"I'm sick of the place," she said eagerly. "Let's get as far from it as we may."
"But yonder is a very good trail leading past it."
"Of course we'll ride that way if you wish, but I'd rather go straight ahead."
If she had insisted stubbornly he would have thought nothing, but the moment she became politic he was on his guard.
"You dislike something in The Corner," he said, thinking carelessly and aloud. "You are afraid of something back there. But what could you be afraid of? Then you may be afraid of something for me. Ah, I have it! They have decided to 'get' me for taking Jack Landis away; Joe Rix and the Pedlar are waiting for me to come back!"
He looked steadily and she attempted to laugh.
"Joe Rix and the Pedlar? I would not stack ten like them against you!"
"Then it is someone else."
"I haven't said so. Of course there's no one."
She shook her rein again, but Donnegan sat still in his saddle and looked fixedly at her.