Part 14 (2/2)

But Betty had ju with her bare hands at that thin place--that thin place---- It gave under her h into the air--the air---- A breath of it swept into her tortured lungs, and she leaned there, laughing, crying, the tears of sheer weakness running down her dirt-stained face

”Girls!” she babbled, ”out there is the air--the good old air--enough of it for all of us! We're saved, do you hear? We're saved!”

Exhausted as they were, the girls tore at the tiny hole that Betty had h for theh

And oh! the indescribable ecstasy of it, the joy of it, just to lie there, treiving air, thinking of nothing, caring for nothing but that they were alive there in their great out-of-doors One never comes really to appreciate life until one has been close to death

It was a long tio on They had not realized how near exhaustion they had been until the tension had relaxed When at last they did start for holance down the canyon at their right for fear of beco hours in the cave, and when they finally left the trail and cut across the plain toward the ranch it was nearly dark They did not realize the startling sight they ht until theyout to search for theht of the mud-stained, blood-stained Outdoor Girls, Andy Rawlinson fairly tu toward theape

”What in the world----” began Andy, but Betty stopped hiesture As briefly as she could she told hiet their horses

”It's getting pretty dark now, you know,” she reer and ask questions ”Soon you won't be able to see what you're doing Won't you please hurry?”

”Surest thing you know,” responded the boy quickly, his nice eyes full of sympathy for the awfully worried about you, you know--and the rest of us will go on and dig out the poor bronchos So long We'll be back pronto”

”And now hohed Betty, as she looked at the ranch house just visible in the distance ”And a bath--and soirls?”

”Heaven!” they answered

CHAPTER XIII

THE LURE OF GOLD

The task of releasing the iirls and even Andy Rawlinson had thought it would be

In the first place, it took Andy and his co the trail where the landslide had occurred, for Betty's account had been hasty and excited and she had overlooked several details that ht have helped them in their work

And when they did reach the scene of what edy the ranch hands were appalled by the immensity of the landslide There had been several small ones in that vicinity, but this hat Andy ter from inside that dirt-choked cavern that, there in that lonely spot on the very edge of night, seemed positively uncanny to the et busy, boys,” said Andy suddenly ”Those hosses ain't goin'

to get any easier in they'eet there for the right kind of tools from the miners We may need some more men, too Gosh, but I didn't knoas as bad as that,” he added with a glance over his shoulder as he turned his pony and dashed back down the trail in the direction of Gold Run ”Reckon 'twas just plain grit that got those girls out”

Back in Gold Run they found severalto offer both themselves and their tools toward the work of liberation, and soon the cowboys returned, accompanied by men with lanterns, and fell to ith a will

Two hours later, Andy Rawlinson ventured into the blackness of the cave, swinging his lantern before hihtened horses