a distant ridge;
and then Wiley and Virginia were alone. The pack-train, the Colonel and
Death Valley Charley had vanished behind the crest of a wave; and as
Wiley stopped to listen Virginia drooped in the saddle and fell, very
gently, into his arms.

He held her a moment, overcome with sudden pity, and then in a rush of
unexpected emotion, he crushed her to his breast and kissed her. She was
his, after all, to cherish, and protect; a frail reed, broken by his
hand; and as he gave her water and bathed her face he remembered her
weeping in the night. Her tears had been for him, whom she had followed
so far only to find him harsh and unforgiving; and now, weak from grief,
she had fainted in his arms, which had never reached out to console her.
He gathered her to his breast in a belated atonement and as he kissed
her again she stirred. Then he put her down, but when she felt his hands
slacken she reached up and caught him by the neck. So she held him a
while, until something gave way within him and he pressed his lips to
hers.

CHAPTER XXXIV

A CLEAN-UP

A cool breeze drew down through Emigrant Wash and soothed the fever heat
of Death Valley, and as the morning star rose up like a blazing beacon,
Wiley carried Virginia to Stovepipe. They had sat for hours on the
crest of a sand-hill, looking out over the sea of waves that seemed to
ride on and mingle in the moonlight, and with no one to listen they had
talked out their hearts and pledged the future in a kiss. Then they had
gazed long and rested, looking up at the countless stars that obscured
the Milky Way with their pin-points; and when the Colonel had found them
Wiley was carrying her in his arms as if her weight were nothing.

They camped at Stovepipe that day while Virginia gained back her
strength, and at last they came in sight of Keno. She was riding now and
Wiley was walking, with his head bowed down in thought; but when he
looked up she reached out, smiling wistfully, and touched him with her
hand. But the Colonel strode ahead, his head held high, his eagle eyes
searching the distance; and when people ran out to greet him he thrust
them aside, for he had spied Samuel Blount in the crowd.

Blount was standing just outside the Widow's gate and a voice,
unmistakable, was demanding in frantic haste the return of certain
shares of stock. It was hardly the time for a business transaction, for
her husband was returning as from the dead, but a sudden sense