Hampton had scarcely so much as noted her presence. Of late
years he had not felt greatly interested in the sex, and his
inclination, since uniting his shattered fortunes with this little
company, had been to avoid coming into personal contact with this
particular specimen. Practically, therefore, he now observed her for
the first time. Previously she had passed within range of his vision
simply as the merest shadow; now she began to appeal faintly to him as
a personality, uninteresting enough, of course, yet a living human
being, whom it had oddly become his manifest duty to succor and
protect. The never wholly eradicated instincts of one born and bred a
gentleman, although heavily overlaid by the habits acquired in many a
rough year passed along the border, brought vividly before him the
requirements of the situation. Undoubtedly death was destined to be
the early portion of them all; nevertheless she deserved every
opportunity for life that remained, and with the ending of hope--well,
there are worse fates upon the frontier than the unexpected plunge of a
bullet through a benumbed brain.
Guided by the unerring instinct of an old Indian fighter, Gillis,
during that first mad retreat, had discovered temporary shelter behind
one of the largest bowlders.
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