straint of pins and fell down upon her shoulders, in a
great waving chestnut mass. At this Hugo opened the door and ran out,
returning a couple of minutes later with the bag that had been left on
the trunk.

"I--I expect you need some of your things," he ventured.

She looked at him with some gratitude. Most men wouldn't have thought
of it. Nodding her thanks she opened the thing and was compelled to
pull out various articles before she could get at her comb and brush.
Her movements were still very nervous. It was embarrassing to be there
before that man with one's hair all undone and awry. Something fell
from her hand, striking the edge of the table and toppling to the
floor. There was a deafening explosion and the shack was full of the
dense smoke of black powder. When Madge recovered from her terror the
young man, looking very pale, had bent down and picked up the fallen
weapon. For a moment she thought there was a strange look in his
eyes.

"I--I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed.

"If--if you were to hit a man with that thing he'd get real mad," he
said, repeating an age-worn joke. "At any rate I'm glad you were not
hurt. Rather unexpected, wasn't it? I really think you'd better let me
take the other shells out. It's a nasty little cheap weapon and, I
should judge, quite an unsafe bit of hardware for a lady to handle.
Whoever gave you that thing ought to be spanked. But--but, then, of
course you didn't know it was loaded."

"I--I did know it was loaded!" cried Madge. "I--I had the man load it
for me! I--I thought it might protect me from insult, perhaps,
or--or let me take matters in my own hands, if need be. I--I didn't
know what sort of place I would be coming to or--or what sort of man
would--would receive me! I--I felt safer with it!"

Maigan was still ferreting out corners of the room, having leaped up
at the shot as if the idea had come to him that some rat or chipmunk
must lie dead somewhere. There nearly always was something to pick up
when his master fired.

"Keep still, boy!" ordered the latter. "I think we'd better count that
as a miss. I'll wait outside until you've fixed yourself up, Miss
Nelson, and are ready to go. I'll have to hitch up Maigan first. As
soon as you come out I'll wrap you in my blankets; you'll be quite
comfortable. We haven't very far to go, anyway."

"Thank you--it--it won't take me a minute," she answered, without
looking at him.

She had discovered in a corner of the shack a