With a roar he returned the blow, and Big Basford who had followed, leaped for him, clawing with his good hand, but Caldwell knocked Provine down instead. “Take him away,” said Kate Cathrew coldly, her hand at her cheek, “Lawrence Arnold will be here soon. I’ll let him deal with this.” * * * * * It was night again and the stars were hung like lanterns in the sky. The little wind was coming up the river, the little soft wind that Nance Allison loved. Once more she sat in the doorway with Brand Fair beside her. There was no light on the table this time, so that she could not see his face with its quiet dark eyes, its thick hair above and the straight line of his lips with their gentle smile. But the feel of his arm against her own as he held the sleeping child, set up that nameless longing in her, the glowing glory of unknown joy which had become of late a sadness. She was filled with vague sorrows and premonitions, as if, having found the priceless possession of this man’s companionship, she was about to lose it. It was not death wholly that she feared, but a more subtle thing, an inhibition of the spirit, a gulf that seemed to lie all shadowy between them—a dark, mysterious gulf wherein the imperious face of Kate Cathrew swirled amid the shadows. But presently Fair spoke and she shook off her forebodings. “Nance,” he said softly, so low that his deep voice was scarce more than a whisper, “I have wanted to tell you more of my life and Sonny’s for a long time, but somehow it seemed too bad to add another’s burdens to those which you already bear, even though vicariously. However, the time seems nearly ripe for me to reap the reward, one way or another, of those years of effort and hardship which I have spent running Kate Cathrew to earth. What this reward will be I don’t know, of course. No one can foretell. The men of Sky Line are a hard bunch, criminals and worse. They’ll never be dug out of that nest of theirs without a fight and a hard one. Somebody’s going to be killed, that’s certain!” He heard the girl catch her breath in a little gasp, and shifting Sonny, he put his arm around her. “However it does come out, there’s one thing I want to tell you, a package I want to give you for safekeeping. Will you listen, Nance?” The big girl nodded dumbly. Her heart was throbbing painfully, the breath labored in her lungs. A trembling set up along her muscles, and the stars seemed to dance on the black velvet of the sky. She was more conscious of that arm on her shoulder than she had ever been of anything in all her life. Its magnetic touch thrilled her to her fingertips. Gently Fair leaned down until his face was against her cheek, tightened his clasp.