"Thinkin' them! He's been talkin' them. Talked them all the time him an' me was stretched out in the big room, gettin' over our scratches. That man is plumb locoed. I couldn't get him to talk nothin' else. When I told him about the governor sendin' him congratulations, an' offerin' to do somethin' handsome for him, he says: 'You say she ain't worryin' none about things? Red, do you think she'd hook up with a guy like me--that's got a bad reputation?'" Linton shot a side glance at Barbara and saw a flush steal into her cheeks. He concealed a broad grin with the palm of his hand and then said, gruffly: "I answers him as such a impertinent question ought to be answered. Says I--'Harlan, you're a damned fool!'--askin' your pardon, ma'am. A girl like Barbara Morgan ain't goin' to throw herself away on a no-good outlaw. Not none! Why, ma'am, he's an outlaw at heart as well as by reputation. He's clean bad--there ain't a bit of good in him. Didn't he go to Haydon deliberate? An' didn't he keep you in suspense about what was goin' on--not tellin' you anything until he had to? Shucks!" "But there was a method in that, Linton," said Barbara; "he told me he was afraid I'd unconsciously betray him, and then he could not have done what he did." Linton grinned again--again concealing the grin. "You don't mean to say that you believe the cuss done the best he could?" "I think I do, Linton." "Shucks. Women is odd that way, ain't they? You ain't tellin' me that you think he's on the level--that his reputation ain't as bad as some folks make believe it is, an' that he's _square_?" "I believe he's square, Linton!" the girl answered, firmly. Linton was silent for an instant, during which he stood on one foot, looking westward where the sun was swimming low above the big valley. "Ma'am," he said lowly, breaking the silence: "I'm damned if I ain't beginnin' to believe it, myself. There's some things that seem to prove it. "First, there's him takin' your part over in Lamo. Then there's him comin' here with you, knowin' you was alone--an' not botherin' you. Then he guarded you right steady, not lettin' Haydon or Deveny run in on you. Then he makes me foreman--which seems to prove that he's got sense. Then he goes up the valley an' helps your brother bust up the outlaw gang, riskin' his life a lot. "An' all the time he knows where your dad hid that gold. But he didn't touch it until he got over that scratch Deveny give him--or until he could take you where it was hid an' show you he hadn't touched it. Yes, ma'am," he added with a hyprocritical grin--which he did not permit the girl to see--"I'm beginnin' to believe the cuss is on the level." "Oh, he _is_, Linton!" said Barbara, in a low, earnest voice. Again there was a silence. Then---- "Do you think he's a pretty good looker, ma'am?" "I think he is handsome!" Again the girl blushed. And again Linton grinned. He cleared his throat before he again spoke: