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CHAPTER I -- A DESERT MEETING

As she lay crouched in the bear-grass there came to the girl

clearly the crunch of wheels over disintegrated granite. The trap

had dipped into a draw, but she knew that presently it would

reappear on the winding road. The knowledge smote her like a

blast of winter, sent chills racing down her spine, and shook her

as with an ague. Only the desperation of her plight spurred her

flagging courage.

Round the bend came a pair of bays hitched to a single-seated

open rig. They were driven by a young man, and as he reached the

summit he drew up opposite her and looked down into the valley.

It lay in a golden glow at their feet, a basin of pure light and

silence stretching mile on mile to the distant edge of jagged

mountain-line which formed its lip. Sunlight strong as wine

flooded a clean world, an amber Eden slumbering in an unbroken,

hazy dream primeval.

"Don't move!"