"Lem—didn't I cross my heart that day and pledge you that I'd come back?"
"Yes—but I wus afeerd thet somethin' had happened t' yo'-all, Belle-Ann,—then I togged myself up an' fixed to go below—then I thought I'd go up on th' Crown an' take a last look at the spot where I saw yo' last a wavin' at me, and pretty soon I seed somethin'—an'—an'—Gawd'll Moughty—thah yo' wus a wavin' right at me—then I sho' did make time a gettin' down off'n thah—an' as I run down th' trail—thet ornery Sap McGill jumped out an' tried t' shoot——"
With a fear-fraught half-scream, Belle-Ann had bounded to her feet.
"Sap McGill—McGill, here?" she cried out incredulously. Her bosom heaved with excitement, and her eyes were wide and starry with a sudden new-born terror. "Oh!—don't tell me that McGill is up heah—on this side of Hellsfork!"
Then it was, with bated breath and hurried, fear-laden words, that she implored Lem to hide somewhere. When she finished, all the blithesome, pulsing happiness that had dwelt in her beautiful face a few moments previously had vanished.
Lem got quickly to his feet and stood eyeing her bloodless countenance in a trance of blank incomprehension.
"Tell me—tell me quick, where is McGill now?" she panted, her hat dropping from her nerveless hands and falling at her feet.
"Why—Belle-Ann—I left em a layin' on his back up at th' loop."
"Did you kill him?"
"Naw—I didn't hev time—I wanted t' meet yo'-all—I left Buddy a guardin' em."