"This man!" she said with a shudder. "I barred myself inside, and he—he's been trying to cut his way through the door—working for hours with his knife blade. He—he's a beast!"
The corporal favored Crill with a saturnine stare. "Well, he'll have something else to think about from now on," he remarked grimly. "There's a beam and a rope and a trap waiting for him in the Cook County jail yard."
"I ain't there yet," said the outlaw, with a throaty effort of speech.
Dexter ignored the man, and glanced again at Alison. "Why did you leave me?" he asked. "I trusted your word, you know."
She faced him with level gaze. "My word is good," she said quietly. "I had every intention of coming back."
"Then what—"
"My brother, of course," she interrupted. "I didn't think he could be far ahead of us, and I knew he'd have to stop for the night. I was afraid he might not get started early enough this morning, so I came on ahead, hoping that I might find him at this cabin. I meant to warn him to hurry on before you could overtake him."
"So it was only pretense last night—you're being too tired to travel."
"I was very tired," she said, "but—well, I admit I was able to go a little farther—after you were asleep."
Dexter could not help smiling at her frankness. "And you found your brother here at this cabin?"