"I know you are, and that's why I'm stringing this out because I'm going to have a laugh--ha, ha, ha!--the rest of my life--ha, ha, ha, ha!--whenever I think of this!" The burst of merriment left him speechless, and Pierre, glowering, his right hand twitching dangerously close to that holster at his hip. He sobered, and said: "Go in and talk to her and prove that I'm right." "Ask Jack if she loves me? Why, I'd as soon ask any man the same question." The big long-rider was instantly curious. "Has she never appealed to you as a woman, Pierre?" "How could she? I've watched her ride; I've watched her use her gun; I've slept rolled in the same blankets with her, back to back; I've walked and talked and traveled with her as if she were my kid brother." Wilbur nodded, as if the miracle were being slowly unfolded before his eyes. "And you've never noticed anything different about her? Never watched a little lift and grace in her walk that no man could ever have; never seen her color change just because you, Pierre, came near or went far away from her?" "Because of me?" asked the bewildered Pierre. "You fool, you! Why, lad, I've been kept amused by you two for a whole evening, watching her play for your attention, saving her best smiles for you, keeping her best attitudes for you, and letting all the richness of her voice go out for--a block--a stone. Gad, the thing still doesn't seem possible! Pierre, one instant of that girl would give romance to a man's whole life." "This girl? This Jack of ours?" "He hasn't seen it! Why, if I hadn't seen years ago that she had tied her hands and turned her heart over to you, I'd have been begging her for a smile, a shadow of a hope." "If I didn't know you, Dick, I'd say that you were partly drunk and partly a fool." "Here's a hundred--a cold hundred that I'm right. I'll make it a thousand, if you dare." "Dare what?" "Ask her to marry you." "Marry--me?" "Damn it all--well, then--whatever you like. But I say that if you go back into that room and sit still and merely look at her, she'll be in your arms within five minutes." "I hate to take charity, but a bet is a bet. That hundred is in my pocket already. It's a go!" They shook hands. "But what will be your proof, Dick, whether I win or lose?" "Your face, blockhead, when you come out of the room." Upon this Pierre pondered a moment, and then turned toward the door. He set his hand on the knob, faltered, and finally set his teeth and entered the room. CHAPTER 18 She lay as he had left her, except that her face was now pillowed in her arms, and the long sobs kept her body quivering. Curiosity swept over Pierre, looking down at her, but chiefly a puzzled grief such as a man feels when a friend is in trouble. He came closer and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Jack!"