ll
afraid they might get back in time for the train.

"It must be sometimes."

"How does it feel to be chasing men all the time?"

"I've had more experience myself in getting chased."

She attempted to laugh: "Do they ever chase deputy marshals?"

He took up, gravely, the last sandwich: "I expect they do once in a
while."

"You ought to know, I should think."

He offered her the sandwich and on her refusal bit into it: "No," he
returned simply, "for I'm not a deputy marshal."

Kate was stunned: "Why, you said you were! What do you mean?" she
demanded when she could speak. He ate so deliberately! She thought he
never would finish his mouthful and answer: "I mean--not regularly. Once
or twice I've been deputized to serve papers--when the job went begging.
Farrell Kennedy, the marshal at Medicine Bend, is a friend of
mine--that's the nearest I come to working for him."

"But if you're not a deputy marshal, what are you?" demanded Kate,
uneasily.

His face reflected the suspicion of a smile: "I guess the answer to that
would depend a good deal on who told the story."

"I could hardly imagine anyone chasing you," she continued, not knowing
in her confusion what to say.

"You ought to see me run sometime," he returned.

"Oh, there's a prairie dog!" she exclaimed. She was looking to the
farther side of the water hole. "See? Over there by that bush! I
wonder if I could hit it?" She put her hand to her scabbard: "I've lost
my revolver!" She looked at him blankly. "Had it when you started,
didn't you?" inquired her companion, undisturbed. Her hand rested on the
empty scabbard in dismay: "I must have lost it on the way."

He plunged his left hand into a capacious side pocket and drew out her
revolver. But instead of handing it to her he began to examine it as if
he might return it or might not. She was on pins in an instant. Now she
_was_ at his mercy. "Is that mine?" she asked, frightened.

"It is."

"Where did you get it?" she demanded. Was she to get it back? He made
no move to let her know; just fingered the toy curiously. "Where you
dropped it--before you made your leap for life." And looking up at her,
he added: "We ought to've eaten our sandwiches first and drank afterward."

"I don't understand--what did I do?" Kate knew her voice quivered a bit
though she was bound she would not show fear. "And while we are
talking"--she pointed--"the prairie dog is gone."

"He'll be back," pre