Page:MacLeod Raine - The Sheriff's Son.djvu/109



HE was the first to break the silence after her announcement.

"What's the matter? You look as if you had seen a ghost."

He had. The ghost of a dreadful day had leaped at him out of the past. Men on murder bent were riding down the street toward their victim. At the head of that company rode her father; the one they were about to kill was his. A wave of sickness shuddered through him.

"It—it's my heart," he answered in a smothered voice. "Sometimes it acts queer. I 'll be all right in a minute."

The young woman drew the horse to a halt and looked down at him. Her eyes, for the first time since they had met, registered concern.

"The altitude, probably. We're over nine thousand feet high. You 're not used to walking in the clouds. We 'll rest here."

She swung from the saddle and trailed the reins.