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laughed.

โ€œIt isโ€”Bucky?โ€ The question joyfully answered itself.

โ€œRight guess. Bucky it is.โ€

He had hold of her hands by this time, was trying to peer down into the happy-brown eyes he knew were scanning him. โ€œI can't see you yet, Curly Haid, but it's sure you, I reckon. I'll have to pass my hand over your face the way a blind man does,โ€ he laughed, and, greatly daring, he followed his own suggestion, and let his fingers wander across her crisp, thick hair, down her soft, warm cheeks, and over the saucy nose and laughing mouth he had often longed to kiss.

Presently she drew away shyly, but the lilt of happiness in her voice told him she was not offended. โ€œI can see you, Bucky.โ€ The last word came as usual, with that sweet, hesitating, upward inflection that made her familiarity wholly intoxicating, even while the comradeship of it left room for an interpretation either of gay mockery or something deeper. โ€œYes, I can see you. That's because I have been here longer and am more used to the darkness. I think I've been here about a year.โ€ He felt her shudder. โ€œYou don't know how glad I am to see you.โ€

โ€œNo gladder than I am to feel you,โ€ he answered gayly. โ€œIt's worth the price of admission to find you here, girl o'mine.โ€

He had forgotten the pretense that still lay between them, so far as words went when they had last parted. Nor did it yet occur to him that he had swept aside the convention of her being a boy. But she was vividly aware of it, and aware, too, of the demand his last words had made for a recognition of the relationship that existed in feeling between them.

โ€œI knew you knew I was a girl,โ€ she murmured.

โ€œYou knew more than that,โ€ he challenged joyfully.

But, in woman's way, she ignored his frontal attack. He was going at too impetuous a speed for her reluctance. โ€œHow long have you known that I wasn't a boyโ€”not from the first, surely?โ€

โ€œI don't know why I didn't, but I didn't. I was sure locoed,โ€ he confessed. โ€œIt was when you came out dressed as a gypsy that I knew. That explained to me a heap of things I never had understood before about you.โ€

โ€œIt explained, I suppose, why I never had licked the stuffing out of any other kid, and why you did not get very far in making a man out of me as you promised,โ€ she mocked.

โ€œYes, and it explained how you happened to say you were eighteen. By mistake you let the truth slip out. Course I wouldn't believe it.โ€

โ€œI remember you didn't. I think you conveyed the impression to me diplomatically that you had doubts.โ€

โ€œI said it was a lie,โ€ he laughed. โ€œI sure do owe you a heap of apologies for being so plumb dogmatic when you knew best. You'll have to sit down on me hard once in a while, or there won't be any living with me.โ€

Blushingly she did some more ignoring. โ€œThat was the first time you threatened to give me a whipping,โ€ she recalled aloud.

โ€œMy goodness! Did I ever talk so foolish?โ€

โ€œYou did, and meant it.โ€

โ€œBut somehow I never did it. I wonder why I didn't.โ€

โ€œPerhaps I was so frail you were afraid you would break me.โ€

โ€œNo, that wasn't it. In the back of my haid somewhere there was an instinct that said: 'Bucky, you chump, if you don't keep your hands off this kid you'll be right sorry all your life.' Not being given to many ideas, I paid a heap of respect to that one.โ€

โ€œWell, it's too bad, for I probably needed that whipping, and now you'll never be able to give it to me.โ€

โ€œI shan't ever want to now.โ€

Saucily her merry eyes shot him from under the long lashes. โ€œI'm not so sure of that. Girls can be mighty aggravating.โ€

โ€œThat's the way girls are meant to be, I expect,โ€ he laughed. โ€œBut fifteen-year-old boys have to be herded back into line. There's a difference.โ€

She rescued her hands from him and led the way to a bench that served for a seat. โ€œSit down here, sir. There are one or two things that I have to explain.โ€ She sat down beside him at the farther end of the bench.

โ€œThis light is so dim, I can't see you away over there,โ€ he pleaded, moving closer.

โ€œYou don't need to see me. You can hear me, can't you?โ€

โ€œI reckon.โ€

She seemed to find a difficulty in beginning, even though the darkness helped her by making it impossible for him to see her embarrassment. Presently he chuckled softly. โ€œNo, ma'am, I can't even hear you. If you're talking, I'll have to come closer.โ€

โ€œIf you do, I'll get up. I want you to be really earnest.โ€

โ€œI never was more earnest in my life, Curly.โ€

โ€œPlease, Bucky? It isn't easy to say it, and you mustn't make it harder.โ€

โ€œDo you have to say it, pardner?โ€ he asked, more seriously.

โ€œYes, I have to say it.โ€ And swiftly she blurted it out. โ€œWhy do you suppose I came with you to Mexico?โ€

โ€œI don't know.โ€ He grappled with her suggestion for a moment. โ€œI supposeโ€”you said it was because you were afraid of Hardman.โ€

โ€œWell, I wasn't. At least, I wasn't afraid that much. I knew that I would have been quite safe next time with the Mackenzies at the ranch.โ€

โ€œThen why was it?โ€

โ€œYou can't think of any reason?โ€ She leaned forward and looked directly into his eyesโ€”eyes as honest and as blue as an Arizona sky.

But he stood unconvictedโ€”nay, acquitted. The one reason she had dreaded he might offer to himself had evidently never entered his head. Whatever guesses he might have made on the subject, he was plainly guiltless of thinking she might have come with him because she was in love with him.

โ€œNo, I can't think of any other reason, if the one you gave isn't the right one.โ€

โ€œQuite sure?โ€

โ€œQuite sure, pardner.โ€

โ€œThink! Why did you come to Chihuahua?โ€

โ€œTo run down Wolf Leroy's gang and to get Dave Henderson out of prison.โ€

โ€œPerhaps there is a reason why I should want him out of prison, a better reason than you could possibly have.โ€

โ€œI don't savvy it. How can there be? You don't know him, do you? He's been in prison almost ever since you were born.โ€ And on top of

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