The Highgrader

driving purpose to reach a particular destination. The trail was a rough and rocky one, but he took it recklessly. His surefooted broncho scrambled catlike up steep inclines a

ttonwood. From its case beside the saddle he drew a rifle. He retraced his own steps and selected carefully a place among the thick bushes by the roadside. With his pocketknife he cut eye-holes in the bandanna handker

him very soon the rumble of wheels. Presently a one-horse trap

through the bushes. He was within six feet of the road

up your

a rifle in his hands could mean only one thing. Ned Kilmeny was no fool.

the road-with your foo

man did as

demanded, looking sharp

tchel beside yo

orders. He asked no quest

here by backing. Hit t

, Ned Kilmeny had one wo

's just one name for your kind

at makes horse races, captain,"

e devil as this young cousin of his had done. But there was something in this whole affair so contemptible that it hurt his pride. The theft itself was not the worst thing. T

he captain drove up. One glance at his gr

eld up," he

ld

e within reach of m

?" gaspe

othing. A premonition of the tr

about three miles from Gunnison. He ordered me to thro

red with a weapo

a rifl

throat was dry, so that her qu

"He stayed in the bushes, so that I di

ow who it w

could all but swear to the voice, and surely there were not two

take oath

sin." Moya was p

. "I'm not prepared t

as clutching the arm of a chair so tightly th

It was Jack Kilm

u only my opinio

n promptly, in the fearless fashion characteristic of her. "It

tle. Her brother could not keep out of

odded, gulping down her distress. "You can'

u had a reason. What was it?"

len money and I told him we were returning it to the Fair association. He guesse

ing with a rueful smile: "He didn't take you any more by su

me expression that Ned had. "He must be an out and out rotter. To think

greed. There was nothing to be done for a fello

alsehood, and gross ingratitude. Nor did the girl's contempt spare herself. Neither warning nor advice-and Lady Jim had been prodigal of both-had availed to open her eyes about the Westerner.

ortunately, Kilmeny was her partner. Sometimes when her thoughts wandered the game suffered, but the captain covered her mistakes without comment. She could almost have loved him for the gen

great slab of rock some miles away. The young people were to have an early breakfast an

ent he had made to find her not there. He would go away, and next day she would leave with the rest of her party for the Big Bend mining country, where Verinder and Lord Farquhar were heavily interested in some large gold producers. That chapter of her life would be closed. She told herself that it was best so. Her love for a man of this stamp could bring no happiness t

laugh and talk and make merry, and all the time she would be miserably unhappy. It would be impossible for her to stand Verind

Would you mind if I beg off?

n't believe you've slept a wink, Moya. Of course you needn't go. Shall I stay wi

tested so much that India saw it would b

" India moved about, darkening the

I'm all righ

ner had the voices of the riders died in the distance than she was dressing feverishly. She told herself th

a drank the coffee and ate the fruit, after which she went out

last her footsteps turned toward the grove where yesterday Jack Kilmeny had surprised her. But she was too

you are going. That's why you got out of that ride. No use fibbing to you

trength to turn her back on her temptation. She had always prided herself on knowing her own mind and following it, but the l

re was flaked with a shifting checkerboard of shadow and shine. She sauntered forward, looking

breeze swept across the river, caught her filmy skirts, and blew them about her ankles. She frowned, brushing down the wind-swept draperies with that instinct for modesty all women share.

he dared not show himself here after adding a second crime to the first, and this time against her friend, the man who had offered to stand by him in

id-and here she was meekly waiting. Could degradation take her lower than this, that she should slip out alone to keep an assignation with a th