irections that,
if he made an attack, he was not to be harmed more than necessary to
disarm him."

"Knowing that to disarm him would mean to kill him."

"Not at all. After all he is not such a terrible fellow as that--not at
all, my dear. A blow, a shot might have dropped him. But, unless it were
followed by a second, he would not be killed. Single shots and single
blows rarely kill, you know."

She nodded more hopefully, and then her eyes turned with a wide question
upon her companion.

He answered it at once with the utmost frankness.

"You wonder why I gave such orders when I dread Doone--when I so dread
Doone--when I so heartily want him out of my way forever? I'll tell you.
If Doone were killed there would be a shadow between us at once. Not
that I believe you love him--no, that cannot be. He may have touched
your heart, but he cannot have convinced your head, and you are equal
parts of brain and soul, my dear. Therefore you cannot love him."

She controlled the faintest of smiles at the surety of his analysis. He
could never escape from an old conclusion that the girl must be in large
part his own product--he could never keep from attributing to her his
own motives.

"But just suppose," she said, "that Ronicky Doone broke into your house,
forced one of your men to tell him where we are, and then followed us at
once. He would be about due to arrive now. What if all that happened?"

He smiled at her. "If all that happened, you are quite right; he would
be about due to arrive. I suppose, being a Westerner, that the first
thing he would do in the village would be to hire a horse to take him
out here, and he would come galloping yonder, where you see that white
road tossing over the hills."

"And what if he does come?" she asked.

"Then," said John Mark very gravely, "he will indeed be in serious
danger. It will be the third time that he has threatened me. And the
third time--"

"You've prepared even for his coming here?" she asked, the thought
tightening the muscles of her throat.

"When you have such a man as Ronicky Doone on your hands," he confessed,
"you have to be ready for anything. Yes, I have prepared. If he comes
he'll come by the straightest route, certain that we don't expect him.
He'll run blindly into the trap. Yonder--you see where the two hills
almost close over the road--yonder is Shorty Kruger behind the rocks,
waiting and watching. A very good gunman is Shorty. Know him?"

"Yes," she