Those burning eyes—eyes in which all of life in him seemed concentrated—looked out on her from the pale, strange face; looked on her until her own cheeks grew colorless, for there was something awful in the searching regard of the man who was but half alive.
“See!” she said, and slipped from her belt a package in which paper rustled, “I’ve had that plan of the gold find ever since—since she died. She gave it to me, in case you should be—as you are, and no one to look after it for you. Or, if you should go under, she said, I was to look it up. And I started to look it up—yes, I did; but things were against me, and I let it go for a while. But now, listen! If you get well, it means money must do it. See? Dan hasn’t very much—not enough to float you long. Now, I’ve thought it all out. You give up the notion of looking for that man, who wasn’t worth a shot of powder when he was alive, and worth less now. It’s that notion that’s been eating the life out of you. Oh, I’ve thought it all out! Now you just turn honest prospector, like you was when that man Ingalls first spotted you. I’m only a girl, but I’ll try to help make amends for the wrongs he did you. I’ll go partners with you. Look! here is the plan; and I’m almost sure I know where the two little streams meet. I’ve thought of it a heap; but the face of—of that dead girl, kept me 146 from doing anything till I had either found you or knew you were dead. No one knows I have the plan—though he would have cut throats for it. Now do you trust me?”
She held the plan up so he could see it—a queer puzzle of lines and dots; but a glance sufficed, and he turned his eyes again to the face of the girl. Her eagerness, her intensity, awakened him to trust and sympathy. He looked at her and nodded his head.
“Oh, I knew you would!” she breathed, thankfully. “And I’ll stand by you—you’ll see! I’ve wanted a chance like this—a chance to make up for some of the devilment he’s done to folks—and some he’s made me help at. You know who I am, but none of the rest do—and they sha’n’t. I’m a new girl now. I want to make up for some of the badness that has been. It’s all over; but sometimes I hate the blood in my veins because—you know! And if I can only do some good—”
She paused, for the eyes of the paralyzed man had moved from her face, and were resting on something back of her.
It was Overton! He entered and closed the door, and stood looking doubtful and astonished, while ’Tana rose to her feet trembling and a little pale.
“How long—were you there?” she demanded, angrily.
He looked at her very steadily before making reply—such a curious, searching look that she moved uneasily because of it; but her face remained defiant.
“I just now opened the door,” he said at last, speaking in a slow, deliberate way. “I slipped here as quietly as I could, because they told me you were asleep, and I must not make a noise. I got here just as you were 147 telling this man that no one but him should know who you were before you came among us—that is all, I guess.”
She had sat down on a seat close to Harris, and dropped her face in her hands.