t danger.
He seemed to think there was no danger. Yet he raved after it came."

"Go with us all the way to Fairdale--please?" asked Miss Ruth, sweetly
offering her hand. "I am Ruth Herbert. And this is my cousin, Ray
Longstreth."

"I'm traveling that way," replied Duane, in great confusion. He did not
know how to meet the situation.

Colonel Longstreth returned then, and after bidding Duane a good night,
which seemed rather curt by contrast to the graciousness of the girls,
he led them away.

Before going to bed Duane went outside to take a look at the injured
robber and perhaps to ask him a few questions. To Duane's surprise, he
was gone, and so was his horse. The innkeeper was dumfounded. He said
that he left the fellow on the floor in the bar-room.

"Had he come to?" inquired Duane.

"Sure. He asked for whisky."

"Did he say anything else?"

"Not to me. I heard him talkin' to the father of them girls."

"You mean Colonel Longstreth?"

"I reckon. He sure was some riled, wasn't he? Jest as if I was to blame
fer that two-bit of a hold-up!"

"What did you make of the old gent's rage?" asked Duane, watching the
innkeeper. He scratched his head dubiously. He was sincere, and Duane
believed in his honesty.

"Wal, I'm doggoned if I know what to make of it. But I reckon he's
either crazy or got more nerve than most Texans."

"More nerve, maybe," Duane replied. "Show me a bed now, innkeeper."

Once in bed in the dark, Duane composed himself to think over the
several events of the evening. He called up the details of the holdup
and carefully revolved them in mind. The Colonel's wrath, under
circumstances where almost any Texan would have been cool, nonplussed
Duane, and he put it down to a choleric temperament. He pondered long on
the action of the robber when Longstreth's bellow of rage burst in
upon him. This ruffian, as bold and mean a type as Duane had ever
encountered, had, from some cause or other, been startled. From whatever
point Duane viewed the man's strange indecision he could come to
only one conclusion--his start, his check, his fear had been that of
recognition. Duane compared this effect with the suddenly acquired sense
he had gotten of Colonel Longstreth's powerful personality. Why had that
desperate robber lowered his gun and stood paralyzed at sight and sound
of the Mayor of Fairdale? This was not answerable. There might have been
a number of reasons, all to Colonel Longstreth's credit, but