It could not be Staford
coming so noisily through the brush and from that direction. Even as
the thought came, she heard the gun again, a little farther away down
the narrow valley below the camp, and, in the same moment, the noise on
the ridge grew louder, as though some heavy animal were crashing through
the bushes. And then suddenly, as she stood there in frightened
indecision, a long-horned, wild-eyed steer broke through the brush on
the crest of the ridge and plunged down the steep slope toward the camp.
Weak and helpless with fear, Helen could neither scream nor run, but
stood fascinated by the very danger that menaced her--powerless, even,
to turn her eyes away from the frightful creature that had so rudely
broken the quiet seclusion of the little glade. Behind the steer, even
as the frenzied animal leaped from the brow of the hill, she saw a
horseman, as wild in his appearance and in his reckless rushing haste as
the creature he pursued. Curiously, as in a dream, she saw the horse's
neck and shoulders dripping wet with sweat, as with ears flat, nose
outstretched, and nostrils wide the animal strained every nerve in an
effort to put his rider a few feet closer to the escaping quarry.
Pages:
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322