l of the book which lay on
his knee, with a crooked finger marking the place. She did not guess the
anxiety which kept his brows knit until the reassurance of footsteps at
the door relaxed them, or that on more than one occasion the soldier
even saddled his own horse and surreptitiously followed the lover with a
cocked rifle balanced protectingly on his saddle pommel. Once though,
when Boone had returned and was unsaddling, his lantern betrayed fresh
sweat and saddle marks on McCalloway's horse. McCalloway lay on his cot
but was not asleep, and the young man spoke sternly:

"If you're going to follow me as a bodyguard, sir, I sha'n't feel that I
can ride over there any more--and while she's there--"

McCalloway had nodded his head.

"I understand," he responded. "You have my promise. I won't do it again.
I grew a bit anxious about you, tonight."

Looking into the fine eyes that, for himself, knew no fear, the young
man felt a sudden choke in his throat. He could only mutter, "God bless
you, sir," and take himself off to bed.

One night, though, as Boone was leaving her house, Anne stood with him
outside the door. He had taken her in his arms, and they ignored the
sweep and snarl of the night wind in their lovers' preoccupation.
Suddenly, as he held her, he bent his head, and her intuition recognized
that he was listening with strained intentness to something more remote
and faint than her own whispered words. In the abrupt tightening of his
arm muscles there was the warning of one abruptly thrown on guard, and
she whispered tensely, "What is it, Boone?"

After another moment of silence, he laughed.

"It's nothing at all, dear. I thought I heard a sound."

"What?"

He had not meant to give her any alarming hint of the caution which he
must so vigilantly maintain, and now he had to dissemble. It came hard
to him to lie, but she must be reassured.

"That colt I'm riding tonight doesn't always stand hitched. I thought I
heard him pulling loose--and it's a long walk home."

"Go and look," she commanded. "If he's broken away, come back and spend
the night here."

But a few minutes later he returned and said: "It's all right. I must
have been mistaken."

When she had watched him start away and melt almost at once into the
sooty darkness, it suddenly struck her as strange that he had come back
and spoken in so guarded an undertone instead of calling from the
hitching post. It might have been the lover's ready ex