blinds, and then reloaded his revolver with feverish haste. This
done, he sat down before his keys with the weapon close at hand
and frantically called for Tucson over and over again. No answer
came to him, nor from the other direction when he tried that. The
young bandit had told the truth. His companions had cut the wires
and so isolated from the world for the time the scene of the
hold-up. The agent understood now why the leader of the outlaws
had honored him with so much of his valuable time. He had stayed
to hold back the telegrams until he knew the wires were cut.



CHAPTER 3. THE SHERIFF INTRODUCES HIMSELF

Bear-trap Collins, presuming on the new intimacy born of an
exciting experience shared in common, stepped across the aisle,
flung aside Miss Wainwright's impedimenta, and calmly seated
himself beside her. She was a young woman capable of a hauteur
chillier than ice to undue familiarity, but she did not choose at
this moment to resent his assumption of a footing that had not
existed an hour ago. Picturesque and unconventional conduct
excuses itself when it is garbed in picturesque and engaging
manners. She had, besides, other reasons for wanting to meet him,
and they had to do with a sudden suspicion that flamed like tow
in her brain. She had something for which to thank him--much more
than he would be likely to guess, she thought--and she was
wondering, with a surge of triumph, whether the irony of fate had
not made his pretended consideration for her the means of his
undoing.