Out of a near-by
depression that did not show in the moonlight another horse appeared.
It, too, was riderless, and the next instant, from the same direction
sounded a low, muffled cry and, leaping from his saddle, he dashed
toward the spot. The sage grew higher in the depression which was the
head of a branch of the coulee by means of which the trail gained the
bench, and as he plunged in, the head and shoulders of a man appeared
above a bush. Endicott was very close when the man pushed something
fiercely from him, and the body of a woman crashed heavily into the
sage. Levelling the gun, he fired. The shot rang loud, and upon the
edge of the depression a horse snorted nervously. The man pitched
forward and lay sprawled grotesquely upon the ground and Endicott saw
that his extended hand grasped a revolver.
Dully he stared at the thing on the ground at his feet. There was a
movement in the scrub and Alice Marcum stood beside him. He glanced
into her face. And as her eyes strayed from the sprawling figure to
meet his, Endicott read in their depths that which caused his heart to
race madly. She stepped toward him and suddenly both paused to listen.
The girl's face turned chalk-white in the moonlight. From the
direction of the coulee came the sound of horses' hoofs pounding the
trail!
CHAPTER VII
THE ARREST
Bat Lajune grinned into the dark as the galloping cow-horse carried
Endicott out upon the trail of Purdy and the girl.
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