Without a word, the big fellow stretched forth his arms, and the girl, as if swept by a force beyond her control, felt herself swaying toward him.
The spell was broken by the trampling of horses and the sound of loud voices.

For a moment they held their places, motionless, as if rudely awakened from a dream.

The sound was coming nearer.

Then Young Matt spoke, "It's Wash Gibbs and his crowd from the still.
Ride into the brush quick." There was no time for flight.

In the bright moonlight, they would have been easily recognized, and a wild chase would have followed.
Leaving the road, they forced their horses into a thick clump of bushes, where they dismounted, to hold the animals by their heads.
Scarcely had they gained this position when the first of the crowd reached the spot where they had been a moment before.