So I married her in Onabasha this afternoon. You can see the records at
the county clerk's office and interview the minister who performed the
ceremony, if you doubt me. Ruth is in her room, comfortable as I can
make her, asleep and unafraid, thank God! This grave is for her mother.
The Girl wants her lifted from the horrible place you put her, and laid
where it is sheltered and pleasant. Now, I'll see you off my land. Hurry
yourself!"

With the Harvester following, Henry Jameson went back over the path he
had come, until he reached and mounted the horse he had ridden. As the
Harvester watched him, Jameson turned in the saddle and spoke for the
second time.

"What will you give me in cold cash to tell you who she is, and where
her mother's people are?"

The Harvester leaped for the bridle and missed. Jameson bent over
the horse and lashed it to a run. Half way to the oak the Harvester
remembered the revolver, but being unaccustomed to weapons, he had
forgotten it when he needed it most. He replaced the earth in the sack
and dragged it away, then plunged into the lake, and afterward went
to bed, where he slept soundly until dawn. First, he slipped into the
living-room and wrote a note to the Girl. Then he fed Belshazzar and ate
a hearty breakfast. He stationed the dog at her door, gave him the
note, and went to the oak. There he arranged everything neatly and as
he desired, and then hitching Betsy he quietly guided her down the drive
and over the road to Onabasha. He went to an undertaking establishment,
made all his arrangements, and then called up and talked with the
minister who had performed the marriage ceremony the previous day.

The sun shining in her face awoke Ruth and she lay revelling in the
light. "Maybe it will colour me faster than the powder," she thought.
"How peculiar for him to say what he did! I always thought men detested
it. But he is not like any one else." She lay looking around the
beautiful room and wondering where the Harvester was. She could not hear
him. Then, slowly and painfully, she dragged her aching limbs from the
bed and went to the door. The dog was gone from the porch and she could
not see the man at the stable. She selected a frock and putting it on
opened the door. Belshazzar arose and offered this letter:

DEAR RUTH:

I have gone to keep my promise. You are locked in with Bel. Please obey
me and do not step outside the door until four o'clock. Then put on a
pretty white dress