red. Yes, it was there--the scent of the little blue and
white prairie flowers--her flowers. Instantly his brain cleared. A
moment before he had been hopelessly drunk: now, he was sober. It was as
though the delicate scent had entered his nostrils and cleansed his
brain, clearing it of the befuddling fog, and leaving it, wholesome,
alert, capable. Poignantly, with the scent of those flowers, the scene
of a year ago leaped into memory, when he had stooped to restore them to
her hands--there in the tiny glade beside the big boulder.

"Alice!" he cried, sharply.

"Tex!" The name was a sob, and then; "Oh, please--please strike a light!
I'm--I'm--afraid!"

For just an instant the Texan hesitated, a match between his fingers,
and his voice sounded strangely hard: "A light, now, will mean they'll
get me! But--if you're real, girl, I'll trust you--If you ain't--the
quicker they shoot, the better!" There was a scratching sound, a light
flared out, and candle outstretched, the girl came swiftly to the bar,
and as he held the match to the wick, the Texan's eyes gazed wonderingly
into the eyes of blue.

CHAPTER VII

THE TEXAN "COMES A-SHOOTIN'"

Alice Endicott gazed searchingly into the Texan's flushed face and
wondered at the steadiness of his eyes. "They--they said you were
drunk," she faltered.

The cynical smile that she remembered so well twisted the man's lips:
"They were right--partly. I was headed that way, but I'm cold sober,
now."

"Then leave your guns here and come with me. You must submit to arrest.
They'll fine you and make you pay for the damages and that will be all
there'll be to it."

The Texan shook his head: "No. I told that marshal he couldn't arrest
me, an' he can't."

Alice's heart sank. "Please--for my sake," she pleaded. "If you haven't
got the money----"

"Oh, I've got the money, all right--a whole year's wages right here in
my pocket. It ain't the money, it's the principle of the thing. I made
my brag, an' I've got to see it through. They might _get_ me, but
they'll never arrest me."

"Oh, please----"

Tex interrupted her sharply, and the girl was startled at the gleam that
leaped suddenly from the grey eyes: "What are you doing here? Has
he--didn't you an' Win--hit it out?"

"Oh, yes! Yes! Win is here----"

"An' he let you come in alone--an' stayed outside----"

"No--he doesn't know. He's up at the Camerons. I went for a ride, and
coming back I saw the crowd, and when they