"Pack in your meat," said the girl curtly, and flung his rifle across her shoulder.
Through the ruddy afterglow she left the way homeward, a man's handkerchief pressed to her wounded mouth, her eyes preoccupied with the strangest thoughts that ever had stirred her virgin mind.
Behind her walked Darragh with his load of venison and his alias, - and his tongue in his cheek.
Thus began the preliminaries toward the ultimate undoing of Mike Clinch.
Fate, Chance, and Destiny had undertaken the job in earnest.
* * * * *
Episode Two
The Ruling Passion
* * * * *
I
Nobody understood how Jose Quintana had slipped through the Secret
Service net spread for him at every port.