Evidently they had heard his horse, for they stood motionless, looking directly at the alders behind which his horse had halted.
To turn might mean a shot in the back as far as Darragh knew. He was still masked with Salzar's red bandanna. He raised his rifle, slid a cartridge into the breech, pressed his horse forward with a slight touch of heel and knee, and rode slowly out into the star-dusk.
What Stormont saw was a masked man, riding his own horse, with menacing rifle half lifted for a shot! What Eve Strayer thought she saw was too terrible for words. And before Stormont could prevent her she sprang in front of him, covering his body with her gown.
At that the horseman tore off his red mask:
"Eve! Jack Stormont! What the devil are you doing over here!"
Stormont walked slowly up to his own horse, laid one unsteady hand on its silky nose, kept it there while dusty, velvet lips mumbled and caressed his fingers.
"I knew it was a calvaryman," he said quietly. "I suspected you, Jim. It was the sort of crazy thing you were likely to do. … I don't ask you what you're up to, where you've been, what your plans may be. If you needed me you'd have told me.
"But I've got to have my horse for Eve. Her feet are wounded. She's in her night-dress and wringing wet. I've got to set her on my horse and try to take her through to Ghost Lake."
Darragh stared at Stormont, at the ghostly figure of the girl who had sunk down on the sand at the lake's edge. Then he scrambled out of the saddle and handed over the bridle.
"Quintana came back," said Stormont. "I hope to reckon with him some day. … I believe he came back to harm Eve. … We got out of the house. … We swam the lake. … I'd have gone under except for her——"