As she heard her name, the girl scarcely believed her ears, then, urging her horse forward, she rode to meet her brother, crying:
"Oh, Jess! Is it really you!"
"Surest thing you know," returned the world-famous bandit. "Are you hurt, girlie? I heard your scream. That's how I recognized you."
"Not a scratch. It was the shock, I guess. It was so unexpected."
And unable to control her overwrought nerves she burst into tears.
"There, there, sis, don't cry. It's all right, so long as you're not hurt," soothed her brother, taking the trembling girl in his arms. "But it's a lucky thing. I happened to be in this vicinity."
Taking out his flask, Jesse ordered his sister to drink some of the brandy.
"It won't do any of the rest of you any harm to swallow some," he declared, turning to his sister's companions. "Who are you, anyhow?"
Forgetting her desire to faint in her eagerness to answer the question herself, Susie exclaimed:
"They're Marjorie and Helen—"