At the end he dwelt strongly on the cowardly haste of the assassin’s flight; only to be met by a shrewdly anxious rejoinder from the girl: “He ran away after he attacked Lafe the other time. He will come back again!”
“Oh, Tom!” cried Genevieve––“if he does!”
“We will get him, that is all there is to it,” replied her husband. “What do you say to that, Ashton?”
“We will not have the chance,” said Ashton. “I don’t believe he has nerve enough to try it the third time. But if he should––”
“No, no! I hope he keeps running forever!” fervently wished Isobel. “Don’t you realize how 219 close a miss that was, Lafe?––and the other time, too?”
“I like having one Miss close,” he punned.
The girl blushed, but failed to show any sign of resentment.
Blake looked significantly at his wife. “Don’t know but what I’ve changed my mind about a siesta,” he remarked. “Here’s Tommy gone to sleep just when I wanted to fight him. Do you think Miss Chuckie can keep him and Ashton from running away if I go to bring in the level?”
“You say you had started to run the line of levels across to the mountain?” she asked.
“Yes.... This little pleasantry has knocked us out of a day’s work and you out of your trip to the cañon.”