The answer came back clear through the evening, multiplied by the rocks about them.
"I'm afraid," she said.
"Afraid?"
"I know. I never was before. But...." She broke off, leaned swiftly down from the saddle and kissed him.
"Come back to me soon, Sandy," she said.
CHAPTER XXI
THE END OF THE ROPE
Pronto had chosen his own trail and gait back to the Three Star. It was Goldie that Sandy rode under the stars toward Nipple Peaks. He was alone, refusing any company of Sam or the riders. Molly's last kiss had been the key that turned in the lock of his heart and opened up to reality the garden of his dreams where the two of them would walk together, work together all their days. It could have meant nothing else. And she had been afraid—for him. Plimsoll living was a blot upon the fair page of happiness. Though Molly, thank God, had come through unharmed, to Sandy the touch of Plimsoll was a defilement that could only be wiped out by his death.