“He had to vamoose, or take tar and feathers.”
“But he had to leave. And he came here preaching and healing; and he is a hypocrite and a fraud—I know that now, my eyes are opened. He didn’t do what he said he could do, and it killed Mary Jewell—the shock; and there were other things he said he could do, and didn’t do them. Perhaps he is all bad, as you say—I don’t think so. But he did some good things, and through him I’ve felt as I’ve never felt before about God and life, and about Walt and the baby—as though I’ll see them again, sure. I’ve never felt that before. It was all as if they were lost in the hills, and no trail home, or out to where they are. Like as not God was working in him all the time, Tim; and he failed because he counted too much on the little he had, and made up for what he hadn’t by what he pretended.”
“He can pretend to himself, or God Almighty, or that lot down there”—he jerked a finger toward the town—“but to you, a girl, and a Pioneer—”
A flash of humor shot into her eyes at his last words, then they filled with tears, through which the smile shone. To pretend to “a Pioneer”—the splendid vanity and egotism of the West!
“He didn’t pretend to me, Tim. People don’t usually have to pretend to like me.”
“You know what I’m driving at.”
“Oh yes, I know. And whatever he is, you’ve said that you will save him. I’m straight, you know that. Somehow, what I felt from his preaching—well, everything got sort of mixed up with him, and he was—was different. It was like the long dream of Walt and the baby, and he a part of it. I don’t know what I felt, or what I might have felt for him. I’m a woman—I can’t understand. But I know what I feel now. I never want to see him again on earth—or in heaven. It needn’t be necessary even in heaven; but what happened between God and me through him stays, Tim; and so you must help him get away safe. It’s in your hands—you say they left it to you.”
“I don’t trust that too much.”
Suddenly he pointed out of the window toward the town. “See, I’m right; there they are, a dozen of ’em mounted. They’re off, to run him down.”
Her face paled; she glanced toward the Hill of Healing. “He’s got an hour’s start,” she said; “he’ll get into the mountains and be safe.”