Страница 368 из 439

The young woman was irritably suspicious that he found her anger

amusing, just as he seemed to find the dangerous position in

which he was placed. Yet her resentment coexisted with a sympathy

for him that would not down. She believed he was marked for death

by a coterie of those present, chief of whom was the man smiling

down into her face from half-shut, smouldering eyes.

Her heart was a flame of protest against their decree, all the

more so because she held herself partly responsible for it. In a

panic of repentance, she had told Dick of her confession to the

ranger of the names of the Squaw Creek raiders, and France had

warned his confederates. He had done this, not because he

distrusted Fraser, but because he felt it was their due to get a

chance to escape if they wanted to do so.