Susie had recognized Cole! His presence in the Springs bespoke the presence of her brothers, or their expected arrival. In either case, Jesse and Frank would seek to learn the cause of her being in the town and the detectives who were shadowing her would see them. These and many other thoughts flashed through her brain as she pulled herself together after the shock of the unexpected and unwelcome meeting. Many a woman would have betrayed the outlaw to the man-hunters, inadvertently. But Susie had been trained in a school of terrible emergencies and ere the detectives could become suspicious, she had glanced in their direction to disclose their presence to Cole and continued on her way as though she merely repulsed the advances of some "masher." Yet how heavy her bag grew as she hurried along! All the ruins of her shattered hopes, apparently, were clinging to it, making it seem to weigh a ton! Scarce seeing where she stepped, the girl hurried toward the home of her friends. Once the idea occurred to her that she would not go to the Priors, but, taking a room at the hotel, wail till Tim arrived on the evening train, meet him at the station and be married without delay. Fear of Jesse, however, deterred her. She knew that as soon as he had heard of her arrival from Cole, he would seek her at the Priors and, should he not find her, would search the town, subjecting himself to danger of capture by the detectives who had followed her. Were her brothers to be discovered through her, she knew she could never forgive herself. The only thing to do, she decided, was to meet Jesse. And as she trudged along, a little voice whispered: "Perhaps you can persuade him to allow the wedding." Her spirits buoyed by this thought, Susie responded lightly to the surprised, but hearty, greetings of the Priors. During the dinner, to which the family was just sitting down when she arrived, her friends regaled her with the account of the doings of the mysterious strangers, whose wealth, bravery and deeds were the wonder of the Springs. Smiling at the romance woven around her brother, Susie was on the point of enlightening them, when the pounding of hoofs was heard in the yard and looking from the window, Mr. Prior gasped: "Wal, I swan! 'Speak of the devil and he's sure to appear.' Here they be, now. What on airth kin they want here?" With the arrival of the outlaws, the girl's fears for their safety drove all else from her mind, yet before she could act, the farmer had risen from the table and opened the door, calling, cordially: "Jest hitch your horses and come in, won't yeh? We're finishin' dinner but thar's plenty left, I reckon." The reply to the invitation, delivered with all the hospitality of the South, was awaited with fluttering hearts by the daughters of the house of Prior, Helen and Marjorie, two comely lasses.