I went on walking miles he'd never be more
than ten yards behind me."

They walked on. Kate for the most part seemed interested only in the
horse following so close behind, while Fyles made small secret of his
interest in her. But for awhile talk seemed difficult.

Finally it was Kate who was forced to take the initiative with this
big, loose-limbed man of the plains. She searched her brains for an
appropriate subject, and, finally, blundered into the very matter she
had intended to avoid.

"I suppose there's going to be a very busy time about here, now you've
come around?" she said. "I suppose the lawlessness of this place will
receive a check that's liable to make some folks pretty
uncomfortable?"

She smiled up at her companion with just a suspicion of irony in her
dark eyes, and the man who had to rely on his wits so much in his
life's work found it necessary to think hard before replying.

The result of his thought was less than he could have hoped, for he
had already learned, with some misgiving, of her friendliness with
Charlie Bryant. However, the opportunity seemed a suitable one, so he
added a gravity of tone to his reply.

"There are people in this valley to whom my presence will make no
difference. There are others--well, others whose company is worth
avoiding. Say, Miss Kate, maybe you haven't a notion of a policeman's
work--and penalties. Maybe you know nothing of the meaning of crime,
as we understand it. Maybe you think us just paid machines, without
feelings, without sentiment, cold, ruthless creatures who are here to
run down criminals, as the old-time Indians ran down the buffalo, in
a wanton love of destroying life. Believe me, it isn't so. We're
particularly humane, and would far rather see folks well within the
law and prospering, the same as we want to prosper ourselves. We don't
fancy the work of shutting up our fellow creatures from all enjoyment
of the life about us, or curtailing that life for them by so much as a
second. Still, if folks obstinately refuse to come within the law of
their own free will, then, for the sake of all other law-abiding folk,
they must be forced to do so, or be made to suffer. Yes, I am here to
do certain work, and what's more, I don't quit till it's done. It may
cost me nothing but a deal of work, and some regret, it may cost me my
life, it may cost other lives. But the work will go on till it is
finished, and though I may not see that finish, there will be o