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HANCE had it that Steele, seeking Joe Embry with wrath in his heart, found him with Beatrice. A fact in itself not calculated to cool his unaccustomed rage.

"Hey there, you Embry!" he shouted from a distance. "I want a word with you."

It was at Camp Corliss through which he was passing to come to Summit City where he expected to find Embry. Seeing the man he wanted at the door of Ed Hurley's office, just coming out apparently, Steele was glad rather than displeased that Beatrice should be on hand … though a distinct wave of disgust surged up within him that she should be so familiarly near and so familiarly disposed toward Embry. Through the open door behind them he caught a glimpse of Hurley's face looking like a man who had just received bad news. He wondered if Rose or Eddie Junior … and then he whipped all of his thought back to Beatrice and her companion.

Beatrice had heard his voice calling out, had whirled about just as he swung down from his saddle and strode toward them. He observed that her look was not unlike Hurley's, though in it there was more of plain disappointment and anger. Hurley's look was near tragic. … 188