an instant to spare. Who could tell? He might return even before dark. He had been hard to baffle,

examined and loaded the pistols. Her throat seemed seized with sudden constriction when she discovered that

bread. She hesitated over a pan half full of baked beans, and finally added them to the store. They were bulky, but she ought to take them if she could. There was nothing else in the house that seemed advisable to take in the way of eatables. Their stores had been running low, and the trouble of the last day or two had put housekeepi

put on the few extra garments in her wardrobe. They were not many, and that was the easiest way to carry them. Her mother's wedding-ring, sacredly kept in a box since the mother's death, she slipped upon her finger.

certificate of her mother's marriage. The girl did not know what the others were. She had never looked into them closely, bu

hered up the two flour-sacks and an old coat of her father's that hung on the wall, remembering at the last minute to put int

howl of a wolf. The moon rode high and clear by this time; and it seemed not so lonely here, wi

the shadow of the shackly barn where stamped the poor, ill-fed, faithful horse that

perfectly at home on horseback,-and strapped the girths with trembling fingers that were icy cold with excitement. Across the saddle-bows she hung the two flour-sacks containing

she tied his feet up clumsily. He did not seem to like h

hands across his nostrils; and he put his m

he road that led away in front of the cabin; but no one was coming yet, though her heart bea

learing five or six miles beyond and to the supply store some three miles further. One led off to the east, and was less travelled, being the way to the great world; and the third led down behin

re she was free to seek safety-if safety there were for her in the wide world-she must take her way down the lonely path. She walked, leading the horse, which followed her with muffled tread and arched neck as if he felt he were doing homage to the dead. Sl

ows, and seemed a part of the place. The girl stopped a moment to gain courage in full sight of the g

arting their way out. Then, leaving the horse to stand curiously watching her, she went down and stood at the head of the new-heaped mound. She tried to kneel, but a shudder passed

e thy name. Thy kingdom come-" whatever that might mean. "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." It was a long prayer to pray, alone with the pale moon-rain and the graves, and a distant wolf, but it was her mother's wish. Her will being done here over

thing apparently. He had looked and looked at the shapeless mound before which the girl was standing; but he saw no sign of his lost mast

but everywhere in the white sea of moonlight there was empty, desolate space. On to the "Amen" she finished then, and with one l

ack to the cabin to take it, lest she find herself already followed. She did not know the way across this lonely plain, and neither did the horse. In fact, there was no way, for it

. He did not like the going here, but he plodded on with his burdens. The girl was light; he did not mind her weight; but he felt this place uncanny, and now and then would start on a little spurt of haste, to ge

y of the dead, and she longed to get out of it. A great fear lest the moon should go down and leave her in this low valley alone in the dark took hold upon her. She felt she must get away, up higher. She turned the horse a little more to the right, and he paused, and seemed t

med to understand, and to thank her as he nosed about her neck. He thought, per

used to rough places, and felt no discomfort from her position. The fear of being followed had succeeded to the fear of being lost, for the time being; and ins

in that direction, though she had never been far out on its course herself. That it led straight east into all the great cities she never doubted, and she must

going forward quickly, seemed terrible to her. A bob-cat shot across the way just ahead, and the green gleam of its eyes as it

untain ahead of her became distinct, and the lay of the land was not what she had supposed. It brought her a furious sense of being lost. Over there ought to be the familiar way where the cabin stood, but there was no sign of anything she ha

the cabin which could never be home again. Why not give the horse his head, and let him pick out a safe path? Was there danger that he might carry her back to the cabin again, after all? Hor

It was a terrible experience to the girl. Sometimes she shut her eyes and held to the saddle, that she might not see and be filled with this frenzy of things, living or dead, fo

oon then, and saw by the way it was setting that after all they were going in the right general direction. That gave a little comfort until she mad

banks; and twice in climbing a steep incline she came sharp upon sheer precipices down into a rocky gorge, where the moonlight seemed repelled by dark, bristling evergreen trees growing half-way up th

and obscured everything. She wished she might carry the wall of white with her to shield her. She had longed for the dawn; and now, as it came with sudden light and clear

haunt their homes after the sun was up, and murderers were always courageous in the day. He might the sooner come, and find her gone, and perhaps fol

t as she had thought that, the horse stopped and snorted, and there in the rocks before them lay a man's hat riddled with shot. Peering fearfully around, the girl saw

not, she must make haste. It might be he would come to himself and pursue her, though there was that in the rigid attitude of the figure down below that made her sure he

d breathlessly, the girl holding on with shut eyes, not daring to look ahead for fear of

re level ground, with wide stretches of open plain,

in its place was only faintness. Still, she dared not stop long to eat. She must make as much time as poss

or him to eat. He was decidedly hungry, and the plain offered nothing in the shape of breakfast. He halted, lingered, and came to a neighing

ables, for by and by they would come to a good

as the girl guarded it lest his breath should blow any away. He snuffed hungrily at the empty paper, and she gave him a little more meal, while she ate some of the cold beans, and scanned the horizon anxiously. There was nothing but

packing up her stores, and retaining some dry corn bread

ergrown with cactus. A great desolation took possession of the girl. She felt as if she w

moving speck; but it was coming toward her, though separated by a wide valley that had stretched already for miles. He was moving along against the sky-line on a hi

llowed by the distant echo of the discharge. It was a man, and he was yet a great way off. Should she turn and flee before she was discovered? But where? Should she go back? No, a thousand times, no! Her enemy was there. This could not

y course that seemed at all possible through the natural obstructions of the region. She shrank to her saddle, and

ride was to continue. Then the man in the distance seemed to ride faster. The valley between them was not so wide here. He was quite distinctly a man now, and his horse was going rapidly. Once it seemed as if he waved his arms; but she turned her head

y opposite. He must have ridden hard to get there so soon. Oh, horror! He was waving his hands and calling. She could distinctly hear a cry! It chilled her senses, and brough

igh ground she heard the wild cry ring clear and distinct, "Hello! Hello!" and then something else. It

her at a gallop! He was crossing the valley. There was a stream to cross, but he would cross it. He had determination in every line of his flying figure. His voice was pursuing her, too. I