Six Feet Four

y if she had lost her sense of the real and the unreal. It seemed to her so rankly absurd, so utterly preposterous that he should seek to pretend with her. Fo

hought her a fool, to pretend that he knew nothing of that thing which had just happened in the lonely cabin. Even the grey neck-handkerchief, now knotted loo

ad fitted well in a romantic girl's eye! Fool that she was. She should have put sterner interpretation upon the fact that Thornton, coming rudely i

s hard eyes coming away from the horse that stood with one foot lifted a little from the ground, the quick t

N

ord which she flung at him, so much of passion

s Waverly?" he asked, h

somehow. Are you more

ad never heard a woman laugh like that, had not d

t of Thornton's hand. "I am going to ride on. And I suppo

ails. I didn't notice he limped out there where I put

stically, drawing another qu

looked at it for a long time. The girl was behind the broad, stooping back. Impulsively her hand crept into the bosom of her dress, her face going ste

in the long, heavy sigh and marked h

ttle sideways that she might catch the low words. She shivered. His voice was cold and hard an

. But I'm going to know. Yes, I'm go

?" she called shar

nd it alone. I'm

tured brute. For she knew that there was no other horse in the barn or about the camp. But he was quiet

it her lips after the question, b

for the present. The wound

affectionately against his side, and turned away. She watched him, expecting him to go back to the barn to leave hi

he offered casually by way of explanation. "And

t as if he had been entirely unconscious of it, as no doubt such a man could be. She knew that already he had ridden sixty miles today and that it was seven miles farthe

that he knew she was armed? And yet, encumbered with the saddle upon his shoulder, his right hand carrying the bridle, he turned his back square upon her with no

Was he laughing at her, knowing that she could not bring herself to the point of actually shooting? But then, she m

r at him and at herself rising higher and higher. "He would

His very going with her angered her. Was it not more play-acting, as insolent as anything he could do, as insolent as his kissing her had been! She grew red and went white over it. It was as though he were laughing into her face, making sport of her, saying, "I am

ich had been taken from her, remembering the insult in the cabin, she held on after him, resolved that she would not lose sight of this man, that she would see him handed over to justice

it soon began to amaze her. They had passed through the little valley in which Harte's place stood, and entered a dark ca?on leading into the steeper hills. The trail wa

ade of iron,"

d though one would have said that she was not looking at him, saw the flare of his match, glimpsed the hard set lines of his face, and knew that he would not speak until she had spoken. And the lines of her own face grew hard, and she turned aw

nd knew that it told of some habitation. They came abreast of a branch trail, leading toward the lighted window; the girl's eager eyes

e place? Where

without turning. "That's the Henr

p here? It's near

ied. "Then we had better go on.

ation that upon all matters this man dictated to her and

ere, and there are no women among them. So we'll hav

ply. "Let's hurry an

nst this man who seemed over and over to wish to remind her that he was a ge

ill dripping from the thick leaves and where she knew that without him she never could have found her way. And not once more did they speak to each other

e," he inform

ith much barking and simulated fierceness,

led the man.

one of the dogs that had recognized him and was leaping up on him. "Mrs. Smith, this is Miss Waverly

the woman led her into the cabin, and Smith took

horse?" he a

Harte's

ut beneath the fetlock, explained Miss Waverl

that trick for me, John?

his head t

rouble with an' is too yeller to get even any other way. I haven't seen

e of Harte's this afternoon. Mistook him for me until I told

th shook

his string, an' then he's took on too much fat lately to be mistook for you. Go on inside.

e's. Can you let me have a horse in the morn

n. An' you don't have t

self tomorrow, an' I'l

y are you

steers was over there. I want to see about 'em. Before

that he understood. And

ay you can see Miss Wav

ng to the

histled

e like of her goin' to th

ng there." And as partial explanation,

a short spoken, "Well, she don't look it! Anyway, that's her look-out, an' I'll see her

y had ever heard it, "to know a thing or two about the way my horse went lame. I'm going to sling my saddle on your

Thornton roped the big roan in the fenced-in pasture. Ten minutes after he had com

he cabin looked up

Thornton?" hi

down and filled his pipe. Before Mrs. Smith's surprise coul

back!

s, "If I was that man I'd ride some tonight! I'd keep right on ridin' until I'd put about seven thousand miles between me an' Buc

ay?" she asked

t, Miss. He di