The rain had stopped. Darkness was over the world and stars blinked solemnly from their heavenly nest. The rain had brought coolness and a light wind that stirred the leaves of the trees.

Round the campfire were gathered all the girls but the absent Gale. Tom was collecting firewood and Jim was making sure the horses were secure for the night.

“Where do you suppose Gale can be?” Janet asked again.

“I wonder,” agreed Phyllis. “This is the first time in my acquaintance with her that she ever missed a meal.”

“I’m beginning to be worried,” Virginia confessed. “I don’t see why she stayed away so long.”

“You don’t suppose--something could have happened to her?” Valerie asked hesitantly.

“What for instance?” Madge demanded.

“Well, her horse might have run away or----” “Nonsense!” Carol said crisply. “Gale’s horse is the tamest one of the bunch. I’ll bet she is having an adventure and a high old time.”

“But where can she be?” insisted Valerie.

Minutes passed into hours and hours passed and still that question was not answered. The camp was thoroughly alarmed now. They were certain Gale was in trouble or had lost her way in the strange country. Any number of things might have happened, and their thoughts ran rampant. The girls could see that Tom and Jim were as disturbed as they. For the last half hour Jim had, almost lovingly, been cleaning his revolver. There was something ominous in just the sight of him toying with his weapon. What was he thinking?

“What are we going to do?” Valerie asked finally.

It was time for the girls to retire for it had been planned to ride early on the morrow. But now, with Gale missing, their plans were interrupted. None felt that she could sleep if they did go to bed.

“You girls might as well go to bed,” Tom said practically. “Jim and I will wait until dawn and then go out and pick up Gale’s trail. It would be no use going now, for we could find nothing in the darkness.”

They realized that he spoke the truth but still it was hard to sit idle when they were longing to know what was happening to their comrade. Reluctantly Madge, Carol, Janet and Virginia went to their tent. Valerie and Phyllis followed slowly to theirs. Tom and Jim rolled in their blankets by the fire, close together so they could talk in low whispers. The light wind stirred the flames and sent them reaching high into the air. A moment more and they died down to smouldering embers. Silence gradually settled down over the tents and those two Indian-like figures on the ground.

The camp was asleep or so it seemed. Not one occupant of the tents or Tom or Jim saw the two figures that stood on the outer edge of the circle of light and smiled over the serenity which gripped the camp. Big, burly men they were, used to hard riding and hard living. The leather chaps they wore and their heavy khaki shirts were covered with dust. About their waists hung heavy holster and cartridge belts. Figures of menace they were, menace to the peace of the Adventure Girls’ camp. In their eyes, cold and relentless, was reflected the low, burning embers of the campfire as the two took in every detail. They seemed to have no desire to disturb the sleeping campers, just to note the lay of the land, as it were. When their silent inspection was finished they turned and melted into the darkness from whence they had come.

In the tent she shared now with only Phyllis, Valerie lay wakeful and restless. Her thoughts were contemplating a hundred and one things that might have happened to Gale. The two had been friends for a long, long time and now the thought that her chum might be in trouble or danger, perhaps, made Valerie long to be off to her assistance. She lay staring at the black tent roof. Beside her Phyllis lay calm, breathing regularly, already in the land of dreams. Valerie wished she could smother her own troublesome thoughts and go to sleep. Tom and Jim knew what they were about and if they said it was no use hunting for Gale before morning, there simply was no use that was all. She realized that they could scarcely find a sign of Gale in the pitch blackness of the Arizona night. They thought that Gale might have lost her way and could not return to the camp. Valerie seriously doubted that. Gale could find her way about better than any of them. She seemed to possess a sixth sense that enabled her to remember any route or trail of open country that she had once taken. Valerie was sure Gale had not lost her way. Instead, there was some other reason why she hadn’t returned to the camp.

Valerie’s memory was particularly fresh with scenes of the night she and Gale had been prisoners of the bank bandit. Had something similar happened to Gale tonight? There was scarcely any other reason she should stay away from camp. Valerie wondered if Gale still had her little revolver with her. At least she had some little protection with that.

Valerie sat up and ruffled her hair restlessly. A moment later she stood at the open tent flap. She could see Tom and Jim rolled snugly in their blankets. What was that? For an instant she thought a shadow appeared on the other side of the camp circle. A minute later she changed her mind. It must have been a sudden spurt of the fire that threw a flickering shadow over the sagebrush. She stepped out and let the flap close behind her. There was no use to waken Phyllis or the others just because she couldn’t sleep. She breathed deeply of the cool night air and marveled at the thrill she felt. It was a thrill to note the difference in herself. How changed she was since the first day they had camped in the open. The sun and the usually dry air had wrought wonders, wonders that had seemed impossible to even Valerie herself. She had often wondered if she would ever feel the glow of vigorous health. Now she felt like a new person. That annoying cough had entirely disappeared. She wondered if the other girls realized what a transformation had taken place within her. It had been a severe struggle, the hardest battle she had ever fought, but she had won. The weeks of riding and camping, eating and sleeping outdoors, had tanned her skin and put a sparkle in her eyes. Too, she had gained weight. No more was she utterly exhausted at the end of a day’s hard ride. No more were the other girls livelier than she. Now she felt equal to any situation that might arise.

She had walked from the camp a ways to drink in the beauty of the night. Unconsciously she had taken the same route Gale had ridden earlier in the day. Ahead of her was the rise over which Gale had gone. Valerie strolled along. The moon came out and threw dark shadows under the trees and brush. Glancing up suddenly, Valerie was startled. She was sure she had seen a figure step behind a group of trees ahead of her. She laughed at her own fears. Nervousness wasn’t usually one of her traits. It must be that Gale’s disappearance was preying on her mind. She was beginning to imagine ominous sounds and sights. She frowned at the thought of Gale and kicked an unoffending pebble from her path. She might as well go back and try to sleep. There was no use wandering about like a lost sheep. If the others discovered her absence they would be alarmed and there was no cause to create a disturbance.

She decided to walk to the top of the rise and take a look at the plain that stretched away to the right. She liked to see the plains in the moonlight; it all looked as though the earth had been sprinkled with silver dust. Then she would go back to camp, probably to lay awake until dawn, she thought darkly. It was no use to argue about it. She worried about Gale and about what might have happened. With rustlers and bank robbers in the vicinity, what might not have happened? Too, there was something about Tom and Jim that made her apprehensive. They seemed to be waiting for something. Their whole attitude was one of preparedness, but for what? Did they expect the outlaws to come to the girls’ camp? The men would hardly do that she thought with a smile. Why should they?

She came to the rise of ground and stood there in the moonlight, overlooking the plain. For a moment her eyes were somewhat dazzled by the brilliance of the moonlight. Then she discerned a low cloud of dust rolling along the horizon. Small dark figures she discerned. What could it be? She knew, Jim had told them, that a herd of the K Bar O was somewhere off there to the right. But were the riders moving the cattle tonight? They were moving swiftly, too, she could tell.

Another thought occurred to her and her eyes narrowed with suspicion. Could it be rustlers? Rustlers stealing another herd of K Bar O cattle? It was possible, she declared to herself. The regular riders would scarcely be moving the cattle so swiftly so late at night. There was no reason they should. On the other hand, if it were rustlers, and if it were K Bar O cattle, where were the regular riders? Didn’t they keep a close watch these nights when there was such danger in the air? If she were Gale’s uncle, she would put extra men on in an endeavor to catch the thieves. Suppose there was trickery among the hired hands? Suppose one of the riders whom Mr. Wilson trusted was in league with the outlaws? It was quite possible. The man could very easily fix it so the rustlers would have a clear hand. Was that what was happening? She frowned thoughtfully. At any rate, she was sure that it was rustlers moving K Bar O cattle and she was going to tell Jim and Tom about it.

She turned and her heart froze in her throat. Before her two men stepped forward to block the path. Rough hands seized her and she was lifted bodily from the ground. Kicking and squirming she let out a piercing scream to summon the help of her camp mates. Just one scream, no more was she allowed. She was roughly and effectively silenced and carried to where two horses stood docilely among the trees. Her captors mounted and she was swung up in front of one of them across the saddle. It was no use to fight. Her captors were much stronger than she and there was no course but to submit in stormy but, she hoped, dignified silence as the two horses started away.