Can it be--" "Wait!...

Listen!" he whispered.

"I hear a hoss." He rose noiselessly, with his ear to the breeze.

Suddenly he pulled his sombrero down over his bandaged head and, swinging his gun-sheaths round in front, he stepped into the alcove.
"It's a hoss--comin' fast," he added.
Jane's listening ear soon caught a faint, rapid, rhythmic beat of hoofs.
It came from the sage.

It gave her a thrill that she was at a loss to understand.