re's no use to wake her up for bad news."

"You haven't found Nola?"

"I know right where she is. I could put my hand on her if I could
reach her."

"Then why--?"

"Hell!" said Chadron, bursting into a fire of passion, "why can't I
fly like an eagle? Young woman, I've got to tell you I've been beat
and tricked for the first time in my life! They've got my men hemmed
in, I tell you--they've got 'em shut up in a canyon as tight as if they
was nailed in their coffins!"

If Chadron had been clearer of sight and mind in that moment of his
towering anger, he would have seen her cheeks flush at his words, and
her nostrils dilate and her breath come faster. But he was blind; his
little varnish of delicacy was gone. He was just a ranting, roaring,
dark-visaged brute with murder in his heart.

"That damned Macdonald done it, led 'em into it like they was blind!
He's a wolf, and he's got the tricks of a wolf, he skulked ahead of
'em with a little pack of his rustlers and led 'em into his trap, then
the men he had hid there and ready they popped up as thick as grass.
They've got fifty of my men shut up there where they can't git to
water, and where they can't fight back. Now, what do you think of
that?"

"I'll tell you what I think," she said, throwing up her head, her eyes
as quick and bright as water in the sun, "I think it's the judgment of
God! I glory in the trick Alan Macdonald played you, and I pray God he
can shut your hired murderers there till the last red-handed devil
dies of thirst!"

Chadron fell back from her a step, his eyes staring, his mouth open,
his hand lifted as if to silence her. He stood so a moment, casting
his wild look around, fearful that somebody else had heard her
passionate denunciation.

"What in the hell do you mean?" he asked, crouching as he spoke, his
teeth clenched, his voice smothered in his throat.

"I mean that I know you're a murderer--and worse! You hired those men,
like you hired Mark Thorn, to come here and murder those innocent men
and their families!"

"Well, what if I did?" he said, standing straight again, his composure
returning. "They're thieves; they've been livin' off of my cattle for
years. Anybody's got a right to kill a rustler--that's the only cure.
Well, they'll not pen them men of mine up there till they crack for
water, I'll bet you a purty on that! I'm goin' after soldiers, and
this time I'll git 'em, too."

"Soldiers!" said she, in amazement. "Will you ask