"My God!" cried the other, startled for once out of his calm.

The officer nodded. "You're on the trail right enough. I wish we were
both wrong, but we ain't."

"But surely she would have known he wasn't her brother, surely--"

The ranger shook his head. "She hadn't seen the black sheep since she
was a kid of about seven. How would she know what he looked like? And
Struve was primed with all the facts he had heard Kinney blat out time
and again. She wasn't suspecting any imposition and he worked her to a
fare-you-well."

Larry Neill set his teeth on a wave of icy despair.

"And she's in that devil's power. She would be as safe in a den of
rattlers. To think that I had my foot on his neck this mo'ning and
didn't break it."

"She's safe so long as she is necessary to him. She's in deadly peril
as soon as he finds her one witness too many. If he walks into my
boys' trap at the Arivaca cut-off, all right. If not, God help her!
I've shut the door to Mexico and safety in his face. He'll strike back
for the Mal Pais country. It's his one chance, and he'll want to
travel light and fast."

"If he starts back Tom Long's party may get him."

"That's one more chance for her, but it's a slim one. He'll cut