That's McGurk. He's never had a companion; he's never trusted
any man. Perhaps that's why they say about him the same thing that
they say about me."
"What's that?"
"You will smile when you hear. They say that McGurk will lose out in
the end on account of some woman."
"And they say that of you?"
"They say right of me. I know it myself. Look at me now. What right
have I here? If I'm found I'm the meat of the first man who sights me,
but here I stay, and wait and watch for your smiles--like a love-sick
boy. By God, you must despise me, Mary!"
"I don't try to understand you Westerners," she answered, "and that's
why I have never questioned you before. Tell me, why is it that
you come so stealthily to see me and run away as soon as anyone
else appears?"
He said with wonder: "Haven't you guessed?"
"I don't dare guess."
"But you have, and your guess was right. There's a price on my head.
By right, I should be out there on the ranges with Pierre le Rouge and
McGurk. There's the only safe place; but I saw you and I came down out
of the wilds and can't go back.
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