ed, and very harmless. His position and his salary as
"heavy" in the Great Western Company he owed chiefly to his good acting
and his thick eyebrows and his facility for making himself look
treacherous and mean. He followed Jean because the boss told him to do
so, in the first place. In the second place, he followed her because
he was even more interested in her than his director had been, and he
hoped to have a chance to talk with her. In his workaday life, Gil
Huntley was quite accustomed to being discovered in some villainy, and
to having some man or woman point a gun at him with more or less
antagonism in voice and manner. But he had never in his life had a
girl ride up and "throw down on him" with a gun, actually believing him
to be a thief and a scoundrel whom she would shoot if she thought it
necessary. There was a difference. Gil did not take the time or
trouble to analyze the difference, but he knew that he was glad the
boss had not sent Johnny or Bill in his place. He did not believe that
either of them would have enough sense to see the difference, and they
might offend her in some way,--though Gil Huntley need not have worried
in the least over any man's treatment of Jean, who was eminently
qualified to attend to that for herself.

He grinned when he saw her turn the cattle loose down the very next
coulee and with a final flip of her rope loop toward the hindermost
cow, ride on without them. He should have ridden in haste then to tell
Robert Grant Burns that the cattle could be brought back in twenty
minutes or so and the picture-making go on as planned. It was not
likely that the girl would come back; they could go on with their work
and get permission from the girl's uncle afterward. But he did not
turn and hurry back. Instead, he waited behind a rock-huddle until
Jean was well out of sight,--and while he waited, he took his
handkerchief and rubbed hard at the make-up on his face, which had made
him look sinister and boldly bad. Without mirror or cold cream, he was
not very successful, so that he rode on somewhat spotted in appearance
and looking even more sinister than before. But he was much more
comfortable in his mind, which meant a good deal in the interview which
he hoped by some means to bring about.

With Jean a couple of hundred yards in advance, they crossed a little
flat so bare of concealment that Gil Huntley was worried for fear she
might look back and discover him. But she did