s
born real brotherhood for a helpless girl in peril. Inevitably in some
of them would burst a flame of passion as it had in Kells.

Between this amiable contest for Joan's glances and replies, with its
possibility of latent good to her, and the dark, lurking, unspoken
meaning, such as lay in Gulden's brooding, Joan found another new and
sickening torture.

"Say, Frenchy, you're no lady's man," declared Red Pearce, "an' you,
Bate, you're too old. Move--pass by--sashay!" Pearce, good-naturedly,
but deliberately, pushed the two men back.

"Shore she's Kells's lady, ain't she?" drawled Wood. "Ain't you all
forgettin' thet?"

"Kells is asleep or dead," replied Pearce, and he succeeded in getting
the field to himself.

"Where'd you meet Kells anyway?" he asked Joan, with his red face
bending near hers.

Joan had her part to play. It was difficult, because she divined
Pearce's curiosity held a trap to catch her in a falsehood. He
knew--they all knew she was not Kells's wife. But if she were a prisoner
she seemed a willing and contented one. The query that breathed in
Pearce's presence was how was he to reconcile the fact of her submission
with what he and his comrades had potently felt as her goodness?

"That doesn't concern anybody," replied Joan.

"Reckon not," said Pearce. Then he leaned nearer with intense face.
"What I want to know--is Gulden right? Did you shoot Kells?"

In the dusk Joan reached back and clasped Kells hand.

For a man as weak and weary as he had been, it was remarkable how
quickly a touch awakened him. He lifted his head.

"Hello! Who's that?" he called out, sharply.

Pearce rose guardedly, startled, but not confused. "It's only me,
boss," he replied. "I was about to turn in, an' I wanted to know how you
are--if I could do anythin'."

"I'm all right, Red," replied Kells, coolly. "Clear out and let me
alone. All of you."

Pearce moved away with an amiable good-night and joined the others at
the camp-fire. Presently they sought their blankets, leaving Gulden
hunching there silent in the gloom.

"Joan, why did you wake me?" whispered Kells.

"Pearce asked me if I shot you," replied Joan. "I woke you instead of
answering him."

"He did!" exclaimed Kells under his breath. Then he laughed. "Can't fool
that gang. I guess it doesn't matter. Maybe it'd be well if they knew
you shot me."

He appeared thoughtful, and lay there with the fading flare of the fire
on his pale face. But he did