Her affronted eyes stabbed him. “That’s all you have to tell me?” “If you only knew.” The dumb appeal of him might have moved her, but it did not. She was too full of her wrongs. “But I don’t know, and you won’t tell me. So there’s nothing more to be said.” Suddenly she broke down, turned away with a sob, and through the blindness of her tears groped to the door. She had rushed to him—to tell him that she knew he was innocent, and he had repulsed her, had made a stranger of her. In effect, he had told her that he did not want her help, that he would go through his trouble alone. If he had really loved her—ah, if he had loved her, how differently he would have acted! A great lump filled her throat and choked her. Rowan watched her go, his fingers biting into the palms of his hands. The hunger of his soul stared out of his eyes. CHAPTER XVIII “I RECKON I’LL HANG” MATSON nodded a pleasant good-morning, offered his prisoner a cigar, and sat down on the bed. “How’s everything, Mac?” The cattleman smiled ironically. “Fine as silk, Aleck. How are they a-coming with you?” “If there’s anything you want, Mac, if the grub don’t suit you or anything, just say the word.” “I’m not complaining. You run a good hotel, Sheriff.” Matson looked out of the barred window at the warm sunshine flooding the yard. From where he sat he could not see the blue, unclouded sky, but he knew just how it looked. When his gaze returned to McCoy it was grave and solicitous. “I’m going to give you straight talk, Mac. Don’t fool yourself. Shoshone County has made up its mind. The men that killed Dan Gilroy are going to hang.” “Sounds cheerful, Aleck.” “I’m here for the last time to ask you to come through. If you’ll give evidence for the State I can save you, Mac.” McCoy looked straight at him from cold, bleak eyes. “We discussed this subject once before, Sheriff. Isn’t once enough?” “No,” returned the officer doggedly. “I’ve been talking with Haight. Inside of twelve hours he’s going to get a confession out of—well, never mind his name. But the man’s weakening. He’ll come through to save his skin. Mac, beat him to it.” The cattleman laughed without mirth. “I reckon this confession talk is come-on stuff. Even if any of the boys knew anything, he wouldn’t tell it.” “Wouldn’t he? You ought to know that there’s always a weak link in every chain. In every bunch of men there’s a quitter.” “So you’re offering me the chance to be that quitter. Fine, Aleck! You’ve got a high opinion of me. But why give me the chance? By your way of it, I led the raid. There was bad blood between me and Tait. I outfitted some of the boys with guns, you say. According to your theory, I’m the very man that ought to be hanged.”