"Does the bird hate the hawk that robs the nest?" she exclaimed. "Do I hate the beautiful serpent over there, and the man who does her bidding? Stand her before me and arm me with a keen blade, then ask me if I hate her."
"You say you saved Riggs?"
"I did. He was doomed on the guard line and stood in the shadow of death when my match created the diversion in his favor. It was a lucky thought, and I would not have cared if the feathers of the fine bird in yon blackened cage had shriveled in the flames my match made. It is only vengeance. But I've left him for Riggs, the detective. I only want to teach Belle Demona that one woman cannot rule all hearts with a rod of iron in this part of the world."
Waters, who had dropped Stareyes' arm, stepped back, but the girl eagerly followed him.
"The game is up," she went on. "Riggs is unmasked, and they know that he came out after Merle Macray. By their shrewdness he is in the jaws of death, and unless he closes in on Merle now he will end his trail in darkness."
"Where is he?"
"Ask me not."
"You saw him fighting the fire?"
"I did, but suddenly he vanished as if the hands of fate had shut upon him."
"Still he cannot be far away."