er a moment's pause, he replied--

"Why, captain, you can't have thought of what I've been saying, or you
wouldn't speak as you do. I think it's a great deal to both you and me,
what I've been telling you; and the sooner you come to think so too, the
better. It's only yesterday afternoon that I narrowly missed being seen
at the forks by two of the guard, well mounted, and with rifles. I had
but the crook of the fork in my favor, and the hollow of the creek at
the old ford where it's been washed away. They're all round us, and I
don't think we're safe here another day. Indeed, I only come to see if
you wouldn't be off with me, at once, into the 'nation.'"

"You are considerate, but must go alone. I have no apprehensions where I
am, and shall not stir for the present. For yourself, you must determine
as you think proper. I have no further hold on your service. I release
you from the oath. Make the best of your way into the 'nation'--ay, go
yet farther; and, hear me, Dillon, go where you are unknown--go where
you can enter society; seek for the fireside, where you can have those
who, in the dark hour, will have no wish to desert you. I have no claim
now upon you, and the sooner you 'take the range' the better."

"And why not go along with me, captain? I hate to go alone, and hate to
leave you where you are. I shan't think you out of danger while you stay
here, and don't see any reason for you to do so."

"Perhaps not, Dillon; but there is reason, or I should not stay. We may
not go together, even if I were to fly--our paths lie asunder. They may
never more be one. Go you, therefore, and heed me not; and think of me
no more. Make yourself a home in the Mississippi, or on the Red river,
and get yourself a fireside and family of your own. These are the things
that will keep your heart warm within you, cheering you in hours that
are dark, like this."

"And why, captain," replied the lieutenant, much affected--"why should
you not take the course which you advise for me? Why not, in the
Arkansas, make yourself a home, and with a wife--"

"Silence, sir!--not a word of that! Why come you to chafe me here in my
den? Am I to be haunted for ever with such as you, and with words like
these?" and the brow of the outlaw blackened as he spoke, and his white
teeth knit together, fiercely gnashing for an instant, while the foam
worked its way through the occasional aperture between them. The
ebullition of passion, however, lasted not