There's a corner there, behind some
barrels. If they break in, I'll say----"
"Brave girl! But they won't break in."
"How do you know?"
"Your husband won't let them. Trust him, as I do."
"He's not here. Do you think I told you a lie? Thank Heaven he _isn't_
here, or they'd kill him, and I could never beg him to forgive----" She
covered her face with her hands.
The old man looked at her gravely.
"You don't understand what's happening," he said, with a new gentleness.
"Don's out there now, defending you and his home. That's what the
shooting means. Do you think those brutes would advertise themselves with
their guns if they hadn't been attacked?"
With a cry the girl rushed to the long window, and began to unfasten it,
but Van Vreck caught her hands.
"Stop!" he commanded. "Don't play the robbers' own game for them! _How do
you know which is nearer the house, Don and his men, or the others?_"
She stared at him, panting, "Don and his men?" she echoed.
"Yes. Even if he were alone to begin with, I'll bet all I've got he
roused every cowpuncher on the ranch with his first shot; and they'd be
out with their guns like a streak of greased lightning.
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