He took her hands in his own, and gazed down upon her bowed head; but she remained silent, and, raising the beautiful face until he gazed down into it, he asked:
“Have I come in vain, Mary?”
“No.”
The answer was very low, but he heard it, and drew her gently toward him, while he asked:
“When am I to call you wholly my own, Mary?”
“When you have found Mr. Cody, or run Kent King to earth,” she said, almost sternly.
“Enough, I ask no more; but here comes your father, and I will ask him for your hand, now that you have given me your heart.”
The young Texan turned and greeted Mary’s father as he came upon the piazza, evidently greatly excited.
“Glad to meet you, Captain Dash; but, sir, the devilish old parson was no parson at all, but Kent King, the Gambler Guide, who has escaped and swept down the valley at the head of twoscore renegades, burning and pillaging as he went.”