But Hare could not kill the rustler while he
was sleeping; and he could not awaken him without revealing to his men
the escape of the girl. Hare stood there on the bench, gazing down on
the blanketed Holderness. Why not kill him now, ending forever his
power, and trust to chance for the rest? No, no! Hare flung the
temptation from him. To ward off pursuit as long as possible, to aid
Mescal in every way to some safe hiding-place, and then to seek
Holderness--that was the forethought of a man who had learned to wait.
Under the dark projection of the upper cliff Hare felt his way to the
cedar slope, and the trail, and then he went swiftly down into the little
hollow where he had left Bolly. The darkness of the forest hindered him,
but he came at length to the edge of the aspen thicket; he penetrated it,
and guided toward Bolly by a suspicious stamp and neigh, he found her and
quieted her with a word. He rode down the hollow, out upon the level
valley.
The clouds had broken somewhat, letting pale light down through rifts.
All about him cattle were lying in a thick gloom. It was penetrable for
only a few rods.
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