on? She alone knew of his presence in the alley.

She was only a plain little hobbledehoy, half Mexican and half French,
and not yet out of short dresses, and Kelley had never paid her any
attention beyond passing the time of day, with a kindly smile; and yet
with the fervid imagination of her race she had already conceived a
passionate admiration for Kelley. Knowing that he was entering Mink's
death-trap, she had followed him like a faithful squire, eager to
defend, and, understanding his danger to the full, had taken the
simplest and most effective means of aiding him. From the doorway she
had witnessed his victory; then flying through the rear door, had been
in position at the store window as he passed with his prisoner on his
way to the calaboose.

When Kelley came back to her door, with intent to thank her for what she
had done, he found the room full of excited men, and with instinctive
delicacy passed on his way, not wishing to involve her in the story of
the arrest.

It appeared that all the men of the town who thrived by lawlessness and
vice now decided to take up Mink's case and make his discharge an issue.
A sudden demonstration of their political power brought the judge to
terms. He weakened. The gambler was released with a fine of one hundred
dollars and a warning to keep the peace, and by noon of the following
day was back in his den, more truculent than ever.

Kelley was properly indignant. "But the man tried to kill me!" he
protested to the court.

"He swears not," replied the justice. "We have punished him for
resisting an officer. That is the best we can do."

"What about Jake?"

"Oh, well! That was 'war.' Jake had a gun, and Mink is able to prove
that he shot in self-defense. Furthermore, he has settled with Jake."

Kelley argued no more. He could have called Rosa in as a witness to the
attempt upon his life, but to do so would expose her to public comment,
and her big, solemn, worshipful eyes had already produced in him a vague
pity. Without understanding fully her feeling, he knew that she looked
up to him, and he perceived that she was born to sorrow in larger
measure than she deserved. Sallow, thin, boyish, she gave promise of a
kind of beauty which would sometime make her desired of both white men
and brown.

"Poor little mongrel!" he said to himself. "She's in for misery enough
without worrying over me."

* * * * *

"Well, I'm up against it now," Kell