Page:J Allan Dunn--The Girl of Ghost Mountain.djvu/84



" you gentlemen come in?"

The figures of the horsemen seemed to stiffen. The girl's voice may have touched tradition, perhaps a memory. It was eloquent of gentility, it bespoke no alarm at this sudden intrusion in a place whose unusual privacy they had so rudely broken. Then they shifted uneasily. Sheridan could see the roll of their eyes towards each other in uneasy inquiry. The girl had scored. And he had a conviction that her manner would have been much the same if he and Red had not arrived. Admiration of her glowed within him.

Hollister spoke, his voice hoarse with the whisky he had drunk, impudent in its self-assertion.

"We'll do that. Light, boys. Better hitch your hawses to the trees." She did not offer the hospitality of the shed, Sheridan noted.

Mary Burrows received them with reserved cordiality that suggested an explanation of their visit was expected as they filed clumsily up the steps and trailed behind her into the big room. Thora followed and Sheridan and Jackson closed the file. The men were still too sheepish, most of them, to have noticed the men from Circle S. Only Hollister leered at them evilly, with his tongue set in his cheek. 66