"I could be anything. You had your chance. I told you to go. I said
if I ever got well I'd be as I was--before."

"But you'd have died."

"That would have been better for you .. ... Joan, I'll do this.
Marry you honestly and leave the country. I've gold. I'm young. I
love you. I intend to have you. And I'll begin life over again. What
do you say?"

"Say? I'd die before--I'd marry you!" she panted,

"All right, Joan Randle," he replied, bitterly. "For a moment I saw
a ghost. My old dead better self! ... It's gone. ... And you stay
with me."




7

After dark Kells had his men build a fire before the open side of
the cabin. He lay propped up on blankets and his saddle, while the
others lounged or sat in a half-circle in the light, facing him.

Joan drew her blankets into a corner where the shadows were thick
and she could see without being seen. She wondered how she would
ever sleep near all these wild men--if she could ever sleep again.
Yet she seemed more curious and wakeful than frightened. She had no
way to explain it, but she felt the fact that her presence in the