CHAPTER XLV.
QUEEN OF THE COUNTERFEITERS.
It seemed an act of madness.
A moment after she made the frightful leap a man came rushing to theedge of the ledge and clutched at her.
He was too late.
Already she was shooting downward toward the depths of the ravine.
With no small difficulty he saved himself from toppling over the brink.
Down in the ravine two boys gazed in unutterable horror at the fallingform of the girl.
Then they beheld what seemed like a marvel.
To a certain extent the umbrella acted like a parachute, and, assistedby the girl's clothing, served to check the swiftness of her fall.
Down she came into the ravine, alighting within a few rods of the boys,collapsing in a motionless heap, while the huge government umbrella,which must have been stolen from its former owners, turned bottom up androlled a few feet away.
Frank was the first to recover. With a low cry, he sprang toward thegirl, knelt beside her, and lifted her in his arms.
"Is she dead?" fluttered Bart, over his friend's shoulder.
"I do not think she struck hard enough," said Frank. "No--she moves. Sheis alive!"
The beautiful girl, whose face was very pale, opened her eyes, caughther breath convulsively, looked straight past Frank, saw the face of theother boy, and murmured:
"Bartley!"
In a moment Bart Hodge was on his knees, and he almost tore her fromFrank's hands.
"Give her to me!" he panted. "She knows me now! She will not refuse torecognize me here!"
Seeing how agitated his friend was, Frank surrendered the girl, asking:
"Are you severely harmed, Miss Isban?"
She looked at him in a bewildered way, but did not reply.
Bending over her, Bart echoed the question:
"Are you severely harmed, Miss Melburn?"
"I--I think not," she replied, faintly. "I lost my breath, and I fearedI would lose my hold on the handle of the umbrella before I reached thebottom. I did not strike very hard, but everything seemed to float awaywhen I knew I was at the bottom."
"It is wonderful--marvelous! What made you do such a mad thing?"
"The horrid wretch who insisted on making love to me! I became awfullyafraid of him. He was pursuing me."
"But it seemed like a leap to certain death."
"I didn't care much. I was crazy with fear. I saw this old umbrella,and, remembering how I had once seen a man descend by means of aparachute from a balloon, I caught it up, rushed out of the cabin,slamming the door in his face, opened it, and jumped when he camehurrying after me."
"The brute!" grated Bart.
"He is a brute!" echoed the girl, "I had rather die than fall into hispower again!"
"You shall not fall into his power. We will protect you."
"But how does it happen you are here?" she asked, bewildered. "I cannotunderstand that."
"This is no time or place for explanations," Frank cut in. "That fellowhas disappeared from the cliff, but he will be back. We must get out ofthis."
To this Bart fully agreed, and he lifted the girl to her feet. She wasrather weak, and so she was forced to lean on his shoulder.
They had moved but a little way when a shout came from the cliff, andthey saw three men looking down at them. These men were armed, and Franksaw them taking aim with rifles.
"Look out!" he shouted. "They're going to send bullets after us!"
A second later the men on the cliff began shooting, the white smokepuffing from their rifles, the reports of which awoke the echoes.
The bullets whistled about the trio in the ravine.
"Run!" shouted Frank, wheeling and flinging his rifle to his shoulder.
He sent several bullets up at the cliff and then turned and dashed afterBart, who had lifted the girl in his arms, and made a rush for a placeof safety.
The bullets spat spitefully against the rocks as he ran, whistled abouthim, dislodged pebbles and tore up little sprays of earth, but not oneof them touched him.
The trio reached a turn in the ravine and passed beyond view of thecliff, so they were safe from the bullets of the men above.
For some moments they paused, panting from their exertions.
The girl looked at her companions in admiration.
"You are strong and brave," she said. "I feel that you will save me."
"But we are not out of the woods yet," said Frank. "Those fellows willbe sure to give us a chase."
"How can they get down from the cliff?" asked Bart.
"There is a way to do that, you may be sure. As soon as we get ourbreath we must hasten on. We will be fortunate if we strike Blake, Long,and Jones without delay."
They did not wait long before hastening forward. The boys took the girlbetween them, both assisting her, sometimes carrying her over the worstplaces.
Her strength came back to her, after a time, and they were surprised byher skill and fleetness of foot.
Out of the ravine they made their way, and dropped over into the other,beginning to feel relieved by the non-appearance of their enemies.
But they were not to escape without a further encounter.
Five minutes after entering the second ravine they heard a clatter ofhoofs behind them. There was no time to get out of the ravine, and ithappened that they were unable to find a place of concealment in time toescape observation.
Six men came riding madly toward them, sending up a wild shout when theywere observed.
"Behind these rocks here!" cried Frank. "We must stand them off. It'sour only show. Put the girl behind that large one, so that she will besafe from bullets."
Bart was desperate. His teeth showed, his face was very pale, and hegrated:
"They shall not touch her again--I vow they shall not touch her!"
Behind the bowlders plunged the trio, just as a bullet whistled overFrank's head.
Dropping on one knee behind a stone on which he could rest his elbow,our hero brought the butt of his Winchester to his shoulder, and beganto work the weapon.
Even then Frank was not quite ready to shoot straight at the breasts ofhuman beings, and so his first five shots brought down three of thehorses, throwing the band into confusion.
Bart was more desperate, as his words indicated, for he half snarled:
"Don't kill the poor horses! Shoot the human brutes!"
Then he began firing, and, if his nerve had been as steady as Frank's,scarcely one of the six would have escaped. As it was, he quicklywounded two of them.
This was a reception the men had not counted on. Those whose horses hadnot been shot made haste to rein about and dash away, one with adangling arm, while the others leaped to the shelter of the rocks.
"Now they have us cornered!" came fiercely from Bart's lips. "If you hadnot wasted your bullets, Frank, we would have the advantage now."
"Don't you care," laughed Frank, lightly. "We are hotter company thanthey were looking for, and I rather fancy we'll be able to give them ajolly good racket."
Frank was in a reckless mood. Danger ever seemed to affect him thus. Abullet tore his hat from his head, but he picked it up, laughing, as ifit were all sport.
For some minutes the boys and their enemies popped away at each other,and then, from the opposite direction along the ravine, came the soundof galloping horses.
"Here come our friends!" cried Bart, joyfully. "We are all right now!Those chaps will have to take to their heels."
Suddenly a sharp whistle rang through the ravine from above, and theparty below answered in a similar manner.
The boys looked at each other in astonishment.
"Shield yourselves as far as possible in both directions," cried Frank."If I am not mistaken, we have enemies above and below!"
Crouching behind the rocks, they saw the second party dash intoview--four in all. Three of them were men, but their leader was a girl,who wore a mask over her face.
"There!" exclaimed Fr
ank--"there is the queen of the counterfeiters!"