intangible hope that drove him.  He believed himself a man stricken in soul, unworthy, through doubt of God, to minister to the people who had banished him.  Perhaps a labor of Hercules, a mighty and perilous work of rescue, the saving of this lost and imprisoned girl, would help him in his trouble.  She might be his salvation.  Who could tell?  Always as a boy and as a man he had fared forth to find the treasure at the foot of the rainbow.

II.  THE SAGI

Next morning the Indian girl was gone and the tracks of her pony led north.  Shefford’s first thought was to wonder if he would overtake her on the trail; and this surprised him with the proof of how unconsciously his resolve to go on had formed.

Presbrey made no further attempt to turn Shefford back.  But he insisted on replenishing the pack, and that Shefford take weapons.  Finally Shefford was persuaded to accept a revolver.  The trader bade him good-by and stood in the door while Shefford led his horse down the slope toward the water-hole.  Perhaps the trader believed he was watching the departure of a man who would never return.  He was still standing at the door of the post when Shefford halted at the pool.

Upon the level floor of the valley lay thin patches of snow which had fallen during the night.  The air was biting cold, yet stimulated Shefford while it stung him.  His horse drank rather slowly and disgustedly.  Then Shefford mounted and reluctantly turned his back upon the trading-post.

As he rode away from the pool he saw a large flock of sheep approaching.  They were very closely, even densely, packed, in a solid slow-moving mass and coming with a precision almost like a march.  This fact surprised Shefford, for there was not an Indian in sight.  Presently he saw that a dog was leading the flock, and a little later he discovered another dog in the rear of the sheep.  They were splendid, long-haired dogs, of a wild-looking shepherd breed.  He halted his horse to watch the procession pass by.  The flock covered fully an acre of ground and the sheep were black, white, and brown.  They passed him, making a little pattering roar on the hard-caked sand.  The dogs were taking the sheep in to water.

Shefford went on and was drawing close to the other side of the basin, where the flat red level was broken by rising dunes and ridges, when he espied a bunch of ponies.  A shrill whistle told him that they had seen him.  They were wild, shaggy, with long manes and tails.  They stopped, threw up their heads, and watched him.  Shefford certainly returned the attention.  There was no Indian with them.  Presently, with a snort, the leader, which appeared to be a stallion, trotted behind the others, seemed to be driving them, and went clear round the band to get in the lead again.  He was taking them in to water, the same as the dogs had taken the sheep.