Nevertheless, Lem was quick to divine the import of her act. He fell back a pace, abashed and crestfallen. "Thet's so," he said sorrowfully, "I hain't kilt th' revenuer yet, Belle-Ann--but I 'low I tried hard enough, Belle-Ann,--Johnse Hatfield shot em through th' haid three weeks back--but all we ever found o' him wus a hat, an' a rifle, an' a barrel o' blood--he must hev jest flopped his arms an' flew up in th' sky--daid er alive--he hain't on Hellsfork--he----" Here Buddy rushed up, perspiring and breathing hard. He seized the girl's hand and hung on with a tenacity that bade fair to incumber her forevermore. The boy was too full to speak. His lips only trembled as he gazed up at her. When with endearing terms she pressed his thin little form to her and kissed him, the tears welled up and obscured his hard little eyes. Although these were tributes of joy from his stormy, suspicious heart, it was the first signs of tears any one had seen him manifest since old Cap Lutts had lain white and still, amid the flowers on God's acre. Then while Buddy fondled and admired the salient, superb horse with his fire-rimmed eyes and slender legs, the other two sat down on a rectangular stone, all coated in liverwort, upon which they had lolled many times in days agone. And here they communed with happy, hurried words. "But Lem," Belle-Ann was saying, "you are all dressed up--but for your beautiful locks, you look really citified--perhaps you-all was on your way to visit some young lady--am I right?--come now,"--she laughed coyly. "Belle-Ann, ef yo' had come 'bout half hour later--yo' wouldn't a found me--I wus jest a startin' out on my way below t' look fo' yo', Belle-Ann.--I wus 'lowin' t' scour th' whole earth fo' yo'--I told Buddy an' Slab thet I'd never come back till I seed yore face jest onct, anyways--I wus goin' t' spend th' balance of my life lookin' fo' yo', Belle-Ann." "Lem--didn't I cross my heart that day and pledge you that I'd come back?" "Yes--but I wus afeerd thet somethin' had happened t' yo'-all, Belle-Ann,--then I togged myself up an' fixed to go below--then I thought I'd go up on th' Crown an' take a last look at the spot where I saw yo' last a wavin' at me, and pretty soon I seed somethin'--an'--an'--Gawd'll Moughty--thah yo' wus a wavin' right at me--then I sho' did make time a gettin' down off'n thah--an' as I run down th' trail--thet ornery Sap McGill jumped out an' tried t' shoot----" With a fear-fraught half-scream, Belle-Ann had bounded to her feet. "Sap McGill--McGill, here?" she cried out incredulously. Her bosom heaved with excitement, and her eyes were wide and starry with a sudden new-born terror. "Oh!--don't tell me that McGill is up heah--on this side of Hellsfork!" Then it was, with bated breath and hurried, fear-laden words, that she implored Lem to hide somewhere. When she finished, all the blithesome, pulsing happiness that had dwelt in her beautiful face a few moments previously had vanished.