"
The girl sprang to the ground. "It is a relief to be free," she said.
"But, really, I'm not a bit tired. Can't I help you with the pack?"
"No," returned the other, gruffly, as though he understood her purpose and
put himself on his guard. "We'll only be here a few minutes, and it's a
long road ahead. You must rest."
Obediently, she sat down on the ground, her back against a tree.
As they lunched, in the dim light of the stars, she said, "May I ask where
you are taking me?"
"It's a long road, Miss Andres. We'll be there to-morrow night," he
answered reluctantly.
Again, she ventured timidly; "And is, is--some one waiting for--for us, at
the end of our journey?"
The man's voice was kinder as he answered, "no, Miss Andres; there'll he
just you and me, for some time. And," he added, "you don't need to fear
_me_."
"I am not at all afraid of you," she returned gently. "But I am--" she
hesitated--"I am sorry for you--that you have to do this."
The man arose abruptly. "We must he going."
For some distance beyond Burnt Pine, they kept to the Laurel Creek trail,
toward San Gorgonio; then they turned aside to follow some unmarked way,
known only to the man. When the first soft tints of the day shone in the
sky behind the peaks and ridges, while Sibyl's friends were assembling at
the Carleton Ranch in Clear Creek Canyon, and Brian Oakley was directing
the day's search, the girl was following her guide in the wild depths of
the mountain wilderness, miles from any trail.
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