ad, leaving his side instantly, her
cheeks aflame, her eyes alight with a mysterious fire. To conceal her
emotion from Doubler she seized the water pail.

"I will get some fresh water," she said, with a quick, smiling glance at
him. "You'll want a fresh drink, and your bandages must be changed."

She opened the door and stepped down into the darkness.

There was a moon, and the trail to the river was light enough for her to
see plainly, but when she reached the timber clump in which Doubler had
said Duncan had been hiding, she shuddered and made a detour to avoid
passing close to it. This took her some distance out of her way, and she
reached the river and walked along its bank for a little distance,
searching for a deep accessible spot into which she could dip the pail.

The shallow crossing over which she had ridden many times was not far
away, and when she stooped to fill the pail she heard a sudden clatter and
splashing, and looked up to see a horseman riding into the water from the
opposite side of the river.

He saw her at the instant she discovered him, and once over the ford he
turned his horse and rode directly toward her.

After gaining the bank he halted his pony and looked intently at her.

"You're Langford's daughter, I reckon," he said.

"Yes," she returned, seeing that he was a stranger; "I am."

"I'm Ben Allen," he said shortly; "the sheriff of this county. What are
you doing here?"

"I am taking care of Ben Doubler," she said; "he has been----"

"Then he ain't dead, of course," said Allen, interrupting her. It seemed
to Sheila that there was relief and satisfaction in his voice, and she
peered closer at him, but his face was hidden in the shadow of his hat
brim.

"He is very much better now," she told him, scarcely able to conceal her
delight. "But he has been very bad."

"Able to talk?"

"Yes. He has just been talking to me." She took a step toward him,
speaking earnestly and rapidly. "I suppose you are looking for Dakota,"
she said, remembering what her father had told her about sending Duncan to
Lazette for the sheriff. "If you are looking for him, I want to tell you
that he didn't shoot Doubler. It was Duncan. Doubler told me so not over
five minutes ago. He said----"

But Allen had spurred his pony forward, and before she could finish he was
out of hearing distance, riding swiftly toward the cabin.

Sheila lingered at the water's edge, for now suddenly she saw much beauty
in the