at
her pistol, but Joe still stood, half-covering it with his arm. Her
face was no longer merely anxious. All color had swept from it; her
eyes were wide and pleading. But there was no one to give aid to-night.
Bill sat, helpless and blind, against the wall.

She had not dared to resent aloud the bandying of her name, the insult
of their searching eyes upon her beauty. It seemed to her that she
heard a half-muttered exclamation from Bill, but his face belied it.
And in reality the man's thoughts were as busy as never before.

He opened his eyes, struggling for vision. But he could not make out
the forms of the men at all, except when they crossed in front of the
candles. The candles themselves were mere points of yellow between his
lids. One of the candles was sitting just beside him, on a shelf; the
other was on the table. He tried to locate the position of all four of
his fellow-occupants of the cabin,--Virginia at one end of the table,
Joe at the other, Pete opposite him on the other side of the stove,
Harold standing in the middle of the room, babbling in his drunkenness.

But the first exhilaration of the drink was dying now, giving way to a
more dangerous mood. Even Harold was less talkative: the tones of his
voice had harshened. The two Indians, when they spoke at all, were
surly and threatening.

The moments passed. For a breath the cabin was still. Only too well
Bill knew that matters were approaching the explosive stage. A single
word might invoke murderous passions that would turn the cabin into
shambles. The men drank the third time, emptying the first quart and
beginning upon the second.

"You're a pretty little witch," Harold addressed Virginia. "You're hard
to kiss, but your kisses are worth having. What you think about that,
Joe? Aren't I tellin' you the truth?"

Joe! Bill's first impression had been right, after all. His face made
no sign, but he shifted in his chair. For all the ease and almost
inertness with which he sat, his muscles were wholly ready for such
command as his mind might give them,--to spring instantly to their
full power for a fight to the death. Virginia heard the name too, and
her fears increased.

"Joe?" she repeated. "You know him, then?"

"Of course I know Joe. He's an old friend. He's one that Bill told
never to show his face in this part of Clearwater again--but you don't
see anything happening to him, do you?"

He waited, hoping Bill would ma