"You'll wait for me, no matter what happens?"
"Of course I'll wait. Now, hurry!"
He placed his rifle at her side and with never a backward look was away again on a run, breaking through breast-high brush; splashing once again across the creek, calling to Winch as he ran.... He would be back with her almost immediately....
So he plowed through the thickets; plunged down a slope, sped up a slope, raced over a ridge. And, now with what breath was left in his lungs, he began to send out his whistled call. That summons, which his horse, if still lingering in these upland meadows, would welcome with quick response.
Lynette stooped and laid her cheek against the grizzled old face of Thor. And then, with a sudden access of emotion, she burst into fresh tears.... Thor tried to wag his tail.... Lynette, like Standing before her, felt that the dog was dying.
"Thor!" she whispered. "Can't you hold on? Can't you carry on? He will bring Billy Winch and Billy Winch will help us...."
Then there burst upon her a surprise which moved her immeasurably. There, almost at her side, stood Babe Deveril! A moment ago she was alone in the wilderness with a dying dog; now Babe Deveril stood close to her. With Thor's head still held in her lap she looked up into his face. She saw that it was tense, the muscles drawn, the eyes hard and bright.
"Lynette!" he cried softly. "Lynette! I've followed you half around the world! And now.... Come quick! We go free and the world is ours!"
She sat, staring up at him, still bewildered.
"You!" she whispered. "And ... then it was you ... who did this?"