that I have brought you, you will ride
down towards the camp. When you come to it I will make sure that it
is I who will bring you in. You must pretend that you have simply
blundered upon our fire. Whatever you do, never ask a question while
you are there--and I'll be your warrant that you will come off safely.
Will you try?"

He attempted no further persuasion and contented himself with merely
meeting the wistful challenge of her eyes.

"I will," she said at last, and then turning her glance away she
repeated softly, "I will."

He knew that she was already rehearsing what she must say to Whistling
Dan.

"You are not afraid?"

She smiled.

"Do you really trust me as far as this?"

With level-eyed tenderness that took his breath, she answered: "An
absolute trust, Mr. Lee."

"My name," he said in a strange voice, "is Lee Haines."

Of one accord they stopped their horses and their hands met.

CHAPTER XI

SILENT BLUFFS

The coming of the railroad had changed Elkhead from a mere crossing of
the ways to a rather important cattle shipping point. Once a year it
became a bustling town whose two streets thronged with cattlemen with
pockets burdened with gold which fairly burned its way out to the open
air. At other times Elkhead dropped back into a leaden-eyed sleep.

The most important citizen was Lee Hardy, the Wells Fargo agent.
Office jobs are hard to find in the mountain-desert, and those who
hold them win respect. The owner of a swivel-chair is more lordly
than the possessor of five thousand "doggies." Lee Hardy had such
a swivel-chair. Moreover, since large shipments of cash were often
directed by Wells Fargo to Elkhead, Hardy's position was really more
significant than the size of the village suggested. As a crowning
stamp upon his dignity he had a clerk who handled the ordinary routine
of work in the front room, while Hardy set himself up in state in
a little rear office whose walls were decorated by two brilliant
calendars and the coloured photograph of a blond beauty advertising a
toilet soap.

To this sanctuary he retreated during the heat of the day, while in
the morning and evening he loitered on the small porch, chatting with
passers-by. Except in the hottest part of the year he affected a soft
white collar with a permanent bow tie. The leanness of his features,
and his crooked neck with the prominent Adam's apple which stirred
when he spoke, suggested a Yankee ancestry, but the faded bl