Page:BM Bower - Her Prairie Knight.djvu/70

 "Oh, no," Keith said. "Except" He bit his lip angrily.

"Except what?" she demanded. "I'm not silly, Mr. Cameron—tell me."

Keith took the glass from his eyes, looked at her, and paid her the compliment of deciding to tell her, jjust as if she were a man.

"Nothing, only—he might run across a snake," he said. "Rattlers."

Beatrice drew her breath hard, but she was plucky. Keith thought he had never seen a pluckier girl, and the West can rightfully boast brave women.

She touched Rex with the whip. "Come," she commanded. "We must not stand here. It has been more than three hours"

Keith put away the glass, and shot ahead to guide her.

"We must have missed him, somewhere." The eyes of Beatrice were heavy with the weariness born of anxiety and suspense. They stood at the very edge of the steep bluff which rimmed the river. "You don't think he could have" Her eyes, shuddering down at the mocking, blue-gray ripples, finished the thought. 68