ouldn't leave you just to study a shack of
ice on the mountainside."

"I urged him to go, and, besides, Peggy is mistaken; we're not engaged."

"But he left you! That's what sticks in my crop. He can't be just right
in his head. If I had any chance of owning you I'd never let you out of
my sight. I wouldn't take a chance. I don't understand these city
fellows. I reckon their blood is thinned with ice-water. If I had you
I'd be scared every minute for fear of losing you. I'd be as dangerous
to touch as a silver-tip. If I had any place to take you I'd steal you
right now."

This was more than banter. Even Mrs. Adams perceived the passion
quivering beneath his easy, low-toned speech. He was in truth playing
with the conception of seizing this half-smiling, half-musing girl whose
helpless body was at once a lure and an inspiration. It was perfectly
evident that he was profoundly stirred.

And so was Alice. "What," she dared ask herself, "will become of this?"

IV

To the outlaw in the Rocky Mountain cabin in that stormy night it was in
every respect the climax of his life. As he sat in the doorway, looking
at the fire and over into the storm beyond, he realized that he was
shaken by a wild, crude lyric of passion. Here was, to him, the pure
emotion of love. All the beautiful things he had ever heard or read of
girlhood, of women, of marriage, rose in his mind to make this night an
almost intolerable blending of joy and sorrow, hope and despair.

To stay time in its flight, to make this hour his own, to cheat the law,
to hold the future at bay--these were the avid desires, the vague
resolutions, of his brain. So sure as the day came this happiness would
end. To-morrow he must resume his flight, resigning his new-found jewel
into the hands of another. To this thought he returned again and again,
each time with new adoration for the girl and added fury and hate
against his relentless pursuers and himself. He did not spare himself!
"Gad! what a fool I've been--and yet, if I had been less a fool I would
not be here and I would never have met her." He ended with a glance
toward Alice.

Then he arose, closed the door of the cabin, and stood without beside
the fire, so that the women might prepare for bed. His first thought of
suicide came to him. Why not wait with his love as long as
possible--stay till the law's hand was in the air above his head,
uplifted to strike, and then, in this last moment, die with this latest,