“I'll show you again,” she whispered. “I'll tell you more. If I'd never loved Jim Cleve—if I'd met you, I'd have loved you.... And, bandit or not, I'd have gone with you to the end of the world!”
“Joan!” The name was almost a sob of joy and pain. Sight of his face then blinded Joan with her tears. But when he caught her to him, in a violence that was a terrible renunciation, she gave her embrace, her arms, her lips without the vestige of a lie, with all of womanliness and sweetness and love and passion. He let her go and turned away, and in that instant Joan had a final divination that this strange man could rise once to heights as supreme as the depths of his soul were dark. She dashed away her tears and wiped the dimness from her eyes. Hope resurged. Something strong and sweet gave her strength.
When Kells wheeled he was the Kells of her earlier experience—cool, easy, deadly, with the smile almost amiable, and the strange, pale eyes. Only the white radiance of him was different. He did not look at her.
“Jim, will you do exactly what I tell you?”
“Yes, I promise,” replied Jim.
“How many guns have you?”
“Two.”
“Give me one of them.”
Cleve held out the gun that all the while he had kept in his hand. Kells took it and put it in his pocket.
“Pull your other gun—be ready,” said he, swiftly. “But don't you shoot once till I go down!... Then do your best.... Save the last bullet for Joan—in case—”