"Do you suppose I could ever live long enough to turn that man, wounded, over to an enemy? He didn't ask me for any shelter after Van Horn's raid. All he ever asked me for was cartridges—and he got 'em. He'd get anything I had, and all I had, as long as there was a breath left in my body, and he asked within reason. And Abe Hawk wouldn't ask anything more."
Kate rose from her chair: "I've a great deal to learn about people and things in this country," she said slowly. "Not all pleasant things," she added. "I suppose some unpleasant things have to be. Anyway, I'll ride home tonight better satisfied for coming in."
"You going home?" he asked.
She was moving toward the door: "I only hope," she exclaimed, "this fighting is over."
"That doesn't rest in my hands. It's no fun for me. You say you're going to ride home?"
"There's a moon. I shan't get lost again."
He was loath to let her get away. At the door he asked if he couldn't ride a way with her. "I'll get Lefever or Sawdy to stay here while I'm gone," he urged.
"No, no."
"It isn't that they don't want to," he explained. "But the boys felt kind of bad and went down to the Mountain House. Why not?"
She regarded him gravely: "One reason is, I'd never get rid of you till I got home."