Page:The Cross Pull.pdf/121

 She groped forward, feeling her way. Her mind recoiled from the thought of the mile-long trip before her; every foot of it seemed fraught with perils. She remembered the one horrible night she had spent alone before Flash, like an answer to a prayer, had come to her on the second night. But then she had had a fire.

The wind was at their backs and not until they turned into the canyon, and started up the trail did Flash scent the menace ahead. His hair bristled and he turned back. But the girl was now sure of her ground and went on. Flash ran around in front of her, pushing to turn her aside. Not until he growled did she understand that there was danger lurking near.

The scent came plain and it was that of men. He could hear voices which the girl could not. A sudden thought assailed her. Flash must have detected the presence of the beast whose chilling cry she had often heard at night, but she hurried on. It was all she knew—to reach the refuge of the cabin at all costs.

Flash knew these scents and voices were those of some of the men who lived near Two Ocean Pass. To him they meant danger, even death, and as he followed her he bristled uneasily. That