nst you. It's my first kiss I've got
against you. It's that Nina Micheltorena that I can't forgive. So now
you can git--git!" And with these words she unbolted the door and
concluded tensely:

"If they kill you I don't care. Do you hear, I don't care . . ."

At those bitter words spoken by lips which failed so utterly to hide
their misery, the Girl's face became colourless.

With the instinct of a brave man to sell his life as dearly as possible,
Johnson took a couple of guns from his pocket; but the next moment, as
if coming to the conclusion that death without the Girl would be
preferable, he put them back, saying:

"You're right, Girl."

The next instant he had passed out of the door which she held wide open
for him.

"That's the end o' that--that's the end o' that," she wound up, slamming
the door after him. But all the way from the threshold to the bureau she
kept murmuring to herself: "I don't care, I don't care . . . I'll be
like the rest o' the women I've seen. I'll give that Nina Micheltorena
cards an' spades. There'll be another hussy around here. There'll be--"
The threat was never finished. Instead, with eyes that fairly started
out of their sockets, she listened to the sound of a couple of shots,
the last one exploding so loud and distinct that there was no mistaking
its nearness to the cabin.

"They've got 'im!" she cried. "Well, I don't care--I don't--" But again
she did not finish what she intended to say. For at the sound of a heavy
body falling against the cabin door she flew to it, opened it and,
throwing her arms about the sorely-wounded man, dragged him into the
cabin and placed him in a chair. Quick as lightning she was back at the
door bolting it.

With his eyes Johnson followed her action.

"Don't lock that door--I'm going out again--out there. Don't bar that
door," he commanded feebly, struggling to his feet and attempting to
walk towards it; but he lurched forward and would have fallen to the
floor had she not caught him. Vainly he strove to break away from her,
all the time crying out: "Don't you see, don't you see, Girl--open the
door." And then again with almost a sob: "Do you think me a man to hide
behind a woman?" He would have collapsed except for the strong arms that
held him.

"I love you an' I'm goin' to save you," the Girl murmured while
struggling with him. "You asked me to go away with you; I will when you
git out o' this. If you can't save your own soul--" She stopped