"Stick out
your hands!"
Some of the rustlers grumbled; and one blurted out: "Aw no, Snap, don't
tie her up--no!"
"Who says no?" hissed the Mormon, with snapping teeth. As he wheeled
upon them his Colt seemed to leap forward, and suddenly quivered at
arm's-length, gleaming in the ruddy fire-rays.
Holderness laughed in the muzzle of the weapon. "Go ahead, Snap, tie up
your lady love. What a tame little wife she's going to make you! Tie her
up, but do it without hurting her."
The rustlers growled or laughed at their leader's order. Snap turned to
his task. Mescal stood in the doorway and shrinkingly extended her
clasped hands. Holderness whirled to the fire with a look which betrayed
his game. Snap bound Mescal's hands securely, thrust her inside the
cabin, and after hesitating for a long moment, finally shut the door.
"It's funny about a woman, now, ain't it?" said Nebraska, confidentially,
to a companion. "One minnit she'll snatch you bald-headed; the next,
she'll melt in your mouth like sugar. An' I'll be darned if the
changeablest one ain't the kind to hold a feller longest. But it's h--l.
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