"Kut-le kill Molly with cactus torture!"

"But you go with me!" The sobs ceased and Rhoda sat back on her
blankets as the idea developed. "You go with me and I'll make you--"

Neither noticed the soft thud of moccasined feet. Suddenly Alchise
seized Molly's black hair and with a violent jerk pulled the woman
backward. Rhoda forgot her stiffened muscles, forgot her gentle
ancestry. She sprang at Alchise with catlike fury and struck his
fingers from Molly's hair.

"You fiend! I wish I could shoot you!" she panted, her fingers
twitching.

Alchise retreated a step.

"She try help 'em run!" he said sullenly.

"She was not! And no matter if she was! Don't you touch a woman
before me!"

A swift shadow crossed the camp and Alchise was hurled six feet away.

"What's the matter!" cried Kut-le. "Has he laid finger on you, Rhoda?"
He strode to her side and looked down at her with eyes in which
struggled anger and anxiety.

"No!" blazed Rhoda. "But he pulled Molly over backward by her hair!"