breed whipped out his weapon, and fired at me across the table; but
the woman, Nina San Croix, struck his arm, and, instead of killing
me, as he intended, the bullet mortally wounded her father, the
Mexican gambler. I shot the half-breed through the forehead, and
turned round, expecting the woman to attack me. On the contrary,
she pointed to the window, and bade me wait for her on the cross
trail below.

"It was fully three hours later before the woman joined me at the
place indicated. She had a bag of gold dust, a few jewels that
belonged to her father, and a package of papers. I asked her why
she had stayed behind so long, and she replied that the men were
not killed outright, and that she had brought a priest to them and
waited until they had died. This was the truth, but not all the
truth. Moved by superstition or foresight, the woman had induced
the priest to take down the sworn statements of the two dying men,
seal it, and give it to her. This paper she brought with her. All
this I learned afterwards. At the time I knew nothing of this
damning evidence.

"We struck out together for the Pacific coast. The country was
lawless. The privations we endured were almost past belief. At
times the woman exhibited cunning and ability that were almost
genius; and through it all, often in the very fingers of death, her
devotion to me never wavered. It was doglike, and seemed to be her
only object on earth. When we reached San Francisco, the woman put
these papers into my hands." Walcott took up the yellow package,
and pushed it across the table to Mason.

"She proposed that I assume Walcott's name, and that we come boldly