Page:The Cross Pull.pdf/123

 another of the group. The firelight revealed faces that were hard and desperate.

These men had long denied the society of women. This appearance among them of a beautiful girl was like the smell of meat to starving beasts of prey. Not a man there but would have murdered his friend in order to own her for an hour.

From beyond the circle of light thrown by the fire a pair of yellow eyes watched this tableau. Flash sensed the menace to his Goddess, satisfied at last that she was unsafe among these men.

There was one man whose cold brain never failed him in an emergency.

“Where are your friends camped?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, some inner voice prompting her to lie. “But somewhere close. I stayed under a rock—and out of the rain—not far from camp.”

As her voice trailed away the man arose.

“I’ll take you to them,” he offered. “Just come with me.”

“Leave it to Harte to think first,’ said another. He rose also. “I need exercise. I’ll just go along with you.”

Every last man leaped to his feet and leered