an' surgery. An' I know. I wouldn't tell you this if it wasn't that I've
got to rely on you to help me."

"I will--but go on--tell me," interposed Columbine trying to fortify
herself.

"Wils's foot is all messed up. Buster Jack kicked it all out of shape.
An' it's a hundred times worse than ever. I'm afraid of blood-poisonin'
an' gangrene. You know gangrene is a dyin' an' rottin' of the flesh....
I told the boy straight out that he'd better let me cut his foot off.
An' he swore he'd keep his foot or die! Well, if gangrene does set in we
can't save his leg, an' maybe not his life."

"Oh, it can't be as bad as all that!" cried Columbine. "Oh, I knew--I
knew there was something.... Ben, you mean even at best now--he'll be
a--" She broke off, unable to finish.

"Miss Collie, in any case Wils'll never ride again--not like a cowboy."

That for Columbine seemed the worst and the last straw. Hot tears
blinded her, hot blood gushed over her, hot heart-beats throbbed in
her throat.

"Poor boy! That'll--ruin him," she cried. "He loved--a horse. He loved
to ride. He was the--best rider of them all. And now he's ruined! He'll
be lame--a cripple--club-footed!... All because of that Jack Belllounds!
The brute--the coward! I hate him! Oh, I _hate_ him!... And I've got to
marry him--on October first! Oh, God pity me!"

Blindly Columbine reeled out of her saddle and slowly dropped to the
grass, where she burst into a violent storm of sobs and tears. It shook
her every fiber. It was hopeless, terrible grief. The dry grass received
her flood of tears and her incoherent words.

Wade dismounted and, kneeling beside her, placed a gentle hand upon her
heaving shoulder, but he spoke no word. By and by, when the storm had
begun to subside, he raised her head.

"Lass, nothin' is ever so bad as it seems," he said, softly. "Come, sit
up. Let me talk to you."

"Oh, Ben, something terrible _has_ happened," she cried. "It's in _me_!
I don't know what it is. But it'll kill me."

"I know," he replied, as her head fell upon his shoulder. "Miss Collie,
I'm an old fellow that's had everythin' happen to him, an' I'm livin'
yet, tryin' to help people along. No one dies so easy. Why, you're a
fine, strong girl--an' somethin' tells me you was made for happiness. I
know how things turn out. Listen--"

"But, Ben--you don't know--about me," she sobbed. "I've told
you--I--hate Jack Belllounds. But I've--got to marry him!... His father
raised me--f