Her fury was a spur to him. "I don't care what words you use," he flung back wildly. "They have given him no food for three days. I didn't know such things were done nowadays. It's as bad as what the old Apaches did. It's devilish--" He pulled himself up. What right had he to talk that way to the girl who had just saved his life? Her people might be law-breakers, but he felt that she was clean of any wrongdoing. Her pride was shaken. A more immediate issue had driven it into the background. "Why should they hurt him?" she asked. "If they had meant to do that--" "Because he won't tell what he knows--where the gold is--won't promise to keep quiet about it afterward. What else can they do? They can't turn him loose as a witness against them." "I don't believe it. I don't believe a word of it." Her voice broke. "I'm going up to see right away." "You mean--to-night?" "I mean now." She turned up the gulch instead of down. Reluctantly he followed her. Chapter XIII Beulah Interferes They felt their way up in the darkness. The path was rough and at first pitch-black. After a time they emerged from the aspens into more open travel. Here were occasional gleams of light, as if the moon stood tip-toe and peered down between the sheer walls of Chicito to the obscure depths below. Beulah led. Mountain-born and bred, she was active as a bighorn. Her slenderness was deceptive. It concealed the pack of her long rippling muscles, the deep-breasted strength of her torso. One might have marched a long day's journey without finding a young woman more perfectly modeled for grace and for endurance. "What are you going to try to do?" Beaudry asked of her timidly. She turned on him with a burst of feminine ferocity. "Is that any of your business? I didn't ask you to come with me, did I? Go down to the horse ranch and ask dad to help you out of the park. Then, when you're safe with your friends, you can set the officers on him. Tell them he is a criminal--just as you told me." Her biting tongue made him wince. "If I told you that I'm sorry. I had no right. You've saved my life. Do you think it likely I would betray your people after that?" "How do I know what a spy would do? Thank God, I can't put myself in the place of such people," she answered disdainfully. He smiled ruefully. She was unjust, of course. But that did not matter. Roy knew that she was wrought up by what he had told her. Pride and shame and hatred and distrust spoke in her sharp words. Was it not natural that a high-spirited girl should resent such a charge against her people and should flame out against the man who had wounded her? Even though she disapproved of what they had done, she would fly to their defense when attacked. From the dark gash of the ravine they came at last to the opening where Meldrum lived. The young woman turned to Beaudry. "Give me your revolver belt." He hesitated. "What are you going to do?"