y don't throw in with me willin', she'll come along
unwillin'. I'll break her. I'll take the snap out of them eyes, an' the
sneer offen them red lips--she's the purtiest thing I've laid eyes on
sence--sence Wolf River--an' I'm goin' to have her!" He swung down into
the creek bed, spurred his horse into a run, and pulled up before the
door with a flourish, heedless of the fact that one of his horse's hoofs
ground a tiny lamb into the dirt. The door flew open and Janet McWhorter
appeared. Her eyes rested for a moment on the little dead lamb, deep red
mounted to her cheeks, and when she met Purdy's glance, her eyes blazed.
The man laughed, and reaching into his pocket, tossing her a gold piece:
"What's lambs worth?" he asked, "that had ought to pay for two or three
of 'em. Why didn't the fool thing git out of the way?"

"You brute!" The girl's voice trembled with passion, and snatching the
coin from the ground she hurled it into his face.

Purdy caught it in a gloved hand, and again he laughed: "Plenty more of
these yeller boys where this come from," he announced flipping the
shining disk into the air and catching it, "I'm goin' away fer a few
days, jest you say the word, an' when I come back I'll bring you a--a
diamon' ring--diamon' as big as yer thumb nail--I'll treat you swell if
you'll let me."

The girl cuddled the dead lamb in her arms: "I despise you! I utterly
loathe you!"

"Purtier'n ever when yer mad," he opined. "I'll make you mad sometimes
jest for fun----"

"Some day I think I'll kill you," she spoke in a low, level tone and her
eyes stared directly into his.

Purdy laughed loudly: "That's a good one. Here, do it now." He drew a
gun from its holster and grasping it by the barrel, extended the butt
toward the girl. She shrank into the doorway still clutching the lamb.
The man returned the gun to its place and leaned forward in the saddle,
"If you'll be reasonable--listen: You throw in with me, an' I'll quit
the horse game. I've got a-plenty, an' we'll go somewhere's an' buy us
an outfit--bigger outfit than this, too--an' we'll settle down. I never
liked the business, nohow. I was forced into it when I was young, an'
I've always wanted to get out--with a good woman to--to kind of help a
feller along----"

The girl laughed harshly. "Don't try that on me--you can't get away with
it. I'll tell you once and for all, I despise you. I wouldn't trust you
as far as I would a rattlesnake. You are the most loathes