“Miss Allison,” he said admiringly, “you’re a wonderful woman! Not many men would stick in the face of such colossal misfortunes. You must love your land.” “I do,” she said, “but it’s something more than that. It’s a proving, sort of—a battle line, you know, and Bud and I, we’re soldiers. We hope we can not run.” “By George!” said the man, “you can’t—you won’t. Your kind don’t. But it’s a grim battle, I can see that.” “It’s so grim,” said Nance quietly, “that we couldn’t survive this winter if it wasn’t for the hogs that will be ready to market this fall. McKane wouldn’t give me time on my debt—Cattle Kate won’t let him. So the sheriff paid it—he says he can wait till next year for his money—he’s not so hard pushed as the trader—and _he’s_ rich, they say.” For a little while they sat in silence while Sonny, blissfully happy, fell fast asleep in Fair’s arms. Then the man stirred and spoke. “Miss Allison,” he said, “the time has come when I am going to tell you something—just a little bit that may give you comfort in this hard going of yours. I want you to know that more than one force is at work against this woman at Sky Line Ranch—against her and all those with her. Sheriff Selwood is not the only one who suspects her of dark doings—and the other—knows. I am that other.” Nance gasped in the shadows. The flickering lamp, blowing in the wind, had gone low. “You?” “Yes. That’s why I have been so much a mystery in this country—why I have kept Sonny hidden in the cañon—why I have spent two years of my life riding the back places of the West. I knew she was somewhere—and I knew she was crooked. The men she has with her are not cattle men—they are criminals, every one.” “Good gracious!” whispered the girl again. “And the reason I am not ready to run into her yet is this—she would recognise me before I am ready, because she knew me once some six years ago.” Nance Allison was, as her Mammy would say, “flabbergasted.” She was too astonished to speak. “I know a lot from the other end of her operations. I want to make sure at this end. I want to get in touch with Sheriff Selwood—and I want you to hold hard on your battle line, knowing that it can not always be as it is now, that other forces are lined up with you—that if all goes as it should—Cattle Kate will be caught in her own trap—and I hope to the Lord it is soon.” “Why—why, this is a wonder to me!” said Nance, “a wonder and a light in my darkness! I _felt_ you for good that first day I set eyes on you in the cañon. Now I understand—you are the messenger whose feet are beautiful on the hills, as the Bible says—who bears good tidings! My faith has never faltered,” she went on earnestly, “I knew always that the hand of God was before me, that my ways were not hidden from His sight and that some way, some time, all would be well with us. But sometimes it has been hard.” Fair sat thinking deeply.