nce piece of bread. Earning honest money with your wife happy beside
you is heaven in comparison, I assure you."

Lupo hung his head until his eyes were hidden by the brim of his felt
hat.

"I'm goin'," he said sullenly. "I guess your argyments is too good for
the likes of me to try an' answer. I wants my wife back more'n I wants
to git even with Frenchy and his gal. They done me a injury once, but
I'm willin' to call it square if you are."

"Call it square," said Richard, and the two mountaineers slunk out of
the room and disappeared in the night.

And now the ladies of Sunrise Camp and Richard Hook found themselves
quite alone in the vast living room. The danger was over and the last
and most impious of the outlaws departed. Miss Campbell and her girls
standing in a row in the gallery looked down into the whimsical face of
their deliverer. Billie recalled that only a little while before she had
wished for someone with a persuasive tongue to appear and address the
outlaws. Phoebe, too, had believed that God would send a deliverer.
Whose prayer had brought the young man to Sunrise Camp in the nick of
time? Hers or Phoebe's, Billie wondered. Perhaps it was their combined
wishes. She understood little about the psychology of wishes. At any
rate, here they all stood, safe and sound, and presently they found
themselves laughing at the ludicrous thing that might have turned into a
tragedy but for Richard Hook's persuasive tongue.

Already Alberdina was removing the barriers.

"Whose idea was that? Yours, Miss Billie?" asked Richard.

"No, no. We really owe our temporary safety to Alberdina, there. She
thought of it herself."

The German girl was well pleased over the fame the one intelligent act
of her life had brought her. She smiled broadly at Richard as she
cleared the way for the ladies to descend.

"Before we settle down to talk," remarked the young man, "suppose we
open the doors and windows and light the lights. This room is fairly
close and it would be a good idea to illuminate for the sake of your
friends who might happen to be returning. By the way, where are the
criminals?"

"Here is one of them," answered Miss Campbell, smiling. "This is our
friend, Miss Phoebe--" she hesitated, "Miss Phoebe French. Does she look
like a criminal?"

Phoebe, who all this time had been watching Richard with a sort of rapt
expression, was startled out of her dream. She blushed and looked down
at the floor. The girls had