Page:Frank Spearman--Whispering Smith.djvu/168

 “No, no! I am quite safe and I have only a short ride. It is you who have far to go,” and she spoke again to Jim, who started briskly.

“Miss Dunning, won’t you listen just a moment? Please don’t run away!” McCloud was trying to come up with her. “Won’t you hear me a moment? I have suffered some little humiliation to-day; I should really rather be shot up than have more put on me. I am a man and you are a woman, and it is already dark. Isn’t it for me to see you safely to the house? Won’t you at least pretend I can act as an escort and let me go with you? I should make a poor figure trying to catch you on horseback”

Dicksie nodded naïvely. “With that horse.”

“With any horse—I know that,” said McCloud, keeping at her side.

“But I can’t let you ride back with me,” declared Dicksie, urging Jim and looking directly at McCloud for the first time. “How could I explain?”

“Let me explain. I am famous for explaining,” urged McCloud, spurring too.

“And will you tell me what I should be doing while you were explaining?” she asked.

“Perhaps getting ready a first aid for the injured.”

“I feel as if I ought to run away,” declared 144