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Show 290 of Mrs. Senby and little Ann Jane. As I expected, she at once forgot hersell in her concern for her aunt. Within half an hour, circhng around the moun tam, we came down the wooded slopes to the bed of a small stream. To my surprise, I saw that it must be the rill that flowed from the spnng at the foot of the Meadows. This was a dangerous locality for us. I hastened to ride downstream, certain that I had missed the water hole and come too far around the mountain. A short ride brought us to the bed of a dry stream. I turned up it, conjecturing that It was the channel for the overflow of the water hole m wet weather. It led into a gulch so steep and rough that we had to dismount and go afoot. I dragged Lucy along over rocks and logs and up the steep ledges as gently as I could. My horse scrambled after us, sometimes hesitating at a shari? ascent, but always respondmg to my call by followmg me up. At last our hard climb brought us out of the head of the gulch into a wide draw, thickly grown with cedars. The stream bed extended up through this shallow valley almost to the centre, where it ended at the foot of amass of rocks. Under the overhanging ledges was a rock-rimmed cistern of pure clear water. I first gave Lucy a moderate drink, and then required her to wait while I bathed her face and hands and scooped up a hatful of water for the horse. This I repeated, r·ving Lucy more and the horse less each time, until felt certam they had drunk as much as was good for them. There was a soft place under a cedar a few yards away. I spread out my roll of blankets aJ!d mad_e Lucy lie down to rest and eat some of the dned vernson from my saddlebags. She gladly obeyed me, for she was very nearly as hungry as she had been thirsty. I off-saddled and as soon as my horse had taken his usual three 'rolls, I set about grooming him with utmost care. THE MORMON LION 291 The forty miles journey that he had brought me since mormng was nothing to the magnificent creature. But he must bear me- and it might be Lucy as well- a far greater distance before the next morning. While I washed and rubbed down his sleek legs, he ate the providential feed of oats that Mrs. Lee had tied on my saddle at Cedar City. When he had finished his oats, I gave over my rubbing and picketed him out to browse on the bunch-grass near the water hole. Then, for the first time, I gave way to the reaction from my own terror and exertions. Taking with me the canteen full of water, I went up under the cedar to rest and eat and drink with my darling. She lay on her side, utterly relaxed, and allowed me to hold the canteen to her lips and to feed her like a little child. After a few minutes the lids drooped over her sweet eyes, and she fell into a peaceful doze. I continued to eat and drink and to feast my eyes on my wife. The scar on her cheek had begun to disapl? ear, but she had kept her skin brown with the stam. She had been asleep something over an hour when a whinney from my horse caused me to start to my feet. He was looking down towards the head of the gulch. An answering whinney and the clatter of hoofs on the rocks told me that other horses were coming up the steep bed. My first joyous thought was that Ankotash had already followed us to the meeting place. Yet there was the possibility that others had found our trail or that the Indian had betrayed us. To make certain, I caught up my rille and ran to where the gulch pitched down in its first sharp slope. Peering over a ledge, I saw a small wiry man clambering up around the bend with his Indian pony at his heels. It was Jake Waller. I raised my rifle. He turned and said something that I could not hear. A number of hoarse voices |
