His bold eyes studied with a new interest her superb, confident youth—the rolling waves of splendid Titian hair, the lovely, subtle eyes with the depths of shadowy pools in them, the alluring lines of long and supple loveliness. Certainly here was no sweet, ingenuous youth all prone to blushes, but the complex heir of that world-old wisdom the weaker sex has shaped to serve as a weapon against the strength that must be met with the wit of Mother Eve. “You ce’tainly have a right vivid imagination, ma’am,” he said dryly. “You are quite sure you have never seen them before?” her velvet voice asked. He laughed. “Well, no—I can’t say I am.” “Aren’t you quite sure you have seen them?” Her eyes rested on him very steadily. “You’re smart as a whip, Miss Wainwright. I take off my hat to a young lady so clever. I guess you’re right. About the identity of one of those masked gentlemen I’m pretty well satisfied.” She drew a long breath. “I thought so.” “Yes,” he went on evenly, “I once earmarked him so that I’d know him again in case we met.” “I beg pardon. You—what?” “Earmarked him. Figure of speech, ma’am. You may not have observed that the curly-headed person behind the guns was shy the forefinger of his right hand. We had a little difficulty once when he was resisting arrest, and it just happened that my gun fanned away his trigger finger.” He added reminiscently: “A good boy, too, Neil was once. We used to punch together on the Hashknife. A straight-up rider, the kind a fellow wants when Old Man Trouble comes knocking at the door. Well, I reckon he’s a miscreant now, all right.” “They knew _you_—at least two of them did.” “I’ve been pirootin’ around this country, boy and man, for fifteen years. I ain’t responsible for every yellow dog that knows me,” he drawled. “And I noticed that when you told them not to rob the children and not to touch me they did as you said.” “Hypnotism,” he suggested, with a smile. “So, not being a child, I put two and two together and draw an inference.” He seemed to be struggling with his mirth. “I see you do. Well, ma’am, I’ve been most everything since I hit the West, but this is the first time I’ve been taken for a train robber.” “I didn’t say that,” she cried quickly. “I think you mentioned an inference.” The low laugh welled out of him and broke in his face. “I’ve been busy on one, too. It’s a heap nearer the truth than yours, Miss Mackenzie.” Her startled eyes and the swift movement of her hand toward her heart showed him how nearly he had struck home, how certainly he had shattered her cool indifference of manner. He leaned forward, so close that even in the roar of the train his low whisper reached her. “Shall I tell you why the hold-ups didn’t find more money on your father or in the express car, Miss Mackenzie?” She was shaken, so much so that her agitation trembled on her lips.