But anxious as he was to know the secret locked in the unconscious brain of Price Selwood, Fair had not been idle.
He and Bossick had been very busy.
Many things had been done, a plan arranged, secret conclaves held at which grim and determined men sat their horses and pledged themselves to do a certain thing.
Then Fair went to the cabin on Nameless, for the longing in his heart to see Nance Allison grew with every passing hour.
He held her in his arms and kissed her forehead and her smooth cheeks, touched the shining coronet of her hair with reverent hands.
“Sweetheart,” he whispered, after the age-old fashion of lovers, “there was never a woman like you! You are my light in dark places, my rain in the desert. Oh, Nance, what if I had never found you!”
And the girl leaned on his heart in an ecstasy of love that was shot with sadness, holding fast to her trust with desperate hands.
“It’s bound to come soon now,” he told her, “we are organized and ready—only waiting for Selwood, poor fellow, to regain his reason that he may tell us where to strike.”
“There’ll be gun-play and—blood,” said Nance miserably, “and I pray God that you will not be taken. I—I couldn’t lose you, Brand, and live. I wouldn’t dare to live—for if they kill you—Oh, that black hatred which has stirred in me so long, is getting beyond my strength to hold it! I’ll go mad and turn killer, Brand if they kill you! I know it—I feel it here——” she laid eloquent hands on her heart—“and then my soul will go into the pit of damnation.”
“Hush!” said Fair holding her to him fiercely, “for the love of Heaven, don’t talk so, child! And get that thought out of your head. Whatever happens, keep your hands clean from that crowd of ruffians—and always remember that Brand Fair loved you. If we fail and the Sky Line people stay in the country, I beg you, Nance, to leave Nameless River. Take your mother and Bud—and—and Sonny—and go away to a more civilized spot. You can make another start. There’s a little money in a New York bank for the boy—the papers in the package will explain—and I know you love him——”