ble to give it to me."

"I shan't ever want to now."

Saucily her merry eyes shot him from under the long lashes. "I'm not so
sure of that. Girls can be mighty aggravating."

"That's the way girls are meant to be, I expect," he laughed. "But
fifteen-year-old boys have to be herded back into line. There's a
difference."

She rescued her hands from him and led the way to a bench that served
for a seat. "Sit down here, sir. There are one or two things that I have
to explain." She sat down beside him at the farther end of the bench.

"This light is so dim, I can't see you away over there," he pleaded,
moving closer.

"You don't need to see me. You can hear me, can't you?"

"I reckon."

She seemed to find a difficulty in beginning, even though the darkness
helped her by making it impossible for him to see her embarrassment.
Presently he chuckled softly. "No, ma'am, I can't even hear you. If
you're talking, I'll have to come closer."

"If you do, I'll get up. I want you to be really earnest."

"I never was more earnest in my life, Curly."

"Please, Bucky? It isn't easy to say it, and you mustn't make it
harder."

"Do you have to say it, pardner?" he asked, more seriously.

"Yes, I have to say it." And swiftly she blurted it out. "Why do you
suppose I came with you to Mexico?"

"I don't know." He grappled with her suggestion for a moment. "I
suppose--you said it was because you were afraid of Hardman."

"Well, I wasn't. At least, I wasn't afraid that much. I knew that I
would have been quite safe next time with the Mackenzies at the ranch."

"Then why was it?"

"You can't think of any reason?" She leaned forward and looked directly
into his eyes--eyes as honest and as blue as an Arizona sky.

But he stood unconvicted--nay, acquitted. The one reason she had dreaded
he might offer to himself had evidently never entered his head. Whatever
guesses he might have made on the subject, he was plainly guiltless of
thinking she might have come with him because she was in love with him.

"No, I can't think of any other reason, if the one you gave isn't the
right one."

"Quite sure?"

"Quite sure, pardner."

"Think! Why did you come to Chihuahua?"

"To run down Wolf Leroy's gang and to get Dave Henderson out of prison."

"Perhaps there is a reason why I should want him out of prison, a better
reason than you could possibly have."

"I don't savvy it. How can there be? You don't know him, do you? He's
been i