FALL OF BALANCING ROCK
away among the boulders, and, followed by the stealthy dogs, disappeared from sight. The time he remained absent was neither short nor long to Jane Withersteen.
When he reached her side again he was pale, and his lips were set in a hard line, and his gray eyes glittered coldly. Bidding her dismount, he led the burros into a covert of stones and cedars, and tied them.
"Jane, I've run into the fellers I've been lookin' for, an' I'm goin' after them," he said.
"Why?" she asked.
"I reckon I won't take time to tell you."
"Couldn't we slip by without being seen?"
"Likely enough. But that ain't my game. An' I'd like to know, in case I don't come back, what you'll do."
"What can I do?"
"I reckon you can go back to Tull. Or stay in the Pass an' be taken off by rustlers. Which 'll you do?"
"I don't know. I can't think very well. But I believe I'd rather be taken off by rustlers."
Lassiter sat down, put his head in his hands, and remained for a few moments in what appeared to be deep and painful thought. When he lifted his face it was haggard, lined, cold as sculptured marble.
"I'll go. I only mentioned that chance of my not comin' back. I'm pretty sure to come."
"Need you risk so much? Must you fight more? Haven't you shed enough blood?"
"I'd like to tell you why I'm goin'," he continued, in coldness he had seldom used to her. She remarked it, but it was the same to her as if he had spoken with his old gentle warmth. "But I reckon I won't. Only, I'll say that mercy an' goodness, such as is in you, though they're the grand things in human nature, can't be lived up to on this Utah border. Life's hell out here. You think—or you used to think—that your religion made this life heaven. Mebbe them scales on your eyes has dropped now. Jane, I wouldn't have you no different,
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