in my throat. All the cords of my legs were
straightening as if I was in the saddle.

"She slept for three hours. I got the two horses saddled. Who could tell
but she might need help? I had nothing to do; I knew the shortest way to
Fort Micah, every foot--and then it is good to be ready for all things.
I told Hilton's wife what I had done. She was glad. She made a gesture
at me as to a brother, and then began to put things in a bag for us to
carry. She had settled all how it was to be. She had told the girl.
You see, a man may be--what is it they call me?--a plunderer, and yet a
woman will trust him, comme ca!"

"Aw yis, aw yis, Pierre; but she knew yer hand and yer tongue niver wint
agin a woman, Pierre. Naw, niver a wan. Aw swate, swate, she was, wid a
heart--a heart, Hilton's wife, aw yis!"

Pierre waved Macavoy into silence. "The girl waked after three hours
with a start. Her hand caught at her heart. 'Oh,' she said, still
staring at us, 'I thought that they had come!' A little after she and
Hilton's wife went to another room. All at once there was a sound of
horses outside, and then a knock at the door, and four men come in. They
were the girl's hunters.

"It was hard to tell what to do all in a minute; but I saw at once the
best thing was to act for all, and to get all the men inside the house.
So I whispered to Hilton, and then pretended that I was a great man in
the Company. I ordered Hilton to have the horses cared for, and, not
giving the men time to speak, I fetched out the old brown brandy,
wondering all the time what could be done. There was no sound from the
other room, though I thought I heard a door open once. Hilton played the
game well, and showed nothing when I ordered him about, and agreed word
for word with me when I said no girl had come, laughing when they told
why they were after her. More than one of them did not believe at first;
but, pshaw, what have I been doing all my life to let such fellows doubt
me? So the end of it was that I got them all inside the house. There was
one bad thing--their horses were all fresh, as Hilton whispered to me.
They had only rode them a few miles--they had stole or bought them at
the first ranch to the west of the Post. I could not make up my mind
what to do. But it was clear I must keep them quiet till something
shaped.

"They were all drinking brandy when Hilton's wife come into the room.
Her face was, mon Dieu! so innocent, so childlike. She stared at th