A significant silence fell upon the group at the conclusion of
Wood's narrative. Wood had liked the telling, and it made his
listeners thoughtful. All at once the pale face of Kells turned
slightly toward Gulden.

"Gulden, did you hear that?" asked Kells.

"Yes," replied the man.

"What do you think about this Jim Cleve--and the job he prevented?"

"Never saw Cleve. I'll look him up when we get back to camp. Then
I'll go after the Brander girl."

How strangely his brutal assurance marked a line between him and his
companions! There was something wrong, something perverse in this
Gulden. Had Kells meant to bring that point out or to get an
impression of Cleve?

Joan could not decide. She divined that there was antagonism between
Gulden and all the others. And there was something else, vague and
intangible, that might have been fear. Apparently Gulden was a
criminal for the sake of crime. Joan regarded him with a growing
terror--augmented the more because he alone kept eyes upon the
corner where she was hidden--and she felt that compared with him the
others, even Kells, of whose cold villainy she was assured, were but
insignificant men of evil. She covered her head with a blanket to
shut out sight of that shaggy, massive head and the great dark caves
of eyes.