"Jack," she called in a voice that was almost a whisper.
In half a dozen long strides he was beside her. She wasted no time in preliminaries.
"We were wrong, Dad and I. I told Uncle Jim to tell you to come to me ... and then your note to him came. Jack, do you ... still like me?"
He answered her as lovers have from the beginning of time--with kisses, with little joyous exclamations, with eyes that told more than words. He took her into his arms hungrily in an embrace of fire and passion. She wept happily, and he wiped away her tears.
They forgot time in eternity, till Ellison brought them back to earth. He was returning from the hotel with Wadley, and as he passed they heard him sputtering.
"Why did he send for me, then, if he meant to light out? What in Sam Hill--?"
Jack discovered himself to the Captain, and incidentally his sweetheart.
"Well, I'll be doggoned!" exclaimed Ellison. "You youngsters sure beat my time. How did you get here, 'Mona?"
Clint made prompt apologies. "I was wrong, boy. I'd ought to know it by this time, for they've all been dinnin' it at me. Shake, an' let's make a new start."
In words it was not much, but Jack knew by the way he said it that the cattleman meant a good deal more than he said. He shook hands gladly.
"Looks to me like Jack would make that new start in jail," snapped the Captain. "I don't expect he can go around jail-breaking with my prisoners an' get away with it."
"I'll go to jail with him, then," cried 'Mona quickly.
"H'mp!" The Ranger Captain softened. "It wouldn't be a prison if you were there, honey."
Jack slipped his hand over hers in the semi-darkness. "You're whistlin', Captain."
"I reckon you 'n' me will take a trip down to Austin to see the Governor, Jim," Wadley said. "Don't you worry any about that prison, 'Mona."
The girl looked up into the eyes of her lover. "We're not worrying any, Dad," she answered, smiling.