The Border Legion

to stand a succession of shocks that inevitably would come. She listened. The men were talking and laughing now; there came a click of chips, the spat of a thrown card, the thump of a little s

knew she was safe at least from intrusion. Who had constructed that rude door and for what

ntrast of his attitude toward the game, compared with that of the others. They were tense, fierce, and intent upon every throw of a card. Cleve

ut," said one,

two fruit-cans full of dust. I saw 'em....

fer mebbe he'll give my gold back," sp

sharp," rejoined the last player. "Jim, wa

wered Jim Cleve, with a mocki

rls, but he's a pore gambler." Kells heard this speech, and he laughed wi

im Cleve. Luck-bull luck straddles his neck. He'll win your gold-your hosses an

gazed at Cleve in grieved admiration. Kells walked ove

e just as lucky in love.... Now I had a hunch some BA

o the wildest of boys, yet there was curiosity, keenness, penetrat

irl?... To hell w

luck an' gurls come from," replied the unlucky g

was not lost upon Joan. But she had seen enough, and, turning awa

he mountain in it. She heard the mourn of wolves, the hoot of an owl, the distant cry of a panther, weird and wild. Yet outside there was a thick and lonely silence. In that other cabin, fro

Later he came with her breakfast. After that she had nothing to do but pace the floor of her two rooms. One appeared to be only an empty shed, long in disuse. Her view from both rooms w

however, understand what was said. That ceased, and then she heard Kells moving around. There came

was swept aside and Kells, appearing pa

tter?" asked J

ne's dead. The other's in bad shape,

d Joan. She could not think

. The other they call Dick.

it a

st him. He's all the time like some men when they're drunk. I'm sorry I didn'

in the details of his life, the schemes, troubles, friendships, relations, was no different from any other kind of a man. He was human,

Gulden was

vy gun-sheath rested upon the floor. He looked at J

managed him. The man hasn't changed in the least. He's always what he is. But there's a differ

cried Joan

ng Bailey. What did he care for that soak? Gulden's cross-grained. He opposes anything or anybody. He's got a twist in his min

ked Joan,

with my gang here, and all through the border. I was wild. I don't believe it. But as I'm no

exclaim

oan," he replied. "That Gulden is not a man. I ne

ink of a gorri

ap the devil himself in the face. Cleve won't last long out here. Yet you can never tell. Men like him, who laugh at death, sometimes avert it for long. I was th

Joan, trying to steady her v

e youngster. Said it just the same as-as he'd offer to cinch my saddle. Gulden can whip a

s why you

ood had been affronted. "It's because he's Gulden. Ther

if she had no

in the mountains back of Lewiston. He had two companions with him. They all began to starve. It was absolutely necessary to try to get out. They started out in the snow. Travel was desperately hard. Gulden told that his companions dropped. But he murdered them-and again saved his life by being

ible!" mo

n't. He's beneath morals. He has no conception of manhood, such as I've seen in the lowest of outcasts. That cave story with the girl-that betrays

et him see me!"

one and look. She had been only a listener. Presently

e a caged creature. During this period few men visited Kells's cabin, and these few did not remain long. Joan was aware that Kells was not always at home. Evidently he was able to go out.

't seem to be pining for

gladness in the very sight of her, and some inde

eplied Joan. Yet it wa

split. Besides, Gulden rode off. Someone said he went after a little girl named Brander. I hope he gets shot.... Joan, we'll be leaving Cabin Gulch soon. I'm expecting

hin, worn, ragged habit that had gone to pieces. "

earth can I get you a dress? We're two hundred miles from everywhere.

ing and hunting with my uncl

completely. He rubbed his palms together. He laughed as if at a h

ill I come b

she had noted in a corner of the other cabin. Presently he returned ca

to hold up a stage over here and an unappreciative passenger shot him. He wasn't killed outright. He crawled away and died.

buckskin vest; a belt full of cartridges and a pearl-handled gun; trousers of corduroy; h

m of a felt hat, and then you'll be grand." He

me to wear these?" as

ittle fancy, but then you're a girl. We

ar them," d

ill," he replied, co

d Joan. She cou

h me. You'll have to wear strong, easy, free clothes. You'll have to be masked. Here the outfit is-as if made for you. Why, you're

ouldn't!" J

d?... There! See that hole in the shirt. That's a bullet-h

o have forgotten entir

be I have.... I'll remember. But y

and overalls, and was lo

oariously. "I-under-stand. This'll fit-you-

never

can't take a little fun. I'll leave you now for a

ice then which she had h

ked her

hat. You're a strong little devil, and maybe I'm not well enough yet to put this

ging secret in his eyes. One moment he was a certain kind of a man and the very next he was incalculably different. She instinctively recognized this latter

e me so-then I

er without a

courage enough to look into the mirror. When she did look she gave a start that was of both amaze and shame. But for her face she never could have recognized herself. What had become of her height, her slenderness? She looked like an audacious girl in a dashing boy masquerade. Her

s knocked on the door and ca

d. But the word s

ells c

let face and dilating eyes, trembling in every limb. Kells had entered with an expectant smile and that mocking light in his gaz

perate him. Turning away from her, he gazed out between the logs. Again, as so many ti

d and unconscious girlishness. She comprehended that with the mind of the wom

o give you a chance to make the best of a bad situation. But you're a kid-a

know-if it had been Gulden instead of you-that I wouldn't have tried to hide my-myself behind this bla

I hadn't fetched you here. I wish the t

te.... You-you hav

at I never really loved any woman before. Something's gripped me. I

ized upon this strange, strong man. In the face of it she did not know

And then, as if speaking to himself, he said: "I stacked the deck

s gloom and that iron hardness vanished. He smiled as she had never seen him smile. In that and his speechless delight she read his estimate of her appearance; and, notw

the prettiest thing I

t," said Joan. "I can't-I won't

this'll make a differenc

measured over her forehead and eyes, and then taking his knife he cut it to a desired shap

-even with your eyes. Ther

sked stranger. She was no longer Joan Ran

ze me now," she murmured, and the reli

ight.... Joan, if I don't miss my guess, it won't be lon

rely a part of the life of this unsettled wild country. A prospector would spend a night at a camp-fire and tell a weird story and pass on, never to be seen there again. Could there have been a stranger story than her life seemed

rms around her. Joan grew stiff. She had been taken off

ed, with a softness, a rich

ed Joan,

which she felt his grasp slowly

another man might have spoken. Then he bent her backward, and, free

om, knocking over the table and seats, wrestling from wall to wall, till at last they fell across the bed and she broke his hold. Then she sprang up, panting, disheveled, and backed away from him. It had been a sharp, desperate struggle o

t hurts so?" he panted,

just-fought," cried

this's worse.... And I'm a coward.... And I'm a dog, too! N

And she was right, for suddenly he changed. That which had seemed almost to make him abject gave way to a pale and bitter dignity. He took up Dandy Dale's bel

make a better job

e seemed to force Joa

ean?" she quer

ain-my misery.... I'm sick of it al

xclaimed J

no strength-to force you.... T

ess, and the strength of his will almost hy

ant to kill you. I couldn't.... I j

d you. But the FEEL of you!... I can't be decent any more. I s

shaken, stripped of

he gun from ne

choice?" he

t murde

en? Is that why you can't kill me? You'r

thought

life or y

ut trembling hands. After the struggle a reaction was com

whispered. "For I CAN'T murder you.... Could you

r I lov

a blacker crime to murder

subtle incalculable power to allure, to charge, to hold. Swiftly she went close to Kells. She stretched out her hands. One was

ter. I'll only be the husk of a woman. I'll just be a cold shell, doubled-up, unrelaxed, a callous thing never to yield.... All that's ME, the girl, the woman you say you love-will be inside, shrinking, loathing, hatin

n a supreme moment where a life and a soul hang in the balance, she made of herself

"Something tells me-gives me strength.... What MIGHT be!... Only barely possible-if in my awful plight-you turned out to

ant, all one quivering, surrendered body; and then lifting a white face, true in its radiance to her honest and supreme pur

if something beyond belief had happened to him, and the evil of his face,

if from a trance, and, leaping down the steps, he

elief of blinding tears. She had won. She believed she need never fear Kell