came out? He wished he knew.

Mollie caught sight of him and put a flea in his ear. "What d' you think
you're doing here, young fellow, me lad? Get outa this den of iniquity
an' hustle back to the room where the little lady is waitin' for you.
Hear me?" she snorted.

A minute later Bob was knocking timidly on the door of room 9. A small
voice told him to come in. He opened the door.

June shyly met the eyes of her husband. "Mrs. Gillespie said maybe you'd
want to wash up before supper."

"I reckon that'd be a good idee," he said, shifting from one foot to the
other.

Did she expect him to wash here? Or what?

June poured water into the basin and found a towel.

Not for a five-dollar bill would Bob have removed his coat, though there
had never been a time in his young life when he would have welcomed more
a greenback. He did not intend to be indelicate while alone with a young
woman in a bedroom. The very thought of it made him scarlet to the roots
of his red hair.

After he had scrubbed himself till his face was like a shining apple,
June lent him a comb. She stole a furtive look at him while he was
standing before the small cracked mirror. For better or worse he was her
man. She had to make the best of him. A sense of proprietorship that was
almost pride glowed faintly in her. He was a nice boy, even if he was so
thin and red and freckled. Bob would be good to her. She was sure of
that.

"Mrs. Gillespie said she reckoned she could fix you up a job to help the
cook," the bride said.

"You mean--to-night or for good?"

"Right along, she said."

Bob did not welcome the suggestion. There was an imperative urge within
him to get away from Bear Cat before Jake Houck arrived. There was no use
dodging it. He was afraid of the fellow's vengeance. This was a country
where men used firearms freely. The big man from Brown's Park might shoot
him down at sight.

"I don't reckon we'd better stay here," he answered uneasily. "In a
bigger town I can get a better job likely."

"But we haven't money enough to go on the stage, have we?"

"If there was a bull team going out mebbe I could work my way."

"W-e-ll." She considered this dubiously. "If we stayed here Mrs.
Gillespie would let me wash dishes an' all. She said she'd give me two
dollars a week an' my board. Tha's a lot of money, Bob."

He looked out of the window. "I don't want trouble with Jake Houck.
It--it would worry you."

"Yes, but--" June did not quite