nted, in a soft, drawling voice. "You don't look so
terribly blood-thirsty without it; I just guess I'd better keep it for
a while. It would make a dandy waste-basket. Do you know, if your
face were clean, I think you'd look almost human,--for an outlaw."

She started on up the trail, nonchalantly leading her captive by the
rope. Gil Huntley could have wriggled an arm loose and freed himself,
but he did not. He wanted to see what she was going to do with him.
He grinned when she had her back turned toward him, but he did not say
anything for fear of spoiling the joke or offending her in some way.
So presently Jean began to feel silly, and the joke lost its point and
seemed inane and weak.

She turned back, threw off the loop that bound his arms to his sides,
and coiled the rope. "I wish you play-acting people would keep out of
the country," she said impatiently. "Twice you've made me act
ridiculous. I don't know what in the world you wanted to follow me
for,--and I don't care. Whatever it was, it isn't going to do you one
particle of good, so you needn't go on doing it."

She looked at him full, refused to meet half-way the friendliness of
his eyes, tossed the hat toward him, and wheeled her horse away.
"Good-by," she said shortly, and touched Pard with the spurs. She was
out of hearing before Gil Huntley could think of the right thing to
say, and she increased the distance between them so rapidly that before
he had quite recovered from his surprise at her sudden change of mood,
she was so far away that he could not have overtaken her if he had
tried.

He watched her out of sight and rode back to where Burns mouthed a big,
black cigar, and paced up and down the level space where he had set the
interrupted scene, and waited his coming.

"Rode away from you, did she? Where'd she take the cattle to? Left
'em in the next gulch? Well, why didn't you say so? You boys can
bring 'em back, and we'll get to work again. Where'd you say that
spring was, Gil? We'll eat before we do anything else. One thing
about this blamed country is we don't have to be afraid of the light.
Got to hand it to 'em for having plenty of good, clear sunlight,
anyway?"

He followed Gil to the feeble spring that seeped from under a huge
boulder, and stooped uncomfortably to fill a tin cup. While he waited
for the trickle to yield him a drink, he cocked his head sidewise and
looked up quizzically at his "heavy."

"You must have c