and then ran quickly down the steps and in the direction of

the office. Here she found Eddie dozing at his post. She did

not disturb him. A glance through the window satisfied her

that he was alone with the prisoner. From the office building

Barbara passed on to the corral. A few horses stood within

the enclosure, their heads drooping dejectedly. As she entered

they raised their muzzles and sniffed suspiciously, ears a-cock,

and as the girl approached closer to them they moved warily

away, snorting, and passed around her to the opposite side of

the corral. As they moved by her she scrutinized them and her

heart dropped, for Brazos was not among them. He must

have been turned out into the pasture.

She passed over to the bars that closed the opening from

the corral into the pasture and wormed her way between two

of them. A hackamore with a piece of halter rope attached to

it hung across the upper bar. Taking it down she moved off

across the pasture in the direction the saddle horses most often

took when liberated from the corral.

If they had not crossed the river she felt that she might find

and catch Brazos, for lumps of sugar and bits of bread had

inspired in his equine soul a wondrous attachment for his

temporary mistress.

Down the beaten trail the animals had made to the river

the girl hurried, her eyes penetrating the darkness ahead and

to either hand for the looming bulks that would be the horses

she sought, and among which she might hope to discover the

gentle little Brazos.

The nearer she came to the river the lower dropped her

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