She gave a quiet ripple of laughter.
"I couldn't sleep and I was up and standing at the window——"
"Just as I was doing," I put in.
"I saw that boat come up,—as you must have seen it, George,—I went to the door, and, in the moonlight, I saw you come out and take the back path. Later still, I heard noises and the cursing of these men.
"I became afraid that something was wrong, so I dressed, took up my little revolver and followed you.
"I was at the window of Jake's cabin all the time he was being forced to drink and while you were tied up. I had to get out of the way when they came out."
At the door of Mary's house I took her hand in mine.
"We are quits now, Mary. Those blackguards certainly would have finished me off but for you.
"Where did you learn to shoot, you wild and woolly Westerner?" I asked.
"Why! Didn't I ever tell you? For quite a while, when I was a youngster, I lived on a ranch in the Western States. Everybody could shoot down there."