n! do
you realize what you are saying? I have forced no attentions upon Miss
Gillis."

"My reference was rather to future possibilities. Young blood is
proverbially hot, and I thought it wise to warn you in time."

Brant stared into that imperturbable face, and somehow the very sight
of its calm, inflexible resolve served to clear his own brain. He felt
that this cool, self-controlled man was speaking with authority.

"Wait just a moment," he said, at last. "I wish this made perfectly
clear, and for all time. I met Miss Gillis first through pure
accident. She impressed me strongly then, and I confess I have since
grown more deeply interested in her personality. I have reasons to
suppose my presence not altogether distasteful to her, and she has
certainly shown that she reposed confidence in me. Not until late last
night did I even suspect she was the same girl whom we picked up with
you out on the desert. It came to me from her own lips and was a total
surprise. She revealed her identity in order to justify her proposed
clandestine meeting with you."

"And hence you requested this pleasant conference," broke in Hampton,
coolly, "to inform me, from your calm eminence of respectability, that
I was no fit companion for such a young and innocent person, and to
warn me that you were prepared to act as her protector."

Brant slightly inclined his head.

"I may have had something of that nature in my mind."

"Well, Lieutenant Brant," and the older man rose to his feet, his eyes
still smiling, "some might be impolite enough to say that it was the
conception of a cad, but whatever it was, the tables have unexpectedly
turned. Without further reference to my own personal interests in the
young lady, which are, however, considerable, there remain other
weighty reasons, that I am not at liberty to discuss, which make it
simply impossible for you to sustain any relationship to Miss Gillis
other than that of ordinary social friendship."

"You--you claim the right--"

"I distinctly claim the right, for the reason that I possess the right,
and no one has ever yet known me to relinquish a hold once fairly
gained. Lieutenant Brant, if I am any judge of faces you are a
fighting man by nature as well as profession, but there is no
opportunity for your doing any fighting here. This matter is
irrevocably settled--Naida Gillis is not for you."

Brant was breathing hard. "Do you mean to insinuate that there is an
unde