The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1911-09-28
CHAPTER xI.-(continued.)

he assured her, still retaining MS aOAo
upon her hand. "This was merely
preliminary skirmish. and you must
prepare to bear your part In what
follows. We have settled Mrs .Hawley
for the present. and now must deal
with his gang"
"oh, what would have done II you
had not been here?"
Let us not think about that: we
were here, and now have busy night
before us II we get away safely. Give
me the rope first. Good! Here, Neb,
you must know how to use thls-not
too tight, but without leaving any play
to the arms; take the knife out OF his
belt. Now for the cloth, Miss
Maclaire."
please do not call me that"
But you said it didn't make any
difference what called YOU"
Il thought 1t didn't then, but it does
now"
"Oh, I see; we are already on new
footing. Yet I must call you some
thing"
She hesitated just long enough for
him to notice it. Either she had no
ed the advisability of confiding her
real name under present circumstances
to one SO nearly stranger.
You may call me Hope"
"A name certainly of good omen"
he returned. From this moment l
shall forget Christie Maclaire. and re-
member only Miss Hope. All right,
Neb; now turn over a chair, and sit
your man up against 1t. He will rest
all the easier in that position until his
gang arrives"
He thrust his head out of the door,
peering cautiously forth into the night.
and listening. A single horse, prob
ably the one Hawley had been riding,
was tied to dwarfed cottonwood near
the corner of the cabin. Nothing else
living was visible.
Il am going to round up our horses.
and learn the condition of Hawley's
outfit" he announced in low voice.
Il may be gone for fifteen or twenty
minutes. and. meanwhile. Miss Hope
get ready for long ride. Neb, stand
here close beside the door, and If any
one tries to come in brain him with
your gun-stock. I'll rap three times
when I raturn."
He slipped out into the silent night
and crept cautiously around the enc
of the dark cabin. The distinct change
in the girls attitude of friendship to
ward him, her every evident desire
that he should think we'll of her. to
gether with the providential opportu
nifty for escape, had left him full o
confidence The gambler had playe'
blindly into their hands, and Keit
was quick enough to accept the ad
vantage. 1t was a risk to himself, t
be sure, thus turning again to tn
northward, yet the clear duty he owe
the girl left such choice almost in
perative. He certainly could not dra
her along with him on his flight int
the wild Comanche country extent
ing beyond the Canadian. She mus
at the very least. be first returned t
the protection of the semi-civilizatio
along the Arkansas. After that ha
been accomplished, he would conside
bis own safety. He wondered If Hop
really was her name, and whether
was the family cognomen, or her give
name. That she was Christie Maclai1
he had no question. yet that artist
establishment was probably merel
assumed for the work of the concel
hall. Both he and Hawley coul
scarcely be mistaken as to her ident
ty in this respect. and. indeed. she ha
never openly denied the fact. Yet ST
did not at all seem to be that kin
and Keith mentally contrasted HI
with numerous others whom he hi
somewhat intimately known along Il
border circuit. It was difficult to q
sociate her with that class; she mu
have come originally from some exec
lent family East. and been driven
the life by necessity; she was more
be pitied than blamed. Keith held
puritanical views of Afe-his own {
periences had been too rough q,
lomocrstto ~ that-yst he chung