"I can easily believe it," returned Helen.
"I wish y'u would teach me how to double up a man so prompt and
immediate," said the admiring foreman.
"I expect I'm under particular obligations to that straight right
to the chin, Lieutenant," chimed in the sheepman. "The fact is
that I don't seem to be able to get out anything except thanks
these days. I ought to send my cousin a letter thanking him for
giving me a chance to owe so much kindness to so many people."
"Your cousin?" repeated the uncomprehending officer.
"This desperado, Bannister, is my cousin," answered the sheepman
gravely.
"But if he was your cousin, why should he want--to kill you?"
"That's a long story, Lieutenant. Will y'u hear it now?"
"If you feel strong enough to tell it."
"Oh, I'm strong enough." He glanced at Helen. "Perhaps we had
better not tire Miss Messiter with it. If y'u'll come to my
room--"
"I should like, above all things, to hear it again," interrupted
that young woman promptly.
For the man she loved had just come back to her from the brink of
the grave and she was still reluctant to let him out of her
sight.
So Ned Bannister told his story once more, and out of the alcove
came the happy foreman and Nora to listen to the tale.
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