he called it a fluke. The chance might not have come to him, or he might
not have taken it. The scream of little Maggie Wiggins had saved the day
for him. If he had had time to think--but fortunately impulse had swept
him into action before he could let discretion stop him.

He lived over again joyfully that happy moment when June had stood before
him pulsing with life, eager, fear-filled, tremulous. He had taken the
upper hand and she had accepted his leadership. The thing his eyes had
told her to do she had done. He would remember that--he would remember it
always.

Nor did it dim his joy that he felt himself to be a fraud. It had taken
no pluck to do what he did, since he had only obeyed a swift dominating
mental reaction to the situation. The real courage had been hers.

He knew now that he would have to take her with him in his thoughts on
many a long ride whether he wanted to or not.

CHAPTER XXVIII

JUNE IS GLAD

June turned away from the crowd surrounding the dead mad dog and walked
into the hotel. The eyes of more than one man followed the slim, graceful
figure admiringly. Much water had run down the Rio Blanco since the days
when she had been the Cinderella of Piceance Creek. The dress she wore
was simple, but through it a vivid personality found expression. No
longer was she a fiery little rebel struggling passionately against a
sense of inferiority. She had come down from the hills to a country
filled with laughter and the ripple of brooks.

The desire to be alone was strong upon her--alone with the happy thoughts
that pushed themselves turbulently through her mind. She was tremulous
with excitement. For she hoped that she had found a dear friend who had
been lost.

Once, on that dreadful day she would never forget, June had told Jake
Houck that Bob Dillon was as brave as he. It had been the forlorn cry of
a heart close to despair. But the words were true. She hugged that
knowledge to her bosom. Jake had run away while Bob had stayed to face
the mad dog. And not Jake alone! Blister Haines had run, with others of
tested courage. Bob had outgamed him. He admitted it cheerfully.

Maybe the others had not seen little Maggie Wiggins. But Bob had seen
her. The child's cry had carried him back into the path of the brindle
terrier. June was proud, not only of what he had done, but of the way he
had done it. His brain had functioned swiftly, his motions been timed
exactly. Only coordination of all h