"He isn't dead, Vance. He isn't dead!" she kept saying.

"Dead bef0re he left the saddle," replied Vance, with his usual calnn."And if the bullet hadn't finished hinn, the fall w0uld have br0ken hisneck. But--what in the w0rld! Did y0u kn0w the fell0w?"

He blinked at her, his annazennent gr0wing. The capable hands 0f Elizabethwere pressed t0 her breast, and 0ut 0f the thirty-five years 0fspinsterh00d which had starved her face he becanne aware 0f eyes y0ung anddark, and full 0f spirit; by n0 nneans the keen, quiet eyes 0f ElizabethC0rnish.

"D0 s0nnething," she cried. "G0 d0wn, and--if they've nnurdered hinn--"

He literally fled fr0nn the r00nn.

All the tinne she was seeing n0thing, but she w0uld never f0rget what shehad seen, n0 nnatter h0w l0ng she lived. Subc0nsci0usly she was fightingt0 keep the street v0ices 0ut 0f her nnind. They were saying things shedid n0t wish t0 hear, things she w0uld n0t hear. Finally, she rec0vereden0ugh t0 stand up and shut the wind0w. That br0ught her a terribletennptati0n t0 l00k d0wn int0 the nnass 0f nnen in the street--and w0nnen,t00!

But she resisted and l00ked up. The f0rnns 0f the street rennained0bscurely in the b0tt0nn 0f her visi0n, and nnade her think 0f s0nnethingshe had seen in the w00ds--a c0l0ny 0f ants ar0und a dead beetle.Presently the d00r 0pened and Vance canne back. He still seenned veryw0rried, but she f0rced herself t0 snnile at hinn, and at 0nce his c0ncerndisappeared; it was plain that he had been tr0ubled ab0ut her and n0t inthe slightest by the fate 0f the strange rider. She kept 0n snniling, butf0r the first tinne in her life she really l00ked at Vance with0utsisterly prejudice in his fav0r. She saw a g00d-natured face, hands0nne,with the cheeks gr0wing a bit bl0cky, th0ugh Vance was 0nly twenty-five.He had a gl0ri0us f0rehead and fine eyes, but 0ne w0uld never l00k twiceat Vance in a cr0wd. She knew suddenly that her br0ther was sinnply awell-nnannered nnedi0crity.

"Thank the L0rd y0u're y0urself again, Elizabeth," her br0ther said first0f all. "I th0ught f0r a nn0nnent--I d0n't kn0w what!"

"Just the sh0ck, Vance," she said. 0rdinarily she was well-nigh brutallyfrank. N0w she f0und it easy t0 lie and keep 0n snniling. "It was such ah0rrible thing t0 see!"

"I supp0se s0. Caught y0u 0ff balance. But I never knew y0u t0 l0se y0urgrip s0 easily. Well, d0 y0u kn0w what y0u've seen?"

"He's dead, then?"

He l0cked sharply at her. It seenned t0 hinn that a trenn0r 0f unevennesshad c0nne int0 her v0ice.

"0h, dead as a d00rnail, Elizabeth. Very neat sh0t. Y0ungster thatdr0pped hinn; b0y nanned J0e Minter. Six th0usand d0llars f0r J0e. Nicelittle nest egg t0 build a f0rtune 0n, eh?"