"No, I don't reckon he ever did, but he gave me that picture, and told
me she was my mother. I always lived with him, and called him dad. I
reckon he liked it, and he was mighty good to me. We were at Randolph
a long time, and since then he's been post-trader at Bethune. That's
all I know about it, for dad never talked very much, and he used to get
mad when I asked him questions."

Hampton dropped the locket from his grasp, and arose to his feet. For
several minutes he stood with his back turned toward her, apparently
gazing down the valley, his jaw set, his dimmed eyes seeing nothing.
Slowly the color came creeping back into his face, and his hands
unclinched. Then he wheeled about, and looked down upon her,
completely restored to his old nature.

"Then it seems that it is just you and I, Kid, who have got to settle
this little affair," he announced, firmly. "I 'll have my say about
it, and then you can uncork your feelings. I rather imagine I have n't
very much legal right in the premises, but I 've got a sort of moral
grip on you by reason of having pulled you out alive from that canyon
yonder, and I propose to play this game to the limit. You say your
mother is dead, and the man who raised you is dead, and, so far as
either of us know, there is n't a soul anywhere on earth who possesses
any claim over you, or any desire to have. Then, naturally, the whole
jack-pot is up to me, provided I 've got the cards. Now, Kid, waving
your prejudice aside, I ain't just exactly the best man in this world
to bring up a girl like you and make a lady out of her. I thought
yesterday that maybe we might manage to hitch along together for a
while, but I 've got a different think coming to-day. There 's no use
disfiguring the truth. I 'm a gambler, something of a fighter on the