ld night was
unforgettable. Erect and with his piercing eyes hollowed by illness,
his impassive features made slender by suffering and framed by the
striking beard, Hawk seemed to Kate to confirm in his appearance every
fantastic story she had ever heard of him.

Not till after Laramie had urged him and Kate herself had joined in the
plea, would he come near her or near to the fire.

"A wet night and a blind trail do pretty well at mixing things up,"
observed Laramie. "However, we needn't make any further secrets. Abe,
here, has got it in his mind to head for a hospital tonight. You," he
looked at Kate, "are heading for home. I don't like either scheme very
much but I'm an innocent bystander. We'll ride three together till the
trails fork. Then," he spoke again to Kate, "we'll put you on a sure
trail for the ranch, and the two of us will head into town. It isn't
the way I planned, but it's one way out."

"The sooner we get started the better," said Hawk, curtly. The two men
discussed for a moment the trip; then Laramie and Hawk left the house
for the barn and corral to get up horses. Before leaving, Laramie
showed Kate how to drop the bars and cautioned her not to neglect to
secure the door. "Some of this bunch Van Horn has got out wouldn't be
very agreeable company."

"Surely they wouldn't harm me!"

"It would mean a nasty fight for us when we bring up the horses."

Kate secured the door. Wet and uncomfortable but undismayed by the
various turns of her predicament she sat down to study the fire. Her
eyes wandered through the gloom to the dark corners of the rough room
and over the crude furnishings.

The long, slender snowshoes on the wall, the big beaded moccasins with
them, the coiled lariats hung on the pegs in company with old spurs;
the bunk in the corner strewn with Indian blankets from the far-off
Spanish country, and overflowing with the skin of a grizzly--all
brought to mind and reflected an active life. The firelight glinted
the bright, bluish barrels of the rifles on the rack, to Kate, almost
sinisterly, for some of them must suggest a side of Laramie's life she
disliked to dwell on--yet she allowed herself to wonder which rifle he
took when he armed not for elk or grizzlies but for men. And then at
the side of the fireplace she saw fastened on the rough wall a faded
card photograph of a young woman--almost a girl. It was simply
framed--Kate wondered whether it might be his mother. O