"Now, Mister--" she began; and the Mister sounded odd and stilted in her
ears in relation to him.

"Jack is my name," he said simply.

"Mine is Mary," she volunteered, giving him as much as he had given
and no more. "Now, sir," she went on, in peremptory earnestness, "this
is serious."

"It _was_," he answered. "At least, unpleasant."

"It is, _now_. Pete Leddy meant what he said when he said that he
would draw."

"He ought to, from his repeated emphasis," answered Jack, in agreeable
affirmation.

"He has six notches on his gun-handle--six men that he has killed!"
Mary went on.

"Whew!" said Jack. "And he isn't more than thirty! He seems a hard worker
who keeps right on the job."

She pressed her lips together to control her amusement, before she asked
categorically, with the precision of a school-mistress:

"Do you know how to shoot?"

He was surprised. He seemed to be wondering if she were not making