igh-pitched voice.

The crowd turned to behold Mintie. She had crawled up silently and
stealthily. But now she stood upright, her small head thrown back, her
eyes glittering in the moonlight.

"Got a rope fer me?" she asked. "I've heard everything."

Nobody answered. The girl laughed; then she said slowly--

"I shot Jake Farge--with this."

She threw a small revolver at the 'Piker,' who picked it up. "I killed
him at five this afternoon. I knew that if I didn't do it Pap would,
and that you'd hang him. Jake came after me agen an' agen, an' each
time I warned him. To-day he came fer the last time. He was half-
crazy, and I had to kill the beast to save myself. I did it, and"--
she looked steadfastly at Smoky Jack--"I ain't ashamed of it, neither.
There's only one man in all the world can make love to me. I never
knowed that I keered for him till to-night."

She pointed at Smoky, who remarked deprecatingly--

"I allus allowed you was a daughter o' the Golden West."

"If you ain't goin' to hang me," said Mintie, "don't you think you'd
better skip?"

She laughed scornfully, and the men, without a word, skipped. Smoky,
his hands loosed, seized Mintie in his arms, as the moon slipped
discreetly behind a cloud.

XVIII

ONE WHO DIED

He was a remittance man, who received each month from his father, a
Dorset parson, a letter and a cheque. The letter was not a source of
pleasure to the son, and does not concern us; the cheque made five
pounds payable to the order of Richard Beaumont Carteret, known to
many men in San Lorenzo county, and some women, as Dick. Time was when
Mr. Carteret cut what is called a wide swath, when indeed he was
kowtowed to as Lord Carteret, who drove tandem, shot pigeons, and
played all the games, including poker and faro. But the ten thousand
pounds he inherited from his mother lasted only five years, and when
the last penny was spent Dick wrote to his father and demanded an
allowance. He knew that the parson was living in straitened
circumstances, with two daughters to provide for, and he knew also
that his mother's fortune should in equity have been divided among the
family; but, as he pointed out to his dear old governor, a Carteret
mustn't be allowed to starve; so the parson, who loved the handsome
lad, put down his hack and sent the prodigal a remittance. He had
better have sent him a hempen rope, for necessity might have made a
man out of Master Dick; the remittance turned hi