Soon she rose from the table, determinedly, with some of her energy renewed by the food and hot drink. "If you please, let us go now," she told him, firmly. "I'm entirely at your service," he answered. "I think you had better let me lend you a cap. That thing you have on your head can hardly keep your ears from freezing. I have a new one that's never been worn. Wait a moment." His search was soon rewarded. She had kept on but her inefficient little New York hat with its faded buds and wrinkled leaves and now tried to remove it. Her hands trembled, however, and the strain of travel had been hard. All at once, as she pulled away, her coiled hair escaped all restraint of pins and fell down upon her shoulders, in a great waving chestnut mass. At this Hugo opened the door and ran out, returning a couple of minutes later with the bag that had been left on the trunk. "I--I expect you need some of your things," he ventured. She looked at him with some gratitude. Most men wouldn't have thought of it. Nodding her thanks she opened the thing and was compelled to pull out various articles before she could get at her comb and brush. Her movements were still very nervous. It was embarrassing to be there before that man with one's hair all undone and awry. Something fell from her hand, striking the edge of the table and toppling to the floor. There was a deafening explosion and the shack was full of the dense smoke of black powder. When Madge recovered from her terror the young man, looking very pale, had bent down and picked up the fallen weapon. For a moment she thought there was a strange look in his eyes. "I--I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. "If--if you were to hit a man with that thing he'd get real mad," he said, repeating an age-worn joke. "At any rate I'm glad you were not hurt. Rather unexpected, wasn't it? I really think you'd better let me take the other shells out. It's a nasty little cheap weapon and, I should judge, quite an unsafe bit of hardware for a lady to handle. Whoever gave you that thing ought to be spanked. But--but, then, of course you didn't know it was loaded." "I--I did know it was loaded!" cried Madge. "I--I had the man load it for me! I--I thought it might protect me from insult, perhaps, or--or let me take matters in my own hands, if need be. I--I didn't know what sort of place I would be coming to or--or what sort of man would--would receive me! I--I felt safer with it!" Maigan was still ferreting out corners of the room, having leaped up at the shot as if the idea had come to him that some rat or chipmunk must lie dead somewhere. There nearly always was something to pick up when his master fired. "Keep still, boy!" ordered the latter. "I think we'd better count that as a miss. I'll wait outside until you've fixed yourself up, Miss Nelson, and are ready to go. I'll have to hitch up Maigan first. As soon as you come out I'll wrap you in my blankets; you'll be quite comfortable. We haven't very far to go, anyway."