“And for a person who is absolutely nothing to her at all!” wailed Jennie Stone. “Ruth is utterly reckless.”
“She is utterly brave,” said Madge, sharply.
“She has the most grateful heart in the world,” Helen declared. “He saved her life in the cañon—you remember it, Mary. Of course she could not leave the poor creature to die there alone.”
The Fox had turned pallid and seemed horrified. But she was silent while all the others about the ranch-house, from Old Bill Hicks down to Maria the cook, were voluble indeed. The ranchman might have laid violent hands upon Jib Pottoway, only there was so much to do. Such simple medicines as there were in the house were packed to take to Tintacker. Old Bill determined to go over himself, but he would not allow any of the young folks to go.
“And you kin bet,” he added, “that you’ll see Jane Ann come back here a-whizzin’!”
The unfortunate Jib had enough to do to answer questions. The girls would not let him go until he had told every particular of the finding of the man at Tintacker.
“Was he just crazy?” queried Heavy.
“I don’t know whether he’s been loony all the time he’s been hanging around the mines, or not,” growled the Indian. “But I’m mighty sure he’s loco now.”
“If that was him who shot the bear up in the cañon that day, he didn’t appear to be crazy enough to hurt,” said Helen.
“But is this the same man?” queried Mary Cox, and had they not all been so busy pumping Jib of the last particular regarding the adventure, they might have noticed that The Fox was very pale.