predominated.
Mingled with it was curiosity as to the identity of the 'visitor'. This, she decided, must be Severn. All the doubts Bartholomew had instilled came back, and, added to what she herself had discovered, almost convinced her that the foreman, scheming to obtain the Lazy M, was coming to bargain with her. Bitterly she regretted her break with the Bar B owner. Her chief remaining doubt centred about Larry; she could not bring herself to believe that he was in the plot against her.
Consumed with impatience, she disobeyed the injunctionofthe tall outlaw, and was often peeping outofthe apology for a window. But only one man passed, a short, stoutish fellow, under whose pulled-down hat brim she could see a grey beard and the edgeofa black patch which covered one eye. In a flashshe remembered him as the pedesnrian Bartholomew had savagely assaulted in Hope the morning she spoke so plainly. With hunched shoulders he slouched past, not even glancing towards the hut.
Chapter XVII
SOLITARY confinement is the most dreadedofall prison punishments, and after forty-eight hours the girl's nerves were in a pitiable state. During that time she had seen only the man who brought her food, and from him she failed to extract a syllable. Then, on the third morning, when she had almost given up hopeofthe expected visitor, she heard footsteps and the welcome rattleofthe padlock chain. The door opened, and she sprang out with outstretched hands; the man who stood there was Bartholomew.
'You?' she cried. 'Oh, thank God ! I was afraid it would be--someone else.'
The big man looked down at her, an odd smile on his thin lips; this was a moment for which he had waited long. Perching himself on the makeshift table he rolled a cigarette.
''Lo, Phil,' he said easily. 'Pretty mess yu got yoreself into, eh, through trustin' strangers an' turning down old friends.'
The girl flushed; she felt the rebuke was merited. 'I can't understand it all,' she said miserably.
'It's as plain as the biggest kind o' print an' just as I suspected an' warned yu first off,' he replied. 'Embley an' yore foreman mean to get the Lazy M. These scum here are in Severn's pay an' yu are his prisoner. What he's aimin' to do with yu, I dunno, but my idea is that they mean to force yu to marry that pup, Barton. That'll give 'em yore property, an' if an accident happens to yu--'
He broke off suggestively and the girl gazed at him with horror. 'I can't believe that men could be so vile,' she faltered.
'Yu don't know 'em, Phil,' he assured her. 'Mebbe it'll surprise yu to hear that Severn killed yore dad--it's been proved now--robbed the bank an' shot Rapson.'
The girl wilted under the blow. She had long given up hopeofseeing her father again, but to learn definitely that he had been wantonly slain was a severe shock.
'An' if I'm figurin' wrong,' continued Bart, watching her narrowly, 'what's Embley doin' in this camp?''Judge Embley--here?' she cried in amaze.
Bartholomew contented himself with a nod. Phil tried to think, to find some reason for the presence of her father's friend in this den of thieves, but she could not; the Bar B rancher must be right, she concluded.
'But you'll take me away, won't you?' she asked eagerly. 'I'm afraid--horribly afraid.'
The man's cunning eyes gleamed with satisfaction; this was the frameofmind he wanted her in.
'Can't say as I blame yu,' he returned. 'As for gettin' yu away, that won't be easy; it'll depend on yu.'
'On me?' she queried.
'Shore,' Bartholomew smiled. 'Now, here's the point : these fellas are tough, but they ain't anxious to tangle with Black Bart. In other words, they won't interfere with anythin' or anybody belongin' to me. Savvy?'
'I'm afraid T don't,' she said doubtfully.
'I'm proposin', Phil,' he smiled. 'Not, I reckon, in the way a girl likes to have it done, but yu gotta admit the position is a mite peculiar. On'y as my wife will these rogues let me take yu away. The Judge is here to tie the knot, an' if Severn's gamblin' on makin' yu marry his sidekicker, won't it be a jar to find yu got a husband already, huh?'
Phil listened with a sinking heart. However guilty the foreman and his friend might be, she did not want to wed Bartholomew. Yet there seemed to be nothing else to do. Slumped against the wall of the hut she strove to compose her thoughts.
'The Judge rnay not be willing,' she temporised.
'When I've had a talk with him, I figure he will be,' Bart said grimly. 'I know more'n he thinks.'
The girl closed her eyes wearily, and in sheer desperation was about to consent when a sibilant whisper reached her ears. 'He's lyin'. Don't give in; play for time.'
Her start of surprise passed unnoticed by the rancher, who was awaiting her answer with a smileofexpectant triumph. Though she had no idea who the mysterious adviser might be, she was ready to clutch at any hope, and the thoughtofa possible friend gave her courage.
'You must let me have time to consider,' she said.
The big man's face darkened with disappointment. 'We ain't got none to waste,' he reminded her. 'I took a big risk comin' here, an' to hang about is a bigger one. There's somethin' else I oughta told yu. `Severn' ain't the real name o' yore foreman; he used to be pretty well knowed as `Sudden'. Yu've heard o' him, I guess.'
Her face blanched. Sudden, the outlaw! She remembered the tales toldofhis reckless courage, marvellous marksmanship andthe dexterity with which he time after time eluded capture. She did not know that, although ostensibly a hunted criminal, he was actually working on the side of the law, and that the crimes attributed to him were committed by others. Such a man as she conceived Sudden to be might be guilty of any outrage and would show no mercy.
`Well,' Bartholomew said, 'knowin' that, yu still wantin' time?'
'Don't weaken,' came the warning whisper.
'Yes, I musn think,' Phil said faintly.
Bartholomew's patience was becoming exhausted; his voice had a very palpable sneer in it as he retorted, 'Oughtn't to need much thinkin' about--the choice o' leavin' here as my wife or stayin' to be the playthin' o' these cow thieves.' Instantly, by her expression, he saw that he had made a mistake, and hastened to mend it by adding, 'I overheard some of 'ern talkin'.'
But the damage was done; the fact that he had used the same threat as the outlaw had engendered suspicion in the girl's mind, and Bart's explanation, quick and plausible as it was, did not remove it. So that it was with a frowning face and nothing settled that he left her, with the stated intention of interviewing the Judge.
'An' when I've fixed things with him yu'll have to make up yore mind, Phil,' he warned. 'I ain't goin' to be fooled with.'
He went out and she heard the key grate in the lock. She had but one hope--the unknown whisperer. A scrutinyofthe wall behind her showed that two of the logs did not quite meet, the space enabling the listener to hear and make himself heard. Was it the outlaw trying to trick her into throwing away her chance of escape? She did not think so; the voice had seemed agitated. She could not see through the crack, and, though she waited eagerly, the silence remained unbroken.
Bartholomew had not far to go, a mere twenty paces through the trees brought him to another hut, similar to the one he had just left. Inside this, lolling easily on a bench and puffing a cigarette, he found the Desert Edge jurist. For a moment the prisoner blinked in the sunlight which poured through the door, and then, recognising the visitor, greeted him sardonically.
'Mornin', Bartholomew, have they got you, too?' he asked. 'Or are you the chief, by any chance,ofthis collection of gaol-fodder?'
'Wrong both guesses,' replied the rancher.
'Ah, well, then I haven't to thank you for my arrival here?' Embley proceeded.
'No, but yu may have to for yore leavin',' Bart told him.
'And the price, Bartholomew?' the Judge queried, his glance measuring the man.
'A small service which'll cost yu nothing,' was the reply. 'Humph!' commented the old man drily. 'I think I'd rather pay cash. And the nature of this--service?'
'Just the marriage service,' grinned Bart.
The Judge's eyes widened and he rose with alacrity. 'Delighted,' he said. 'I believe matrimony to be the only
