h would be
quite easy to guess.

The "hanging committee," as the vigilantes were locally called,
returned at sundown, and the evening was spent in spreading the news.
Thus it was that Annie Gay learned the public feeling, and the general
drift of Barnriff's thought. Her husband dutifully gave her his own
opinions first, that there might be no doubt in her own mind; then he
proceeded to show her how Barnriff saw these things.

"Of course," he said. "What ken you expect wi' folk like Smallbones
an' sech on a committee like this! Doc's to blame, sure. Ef he'd sed
to me, 'Gay, you fix this yer racket. I leave it to you,' I'd sure 'a'
got _men_ in the gang, an' we'd 'a' cleared the country of all sech
gophers as rustlers. But ther', guess I don't need to tell you 'bout
Doc."

Annie's loyalty to him stood the test, and she waited for the rest. It
came with his recounting of the details of their exploits. He told her
of their journey, of the race. Then he passed on to the story of the
Little Bluff River, as he had been told it by Smallbones. He assured
her that now everybody, urged on by Smallbones, wanted to hang
somebody, and, as far as he could make out, unless they quickly laid
hands on the real culprit, Jim Thorpe was likely violently to
terminate his checkered career over the one-way trail.

He was convinced that the venom of Smallbones, added to the tongues of
the women, which were beginning to wag loudly at what they believed
was Jim's clandestine intimacy with Eve during her husband's absence,
would finally overcome the scruples of Doc Crombie and force him to
yield to the popular cry.

He gave her much detail, all of which she added to her own knowledge.
And, with her husband's approval, decided to go to Eve, and, in her
own phraseology, "do what she could." Her husband really sent her, for
he liked Jim Thorpe.

So, on the third morning, Annie set out on her errand of kindly
warning. The position was difficult. But she realized that this was
no time to let her feelings hinder her. She loved Eve, and, like her
husband, she had a great friendliness for Jim.

Then she was convinced that there was nothing between these two yet,
other than had always existed, a liking on the woman's part and a
deep, wholesome, self-sacrificing love on the man's. She saw the
danger for Eve well enough, since her husband had turned out so badly;
but her sympathetic heart went out to her, and she would never have
opened her mouth t