Show f BLUE LAKE CP R man aw jacka W yv y v jm n CW e inn a h yin vinced cd a 4 i J liberat w atins the property elty owned 0 by judith sanford aati ford a youa youna woman tier her cousin pollock hampton fend and timothy dray arny decides to throw up his job judith arrives arrive and announces announce the she hai hah boug bought ht gray share ebare in ake th ranch and will run ran it she sh discharges Irr trevora evors CHAPTER II 11 the men on tin the ranch dislike taking orders frosa froia a girl arl but by subduing a vicious hors hor and proving her thorough knowledge of ranch life judith wins the best beat 0 of the them in over loe le decides to stay ni in d her yet vt mil crowdy crowd Is I 1 rous judith discharges him re r an aa old friend of tier fatora fat bra hars doo doc tripp CHAPTER IV alook Hab hanpton with a party of friends friend to the ranch to stay atay permanently perman antly trevor Trev orsi accepts Ham hamptonwa hamptons Hamp tona invitation to visit the ranch judiths mea in t hold held up and robbed of 0 th the 0 mo monthly n confor pay roll CHAPTER V dud lee woos roes to the city for more money wag back lately with it though Vs hi horse is I 1 kills killed under him I 1 both he b and judith cee as Tr evorg hand in the tb crime ori raft xa hoe cholera hard to account for or breaks ali on the ranch judith aa d Us L IRY grating the scene one of the in boldly koldus ohnam in ft rn mountain 0 u tain where tk MW t h have a Y e U n CIT ArTMA VL VI A alb I 1 ft planted exolus judith ufa ration it li in though he h 4 aam not at a ay y s ao they are fired dred on an from rm ambush b u sh and L leu lea ea wounded wound fd anew a ring the clr re they make for the tb cabin nr here thay find hill bill crowdy wounded dreg draff arh r illin int into 0 the building atey akey fiad hai n th the m oney money taken frotz judiths judith Ines besieged Bea leed in the th cabin they are compelled to stay atay all night CHAPTER VIL VII rampton Ha at t the th ranch becomes uneasy at judithan Judi thas long absence with to tommy m m burkatt r kitt he gosa OM to seek her bar arria an in ut almo 1 me to delv acly the attackers off and capturing on man known as aa gherty gh shorty orty CHAPTER VIII shorty escapes escapee from imprisonment in the gra Inhouse on the ranch to the disgust of carson cow foreman who had him in chaix charle let lo 10 beelas to teal feel a fond fondness for judith u 1 though he realizes alises re she Is not hll his womanly ideal mirola marcia langworthy Lani worthy I 1 one of hamptons Ham party typical otty a girl la Is more to hll him taste CHAPTER IX th the da very to la made that pla reona with hoy hog firms e finx on their fet fast hay lay been f aad id 0 on n the ranch leo lee captures captured a str stran angor Xer dick donley red fd handed with an accomplice a cowboy known to aa poker race face tonley dunley has brought more pigeons pig eons to tue tl ie ranch CHAPTER X at a dance judith I 1 ives an in honor of hamptons Ham friends Us L appears in evening dress he in I 1 by one of the party an an old acqua nuance dave lej L once anee wealthy bat ruined by falat friends judith in her womanly finery makes make such ouch an appeal to ie that alone with her he forcibly kisses her receiving the rebuke deserved CHAPTER XI word Is sent bent to L so that lon has hag been canting slurs en an judiths name because of the night he and lee were together in the cabin with carson lee finds quin rl ton him in a fight and ma makes ken him confess publicly he Is a liar and agree afree to leave the 40 vicinity tilty CHAPTER XII after the tb kinsing incident judith lapores lee lea who would woul fro 0 away a y but finde himself unable ju 11 alth aes a letter to pollock hampton from a firm with which has been connected offering to buy a laigre res oi of cattle and horses at a ridiculously low flaur figure hampton hampton 1 li addressed as kearl 1 Ken rl manager man of tb abe blu lake ou outfit aft judith Is I 1 vaguely unify uneasy in her absence hampton to e pt the th offer lee protests strongly tron aaa lr ile he learns from marola ne worthy that judith to Is suppose to hat hal irons to see her lawyers at san aras choco A telegram from her orders hampton to sen sell the stock at the iff ered lee refuses to accept the mos meair tare as coming from judith the conviction oton forcing itself upon him that trevore has her and to Is holding her prisoner CHAPTER XIII lee tells carson a and ll hampton ampton of tile his suspicions hampton 0 jeers at the idea in judiths room they and a note from doc tripp asks asking ing judith to visit violt him as 11 has been shot and cannot come to the ranch they learn larn from tripp he has haa no not I 1 hen been hurt and alid did not send any convinced now of jud juditha ltha hs imminent danger lee lea sets out to find her CHAPTER XIV XIN judith finds herself in a c cave where she has been coave conveyed after b eing being she ah knows K her r abductors b are trevor and qu f quinnia innig gives her in charge charie of a demented woman known as an mad ruth reputed to be QuIrin lons mother catching quinnion off his guard judith escapes from the ca cave v e she Is in forced to descend the mountain quin mon pursuing and callin to mad had ruth to intercept intercept her at the bottom bottom of the cliff when slie site felt ahat she was us over taxing herself slie she dropped from the wild pace title ablio had set act herself into a little jogging trot when her whole hole body cried out nt at the effort demanded of it she slowed down donn to a brisk walk site blie was shot through with maln tier lier throat ached slip site wits was growing dizzy but on she went borely it wits was it a full hour itter the last iet sound of pursuit had biad died out after after fter her that hut she lung flung hersi elf down don ht t the waters edge to drink and battle tier her arms and face in the cold stream stream anti and even then she chose it spot pot where the shadow of a great pine lay like ink oer alie bank the moon was as high in the sky the world bright with it when judith left the valley into which the canyon had widened and made tier her way ny slowly upward along a tim timbered bored ridge to the west of quinnion and mad ruth the she now had no fear their chance of coming upon her was less than neg de 1111 ble she could creep into a clump of thick standing young trees und even if they should come could i thein to past but 0 a they had ita dropped out of her world another matter had entered it the mountains had befriended her they had opened their arms anna to her and that wits was all that she had ha asked aked 41 them they hud had mothered her drawing her into hiding against their bosom but it was a barren barren breast and already she was hungry daring to eat but sparingly of her heir handful of bread and matl I 1 prom from this ridge finding an open crest she blie stood looking out over thal world mile after nalle mile of mountain and canyon and cliff fell away on every side aide site she sought ought eagerly for a landmark to t see yonder in ahe the dla dis tance old roddy baldy or copper mountain or three fools peak any one of the mountains mount ulna or ridges known to her and in the end she ha could only shake tie her r head ad aad sigh wearily and slip down where she was to fall asleep thanking god that sha wits waa free asking god to lead her aright in the morning ne the stars watched over her ber a pale workout girl sleeping alone in the heart of the wilderness the night breezes sang aang through the ventury old treetops tree tops and judith haet striven to tits the uttermost slept in heavy with the cool dawn she awoke shivering wid and hungry tier her hair hit had a tumbled about her ber face and stiff sitting up tip she braided it with numb so sore re lingers fingers site she looked ut at tier her hands they were stained with blood from many cuts her skirt was wa torn and soiled tier her stockings were la in strips I 1 tier her knees were bruised dut but as she rose to tier her feet and once more searched the riddle of a crag broken world her ber heart was light with thankfulness last lant night the one friend she nhe had with her was waa tits tha north star today she would seek to puah on toward the west in that direction she believed the blue lake ranch iny though sit at best it was waa a guess but going westward she could follow the course coarse of tle the bigger streams and soon BOOR or late if her strength held she would come to some open valley where men ran ram stock now the she would go 50 down into the little meadow lying a mile away yonder and sook seek to ARS something to eat if she could but bet dig a few wild onions wild potatoes potato ea they would keep her alive wert weist she he would go if for no 0 other reason than thai thus she ahe would be setting her back squarely upon the cavern where wardon and nd ruth were the SUB son rolled into a clear sky and warmed her she made her way down tile the long lone monk of the th mountain mo antala and into the tiny meadow for upward of two hows homi she remained there Dib nibbling bling at rn marto h he dug up with a brokel stick coklay edible growths which she knew kaew anding adding little I 1 tint to te keep the tb life in her the heart warn in hi her breast then she west on eft over a atif ald again ali down into a canyon and mong the stream rose kf hem and aeo dewed westward WM by nob BOOM WON woe faint 1114 1 sick rick aad had to ta stop fam to rok her legs shaking under anaf aw w acain she made a derst meat taeck she had stura stumbled bled on a tiny field of ef wild potatoes and aid tits at what she could of them thinking longingly of a match for a are the match which ruth had dropped she still had but she carefully car fully reserved it now thinking how flow perhaps a trout caught in fl a pool might save iler her life in her ber already half starved condition and with the demands constantly put on her strength she would grow weaker and weaker if help did not soon come but she was mill oiled with the glory of ef freedom it wad waa a heart westry weary trembling judith who late that afternoon made tier WRY way upward along another ridge seeking anxiously to find from this lookout tit tome some landmark emch w ich she ahe had find sought in vain last night in tier her blouse were the few roots she had brought with tier her from the field discovered at noon lylle IL 1 a little patch of dry grams testing resting she watched wat chel the day so go down and the night drift into the mountains filling the ravines creeping cree up the slopes rising riling slowly lowly to the peak to which she nad md cli climbed seeping into hr her soul never lind had the passing of the day tied to hr her so majestic a thing truly with swe awe never ivr un u tit now had the solitudes so vast so utterly ble big never until now new as the she liy lay staring up into the sky baving given up the world about her ber in as unknown had P i drunk is ft tit clr lees of the cup of so 60 great was the of cf hr her tired body that as she lay still watching the stars come out one by one she was kalf half revived to t lie 11 so and lt let death come to ad her ber it seamed to her that here in the ado arms of et mother karth a human life wits was ft a matter of n no greate coas easse eunce quence than the down a moths wing but she rooted a little and ahlis wood mood fore foreign ln te att hi inird heart passed and sue sat up again resolute reso fute again ready to make her fight as long ion as life bet beat through her blood at last she took the one match from her pocket she scarcely derel drared breathe when with dry grass and twigs piled against a rock her dross dress shielding them from the wind she rubbed the match softly against her boot A sputtering flanick making the blue light of burning sulphur died down creating panic in her breast then flared crackled licked at the grass site she had find a fire and she knew how to use tt it I 1 when a log was blazi blazing rg assuring her that her ire fire was safe she rose swiftly and wont went in search of the tree she meant to burn she found a giant pine pitch oozing standing in a rocky open space where there was little danger of the alro spreading fagged bagged out and eager as she wits was she had not come to the point of forgetting what a grent great forest fire meant she wont went back to tier her burning log for n blazing dry branch which she carried selmy tu to the tree then she piled dry grass and dead twigs logs as aa heavy as she could carry bits of brush the lames flames licked tit at the tree ran up it seemed to fall away sprang at it again hungering now arid and then I 1 a long tongue of fire went crackling thigh high up along the side of tile the tree judith went back to a spot where tit in a ring of boulders there was another grassy threw herself down and lay staring at the tongues of tire which were climbing higher and higher ter some one would see gee tier beacon ben con A forest ranger perhaps whose duty it was to ride fast and far to battle with tile the first spark threatening the wooded solitudes Bollt udes perhaps some crew in a logging camp calup than alian whom none knew better the danger of spreading fires perhaps some cowboy even one of tier her own nien men perhaps QuIn tilon and nuth she then would tilde among the rocks until they had come and gone even now against the steel sleep falling upon tier her she drew girther fart lier buck back through the tumbled boulders perhaps bud leo lee she went to steel sleep beyond the circle of bright light tired and hungry tin and striving against a returning hopelessness tier her young hody body curled up in the nest she atie had found it a cheek cuddled against tier arm wondering vague vaguely y if some one would see tier her ire fire and come if that some one might le be bud le lee e CHAPTER XVI bacon kisses and a confession throughout tile the tree blazed unseen judiths eyes were closed in tho the heavy sleep of exhaustion the flames roared and leaped high skyward burning brunches branches fell dabbing X throughout the night the tree blazed unseen ly to lie shouldering ing on oil the rocky soil tile the upstanding trunk glowed vivid against the skyline sky line in the early morning ht t least two pairs of eyes found tile the plume of rooke above the still burning giant pine A man named oreene greene one of the government forest rangers blazing a new trull trall over devils ridge came out upon a height saw it ond and watched it frowningly across the miles it called him to a hard ride perli perhaps tip a to a journey on foot arter after lie ho must leave his horse ile he turned promptly from the work in land ran to aitu bl horse swung up tip and sped back to tits his cabin to telephone to the nearest station passing the word then with willi ux and shovel lie he began his slow way toward the beacon bud lee front from the mountaintop mountain top where he be and burkatt had bad taken hampton saw it lee judged roughly that it was separated from froin min hlin by tour four or five miles of broken country impassable to a roan man on horseback to be covered laboriously on foot 1 in it matter of weary hours houra lee arid and green approached the signal smoke from different quarters lee trout from the west green from the northeast they fought their way on toward it with far different emotions ln in their breasts br aste greene with the desire to do a days work and kill a fort forest in its ita beginning lee with tarr passionate hope of finding judith L TA reached r his bit journeys end nd firby As AB he be came up the lust last climb he discharged his bis rifle again and again to tell her that ho he was coming to put hope into her and because hn he was wag a lover and a lover must be gated with dreme when bho Is out of tits ills sight lie frit felt a growing anxiety she had lighted d the fire last night what might have |