, therefore you give no thought
to possibilities. I am weak and a woman, and I see with eyes of
understanding and knowledge of Jake, and I know that the collision
will be forced upon you; and, further, when the trouble comes, Jake
will take no chances. But you must not think too well of me. Believe
me, there is selfishness at the root of my anxiety. Do you not see
what trouble it will cause to us; my father, me?"

Tresler looked away. The girl had a strange insistence. It seemed to
him folly to consider the matter so seriously. He was convinced that
she was holding something back; that she was concealing her real
reason--perhaps the reason of her own fear of Jake--for thus
importuning him. It did not take him long to make up his mind with
those lovely, appealing eyes upon him. He turned back to her with a
frank smile, and held out his hand. Diane responded, and they shook
hands like two friends making a bargain.

"You are right, Miss Marbolt," he said. "I promise you to do all in my
power to keep the peace with Jake. But," and here he held up a finger
in mock warning, "anything in the nature of a physical attack will be
resented--to the last."

Diane nodded. She had obtained all the assurance he would give, she
knew, and wisely refrained from further pressure.

Now a silence fell. The sun was dropping low in the west, and already
the shadows on the grass were lengthening. Tresler brought his
grazing horse back. When he returned Diane reverted to something he
had said before.

"This 'sequel' you spoke of. You didn't tell me it." Her manner had
changed, and she spoke almost lightly.

"The matter of the sequel was a trivial affair, and only took the form
of Jake's spleen in endeavoring to make my quarters as uncomfortable
for me as possible. No, the incident I had chiefly in mind was
something altogether different. It was all so strange--so very
strange," he went on reflectively. "One adventure on top of another
ever since my arrival. The last, and strangest of all, did not occur
until nearly midnight."

He looked up with a smile, but only to find that Diane's attention was
apparently wandering.

The girl was gazing out over the waving grass-land with deep,
brooding, dreamy eyes. There was no anger in them now, only her
features looked a little more drawn and hard. The man waited for a
moment, then as she did not turn he went on.

"You have strange visitors at the ranch, Miss Marbolt--very strange.
They come s