.

Wade, followed closely by Rover, went out to the road to meet Nora. Jack
smiled as he extended his hand; she smiled also, then laughed heartily,
the echo resounding down through the woodland and back to the hills.

"Are you going to assist me to drive the cow home?" she asked sweetly.

"Provided you don't get in a hurry," replied Jack.

She didn't blush as she used to on occasions of this same nature, though
she was a little shy. Her face was as beautiful as a newborn rose, and
her hair was done up like a schoolgirl's is done when she expects to
have company; her skirt was not of the tattered and worn variety that
she wore when old Brindle made her first escape, and her slippers were
tan--those Jack had brought as a present. They fitted her trim foot
nicely. Her ankles were covered with lisle thread hose, not homespun
cotton, like she wore when Wade first saw her. He now stepped to her
side, and together they rounded up old Brindle, and soon had her headed
homeward.

When Wade looked into Nora's smiling face he knew that he was an ardent
lover, and he fully concluded he would never do one thing to offend her.

She looked into his face, her own beaming with joy.

"I'm never in a hurry to leave you, Jack."

"Thank you. Will it always be just so, Nora?"

"Always--that is, so long as both of us are alive, but----"

"But what? Don't hesitate, speak out."

"But times are fearful now. Tom will be out in another day or two, and
then----"

"And then?" repeated Wade, although he felt it was not necessary for her
to finish the sentence.

"And then," she continued, "something terrible may happen. Tom fumes all
the time, cursing the luck that threw him so long idle, when he could
have been doing so much. And then," she said again, looking tenderly at
him, "your life is in imminent danger. You should keep a close watch at
all times on Al Thompson. He hates you, and is only waiting for an
opportunity to kill you. Will you keep a close watch, Jack?"

"I shall keep a close watch. Not that I have any fears of death, or that
Thompson will kill me, but for your sake."

"For my sake, Jack? For my sake only?"

"For your sake only. Let me tell you, little girl, I have but one hope
this side of heaven, but one longing. The hope is for you, the longing
is for your happiness. Don't you know that you have transformed my life?
Once I was a raging lion, to-day I am meek and lowly. The only ray of
hope within me was transplante