The ranger saw only Arlie. His gaze was full of deep reproach. "You
came down here to save me," he said, in the manner of one stating a
fact.

"Why shouldn't I? Ought I to have let you suffer for me? Did you think
I was so base?"

"You oughtn't to have done it. You have brought trouble on yourself."

Her eyes glowed with deep fires. "I don't care. I have done what was
right. Did you think dad and I would sit still and let you pay forfeit
for us?"

The lieutenant's spirits rejoiced at the thing she had done, but his
mind could not forget what she must go through.

"I'm glad and I'm sorry," he said simply.

Hilliard came, smiling, to relieve the situation. "I've got a piece of
good news for both of you. Two of the boys that were in that shooting
scrap three miles from town came to my office the other day and
admitted that they attacked you. It got noised around that there was a
girl in it, and they were anxious to have the thing dropped. I don't
think either of you need worry about it any more."

Dillon gave a shout. "Glory, hallelujah!" He had been much troubled,
and his relief shone on his face. "I say, gentlemen, that's the best
news I've heard in twenty years. Let's go celebrate it with just one."

Brandt and Hilliard joined him, but the Texan lingered.