"You, Miss Kinney--here?" he asked in amazement.
"But--What are you doing here? I thought you were at Fort Lincoln."
"Why? This is no place for you to-night. Hell's broke loose."
"So it seems," she answered, with shining eyes.
"There's trouble afoot, Miss Margaret. No girl should be out, let alone an unprotected one."
"I did not come here unprotected. There was a man with me. The one, Mr. Dunke, that you are now looking for to murder!"
She gave it to him straight from the shoulder, her eyes holding his steadily.
"Struve?" he gasped, taken completely aback.
"No, not Struve. The man who stood beside Lieutenant Fraser, the one you threatened to kill because he backed the law."
"I guess you don't know all the facts, Miss Kinney." He came close and met her gaze while he spoke in a low voice. "There ain't many know what I know. Mebbe there ain't any beside you now. But I know you're Jim Kinney's sister."
"You are welcome to the knowledge. It is no secret. Lieutenant Fraser knows it. So does his friend. I'm not trying to hide it. What of it?"
Her quiet scorn drew the blood to his face.
"That's all right. If you do want to keep it quiet I'm with you. But there's something more. Your brother escaped from Yuma with this fellow Struve. Word came over the wire an hour or two ago that Struve had been captured and that it was certain he had killed his pal, your brother. That's why I mean to see him hanged before mo'ning."
"He did kill my brother. He told me so himself." Her voice carried a sob for an instant, but she went on resolutely. "What has that to do with it? Isn't there any law in Texas? Hasn't he been captured? And isn't he being taken back to his punishment?"
"He told you so himself!" the man echoed. "When did he tell you? When did you see him?"
"I was alone with him for twelve hours in the desert."
"Alone with you?" His puzzled face showed how he was trying to take this in, "I don't understand. How could he be alone with you?"
"I thought he was my brother and I was helping him to escape from Fort Lincoln."
"Helping him to escape! Helping Wolf Struve to escape! Well, I'm darned if that don't beat my time. How come you to think him your brother?" the man asked suspiciously.
"It doesn't matter how or why. I thought so. That's enough."