“It's all right, little girl,” he said pleadingly, “we've got you safe, but there is a fight to be attended to. Come with me; I must ask you a question or two.”
He drew her back into the fringe of bushes, placing her safely behind the stack of saddles. She was not crying any more, just clinging to him, as though she could never again bear to let him go.
“Oh, Jack, it is so good just to feel you near again.”
“Yes, dear,” soothingly, “and it is good to hear you say Jack, but tell me one thing—is any one else in the cabin? Is Hawley here?”
“No, no! He left us early the first morning. I haven't either seen or heard of him since. The men have left me alone since we got here; I have had the cabin all to myself until to-night. I have not suffered, only mentally—from dread of what they intended doing with me—until to-night. Three men rode in here just before sundown—two Mexicans and an Indian. One of them was an awful looking old man, with a scar on his cheek, and a face that made me shudder. He didn't see me, but I saw him through the window, and he had such strange eyes. All the men acted as though they were afraid of him, and I heard him say he didn't care what Hawley's orders were, he was going to sleep inside; if the girl didn't like it she could take the other room. I didn't know what to do—oh, I was so afraid of him; but what he said gave me an idea, and I went into the back room, and put up a bar across the door. When he came in he tried the door; then he spoke through it, but I never answered; and finally he lay down and went to sleep. I sat there in the dark so long, and when I heard you—I—I thought it must be some of the others.”
He stroked her hair, whispering words of encouragement.
“That is all done with now, Hope, and we'll have those fellows at our mercy in another half-hour. But I must go now to the boys; lie down here behind these saddles, and don't move until I come for you. I can trust you to remain right here?”
“Yes.” He was bending over, and her eyes were upon his face. Suddenly, obeying an irresistible impulse, he clasped her to him, and their lips met.
“Sweetheart,” he whispered softly.
He could not hear her answer, but her arms were about his neck.