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Byrne was silent for a few moments He, too, had recently come to the conclusion that possibly he was not entirely rotten either, and had in a vague and half-formed sort of ished for the opportunity to de to concede to another that which he craved for hiht, cul," he said at last; "an' I'm willin' to take yeh at yer own say-so until I learn different"

"Thanks," said Theriere tersely "Noe can work together in the search for Miss Harding; but where, in the name of all that's holy, are we to start?"

"Why, where we seen her last, of course," replied the ht here on top of dese bluffs"

"Then we can't do anything until daylight," said the Frenchht we'll most likely have a scrap on our hands from below," and the mucker jerked his thumb in the direction of the cove

"I think," said Theriere, "that we had better spend an hour arood position up here One that we can defend splendidly from an assault from below, and if we are prepared for them we can stave 'em off for a while if we need the ti's whereabouts"

And so the party set to work to cut stout bludgeons froments of rock in handy places near the cliff top Theriere even went so far as to throw up a low breastwork across the top of the trail up which the enemy must climb to reach the summit of the cliff When they had completed their preparations three ainst ten ti Blanco and Divine on guard, for it had been decided that these tith Bony Sawyer, should be left behind on thefor clews to the whereabouts of Barbara Harding They were to relieve each other at guard duty during the balance of the night

Scarce had the first suggestion of dawn lightened the eastern sky than Divine, as again on guard, awakened Theriere In a moment the others were aroused, and a hasty raid on the cached provisions made The lack of water was keenly felt by all, but it was too far to the spring to chance taking the time necessary to fetch the le in search of Barbara Harding hoped to find water farther inland, while it was decided to dispatch Bony Sawyer to the spring for water for those ere to reuard at the cliff top