fathers up fer
fi' cents. It's a dandy tally of crooks, but they ain't a circumstance
beside them two boys of yours. They're bred bad 'uns, an' they
couldn't play even the crook's game right. I'd sure say they'd be a
fortune to Fyles, when he gets busy cleaning up this place. They'd
give Satan away if they see things gettin' busy their way."

The anxiety deepened in Helen's eyes as the man denounced the two men
who were her sister's hired help. She knew that all he said of them
was true. She had known it for months. Now she was thinking of Charlie
Bryant and Kate. If Fyles ever got hold of Charlie it would break poor
Kate's heart.

"You think they'd give--any one away?"

The man shook his head.

"I don't think. Guess I know." Then, after a pause, he went on,
speaking rapidly and earnestly. "See here, Miss Helen, I don't hold no
brief fer nobody but myself, an' I guess that brief needs a hell of a
piece of studyin' right. There's things in it I don't need to shout
about, and anyway I don't fancy Fyles's long nose smudging the ink on
it. You an' Miss Kate are jest about two o' the most wholesome bits
o' women in this township, an' there ain't many of us as wouldn't fix
ourselves up clean an' neat to pay our respec's to either of you. Wal,
Miss Kate's got a hell of a notion for that drunken bum, Charlie
Bryant. That bein' so, tell her to keep a swift eye on her two boys.
They're in with him, sure, an' they'll put him away if it suits 'em.
Savee? Tell her I said so--since Fyles is goin' to butt in around
here. I don't want to see Charlie Bryant in a stripe soot,
penitentiary way. I need him. An' I need the liquor he runs."

The man turned away abruptly. He had broken the unwritten law of Rocky
Springs, where it was understood that no man spoke of another man's
past, or questioned his present doings, or even admitted knowledge of
them. But like all the rest of the male portion of Rocky Springs, he
possessed a soft spot in his vicious heart for the two sisters, who,
in the mire of iniquity which flooded the township, contrived a clean,
wholesome living out of the soil, and were womanly enough to find
interest, and even pleasure, in their sordid surroundings. Now, he
hurried off down to his saloon, much in the manner of a man who fears
the consequences of feelings which have been allowed to run away with
him.

Left to herself, Helen only remained long enough to pass a few cheery
greetings with the rest of the onlookers