she
told me she was in trouble. We hit the trail for the Peloncillos. Bonita
had Gene's horse, an' she was to meet him up on the trail. We got to the
mountains all right, an' nearly starved for a few days till Gene found
us. He had got in trouble himself an' couldn't fetch much with him.

"We made for the crags an' built a cabin. I come down that day Gene sent
his horse Majesty to you. Never saw Gene so broken-hearted. Well, after
he sloped for the border Bonita an' I were hard put to it to keep alive.
But we got along, an' I think it was then she began to care a little for
me. Because I was decent. I killed cougars an' went down to Rodeo to get
bounties for the skins, an' bought grub an' supplies I needed. Once
I went to El Cajon an' run plumb into Gene. He was back from the
revolution an' cuttin' up some. But I got away from him after doin' all
I could to drag him out of town. A long time after that Gene trailed
up to the crags an' found us. Gene had stopped drinkin', he'd changed
wonderful, was fine an' dandy. It was then he began to pester the life
out of me to make me marry Bonita. I was happy, so was she, an' I was
some scared of spoilin' it. Bonita had been a little flirt, an' I was
afraid she'd get shy of a halter, so I bucked against Gene. But I was
all locoed, as it turned out. Gene would come up occasionally, packin'
supplies for us, an' always he'd get after me to do the right thing by
Bonita. Gene's so dog-gone hard to buck against! I had to give in, an'
I asked Bonita to marry me. Well, she wouldn't at first--said she wasn't
good enough for me. But I saw the marriage idea was workin' deep, an'
I just kept on bein' as decent as I knew how. So it was my wantin' to
marry Bonita--my bein' glad to marry her--that made her grow soft an'
sweet an' pretty as--as a mountain quail. Gene fetched up Padre Marcos,
an' he married us."

Danny paused in his narrative, breathing hard, as if the memory of the
incident described had stirred strong and thrilling feeling in him.
Stillwell's smile was rapturous. Madeline leaned toward Danny with her
eyes shining.

"Miss Hammond, an' you, Bill Stillwell, now listen, for this is strange
I've got to tell you. The afternoon Bonita an' I were married, when Gene
an' the padre had gone, I was happy one minute an' low-hearted the next.
I was miserable because I had a bad name. I couldn't buy even a decent
dress for my pretty wife. Bonita heard me, an' she was some mysterious.
She t