“I do, Larry,” she said. “And I’m going to ride out to-morrow morning to meet him. You wouldn’t see it my way. Jim’s not your brother.”
In a moment the man’s cigar was flung from his mouth, and his arms caught up the slim figure.
“Sure he’s not,” he cried, holding her close to him. “But you’re Jim’s sister.”
And somehow the argument seemed to satisfy them both.
CHAPTER XXVIII
By the Wayside
THE horses moved along together in friendly rivalry. Pedro gave way not an inch to his black friend. He displayed no sign of the fatigue of the double journey of the day before. There was no leanness about his flanks. There was no droop of his crested neck. The spirit of the thoroughbred was abounding. The powerful body was tireless.
Blanche had carried out her purpose. Early morning had found her on the trail again with her untiring horse. Her anxiety for her brother was something approaching weakness. There could be no peace of mind for her until she was assured of his safety, and he had learned all she had to tell him. So she had set out soon after sunrise, taking the trail of the Three-Way Creek in the hope of intercepting him on his way home.
She had discovered Jim at the water-hole on the creek that flowed through the heart of Dan Quinlan’s valley, where Molly had first met him. Her relief was intense. It was as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. And as they rode on together down the valley on their way home she heard the story of Dan’s trouble, and eased her own anxiety by imparting to Jim the whole of the story which Lightning had told her.
Jim’s comment at the conclusion of her story was characteristic. The threat to himself, and to his enterprise in the Valley of Hope, did not seem to concern him at all. He brushed it aside as unworthy of serious consideration. But the story of McFardell’s treatment of Molly, and of her apparent ill-health and grief, stirred him profoundly.
“You know, Sis, folks like us don’t have to worry for the thing the other feller’s doing,” he said, with a seriousness which hinted at the depth of feeling she had stirred. “It means nothing against you, and nothing against Larry. And as for the boys we’ve passed shelter to, we can get them all clear away before the worst McFardell can do could begin to hand us a nightmare. What’s left? There’s only the tug between me and him, and the thought of that makes me glad.”