THE huntress' tale. 299 



pause. "I left there yesterday. Dick and I camped 

 last niglit. We must be home when the men come 

 in from work this eve. Up, Rave!" and she struck 

 the mustang a cruel blow, from which he jumped 

 with quivering muscles, onl}^ to be violently curbed. 

 For the first time she had just noticed our guide, 

 and sat for an instant with her wild eyes eating a 

 way to his heart. Then she turned again to us. 



"Sirs, you must aid me. Some say the Cheyennes 

 killed my husband, and others there be who think Abe 

 there did it. More shame to me who has to tell it, 

 but the two had a fight about a woman, som^ months 

 gone. It was just after pay-day, and husband was 

 drunk ; otherwise he 'd never have bothered his head 

 about any girl but the one he married. 



" There were blows and black eyes, and being a 

 rough man's quarrel, it ended with hand-shaking. 

 My man came home, and we sat by the fire that 

 night, and I took no notice that he 'd been wrong, but 

 spoke of our old home in Ohio, and asked him 

 would n't he go back there when the contract was 

 finished. And he put his hand on mine, and says : 

 'Sis, if the cuts and fills on the next mile work to 

 profit, we '11 go home.' Just then there came a hiss 

 from the door at our backs, and husband turned sharp 

 and quick. There was a knot-hole in the planks, and 

 its round black mouth, gaping from out in the night 

 at us, had spit the sound into our ears. Husband 

 he rose and went to the door, and fell back dying, 

 with an arrow in his breast. Some said it was a 

 Cheyenne, and others said Abe did it. There were 

 lots of Indian bows in camp, and Cheyennes do n't 



