Inwardly Billy cursed the darkness of the night which
hid from view everything more than a few paces from them;
yet it may have been this very darkness which saved them,
since it hid them as effectually from an enemy as it hid the
enemy from them. They had reached the point where Barbara
was positive the sentry should be. The girl was clinging tightly
to Billy's left arm. He could feel the pressure of her fingers as
they sunk into his muscles, sending little tremors and thrills
through his giant frame. Even in the face of death Billy Byrne
could sense the ecstasies of personal contact with this girl--the
only woman he ever had loved or ever would.
And then a black shadow loomed before them, and a rifle
flashed in their faces without a word or a sign of warning.
CHAPTER XVII
"YOU ARE MY GIRL!"
MR. ANTHONY HARDING was pacing back and forth the
length of the veranda of the ranchhouse at El Orobo waiting
for some word of hope from those who had ridden out in
search of his daughter, Barbara. Each swirling dust devil that
eddied across the dry flat on either side of the river roused
hopes within his breast that it might have been spurred into
activity by the hoofs of a pony bearing a messenger of good
tidings; but always his hopes were dashed, for no horseman
emerged from the heat haze of the distance where the little
dust devils raced playfully among the cacti and the greasewood.
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