"You are tired," said the wanderer in a tone that implied dislike of any denial. Therefore she made no answer. "I'm going down into the town to look things over. I don't want to parade you through the streets until I know where Landis is to be found and how he'll receive you. The Corner is a wild town; you understand?" "Yes," she said blankly, and noted nervously that the reply did not please him. He actually scowled at her. "You'll be all right here. I'll leave the pack mule with you; if anything should happen--but nothing is going to happen, I'll be back in an hour or so. There's a pool of water. You can get a cold drink there and wash up if you want to while I'm gone. But don't go to sleep!" "Why not?" "A place like this is sure to have a lot of stragglers hunting around it. Bad characters. You understand?" She could not understand why he should make a mystery of it; but then, he was almost as strange as her father. His careful English and his ragged clothes were typical of him inside and out. "You have a gun there in your holster. Can you use it?" "Yes." "Try it." It was a thirty-two, a woman's light weapon. She took it out and balanced it in her hand. "The blue rock down the hillside. Let me see you chip it." Her hand went up, and without pausing to sight along the barrel, she fired; fire flew from the rock, and there appeared a white, small scar. Donnegan sighed with relief. "If you squeezed the butt rather than pulled the trigger," he commented, "you would have made a bull's-eye that time. Now, I don't mean that in any likelihood you'll have to defend yourself. I simply want you to be aware that there's plenty of trouble around The Corner." "Yes," said the girl. "You're not afraid?" "Oh, no." Donnegan settled his hat a little more firmly upon his head. He had been on the verge of attributing her gentleness to a blank, stupid mind; he began to realize that there was metal under the surface. He felt that some of the qualities of the father were echoed faintly, and at a distance, in the child. In a way, she made him think of an unawakened creature. When she was roused, if the time ever came, it might be that her eye could become a thing alternately of fire and ice, and her voice might carry with a ring. "This business has to be gotten through quickly," he went on. "One meeting with Jack Landis will be enough."