You better ride the other side of Miss Beaucaire, Tim, and help me hold her up--the colored girl can trail behind.

We'll jog the horses a bit." They were not stock to be proud of, yet they did fairly well, Tim's mount evidently the best of the four.

The going was decidedly better once we had topped the bank.

The stars were bright enough overhead to render the well-marked trail easily visible, and this led directly southward, across a rolling plain.

We may have ridden for two miles without a word, for, although I had no intention of proceeding far in this direction, I could discover no opportunity for changing our course, so as to baffle pursuit.