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An' if I don't come in reasonable time y'u slip across the canyon an' through the willows to the cabins. Wait till aboot dark." With that he possessed himself of one of the extra rifles and belts and silently joined his comrades. Together they noiselessly stole into the brush. Ellen had no other thought than to comply with Colter's wishes.
He said a lot about my bein' sent for to run sheep herders out of the country." "Shore that's all over," replied Blaisdell, seriously. "You're a marked man already." "What started such rumor?" "Shore you cain't prove it by me. But it's not taken as rumor. It's got to the sheepmen as hard as bullets." "Ahuh! That accunts for Colter's seemin' a little sore under the collar.
Hidden by jutting wall and thicket of spruce were two old log cabins joined together by roof and attic floor, the same as the double cabin at the Jorth ranch. Ellen smelled wood smoke, and presently, on going round the cabins, saw a bright fire. One man stood beside it gazing at Colter's party, which evidently he had heard approaching. "Hullo, Queen!" said Colter. "How's Tad?"
Sheilds returned with a small deer on which we breakfasted. by 11 A.M. all our hunters returned, Drewyer and Cruzatte brought each a deer, Collins wounded another which my dog caught at a little distance from the camp. our stock of provision now consisted of 4 deer and the remnant of the horse which we killed at Colter's Creek.
A marvelous transformation passed over her features and even over her form. Jean choked with the ache in his throat. Slowly she put the bloody hand behind her while with the other she still held the torn blouse to her breast. Colter's slouching, musical step sounded outside.
What was there about Colter with which she must reckon? The other two Texans laughed aloud, to be suddenly silenced by Colter's harsh and lowered curses. Ellen walked out of hearing and sat upon a log, where she remained until Colter hailed her. "Get up an' ride," he called.
But calm consideration now convinced her that she could hardly be in a worse plight in their hands than if she remained in Colter's. So she started out to find the dog. The wooded bench was level for a few hundred yards, and then it began to heave in rugged, rocky bulges up toward the Rim.
The ignominy of him thirsted for its like. He could grind her beauty under his heel, but he could not soften to this feminine inscrutableness. And whatever was the truth of Ellen Jorth in this moment, beyond Colter's gloomy and stunted intelligence, beyond even the love of Jean Isbel, it was something that held the balance of mastery. She read Colter's mind.
At such moments, if he had any softness or gentleness in him, they expressed themselves in his sooner or later letting her go, when apparently she was about to faint. So it must have become fascinatingly fixed in Colter's mind that at times Ellen repulsed him with scorn and at others could not resist him.
No one came, and the continuous yelping of the dog got on Ellen's nerves. It was a call for help. And finally she surrendered to it. Since her natural terror when Colter's horse was shot from under her and she had been dragged away, she had not recovered from fear of the Isbels.
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