nd answered. "We ain't keepin' cases on her,
or on you. You don't find her in my outfit, that's flat. She spent the
night with the Adams women. You'll find her waitin' for you, on ahead."
He grinned. "She'll be powerful glad to see you." He sobered. "And I'll
say this: I'm kinder sorry I ain't got her, for she'd be interestin'
company on the road."

"The road to hell, yes," Montoyo coolly remarked. "I'd guarantee you quick
passage. Good-day."

With sudden steely glare that embraced us both he jumped his mount into a
gallop and tore past the team, for the front. He must have inquired, once
or twice, as to the whereabouts of the Captain's party; I saw fingers
pointing.

"Here! You've swapped collars on your lead span, boy," Mr. Jenks
reproved--but he likewise fumbling while he gazed.

I could hold back no longer.

"Just a minute, if you please," I pleaded; and hastened on up, half
running in my anxiety to face the worst; to help, if I might, for the
best.

A little knot of people had formed, constantly increasing by oncomers like
myself and friend Jenks who had lumbered behind me. Montoyo's horse stood
heaving, on the outskirts; and ruthlessly pushing through I found him
inside, with My Lady at bay before him--her eyes brilliant, her cheeks
hot, her two hands clenched tightly, her slim figure dangerously tense
within her absurd garment, and the arm of the brightly flushed but calm
Rachael resting restraintfully around her. The circling faces peered.

Captain Adams, at one side apart, was replying to the gambler. His small
china-blue eyes had begun to glint; otherwise he maintained an air of
stolidity as if immune to the outcome.

"You see her," he said. "She has had the care of my own household, for I
turn nobody away. She came against my will, and she shall go of her will.
I am not her keeper."

"You Mormons have the advantage of us white men, sir," Montoyo sneered.
"No one of the sex seems to be denied bed and board in your
establishments."

"By the help of the Lord we of the elect can manage our establishments
much better than you do yours," big Hyrum responded; and his face
sombered. "Who are you? A panderer to the devil, a thief with painted
card-boards, a despoiler of the ignorant, and a feeder to hell--yea, a
striker of women and a trafficker in flesh! Who are you, to think the name
of the Lord's anointed? There she is, your chattel. Take her, or leave
her. This train starts on in ten minutes."

"I'l