th anger, his evident intention being to thus
frighten the girl into compliance with his wishes, but her eyes,
defiant and unafraid, looked him squarely in the face.

"I certainly hear," she replied calmly. "Your voice is sufficiently
distinct. I am a slave, I suppose, and in your power; but I despise
you, hate you--and you are not going to take me to St. Louis tonight."

"What can stop me?"

"That I am not obliged to tell you, sir."

"But what will prevent? The sheriff? Puh! a few dollars will take
care of him. The Judge is a friend of mine."

"It is not the sheriff--nor the Judge; I place reliance on no friend of
yours."

He grasped at her arm, but she stepped back quickly enough to avoid
contact, and the red lips were pressed together in a thin line of
determination. Kirby could not have seen what I did, or if he did see,
failed to attach the same significance to the action. Her hand had
suddenly disappeared within the folds of her skirt; but the angry man,
apparently blinded by the violence of his passion, his eagerness to
crush her spirit, thought only that she counted on outside aid for
deliverance.

"You silly little fool," he snapped, his moustache bristling. "Why,
what could you do to stop me? I could break your neck with one hand.
So you imagine someone is going to save you. Well, who will it be?
Those yokels down at the Landing? Haines, the lawyer? You have a
surprise up your sleeve for me, I suppose! Hell! it makes me laugh;
but you might as well have your lesson now, as any other time. Come
here, you wench!"

He caught her arm this time, brutally jerking her toward him, but as
instantly staggered backward, grasping at the table, the flash of anger
in his eyes changing to a look of startled surprise. A pistol was
leveled full in his face, the polished black barrel shining ominously
in the light of the overhead lamp.

"Now perhaps you know what I mean," she said. "If you dare to touch me
I will kill you like a dog. That is no threat; it is true as God's
gospel," and the very tone of her voice carried conviction. "You say I
am a slave--your slave! That may be so, but you will never possess
me--never! Life means nothing to me any more, and I never expect to go
out of this house alive; I do not even care to. So I am not afraid of
you. Do you know why? Probably not, for men of your kind would be
unable to understand. It is because I would rather die than have your
dirty hand to