med Bill Gregg. "The days of the miracles
ain't over!"

Ronicky Doone turned his back and went to the window. Across the street
rose the forbidding face of the house of John Mark, and it threatened
Ronicky Doone like a clenched hand, brandished against him. The shadow
under the upper gable was like the shadow under a frowning brow. In that
house worked the mind of John Mark. Certainly Ronicky Doone had won the
first stage of the battle between them, but there was more to come--much
more of that battle--and who would win in the end was an open question.
He made up his mind grimly that, whatever happened, he would first ship
Bill Gregg and the girl out of the city, then act as the rear guard to
cover their retreat.

When he returned they had closed the door and were standing back from
one another, with such shining eyes that the heart of Ronicky Doone
leaped. If, for a moment, doubt of his work came to him, it was
banished, as they glanced toward him.

"I dunno how he did it," Bill Gregg was stammering, "but here it
is--done! Bless you, Ronicky."

"A minute ago," said Ronicky, "it looked to me like the lady didn't know
her own mind, but that seems to be over."

"I found my own mind the moment I saw him," said the girl.

Ronicky studied her in wonder. There was no embarrassment, no shame to
have confessed herself. She had the clear brow of a child. Suddenly, it
seemed to Ronicky that he had become an old man, and these were two
children under his protection. He struck into the heart of the problem
at once.

"The main point," he said, "is to get you two out of town, as quick as
we can. Out West in Bill's country he can take care of you, but back
here this John Mark is a devil and has the strength to stop us. How
quick can you go, Caroline?"

"I can never go," she said, "as long as John Mark is alive."

"Then he's as good as dead," said Bill Gregg. "We both got guns, and, no
matter how husky John Mark may be, we'll get at him!"

The girl shook her head. All the joy had gone out of her face and left
her wistful and misty eyed. "You don't understand, and I can't tell you.
You can never harm John Mark."

"Why not?" asked Bill Gregg. "Has he got a thousand men around him all
the time? Even if he has they's ways of getting at him."

"Not a thousand men," said the girl, "but, you see, he doesn't need
help. He's never failed. That's what they say of him: 'John Mark, the
man who has never lost!'"

"Listen to me," sa