st of all, he will wire you to come
out."

"Suppose I refuse to go, would that be the best of all?" Her face was
distinctly arch of line.

His heart responded to her lure, but his words were measured as he
answered: "Sometimes the responsibility seems too great; perhaps you
would better go. It will be hard to convince him that you are not in
danger."

She sobered. "There really is danger, then?"

"Oh yes, so long as these settlers are in their present mood, I suppose
there is. Nothing but the life of an 'Injun' will satisfy them. Their
hate is racial in its bitterness."

"You think I ought to go, then?"

He looked at her with eyes that were wistful and searching.

"Yes. It is a sad ending, but perhaps Captain Maynard will be here
to-morrow with a troop of cavalry, and--I--think I must ask him to
escort you to the railway."

"But the danger will be over then."

"To your father it will seem to be intensifying."

"I will not go on that account! I feel that the safest place will be
right here with you, for your people love you. I am not afraid when I am
near you."

Curtis suddenly realized how dangerously sweet it was to sit in his own
library with Elsie in that mood seated opposite him. The sound of a
tapping on the window relieved the tension of the moment.

"Another of my faithful boys," he said, rising quickly. Then, turning to
her with a tenderness almost solemn, he added: "Miss Brisbane, I hope
you feel that if danger really threatened I would think of you first of
all. You will stay with Jennie to-night?"

"If you think best, but we want to know all that goes on. I can't bear
to be battened down like passengers in a storm at sea; there is nothing
so trying to nerves. I want to be on deck with the captain if the storm
breaks."

"Very well. I promise not to leave you in ignorance," and, raising the
curtain, he signed to the man without to enter. It was Crow, the captain
of the police, a short man with a good-humored face, now squared with
serious dignity.

"Two Dog has just come in from Willow Creek," he reported. "He says the
cattlemen are still camped by Johnson's ranch. They all held a council
this afternoon."

"Are any of the head men here?"

"Yes, they are all at my tepee. They want to see you very bad."

"Tell them to come over at once; the council will take place here. I
want you, but no more of the police. I want only the head men of each
band."

After the officer went out Curtis move