ng to do it a-tall. Most likely if you'll
call up the Lower End----"

"I've done it!" Whirling in his impatient stride across the room,
Hampton came swiftly to Carson's side. "They're not there. They left
the Lower End this afternoon and came on here. Then, both armed, they
rode away again at four or five o'clock. I tell you, man, something
has happened to them."

"Don't believe it," retorted Carson. "Not for one little half-minute,
I don't. What's to happen? Huh?"

"You know as well as I do what sort of characters are about. The man
who robbed Charlie Miller--who shot at Bud Lee----"

"Whoa!" grinned Carson. "Don't you go and fool yourself. That
stick-up gent is a clean hundred miles from here right now an' still
going, real lively. If any other jasper lent him a hand, why, he's on
his way, too. Not stopping to pick flowers. It's the way them kind
plays the game."

Carson was so cheerfully certain, so amused at the thought of Bud Lee
and Judith Sanford requiring anybody's assistance, so confident
concerning the methods of outlaws, that finally Hampton sent him away,
half assured, and went himself to his friends in the living-room. Here
he found the major and Mrs. Langworthy reading and yawning. Marcia
laughed at a jest of Farris's, while Rogers sought to interest her in
himself. The every-day, homelike atmosphere had its effect in allaying
his picturesque fears. Hampton noted how her handful of days in the
country had done Marcia a world of good, putting fresh, warm color in
her rather pale cheeks, breeding a new sparkle in her eyes. She was
good to look upon.

He let half an hour slip by in restless inactivity. For, no matter
what Carson might say or these people in here do, Judith had not yet
come in. When Marcia addressed a bright remark to him, he started and
stammered: "I _beg_ your pardon!" They laughed at him, saying that
Pollock Hampton was growing absent-minded in his old age. But their
banter failed to reach him; he was telling himself that some accident
might have befallen one or both of two persons whom he frankly admired
for their efficiency.

By half past eight they had caught his uneasiness. At every little
sound they turned expectantly. Still no Judith. Mrs. Simpson,
comfortable woman that she was, came in, bustling with apprehension.
Mrs. Langworthy shook off for a little her listlessness and recounted
how she had watched "that girl" riding like a wild Indian toward