This the girl saw, and she rode up now, springing
down and offering me her horse.
"Stay here," I called to her as I mounted. "I'll be back directly"; and
then with such speed as I could spur out of my new mount, I started
again after the fugitive.
It was useless. Her horse, already lame and weary, and further
handicapped by my weight, could not close with the free animal, and
without a rope to aid me in the capture, it would have been almost
impossible to have stopped him, even had I been able to come alongside.
I headed him time and again, and turned him, but it was to no purpose.
At last I suddenly realized that I had no idea how far I had gone or in
what direction. I must now think of my companion. Never was more welcome
sight than when I saw her on a distant ridge, waving her hat. I gave up
the chase and returned to her, finding that in her fatigue she had sunk
to the ground exhausted. She herself had run far away from the spot
where I had left 'her.
"I was afraid," she panted. "I followed. Can't you catch him?"
"No," said I, "he's gone. He probably will go back to the trail."
"No," she said, "they run wild, sometimes. But now what shall we do?"
I looked at her in anxiety.
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