FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135  
136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   >>   >|  
be to trust myself in his power again," he concluded. For a moment or two Mary Thorne sat silent, regarding him with a curious expression. "So that was the reason," she murmured at length. His eyes questioned her mutely, and a slow flush crept into her face. "The reason you--you couldn't say you had no--special object in being on the Shoe-Bar," she explained haltingly. "I'm--sorry I didn't understand." "I couldn't very well tell you without running the risk of Lynch's finding out. As it happened, I was trying my best to think up a reasonable excuse for leaving the outfit to do some investigating from this end, so you really did me a good turn." "Investigating what? Haven't you any idea what he's up to?" Buck hesitated. "A very little, but it's too indefinite to put into words just yet. I've a feeling I'll get at the bottom of it soon, though, and then I'll tell you. In the meantime, when you go back, don't breathe a word of having seen me, and on no account let any one persuade you to--sell the outfit." She stared at him with crinkled brows. "But what are you going to do now?" she asked suddenly, her mind flashing back to the present difficulty. He dragged himself into a sitting posture. He was evidently feeling stronger and looked much more like himself. "Try and get back to that camp of mine I told you of," he explained. "I reckon I'll have to lay up there a while, but there's food a-plenty, and a good spring, so--" "But I don't believe you can even stand," she protested. "And if your ribs are broken--" "Likely it's only one and I can strap that good and tight with a piece of my shirt or something. Then if you could catch Pete and bring him over here, I'll manage to climb into the saddle some way. It's only three or four miles, and the going's not so very bad." She made no further protest, but her lips straightened firmly and there was a look of decision in her girlish face as she set about helping him with his preparations. It was she who tore a broad band from his flannel shirt, roughly fringed the ends with Buck's knife and tied it so tightly about his body that he had hard work to keep from wincing. She insisted on bandaging his head, and while he rested in the shade went back into the gulch to look for his hat and the Colt that had fallen from his holster. She finally found them both under a narrow ledge that thrust out a dozen feet below the edge of the trail. A stunted bush, roo
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135  
136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
feeling
 

outfit

 

reason

 

explained

 

couldn

 
Likely
 
narrow
 

broken

 
holster
 

finally


plenty

 

stunted

 
reckon
 

spring

 
protested
 

thrust

 
girlish
 
firmly
 

decision

 

tightly


helping

 

flannel

 

fringed

 

preparations

 

wincing

 

insisted

 

roughly

 

saddle

 

fallen

 

bandaging


protest

 
straightened
 

rested

 

manage

 

haltingly

 
understand
 

special

 
object
 

reasonable

 
excuse

happened
 

running

 
finding
 
moment
 

Thorne

 

concluded

 
silent
 

questioned

 
mutely
 

length