!" Carter tried to catch her. "Come back! You mustn't--Are you
crazy?"

But Honor and the Mexican who had been on guard at the steps were
running, side by side, to meet them. Yaqui Juan flung a word to the
_peon_ and he stood with his gun leveled, covering the path.

"_Mira_!" said the Indian, proudly. "_Senorita_, I have brought back
your man!"

"Skipper," cried Jimsy King in a strong voice, "get in the house! Get
_in_! I'm all right!"

Then, unaccountably, inconsistently, all the terror she had not suffered
before laid hold on her. "Jimsy! You're hurt! You're wounded!"

"Just a cut on the leg, Skipper! That's why I was so slow. It's nothing,
I tell you,--get in the house!"

But Honor, running beside them, trying to carry a part of him, kept pace
beside them until Yaqui Juan had carried Jimsy into the house and up the
stairs and laid him on his own bed.

"There are five canteens," said Jimsy. "Here--one's for you, Skipper.
Take the rest to Mrs. King, Juan. Skipper, drink it. Just a little at
first, you know--careful! Don't you hear what I'm saying to you?
Drink--the water--out of this canteen!"

Mechanically, her eyes always on his face, Honor loosened the cap and
opened the canteen and drank.

"There,--that's enough!" said Jimsy, sharply. "Now, wait five minutes
before you take any more." He took the canteen away from her. "Sit
down!" He was not meeting her eyes.

"Did you have any, Jimsy?"

"Gallons. I didn't have any trouble to speak of, really. Only one fellow
actually on guard. We had a little rough-house. He struck me in the leg,
and it bled a lot. That's what kept me. And it took--some time--with
him."

"Jimsy, is it bad? Is it still bleeding? Let me see!"

He pushed her away, almost roughly. "It's all right. Juan tied it up.
It'll do. I guess you can have a little more water, now,--but take it
slowly.... There! Now you'd better go and see about the rest. Don't let
them take too much at first."

"I'm not going away," said Honor, quietly. "I'm not going to leave you
again, ever." She pulled her chair close beside the bed and took his
hand in both of hers. "Jimsy, I know. I know everything."

"That darn' Indian," said Jimsy, crossly. "If he'd stayed in here, with
the door locked! I'd have been back in half an hour longer."

"And he poured the whisky back into the decanter. Oh, Jimsy----"

"Well, I suppose it was a fool stunt, but I knew I could put it over. I
did a booze-fighter in the Junior