e of the police force in conversation with Mrs. Reed in front
of the tent as they drew near, and hastened forward in the hope that he
had brought news of the missing man. Mrs. Reed received them with
shocked expression, and a gesture of the hands denoting hopelessness for
the salvation of the world.

"It's scandalous!" she declared.

The policeman, a carpenterly looking man full of sandy hairs, stood by,
grinning.

"What is it, Mother?" asked June.

"I'll not repeat what he says," announced Mrs. Reed. "I
will--not--repeat--it!"

They turned to the officer, who wore his tarnished badge--evidently
bought after long service in a pawn-shop at Cheyenne--pinned to his
suspender at a point where he could turn his eye down on it whenever the
longing, or a desire to feed upon the pride of his official importance,
overcame him.

"I was tellin' her that the chief sent me over to say that your friend,
the doctor, was seen last night at half-past two in the mornin', jagged
up so tight he took two steps back'ards for every one he went ahead. The
chief told me to tell you he was layin' under a tent somewhere, and that
he'd be as safe as a calf in a barn. I hope that's what you wanted to
know."

The policeman turned and went his dusty way after delivering his message
from the chief, the wagon-spoke which he carried at the end of a thong
twirling at his wrist.

Walker looked around with a little flash of triumph in his eyes, for a
man likes to be vindicated in his opinion, even at the expense of his
friends' honor. But the gust of pain and disappointment which he saw
sweep over Agnes' face set him back with a sudden wrench.

"Say," said he with an assumption of indignation which he did not
altogether feel, "I don't believe that!"

"Nor I," declared Bentley, with no need of assuming a part to say it. "I
heard a man describing a crook the other day. He said the fellow was so
crooked that if you were to shoot him in the top of the head the bullet
would make seven holes in his body before it hit the ground. That's the
kind of a man that chief is."

"Well, it's scandalous!" declared Mrs. Reed. "Even it he comes back, his
conduct is simply disgusting, and I'll never permit him to address a
word to my daughter again!"

Agnes had drawn a little apart from them. She had no heart to come to
Dr. Slavens' defense, although she knew that the charge was calumnious.
But it furnished her a sudden and new train of thought. What interest