Pagina 218 de 439

When Arlie saw with what pleasure the friends met, how Teddy

nickered and rubbed his nose up and down his master's coat and

how the Texan put him through his little repertoire of tricks and

fed him a lump of sugar from his coat pocket, she was glad she

had ridden Teddy instead of her own pony to the meeting.

They took the road without loss of time. Arlie Dillon knew

exactly how to cross this difficult region. She knew the Cedar

Mountain district as a grade teacher knows her arithmetic. In

daylight or in darkness, with or without a trail, she could have

traveled almost a bee line to the point she wanted. Her life had

been spent largely in the saddle--at least that part of it which

had been lived outdoors. Wherefore she was able to lead her guest

by secret trails that wound in and out among the passes and

through unsuspected gorges to hazardous descents possible only to

goats and cow ponies. No stranger finding his way in would have

stood a chance of getting out again unaided.