Page:The Cross Pull.pdf/145

 never seen anything so intensely beautiful as the girl who stood there, vivid and alive, in this wild setting. She looked up and saw him and the color fled from her face, leaving it white and drawn.

“I startled you,” said Moran. “I’m sorry.”

She gazed at him without a word… Flash moved back to his side, his big tail waving proudly. Moran placed his hand on the dog’s head and from this move the girl divined the man’s identity.

“You’re Clark Moran,” she said. He nodded, surprised that she should know his name.

“Then they didn’t kill you after all.”

“No,” he smiled. “I’m very much alive.”

“Flash brought you here.” Again he nodded.

“Did they get Dad Kinney—is that the reason he hasn’t come?”

“I saw him a few days ago as I came up the Shoshone—stayed at his camp overnight,” said Moran. “He’s alive and well.”

“Then he didn’t get my letter,” she stated positively.

“Probably not,” said Moran. He sensed that there was some connecting link of thought between each disjointed phrase and he tried to understand it all.

“I can get him for you,” he offered. “I can