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Updated: May 4, 2025
Turning, Seldon led him back again, and then the other animals followed slowly, and though nervously, yet without accident. They were repaid for their fright when turned loose upon the acres of luxuriant grass in the valley. A fence of poles made a barrier across the narrow entrance of the valley, and so the horses were allowed to roam at will.
Well supplied with food and ammunition, having plenty of blankets along, for the nights were cold, and mounted upon the best one of their horses, Andrew Seldon felt ready to cope with whatever he might have to encounter in the way of hardships and dangers.
When his footsteps sounded on the floor of the lower deck she called out carelessly, "Miss Seldon and Miss Butler are in the cabin waiting for you. Miss Jones is not here. I suppose she gave you the message." The youth, who had been moving cautiously toward the houseboat, was not the boy for whom the girls were waiting. This one had black, curly hair and wild dark eyes.
And so it was that Doctor Dick went out with the ransom for Celeste Seldon, with Harding proud at holding the reins over the picked team that would take her back to Last Chance. "Well, Doctor Dick, what do you think of our chances?" asked Harding, when the coach had turned out of the valley and was fairly started upon the trail to the meeting with the masked road-agent chief.
"She will be given up in safety, sir, I am certain, for I have perfect confidence in the outlaw lieutenant, who told his story to Celeste, and I only ask that he may not share the fate of the other outlaws," and the gold-hunter made known what had occurred between Wolf and Celeste, and Doctor Powell replied: "I agree with you, and if he acts squarely toward Miss Seldon, I will urge that he be allowed to go free, when his comrades are to hang."
That swift glimpse beneath the dark lashes caused me to leave the room with swiftly beating heart. At the door I stole another glance backward but she had sunk into a chair, her face concealed in her hands. With Seldon ahead, and the two guards behind, I tramped down the stairs into the basement, and was again locked within the walls of the strong room.
The notes of the bugle ringing out, the touching air brought tears to the eyes of Celeste Seldon, who, however, was startled a moment after, as the stage came in sight of a hundred horsemen drawn up in two lines, one on either side of the trail. They were a wild, reckless-looking lot of rough riders, but the cheer they gave when they saw Celeste on the box came from their hearts.
As Andrew Seldon he wore his hair long, and his beard fell half-way down to his belt, while he further had a pair of spectacles to disguise his eyes with, and had manufactured a hump in the shoulders of his coat that gave him a changed form, like one who stoops badly. "But come what may, I shall risk it," he said firmly, as he went on his way.
Aside from his regard for Celeste Seldon, her unprotected condition would have won his deepest sympathy under any circumstances. Doctor Dick, on the other hand, was calm and silent. He had the money demanded, and he had come to do his duty, but was prepared to face all emergencies that might arise.
Harding made no reply, for he was too much overcome to speak; but the small leather trunk belonging to Celeste Seldon having been taken from the coach, along with a side-saddle and bridle she had brought with her, the driver clasped her hand in farewell. Harding was unable himself to speak, for his emotion at being unable to protect the girl.
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