“Guess I looked like I’d been settin’ up for a week, so the bull-whackers believed it and went on north a-whackin’ their bulls into a swingin’ trot. “Well, Donahan come all right.” Here the little man lapsed into a stubborn silence. He leaned against the wall and for several hours there was no sound in the cabin but that of heavy breathing. At length Hank got up and walked over to the little window. A dull grey blur had grown up in the East. It would soon be time. Hank sighed. Suddenly the little man was aroused from his lethargy as though he had heard a shout. He began talking rapidly. “I stood behind the door of the cabin, and when he come in I downed him with a club. Then I tied his hands and his feet and fastened him to the floor. I sat beside him and spit in his face till he come to a-groanin’. And it was a couple days before he could talk sense or knowed who I was. “And he begged and he cussed, but I didn’t say nothin’. He got hungry; so I chawed at some pemmican I had left from the trip so’s he’d get hungrier. He got thirsty; so I drank more’n I wanted so’s he’d get thirstier. “Said he’d get me into heaven for just one sup of water; so I went out with my cup; I filled it with dust; I put it to his lips. “Said he’d send me to hell if I didn’t give him just one drop. So I give him more dust. And by and by he got luny like, and cussed like a bull-whacker and whined like a sick woman by turns. “God, Hank! How that man hung on! “And by and by he seemed to get a little sense for a spell, and he yelled out: ‘_He had blue eyes, didn’t he? Look at mine!_’ And I cuffed him in the mouth till his teeth was bloody, ’cause his eyes was blue.” The little man hesitated. Suddenly an expression of supreme terror came over his face. The wolf was dead—the frightened sheep looked out of his eyes. There was a sound of footsteps. The shabby light of early dawn had already cheapened the glow of the guttered candle. The door opened—a priest entered. The little man gave a yell of terror and shrank into his corner. “_Take it away, Hank!_” he screamed. “_Take it away!_” Hank spoke a few words into the ear of the priest, who muttered a prayer and went out. For some time the little man stared appealingly into the eyes of the bigger man. When he spoke his voice was husky and low: “Won’t you look after the woman a little, Hank? If it’s got blue eyes——” There was now a sound of other footsteps approaching. The little man gasped like one who has suddenly been thrust into cold water. “Oh, Hank!” he moaned; “hold me tight. Don’t let ’em take me! They’ll stand me in the cart under a tree and they’ll put the rope around my neck and they’ll drag the cart away! _Oh!_” The footsteps were now very near the door. The little man on a sudden became very quiet. He bit nervously at his finger-tips. His body stiffened. His face seemed transparent.