e stood in danger. Her reason was slight enough,
but her love accentuated her intuition. She saw in her mind the
claiming of the toll these men demanded, and to her swift imagination
the picture of her husband's murder was complete before her eyes.

"Sikkem comes from Orrville. He was there--four years ago. There was
more than suspicion attached to him. My first day here I met him.
Maybe you'll remember. He knew me at once. I don't guess there was
any mistake. And I knew him. When he heard I was--married to you he
pretended he'd mistaken me for--some one else. And when he explained
who, and his feelings against that woman--it was me he was
describing--I knew he was, as was suspected, one of the Lightfoot gang
at Orrville. Sikkem wrote that note. I could stake my life on it.
And--now he's sent for you. He's asking you to go out to Spruce
Crossing--at night. A distant, lonely point in the hills. He says
he's mortally wounded. He has found the rustlers hiding. Of course he
has. He's known all along. Nor do I believe he's wounded. He--and
the others--think the only way to get back on me is--through you. They
mean to kill you. Who's the boy who brought in word?"

"A new 'hand' we've taken on to replace the boy who was shot up two
days back."

"One of the gang."

The woman spoke with a decision she did not realize. But her belief
had become conviction. No shadow of doubt remained.

Jeff gazed thoughtfully down at the note. When he raised his eyes his
regard had undergone a shadow of change.

There was less coldness in them. He shrugged.

"Guess we'll leave that at present. Why all this now?"

"Because your life's in danger. That's how I figure."

There was a deep note of urgency in the woman's voice. Her eyes were
alight with a sudden, unmistakable emotion. But even if the man
realized these things he ignored them.

"My life?" There was something cruelly biting in the reflection. "And
all this time you knew--Sikkem. You knew we were being raided."

"I----" Elvine broke off.

She had no reply. There could be no reply. Why, she wondered in
sudden horror, had she not told of this thing before?

She stood with downcast eyes before the accusing glance of the man.
Then, after a moment's pause, a sound escaped his lips. And in it was
every thinkable expression of condemnation and contempt.

"Tchah!"

He turned away and strode across to his horse. The woman's voice came
to him