nfidence in her scheme. "Peter will help me, I know. Oh,
Annie, you are a dear, good thing! I don't know how I'd get through
all this without you. But--but--you'll be secret, won't you, dear? You
see, I'm quite helpless, and--and you know so much."

"You can trust me, Eve, you can trust me like you can trust--Jim
Thorpe. Good-bye, dear, an' keep bright. I'll come along after you've
seen Peter. Yes, we've got to help Jim out--that's how my man said,
too. Good-bye."

She hurriedly kissed her friend and bustled out of the house. All this
scheming had got hold of her busy brain, and she was eager to get to
work on it.

CHAPTER XXVIII

WILL

It was a long day of suspense for Eve. There was so little to distract
her mind from the things which troubled. A few household duties, that
was all. There was Elia's food to be prepared when he came in from
Peter's new cutting, just outside the village limits. There was her
dressmaking. But this last left her so much room for thought, and only
helped to lengthen the dragging hours.

At dinner-time Elia informed her that there were some jack-rabbits in
a bluff just outside the village, and declared his intention of
snaring them for her that night. But she paid only the slightest
attention to him, and gave him permission to go almost without
thinking. Since Will had escaped there was only one thing of any
consequence. It was Jim's safety from the angry villagers.

That afternoon, as she sat over her work, he alone occupied her
thoughts and troubled her to a degree that would have startled her had
she been less concerned in his danger. She saw now how the cowardly
part she had played in accepting his help to save her worthless
husband had thrown the burden of his crime upon Jim's willing
shoulders. And now they wanted to hang him. She was to blame and she
alone. She who would not willingly hurt one hair of his head.

Hurt him? Oh, no, no! And yet, how she had hurt him already. She had
never meant to. It had been rushed upon her. She had acted upon the
impulse of the moment. And then--then he had refused to listen when
she realized the meaning of what she had done. Hurt him? No. Now she
felt that nothing else mattered if only she could see a way to clear
his name.

She thought long and hopelessly. Then, of a sudden, she sprang to her
feet with a cry. Yes, yes, there was a way. They should not hang him.
She still had it in her power to save him. She still had it in her
p