She tossed her head. They were standing only a few feet apart, de Spain supporting himself now with his left hand high up against the wall; Nan, with her shoulder lightly against it; both had become quizzical. “Other people forget, too, then,” 196 was all she said, fingering the loosened tie as the breeze from the west blew it toward her shoulder.
“No,” he protested, “I didn’t forget; not that time. I went over to the joint to get a cup of coffee and expected to be back within five minutes, never dreaming of walking into a bear trap.” He drew his revolver and, breaking it negligently, took out the single cartridge. “Take this.” He held the cartridge in his left hand and took two halting steps toward her––“since you are unarmed, I will be, too. Not that this puts us on an even footing. I don’t mean that. Nothing would. You would be too much for me in any kind of a contest, armed or unarmed.”
“What do you mean?” she demanded to hide her confusion. And she saw that each step he took cost pain, skilfully concealed.
“I mean,” he said, “you are to take this cartridge as a remembrance of my forgetfulness and your adventure.”
She drew back. “I don’t want it.”
“Take it.”
He was persistent. She allowed him to drop the loaded shell into her hand. “Now,” he continued, replacing his gun, “if I encounter any of your people in an attempt to break through a line, and somebody gets killed, you will know, 197 when you hear the story, that this time, at least, I didn’t ‘start it.’”
“All the same––” She hesitated. “I don’t think that’s exactly right. You need not shoot my people, even if you meet them. There are plenty of others you might meet–––”
He put her objections aside, enjoying being so near her and happy that she made no retreat. “My reputation,” he insisted, “has suffered a little in Morgan’s Gap. I mean that at least one who makes her home under Music Mountain shall know differently of me. What’s that?” He heard a sound. “Listen!”
The two, looking at each other, strained their ears to hear more through the rush of the falling water. “Some one is coming,” said de Spain. Nan ran lightly to where she could peep over the ledge. Hardly pausing as she glanced down, she stepped quickly back. “I’ll go right on up the mountain to the azalea fields,” she said hastily.