He said: "I've kept close on her trail, Pierre, and the nearest she
has come to kindness has been to send me back with a message to you."
He laughed without mirth, and the sound stopped abruptly.
"This is the message in her own words: 'I love him, Dick, and there's
nothing in the world for me without him. Bring him back to me. I don't
care how; but bring him back.' So tell Jack to ride the trail alone
today and go back with me. I give her up, not freely, but because I
know there's no hope for me."
But Pierre answered: "Wherever I've gone there's been luck for me and
hell for everyone around me. I lived with a priest, Dick, and left him
when I was nearly old enough to begin repaying his care. I came South
and found a father and lost him the same day. I gambled for money with
which to bury him, and a man died that night and another was hurt. I
escaped from the town by riding a horse to death. I was nearly killed
in a landslide, and now the men who saved me from that are done for.
"It's all one story, the same over and over.
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