"Get up," he said.

She complied. And then she bravely faced him. "Where are--the other
men?"

"We parted company," he replied, curtly.

"Why?" she persisted.

"Well, if you're anxious to know, it was because you were winning
their--regard--too much to suit me."

"Winning their regard!" Joan exclaimed, blankly.

Here those gray, piercing eyes went through her, then swiftly
shifted. She was quick to divine from that the inference in his
words--he suspected her of flirting with those ruffians, perhaps to
escape him through them. That had only been his suspicion--
groundless after his swift glance at her. Perhaps unconsciousness of
his meaning, a simulated innocence, and ignorance might serve her
with this strange man. She resolved to try it, to use all her
woman's intuition and wit and cunning. Here was an educated man who
was a criminal--an outcast. Deep within him might be memories of a
different life. They might be stirred. Joan decided in that swift
instant that, if she could understand him, learn his real intentions
toward her, she could cope with him.

"Bill and his pard were thinking too much of--of the ransom I'm
after," went on Kells, with a short laugh. "Come on now. Ride close