flashed!

"I'll get you out of heah," he whispered. "Come."

They went out. The passage was empty. Allie clung closely to him. At the
corner, where the halls met, he halted to listen. Only the low hum of
voices came up.

"Larry, I must tell you," whispered Allie. "Durade and his gang are
after me. Fresno--Mull--Black--Dayss--you know them?"

"I--reckon," he replied, swallowing hard. "My Gawd! you poor little
girl! With that gang after you! An' Stanton! I see all now.... She says
to me, 'Larry, I've a new girl heah'.... Wal, Beauty Stanton, thet was a
bad deal for you--damn your soul!"

Trembling, Allie opened her lips to speak, but again the cowboy motioned
her to be quiet. He need not have done it, for he suddenly seemed
terrible, wild, deadly, rendering her mute.

"Allie if I call to you, duck behind me an' hold on to me. I'll take you
out of heah."

Then he put her on his left side and led her down the righthand
passage toward the wide room Allie remembered. She looked on into the
dance-hall. Larry did not hurry. He sauntered carelessly, yet Allie felt
how intense he was. They reached the head of the stairway. The room was
full of men and girls. The woman Stanton was there and, wheeling,
she uttered a cry that startled Allie. Was this white, glaring-eyed,
drawn-faced woman the one who had gone for Neale? Allie began to shake.
She saw and heard with startling distinctness. The woman's cry had
turned every face toward the stairway, and the buzz of voices ceased.

Stanton ran to the stairway, started up, and halted, raising a white arm
in passionate gesture.

"Where are you taking that girl?" she called, stridently.

Larry stepped down, drawing Allie with him. "I'm takin' her to Neale."

Stanton shrieked and waved her arms. Indeed, she seemed another woman
from the one upon whose breast Allie had laid her head just a little
while before.

"No, you won't take her to Neale!" cried Stanton.

The cowboy stepped down slowly, guardedly, but he kept on. Allie saw men
run out of the crowded dance-hall into the open space behind Stanton.
Dark, hateful, well-remembered faces of Fresno--Mull--Black! Allie
pressed the cowboy's arm to warn him, and he, letting go of her,
appeared to motion her behind him.

"Stanton! Get out of my way!" yelled Larry. His voice rang with a wild,
ruthless note; it carried far and stiffened every figure except that of
the frantic woman. With convulsed face, purple in its fury, and the h