ess, innocent, unstained by the shadow of
lawlessness and crime that seemed to ever hang above her in Kenset's
thoughts.

"Are you?"

"I certainly am."

He swung down, gave Captain a drink at the edge of the spring farthest
from El Rey, dropped the rein when he had finished, and swung around
to face the girl. He took off his wide hat and wiped his forehead with
a square of linen finer than anything of its kind she had ever seen.

Then he stood for a moment looking straight into her eyes with his
smiling dark ones. It seemed to Tharon that this man was always
smiling.

"This is your spring, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yes. The Silver Hollow. Th' Gold Pool is farther south toward th'
Black Coulee. There was another one, fine as this, perhaps a better
one, up on th' Cup Rim Range, but Courtrey blew her up, damn him! She
was called th' Crystal." Kenset caught his breath, mentally, all but
physically, and put up a hand to cover his lips.

This _was_ another type of woman from any he had ever met, in truth.

The oath, rolling roundly over her full red lips, was as unconscious
as the long breath that lifted her breast at the memory of that
outrage.

"We replaced her with a well--an' it's a corker. Mebby better than
th' old Crystal, though she was a lovely thing. As clear as--as ice
that's frozen hard without a ripple of white. You know that kind?"

"Yes," said Kenset gravely.

"Well," sighed Tharon, "she's gone, an' there ain't no use cryin' over
spilt milk. What you ben a-doin' sence I helped you hang th'
picture?"

"Won't you sit down?" Kenset stepped aside. "It is uncomfortable to
stand through a visit--and I mean to have a long talk-fest with you,
if you will be so kind."

Tharon flung herself down at the spring's edge, eased the right gun
from under her hip, leaned on her elbow and prepared to listen.

"Fire away," she said.

Kenset laughed.

"For goodness' sake!" he ejaculated, "I said visit. That takes two.
What have you been doing?"

"Well, everythin', mostly. Made a new shirt for Billy, for one thing.
An' I showed Courtrey th' picture o' this."

She patted the blue gun that lay half in her lap, its worn scabbard
black against her brown skirt.

Kenset sobered at once. As ever when he let his mind dwell on that
dark shadow which sat so lightly on this girl, he had no feeling for
mirth.

A very real chill went down his spine and he looked intently into her
eyes.

"How?" he asked, "what did you d