given an
option he would have preferred to wait till it was dark enough to
creep into camp unnoticed.

Before long Miss Cullen called, and when I went to her she handed me,
without a word, three letters. As she did so she crimsoned violently,
and looked down in her mortification. I was so sorry for her that,
though a moment before I had been judging her harshly, I now couldn't
help saying--

"Our positions have been so difficult, Miss Cullen, that I don't think
we either of us are quite responsible for our actions."

She said nothing, and, after a pause, I continued--

"I hope you'll think as leniently of my conduct as you can, for I
can't tell you how grieved I am to have pained you."

Cullen joined us at this point, and, knowing that every moment we
remained would be distressing to his sister, I announced that we would
start up the trail. I hadn't the heart to offer to help her mount, and
after Frederic had put her up we fell into single file behind Hance,
Lord Ralles coming last.

As soon as we started I took a look at the three letters. They were
all addressed to Theodore E. Camp, Esq., Ash Fork, Arizona--one of the
directors of the K. & A. and also of the Great Southern. With this
clue, for the first time things began to clear up to me, and when the
trail broadened enough to permit it, I pushed my mule up alongside of
Cullen and asked--

"The letters contain proxies for the K. & A. election next Friday?"

He nodded his head. "The Missouri Western and the Great Southern are
fighting for control," he explained, "and we should have won but for
the three blocks of Eastern stock that had promised their proxies to
the G.S. Rather than lose the fight, we arranged to learn when those
proxies were mailed--that was what kept me behind--and then to hold up
the train that carried them."

"Was it worth the risk?" I ejaculated.

"If we had succeeded, yes. My father had put more than was safe into
Missouri Western and into California Central. The G.S. wants control
to end the traffic agreements, and that means bankruptcy to my
father."

I nodded, seeing it all as clear as day, and hardly blaming the
Cullens for what they had done; for any one who has had dealings with
the G.S. is driven to pretty desperate methods to keep from being
crushed, and when one is fighting an antagonist that won't regard the
law, or rather one that, through control of legislatures and judges,
makes the law to suit its needs, the temptatio