Suppose there was none to appear!
But those keen eyes of the maiden have detected something, and she starts and peers more intently than before.
Far to the southward, in the direction of the mountain spurs, and on the very boundary of her vision, a black speck seems to be quivering and flickering, so indistinct, so impalpable, that none but the experienced eye can guess its nature.
But the eye which is studying it is an experienced one. Many a time it has gazed across the rolling prairie, and identified the loved father and brother before another could discover a person at all.
"Some one is coming," she says to her mother.
"Some one!" is the alarmed response; "are there no more?"
"There may be, but this one is in advance."
"But why should he be in advance of the rest?" is the query, born of the fear in the heart of the parent.
"It is not mine to answer for the present; he may be better mounted and is coming for—for—"
"For what?"