Hampton crept closer in beside the girl while the shadows deepened, and
ventured to touch her hand. Perhaps the severe strain of their
situation, the intense loneliness of that Indian-haunted twilight, had
somewhat softened her resentment, for she made no effort now to repulse
him.

"Kid," he said at last, "are you game for a try at getting out of this?"

She appeared to hesitate over her answer, and he could feel her
tumultuous breathing. Some portion of her aversion had vanished. His
face was certainly not an unpleasant one to look upon, and there were
others other sex who had discovered in it a covering for a multitude of
sins. Hampton smiled slightly while he waited; he possessed some
knowledge of the nature feminine.

"Come, Kid," he ventured finally, yet with new assurance vibrating in
his low voice; "this is surely a poor time and place for any indulgence
in tantrums, and you 've got more sense. I 'm going to try to climb up
the face of that cliff yonder,--it's the only possible way out from
here,--and I propose to take you along with me."

She snatched her hand roughly away, yet remained facing him. "Who gave
you any right to decide what I should do?"

The man clasped his fingers tightly about her slender arm, advancing
his face until he could look squarely into hers. She read in the lines
of that determined countenance an inflexible resolve which overmastered
her.

"The right given by Almighty God to protect any one of your sex in