Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930, 1911-11-09
CHAPTER Xi.-(Continued.)

II oStlOA Aoo JILL lCoily US6oh
he assured her, still retaining his hold
upon her hand. This was merely a
preliminary skirmish, and you must
prepare to bear your part in what
follows. We have settled Mr.. Hawley
for the present, and now must deal
with his gang"
"Oh, what would 1 have done if you
had not been here?"
Let us not think about that; we
were here, and now have a busy night
before us if We get away safely. Give
me the rope first. Good! Here, Neb,
you must know how to use this-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 MI that"
But you said it didn't make any
difference what l called you"
81 thought it didn't then, but it does
now"
"Oh, | see; we are already on a new
footing. Yet l must call you some
thing"
She hesitated just long enough for
him to notice it. Either she had no
substitute ready at hand, or else doubt
ed the ACCESSIBILITY of confiding her
real name under present circumstances
to n so nearly a 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 it. 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 a 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 a low voice.
II may be gone for fifteen or twenty
minutes, and, meanwhile, Miss Hope,
get ready for a 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 l return"
He Slipped out into the silent night,
and crept cautiously around the end
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 of
confidence. The gambler had played
blindly into their hands, and Keith
was quick enough to accept the ad-
vantage. 1t was a risk to himself, to
be sure, thus turning again to the
northward, yet the clear duty he owed
the girl left such a choice almost i'm
perative. He certainly could not drag
her along with him on his flight into
the wild Comanche country extend
ing beyond the Canadian. She must,
at the very least, be first returned to
the protection of the standardization
along the Arkansas. After that had
been accomplished, he would consider
his own safety. He wondered if Hope
really al her name, and whether it
was the family cognomen, or her given
name. That she was Christie Maclaire
he had no question, yet that artistic
establishment was probably merely
assumed for the work of the concert
hall. Both he and Hawley could
scarcely be mistaken as to her identi-
ty In this respect, and, indeed, she had
never openly denied the fact. Yet she
did not at all seem to be that kind.
and Keith mentally contrasted her
with numerous others whom he had
somewhat intimately known along the
border circuit. It was difficult to as
sociate her with that class; she must
have come originally from some excel
lent family East, and been driven to
the life by necessity; she was more to
be pitied than blamed. Keith held no
p~uritanical views of life-his own eX-
periences had been too rough and