Free Dorn Of The Mountains by Zane Grey Page B

difficult to hold on to the stage and each other and the cloak all at once, but they succeeded except on the roughest places, when from time to time they were bounced around. Bo sustained a sharp rap on the head.
    “Ooooo!” she moaned. “Nell Rayner, I’ll never forgive you for fetching me on this awful trip.”
    “Just think of your handsome Las Vegas cowboy,” replied Helen.
    Either this remark squelched Bo or the suggestion sufficed to reconcile her to the hardships of the ride.
    Meanwhile, as they talked and maintained silence and tried to sleep, the driver of that stage kept at his task after the manner of Western men who knew how to get the best out of horses and bad roads and distance.
    By and by the stage halted again and remained at a standstill for so long, with the men whispering on top, that Helen and Bo were roused to apprehension.
    Suddenly a sharp whistle came from the darkness ahead.
    “Thet’s Roy,” said Joe Beeman in a low voice.
    “I reckon. An’ meetin’ us so quick looks bad,” replied Dorn. “Drive on, Bill.”
    “Mebbe it seems quick to you,” muttered the driver. “But if we hain’t come thirty miles, an’ if thet ridge thar hasn’t your turnin’ off place, why I don’t know nuthin’.”
    The stage rolled on a little farther while Helen and Bo sat clasping each other tightly, wondering with bated breath what was to be the next thing to happen.
    Then once more they were at a standstill. Helen heard the thud of boots striking the ground and the snorts of horses.
    “Nell, I see horses,” whispered Bo excitedly. “There, to the side of the road…and here comes a man….Oh! If he shouldn’t be the one they’re expecting!”
    Helen peered out to see a tall dark form, moving silently, and beyond it a vague outline of horses, and then the pale gleam of what must have been pack loads.
    Dorn loomed up and met the stranger in the road.
    “Howdy, Milt. You got the girl sure or you wouldn’t be here,” said a low voice.
    “Roy, I’ve got two girls…sisters,” replied Dorn.
    The man, Roy, whistled softly under his breath. Then another lean rangy form strode out of the darkness and was met by Dorn.
    “Now boys…how about Anson’s gang?” queried Dorn.
    “At Snowdrop, drinkin’ an’ quarrelin’. Reckon they’ll leave there about daybreak,” replied Roy.
    “How long have you been here?”
    “Mebbe a couple of hours.”
    “Any horse go by?”
    “No.”
    “Roy, a strange rider passed me last night before dark. He was hittin’ the road. An’ he’s got by here before you came.”
    “I don’t like thet news,” replied Roy tersely. “Let’s rustle. With girls on hossback, you’ll need all the start you can get. Hey, John?”
    “Snake Anson shore can foller hoss tracks,” replied the third man.
    “Milt, say the word,” went on Roy as he looked up at the stars. “Daylight not far away. Here’s the forks of the road, an’ your hosses, an’ our outfit. You can be in the pines by sunup.”
    In the silence that ensued Helen heard the throb of her heart and the panting little breaths of her sister. They both peered out, hands clenched together, watching and listening in strained attention.
    “It’s possible that rider last night wasn’t a messenger to Anson,” said Dorn. “In that case Anson won’t make anythin’ of our wheel tracks or horse tracks. He’ll go right on to meet the regular stage. Bill, can you go back an’ meet the stage comin’ before Anson does?”
    “Wal, I reckon so…an’ take it easy at thet,” replied Bill.
    “All right,” continued Dorn instantly. “John, you an’ Joe an’ Hal ride back to meet the regular stage. An’ when you meet it, get in an’ be on it when Anson holds it up.”
    “Thet’s shore agreeable to me,” drawled John.
    “I’d like to be on it, too,” said Roy grimly.
    “No, I’ll need you till I’m safe in the woods…. Bill, hand down the bags. An’ you, Roy, help me pack them. Did you get all the