thought,
and of a sort not likely to turn out of much profit to either them or
anybody else. Carlson was a plain human brute without any sense of
honor, or any obligation to the amenities of civilized society; Reid
was simply an unmoral sharper.

It didn't make any difference where Reid went, or what he planned; he
would have to stay away from that camp. That Mackenzie vowed, meaning
it to the last letter. Tim Sullivan would be informed of this latest
pleasantry at their first meeting, also, and hear a chapter from
Mackenzie's heart on the matter of Joan.

Joan! If that leper Reid ever came near Joan, or ever blew the
pollution of a word to her, he would nail him to the ground with a
bullet, no matter that he was in debt to him for his life.

Mackenzie found the rifle that Sullivan had provided Reid for his
defense under the bunk in the wagon, with ammunition enough to
withstand a siege. Reid evidently had not been using the gun in
practice very much, confining his rehearsals to the quick slinging of
his pistol, rather, as the cunning of his hand in the attempted
robbery that afternoon seemed to prove. Not wanting Reid to have any
weapon to his hand in case he came back, Mackenzie buckled on the
revolvers, hid the rifle near the wagon, and went back to guard the
sheep.

Mackenzie felt himself softening in his judgment of Reid as the day
drew toward evening. He feared he had been a little severe with him,
taking his gun away and sending him off, surly and vindictive. Perhaps
it was only a joke, as Reid had protested, although there had been no
glimmer of jest in his eyes when he had slung out his gun.

Still, the boy was hardly responsible, oppressed by his load of
dissatisfaction, harrassed and disturbed by that unbalancing ailment
they called the lonesomeness. If he had come at it right, Mackenzie
reflected, he could have had a hundred dollars or so, even though in
staking him to it he would have been helping a criminal to escape.

He began to hope Reid would come back and try to square it. If he
wanted the money to leave the country on then he could have it.
Holding him there in the sheep country would not work his reformation,
but would breed and store the virus of resentment, making him a truly
dangerous man to set free to prey upon society when his term was
done.

But Reid never would remain to finish his three years of penance
there. Joan had seen it, even before his malady had fastened upon him
so deepl