ry it ten years
without ever firing a shot at any man of their hulking crowd. They could
go in one way, come out another. They had at least a full day's head
start of any possible followers. No, in his heart he did not believe
that there would be any danger to Gloria. Further, the thought struck
him that she would not be altogether safe here; there was venom in
Gratton, God only knew how virulent. And there was sinister significance
in the fact that Gratton was hand in glove now with Swen Brodie. Then,
too, Gratton knew from Gloria's own lips that she had brought the
message from her father in Coloma; hence Gratton might suspect, and
Brodie after him, that Gloria was in possession of old Loony Honeycutt's
secret. Instead of seeming hazardous to take Gloria with him, it began
to appear that his new responsibility of guarding her from all harm had
begun already, and that he could best protect her from any possible evil
by having her always with him. He could not allow her to go to her
parents in Coloma; he thought of that, but that was Brodie's hangout,
and Ben was in no condition to send for her. Nor was it advisable for
her to go alone to San Francisco; her mother was not there, and Gratton
might be looked on to follow her....So with himself communed Mark King,
never a man overly given to caution, but seeking now to measure chances,
to set them in the scales over against the desire of his heart. A
fanciful thought insisted on being heard: had Gus Ingle's treasure
hidden itself all these years, awaiting the time when he and Gloria
together came to it? Their wedding gift! How much more precious then
than mere gold!

"We'd travel light," he said thoughtfully, and Gloria knew that she had
won. "We'd go in quick, out quick. It's getting late in the year," he
added with a smile, "and we'd have to hurry, Brodie or no Brodie. I've
no notion for a prolonged honeymoon snow-bound in those mountains."

Her eyes danced.

"Wouldn't that be fun!"

His smile quickened. Her childish ignorance of what such an adventure
would mean was in keeping with her vast inexperience with matters of the
outdoors; she had merely begun, in his company, to glimpse the true
meanings of the solitudes. She would learn further--with him. And a warm
glow of pleasure came with the thought that Gloria wanted to go.

* * * * *

The pearl-grey dawn was flowering into a still pink morning when they
locked the door behind them