Murphy 's sure to take things pretty easy to-day, and he's almost certain to follow the old mining trail as far as the ford over the Belle Fourche, and that's plain enough to travel.

Beyond that point the devil only knows where he will go, for then is when his hard ridin' begins." The moment the operator mentioned that odd scar on Murphy's hand, every vestige of hesitation vanished.

Beyond any possibility of doubt he was on the right scent this time.

Murphy was riding north upon a mission as desperate as ever man was called upon to perform.

The chance of his coming forth alive from that Indian-haunted land was, as the operator truthfully said, barely one out of a hundred.