Page:MacLeod Raine - The Sheriff's Son.djvu/192

 The voices and the sound of the man's movements died. Beulah's hand dropped to her side.

"We 're all right now," she said coldly.

They reached the gulch and slowly worked their way down its precipitous sides to the bottom.

The girl turned angrily on Roy. "Why did n't you come after father warned you?"

"I did n't get his warning till night. I was away."

"Then how did you get back up the arroyo when it was watched?"

"I—I was n't out into the park," he told her.

"Oh!" Her scornful gypsy eyes passed over him and wiped him from the map. She would not even comment on the obvious alternative.

"You think I 've been up at Dan Meldrum's spying," he protested hotly.

"Have n't you?" she flung at him.

"Yes, if that's what you want to call it," came quickly his bitter answer. "The man who has been my best friend is lying up there a prisoner because he knows too much about the criminals of Huerfano Park. I heard Meldrum threaten to kill him unless he promised what was wanted of him. Why should n't I do my best to help the man who—"