CHAPTER V.
LOOKING SOUTHWARD.
Mrs.Whitney and her daughter Jennie stood at the door of their ranch listening, with rapidly beating hearts, to the sounds of rifle-firing from the direction of the cattle-range where the beloved husband and son were looking after their property.
Three shots came in quick succession; then, after the interval of a full minute, two more followed, and then all was still.
Mother and daughter maintained their listening attitude a while longer, but nothing more reached their ears.
"It is over," said the parent in an undertone.
Aye, the conflict was over.

One party was beaten off, but which?
And how many brave men, the finest horsemen and rifle-shots in the world, lay on the green sward, staring, with eyes that saw not, at the blue sky, or were being borne away by their comrades on the backs of their tough ponies?
A brief space and the story would be told.
Jennie Whitney shaded her eyes with her hand and gazed to the southward for the first sight of returning friends, whose coming could not be long delayed.
The mother was straining her vision in the same direction, watching for that which she longed and yet dreaded to see.

But years had compelled her to use glasses, and her eyes were not the equal of those bright orbs of Jennie.

She would be the first to detect the approaching horsemen.
A good field-glass was in the house, but neither thought of it; their attention was too deeply absorbed.
"It is time they appeared," remarked Mrs.Whitney, her heart sinking under the dreadful fear of the possible reason why they remained invisible.
Suppose there was none to appear! But those keen eyes of the maiden have detected something, and she starts and peers more intently than before.
Far to the southward, in the direction of the mountain spurs, and on the very boundary of her vision, a black speck seems to be quivering and flickering, so indistinct, so impalpable, that none but the experienced eye can guess its nature.
But the eye which is studying it is an experienced one.

Many a time it has gazed across the rolling prairie, and identified the loved father and brother before another could discover a person at all.
"Some one is coming," she says to her mother.
"Some one!" is the alarmed response; "are there no more ?" "There may be, but this one is in advance." "But why should he be in advance of the rest ?" is the query, born of the fear in the heart of the parent.
"It is not mine to answer for the present; he may be better mounted and is coming for--for--" "For what ?" "Help." "Help! What help can we give them ?" "We have a gun in the house, and there is plenty of ammunition." "That means they have suffered--have been defeated.