"No, no!" she cried wildly, drawing back from him. "You don't think that...." Now he came to her and caught her two hands fiercely. "Lynette!" he said eagerly. "Lynette, I love you! To-day you have stood between me and a fortune, and I tell you ... I love you! Since first you came to the door of my cabin I have loved you, you girl with the daring eyes!" "Don't!" she pleaded. "Let me go. Can't you see...." "Tell me, Lynette," he said sternly, still holding her hands tight in his, "is there any chance for me? I had never thought to marry; but now I'd rather have you mine than have all the gold that ever came out of the earth. Tell me and tell me the truth; we know each other rather well for so few days, Lynette. So tell me; tell me, Lynette." Again she shook her head. "Let me go," she pleaded. "Let me have a horse and go. Before they come up for me...." "Then there's no chance, ever, for me?" "Neither for you nor for any other man.... I have had enough of all men.... Let me go, Babe Deveril!" Still he held her, his hands hardening on her, as he demanded: "And what of Bruce Standing?" "I don't know ... I can't understand men ... I thought there never was another man like him, a hard man who could be tender, a man who ... I don't know; I want to go." "Go?" There came a sudden gleam into his eyes. "And where? Back to Bruce Standing maybe?" "No! Anywhere on earth but back to him. To the stage which will be leaving Big Pine in a little while; back to a land where trains run, trains which can take me a thousand miles away. Oh, Babe Deveril...." Taggart's voice rose up to them, sounding savage. "What in hell's name are you doing up there?" Then Deveril released her hands. "Go to the horses," he commanded. "Untie all four. I'll ride with you to the stage ... and we'll take the other horses along!" She had scarcely hoped for this; for an instant she stood staring at him, half afraid that he was jeering at her. Then she ran to the horses and began wildly untying their ropes. Deveril, smoking his cigarette, appeared on the edge of the cliff for Taggart to see, and called down carelessly: "What's all the excitement, Taggart?" "Keep your eye on that girl. Shipton thinks she's fooled us. I want her down here." Deveril laughed at him and turned away. Once out of Taggart's sight he ran. Lynette already was in the saddle; he mounted and took from her the tie ropes of the other horses. "On our way," he said crisply. "They'll be after us like bees out of a jostled hive." They did not ride into Big Pine, but into the road two or three miles below where the stage would pass. Deveril hailed the stage when it came and the driver took Lynette on as his solitary passenger. At the last minute she caught Babe Deveril's hand in both of hers.