ever before, it seemed
to her, had so much fuss been made about the cattle. The ghost trick had
stood them in good stead for some time, and now apparently these men saw
through it.

Two ideas she had firmly grasped. Ben Fisher was a man of his word, and
Ben Fisher was a good shot.

Her brothers and her lover were down in the creek bed. One of the four
would ride through the sleeping cattle to-night and that man would pay
for his temerity with his life. The casual mention of her own name with
that of the outlaw had sealed his fate. She was as sure of that as she
was sure that the sun would set to-night in the west and would rise
again to-morrow in the east. It did not occur to her simple soul to
inquire the reason why; only she felt that it was so, and her heart
was full of one passionate prayer, that the man who rode forth on that
perilous errand should not be her lover. Her brothers were dear to her
naturally, but her nearest and her dearest were as nothing when weighed
in the scale with the love she bore this stranger. He must be saved at
any cost--he must, he must. She walked slowly along with down-bent head,
till she stood on the top of the bank overlooking the waterhole, and
then, hearing footsteps behind her, looked up quickly to see Ben Fisher
standing beside her.

"Nellie," he said awkwardly, "Nellie, I--I--mean did that brute hurt
you?"

"What? Oh, Ned Kirton. Oh, it's no matter."

"It's dull here for you, Nell, out on the plains, isn't it?" he asked
still more awkwardly.

If her heart was full of another man, his was full of a strong man's
longing for her.

He saw her position, he knew her helplessness, he felt how much she
stood in need of care and guardianship. If she would only give him the
right to care for her. His very eagerness made him stupid and awkward,
and she, looking up at him in the hot afternoon sunlight, read none of
his thoughts, and only saw in him the man who held her lover's life in
his hands and would mercilessly take it.

She answered his question sullenly with a shrug of her shoulders.

"No, no."

"But Nellie--oh, Nellie, Nellie--poor little girl, don't you see
that--that--"

"What?" she asked, for even she, indifferent as she was, could not fail
to see that the man was shaken by strong emotion. "I 'm all right."

"All right, with a devil like that after you, a brute who--Nellie,
Nellie, for God's sake give me the right to take care of you."

She looked at him stupidly