"Now good night and good luck, and be sure to drop
in on us to-morrow."
She watched him as he went swiftly down the street; then she turned
into the hotel and down the hall, which echoed to the click of her
heels, and to her room. She had barely had time to change for her ride
and to glance at her "war bag" when a discreet knock sounded at her
door. Going to the door she found that it was Julius Struve instead of
Norton.
"You are to come with me," said the hotel keeper softly. "He is
waiting with the horses."
They passed through the dark dining-room, into the pitch black kitchen
and out at the rear of the house. A moment Struve paused, listening.
Then, touching her sleeve, he hurried away into the night, going toward
the black line of cottonwoods, the girl keeping close to his heels.
At the dry arroyo Norton was waiting, holding two saddled horses.
Without a word he gave her his hand, saw her mounted, surrendered
Persis's jerking reins into her gauntletted grip and swung up to the
back of his own horse. In another moment, and still in silence,
Virginia and Norton were riding away from San Juan, keeping in the
shadows of the trees, headed toward the mountains in the north.
And now suddenly Virginia found that she was giving herself over
utterly, unexpectedly to a keen, pulsing joy of life.
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