“The curse, the curse!” she exclaimed, as she passed through out of their sight. Ezra had a confused feeling that he had just seen someone drowning who had reached appealing hands towards heaven as she went under. CHAPTER XXII. OLIVE’S SECOND HOME-COMING. And where was Olive all this time? She and Cotterell rode out of Union Mills together, as we have seen, and as was seen by nearly all the men who had assembled there that morning in the expectation of seeing him hanged. They rode silently among “the boys” getting their horses ready, they silently passed among the trees to the south and crossed the ford of the Creek. Then Cotterell spoke, pouring forth his words of thanks and gratitude to her. He was not ashamed to show that he was deeply moved, now that none but Olive could see his emotion. She, on the other hand, seemed almost in an unconscious state so little heed did she give to his eager words. “Speak to me, tell me what you wish,” he pleaded very gently, noticing her abstraction. “I want you to go away,” she said slowly. “You are safe from their anger for this time, but do not stay here and court danger. This is no place for a man like you to live. Go while there is yet time. There is now a blood-feud between you and the Mills. They will mark you for vengeance, and they are wild bad men.” “And you?” said Cotterell, looking anxiously at her. “I want to see you safely at home. You are ill, I fear.” “I am all right,” answered Olive wearily. “You must go to the South Fork at once. Take the Kansas City stage this very night and go. There is no time to be lost.” “I cannot, and will not,” answered Cotterell. “I must take you home first. You look frightfully tired and ill.” “No, it would be the crudest thing you could do to bring me home. I want to go back to Ezra, I am so tired,” said Olive plaintively. “Must I let you go all by yourself over this lonely prairie? I cannot bear the thought of it.” “I have been two days and one night all by myself out on this lonely prairie in order to save you. Please do what I ask. Tie Queen Katharine’s rein to Rebel’s bit, they will then go quietly together.” “Tell me,” said Cotterell breathlessly, “why have you been out all this time on the prairie alone?” “I was following the men who had captured you in order to save you if I could.” “Great Heavens!” he burst out, with his blue eyes aflame. “And you did this heroic act because you——” “I did it because you are an innocent man, and I wanted you to go back to your country to live a better life and be a better man than you ever had been before.” The light died out of his eyes. He looked down, his hands trembled as they had never trembled when on his trial. “Your sacrifice shall not have been in vain,” he said in a low voice. “Then good-bye, and all good blessings attend you.”