er had glanced his way. Was she completely bewitched? Would
she throw herself at the man's feet before them all? Couldn't she give
him even one thought? Hadn't she seen that he was gagged and bound? Did
she truly think that these were McLean's men? Why, she could not! It was
only a few days ago that she had been close enough to this man and angry
enough with him to peel the hat from his head with a shot! Suddenly a
thing she had said jestingly to him one day came back with startling
force: "You must take Angels on trust." Of course you must! She was his
Angel. She must have seen! His life, and what was far more, her own, was
in her hands. There was nothing he could do but trust her. Surely she
was working out some plan.

The Angel knelt beside his flower bed and recklessly tore up by the
roots a big bunch of foxfire.

"These stems are so tough and sticky," she said. "I can't break them.
Loan me your knife," she ordered Freckles.

As she reached for the knife, her back was for one second toward the
men. She looked into his eyes and deliberately winked.

She severed the stems, tossed the knife to Freckles, and walking to
Jack, laid the flowers over his heart.

Freckles broke into a sweat of agony. He had said she would be safe in
a herd of howling savages. Would she? If Black Jack even made a motion
toward touching her, Freckles knew that from somewhere he would muster
the strength to kill him. He mentally measured the distance to where his
club lay and set his muscles for a spring. But no--by the splendor of
God! The big fellow was baring his head with a hand that was unsteady.
The Angel pulled one of the long silver pins from her hat and fastened
her flowers securely.

Freckles was quaking. What was to come next? What was she planning, and
oh! did she understand the danger of her presence among those men; the
real necessity for action?

As the Angel stepped from Jack, she turned her head to one side and
peered at him, quite as Freckles had seen the little yellow fellow do
on the line a hundred times, and said: "Well, that does the trick! Isn't
that fine? See how it sets him off, boys? Don't you forget the tie is to
be red, and the first ride soon. I can't wait very long. Now I must go.
The Bird Woman will be ready to start, and she will come here hunting me
next, for she is busy today. What did I come here for anyway?"

She glanced inquiringly around, and several of the men laughed. Oh, the
delight of it! She h