a shot. The gang cleared out, leavin' Roy on the
floor. I come in a little later. Roy was still layin' there. Nobody was
doin' anythin' for him. An' nobody had. I hold that against Turner. Wal,
I got help an' packed Roy over to Widow Cass's. Roy seemed all right.
But he was too bright an' talky to suit me. The bullet hit his lung,
thet's shore. An' he lost a sight of blood before we stopped it. Thet
skunk Turner might have lent a hand. An' if Roy croaks I reckon I'll--"

"Tom, why must you always be reckoning to kill somebody?" demanded
Helen, angrily.

"'Cause somebody's got to be killed 'round here. Thet's why!" he snapped
back.

"Even so--should you risk leaving Bo and me without a friend?" asked
Helen, reproachfully.

At that Carmichael wavered and lost something of his sullen deadliness.

"Aw, Miss Nell, I'm only mad. If you'll just be patient with me--an'
mebbe coax me.... But I can't see no other way out."

"Let's hope and pray," said Helen, earnestly. "You spoke of my coaxing
Roy to tell who shot him. When can I see him?"

"To-morrow, I reckon. I'll come for you. Fetch Bo along with you. We've
got to play safe from now on. An' what do you say to me an' Hal sleepin'
here at the ranch-house?"

"Indeed I'd feel safer," she replied. "There are rooms. Please come."

"Allright. An' now I'll be goin' to fetch Hal. Shore wish I hadn't made
you pale an' scared like this."

About ten o'clock next morning Carmichael drove Helen and Bo into Pine,
and tied up the team before Widow Cass's cottage.

The peach and apple-trees were mingling blossoms of pink and white; a
drowsy hum of bees filled the fragrant air; rich, dark-green alfalfa
covered the small orchard flat; a wood fire sent up a lazy column of
blue smoke; and birds were singing sweetly.

Helen could scarcely believe that amid all this tranquillity a man
lay perhaps fatally injured. Assuredly Carmichael had been somber and
reticent enough to rouse the gravest fears.

Widow Cass appeared on the little porch, a gray, bent, worn, but
cheerful old woman whom Helen had come to know as her friend.

"My land! I'm thet glad to see you, Miss Helen," she said. "An' you've
fetched the little lass as I've not got acquainted with yet."

"Good morning, Mrs. Cass. How--how is Roy?" replied Helen, anxiously
scanning the wrinkled face.

"Roy? Now don't you look so scared. Roy's 'most ready to git on his hoss
an' ride home, if I let him. He knowed you was a-comin'.