"_Christ!_" Thickly the word struggled from between the dry lips. He stooped, his hand groping for the gun, his fingers closed uncertainly upon the butt, and as he straightened up, the muzzle swung slowly into line with his own forehead. And in that instant a light puff of cool air fanned his dripping forehead. The gun stopped in its slow arc. The lids closed for an instant over the horribly staring eyes. The shoulders stiffened, and the gun was laid gently upon the bar--for, upon that single puff of night air, delicate, subtile--yet unmistakably distinguishable from the heavy powder smoke and the reeking fumes of the whisky, was borne a breath of the wide open places. The man's nostrils quivered. Yes, it was there--the scent of the little blue and white prairie flowers--her flowers. Instantly his brain cleared. A moment before he had been hopelessly drunk: now, he was sober. It was as though the delicate scent had entered his nostrils and cleansed his brain, clearing it of the befuddling fog, and leaving it, wholesome, alert, capable. Poignantly, with the scent of those flowers, the scene of a year ago leaped into memory, when he had stooped to restore them to her hands--there in the tiny glade beside the big boulder. "Alice!" he cried, sharply. "Tex!" The name was a sob, and then; "Oh, please--please strike a light! I'm--I'm--afraid!" For just an instant the Texan hesitated, a match between his fingers, and his voice sounded strangely hard: "A light, now, will mean they'll get me! But--if you're real, girl, I'll trust you--If you ain't--the quicker they shoot, the better!" There was a scratching sound, a light flared out, and candle outstretched, the girl came swiftly to the bar, and as he held the match to the wick, the Texan's eyes gazed wonderingly into the eyes of blue. CHAPTER VII THE TEXAN "COMES A-SHOOTIN'" Alice Endicott gazed searchingly into the Texan's flushed face and wondered at the steadiness of his eyes. "They--they said you were drunk," she faltered. The cynical smile that she remembered so well twisted the man's lips: "They were right--partly. I was headed that way, but I'm cold sober, now." "Then leave your guns here and come with me. You must submit to arrest. They'll fine you and make you pay for the damages and that will be all there'll be to it." The Texan shook his head: "No. I told that marshal he couldn't arrest me, an' he can't." Alice's heart sank. "Please--for my sake," she pleaded. "If you haven't got the money----" "Oh, I've got the money, all right--a whole year's wages right here in my pocket. It ain't the money, it's the principle of the thing. I made my brag, an' I've got to see it through. They might _get_ me, but they'll never arrest me." "Oh, please----" Tex interrupted her sharply, and the girl was startled at the gleam that leaped suddenly from the grey eyes: "What are you doing here? Has he--didn't you an' Win--hit it out?" "Oh, yes! Yes! Win is here----"