and steady voice.

The effect on Quintana was instant; he was behind a tree before her
voice ceased.

"Hallo! Hi! You over there!" she called again. "This is Eve Strayer.
I'm looking for Clinch! He hasn't been home all night. Have you seen
him?"

After a moment she saw Quintana's head watching her, -- not at the
shoulder-height of a man but close to the ground and just above the tree
roots.

"Hey!" she cried. "What's the matter with you over there? I'm asking
you who you are and if you've seen my father?"

After a while she saw Quintana coming toward her, circling, creeping
swiftly from tree to tree.

As he flitted through the shadows the trees between which she was
standing hid her from him a moment. Instantly she placed her rifle on
the ground and kicked the pine needles over it.

As Quintana continued his encircling manoeuvres Eve, apparently
perplexed, walked out into the clear space, putting the concealed trap
between her and Quintana, who now came stealthily toward her from the
rear.

It was evident that he had reconnoitred sufficiently to satisfy himself
that the girl was alone and that no trick, no ambuscade, threatened him.

And now, from behind a pine, and startlingly near her, came Quintana,
moving with a confident grace yet holding his rifle ready for any
emergency.

Eve's horrified stare was natural; she had not realised that any man
could wear so evil a smile.

Quintana stopped a short dozen paces away. The dramatic in him demanded
of the moment its full value. He swept off his hat with a flourish,
bowed deeply where he stood.

"Ah!" he cried gaily, "the happy encounter, Senorita. God is too good
to us. And it was but a moment since my thoughts were of you! I swear
it!----"

It was not fear; it was a sort of slow horror of this man that began to
creep over the girl. She stared at his brilliant eyes, at his thick
mouth, too red -- shuddered slightly. But the toe of her right foot
touched the stock of her rifle under the pine needles.

She held herself under control.

"So it's you," she said unsteadily. "I thought out people had caught
you."

Quintana laughed: "Charming child," he said, "it is _I_ who have caught
your people. And now, my God! -- I catch _you!_ ... It is ver' funny.
Is it not?"

She looked straight into Quintana's black eyes, but the look he returned
sent the shamed blood surging into her face.

"By God," he said between his white, even teeth, -- "by