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she saw a number of horsemen riding up the canon toward the cabin.
At the moment she was relieved, and experienced nothing of the dread
she had formerly felt while anticipating this very event.
"Kells," she said, quickly, "there are men riding up the trail."
"Good" he exclaimed, weakly, with a light on his drawn face.
"They've been long in--getting here. How many?"
Joan counted them--five riders, and several pack-animals.
"Yes. It's Gulden."
"Gulden!" cried Joan, with a start.
Her exclamation and tone made Kells regard her attentively.
"You've heard of him? He's the toughest nut--on this border. ... I
never saw his like. You won't be safe. I'm so helpless. ... What to
say--to tell him! ... Joan, if I should happen to croak--you want
to get away quick ... or shoot yourself."
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How strange to hear this bandit warn her of peril the like of which
she had encountered through him! Joan secured the gun and hid it in
a niche between the logs. Then she looked out again.
The riders were close at hand now. The foremost one, a man of
Herculean build, jumped his mount across the brook, and leaped off
while he hauled the horse to a stop. The second rider came close
behind him; the others approached leisurely, with the gait of the
pack-animals.
"Ho, Kells!" called the big man. His voice had a loud, bold,
sonorous kind of ring.
"Reckon he's here somewheres," said the other man, presently.
"Sure. I seen his hoss. Jack ain't goin' to be far from thet hoss."
Then both of them approached the cabin. Joan had never before seen
two such striking, vicious-looking, awesome men. The one was huge--
so wide and heavy and deep-set that he looked short--and he
resembled a gorilla. The other was tall, slim, with a face as red as
flame, and an expression of fierce keenness. He was stoop
shouldered, yet he held his head erect in a manner that suggested a
wolf scenting blood.
"Someone here, Pearce," boomed the big man.
"Why, Gul, if it ain't a girl!"
Joan moved out of the shadow of the wall of the cabin, and she
pointed to the prostrate figure on the blankets.
"Howdy boys!" said Kells, wanly.
Gulden cursed in amaze while Pearce dropped to his knee with an
exclamation of concern. Then both began to talk at once. Kells
interrupted them by lifting a weak hand.
"No, I'm not going--to cash," he said. "I'm only starved--and in
need of stimulants. Had my back half shot off."
"Who plugged you, Jack?"
"Gulden, it was your side-partner, Bill."
"Bill?" Gulden's voice held a queer, coarse constraint. Then he
added, gruffly. "Thought you and him pulled together."
"Well, we didn't."
"And--where's Bill now?" This time Joan heard a slow, curious, cold
note in the heavy voice, and she interpreted it as either doubt or
deceit.
"Bill's dead and Halloway, too," replied Kells.
Gulden turned his massive, shaggy head in the direction of Joan. She
had not the courage to meet the gaze upon her. The other man spoke:
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"Split over the girl, Jack?"
"No" replied Kells, sharply. "They tried to get familiar with--MY
WIFE--and I shot them both."
Joan felt a swift leap of hot blood all over her and then a
coldness, a sickening, a hateful weakness.
"Wife!" ejaculated Gulden.
"Your real wife, Jack?" queried Pearce.
"Well, I guess, I'll introduce you ... Joan, here are two of my
friends--Sam Gulden and Red Pearce."
Gulden grunted something.
"Mrs. Kells, I'm glad to meet you," said Pearce.
Just then the other three men entered the cabin and Joan took
advantage of the commotion they made to get out into the air. She
felt sick, frightened, and yet terribly enraged. She staggered a
little as she went out, and she knew she was as pale as death. These
visitors thrust reality upon her with a cruel suddenness. There was
something terrible in the mere presence of this Gulden. She had not
yet dared to take a good look at him. But what she felt was
overwhelming. She wanted to run. Yet escape now was infinitely more
of a menace than before. If she slipped away it would be these new
enemies who would pursue her, track her like hounds. She understood
why Kells had introduced her as his wife. She hated the idea with a
shameful and burning hate, but a moment's reflection taught her that
Kells had answered once more to a good instinct. At the moment he
had meant that to protect her. And further reflection persuaded Joan
that she would be wise to act naturally and to carry out the
deception as far as it was possible for her. It was her only hope.
Her position had again grown perilous. She thought of the gun she
had secreted, and it gave her strength to control her agitation and
to return to the cabin outwardly calm.
The men had Kells half turned over with the flesh of his back
exposed.
"Aw, Gul, it's whisky he needs," said one.
"If you let out any more blood he'll croak sure," protested another.
"Look how weak he is," said Red Pearce.
"It's a hell of a lot you know," roared Gulden. "I served my time--
but that's none of your business. ... Look here! See that blue
spot!" Gulden pressed a huge finger down upon the blue welt on
Kells's back. The bandit moaned. "That's lead--that's the bullet,"
declared Gulden.
"Wall, if you ain't correct!" exclaimed Pearce.
Kells turned his head. "When you punched that place--it made me numb
all over. Gul, if you've located the bullet, cut it out."
Joan did not watch the operation. As she went away to the seat under
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the balsam she heard a sharp cry and then cheers. Evidently the grim
Gulden had been both swift and successful.
Presently the men came out of the cabin and began to attend to their
horses and the pack-train.
Pearce looked for Joan, and upon seeing her called out, "Kells wants
you."
Joan found the bandit half propped up against a saddle with a damp
and pallid face, but an altogether different look.
"Joan, that bullet was pressing on my spine," he said. "Now it's
out, all that deadness is gone. I feel alive. I'll get well, soon. ...
Gulden was curious over the bullet. It's a forty-four caliber,
and neither Bill Bailey nor Halloway used that caliber of gun.
Gulden remembered. He's cunning. Bill was as near being a friend to
this Gulden as any man I know of. I can't trust any of these men,
particularly Gulden. You stay pretty close by me."
"Kells, you'll let me go soon--help me to get home?" implored Joan
in a low voice.
"Girl, it'd never be safe now," he replied.
"Then later--soon--when it is safe?"
"We'll see. ... But you're my wife now!"
With the latter words the man subtly changed. Something of the power
she had felt in him before his illness began again to be manifested.
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