Page:Vance--The trey o hearts.djvu/236

204 her to snatch at the pistol hanging from her belt, and present it at his head.

But it exploded harmlessly, spending its bullet on the blue of the morning sky, and in an instant it was wrested from her.

And now all hint of mercy left his eyes; remained only the glare of rage. He put forth all his strength and Judith was as a child in bis hands. In half an minute he had her helpless, in as much time more her back was breaking across his knee, while he bound her with loop after loop of his rawhide lariat. Then Hopi Jim caught her horse, and lifted the girl to its bare back, face upward, catching her hand and feet, as they fell on either flank of the animal, with more loops of that unbreakable rawhide, and placing the master-knot of the hitch that bound this human pack well beyond her reach.

She panted a prayer for mercy. He laughed, bent and kissed her brutally, and stepped back, still laughing, to admire his handiwork.

Thus he stood for an instant between the horse and the edge of the declivity, a fair mart, stark against the sky, for one who stood in the valley below, holding his rifle with eager fingers, waiting just such an opportunity as he had waited it ever since the noise of débris kicked over the edge by the struggling man and woman had drawn his attention to what was going on above.