Outside Echo heard Jack inquiring: "Echo! Echo! you called me?"
Echo laid her hand on the knob to open the door, when she heard the click of the pistol's hammer as Bud raised it.
With a prayer in her eyes, she looked at the young man. He was obdurate. Nothing could move him.
Turning, she shrieked: "No, I did not call. Go! in God's name, go!"
"Good-bye!" was Jack's farewell. The rapid beat of horse's hoofs told of his mounting and riding away.
"Gone. Oh, Bud, Bud, what have you done?"
"I should have killed him," was Bud's answer, a gazed after the retreating form galloping down trail.
Mrs. Allen, hearing Echo's calls, hastened in from the kitchen. She found her daughter sobbing at the table. "What is the matter, child?"
Then, turning to Bud, she fiercely demanded of him: "What have you been saying to her?"
"Nothin'," he replied, as he left the house.