Connie crossed over to the grocery store where she bought a box of supplies to take back to Rainbow Ranch. She chatted for a few minutes with the genial owner, Joe Ferris, who had known her since she was a child. It was well after the noon hour when finally she started home.
The girl drove automatically, her mind absorbed with the problem which beset her. Upon reaching the ranch she avoided Blakeman, feeling that she could not bear to talk with him in her present mood.
Slipping out to the barn she saddled Silvertail and went for a run through the sage. The rush of cool air seemed to quiet her nerves. She rode toward the vermilion cliffs, following an indistinct trail but one which Connie knew well.
Suddenly Silvertail shied. The girl was startled to see a man lying on the ground ahead of her. Instantly she thought that it was someone in hiding, then she saw that he lay perfectly still.
Springing from the saddle, Connie ran to him and dropped on her knees. He was a lean young man, clean-shaven and pale. She had never seen him before.
“Are you hurt?” she gasped.
The man stirred, opened his eyes and tried to smile.
“Water,” he mumbled.
Connie ran to get it from her canteen. She pressed the container to the man’s lips and he drank thirstily.
“Not too much,” she warned.