CHAPTER IX.
ACROSS THE RIVER He dropped his hand upon hers, clasping the clinging fingers tightly.
"Yes, we can make it," he answered confidently.

"Wait until I make sure what is out there." He had slight recollection of the stream at this point, although he had crossed it often enough at the known fords, both above and below.

Yet these crossings had always been accomplished with a horse under him, and a knowledge of where the trail ran.

But he knew the stream, its peculiarities and dangers.

It was not the volume of water, nor its depth he feared, for wide as it appeared stretching from bank to bank, he realized its shallow sluggishness.