brero, with its weighty leather band, and the bulging
revolvers under his coat seemed out of place in the general trimness
of his attire.

"Go on, sir," the colonel said.

"I had the honor of meeting Miss Landcraft last night at the
masquerade given by Miss Chadron--"

"How was that, sir? Did you have the effrontery to force yourself into
a company which despises you, at the risk of your life and the decorum
of the assemblage?"

"I was drawn there," Macdonald spoke slowly, meeting the colonel's
cold eye with steady gaze, "by a hope that was miraculously realized.
I did risk my life, and I almost lost it. But that is nothing
unusual--I risk it every day."

"You saw Miss Landcraft at the ball, danced with her, I suppose,
talked with her," nodded the colonel, understandingly. "Macdonald, you
are a bold, a foolishly bold, man."

"I saw Miss Landcraft, I danced with her, I talked with her, and I
have come to you, sir, after a desperate ride through the night to
save my life as the penalty of those few minutes of pleasure, to
request the privilege of calling upon Miss Landcraft and paying my
court to her. I ask you to give me a man's chance to win her hand."

The audacity of the request almost tied the colonel's sharp old
tongue. For a moment he stood with his mouth open, his face red in the
gathering storm of his sudden passion.

"Sir!" said he, in amazed, unbelieving voice.

"There are my credentials--they will bear investigation," Macdonald
said.

"Damn your credentials, sir! I'll have nothing to do with them, you
blackguard, you scoundrel!"

"I ask you to consider--"

"I can consider nothing but the present fact that you are accused of
deeds of outlawry and violence, and are an outcast of society, even
the crude society of this wild country, sir. No matter who you are or
whence you sprung, the evidence in this country is against you. You
are a brigand and a thief, sir--this act of barbaric impetuosity in
itself condemns you--no civilized man would have the effrontery to
force himself into my presence in such a manner and make this insane
demand."

"I am exercising a gentleman's prerogative, Colonel Landcraft."

"You are a vulture aspiring to soar among eagles, sir!"

"You have heard only the cattlemen's side of the story, Colonel
Landcraft," said Macdonald, with patience and restraint. "You know
that every man who attempts to build a fence around his cabin in this
country, and strikes a furrow in the