"There's only one thing--to get away," he said.
"Yes, but that's a terrible risk," she replied.
"We've a good chance now. I'll get horses. We can slip away while
they're all excited."
"No--no. I daren't risk so much. Kells would find out at once. He'd
be like a hound on our trail. But that's not all. I've a horror of
Gulden. I can't explain. I FEEL it. He would know--he would take the
trail. I'd never try to escape with Gulden in camp. ... Jim, do you
know what he's done?"
"He's a cannibal. I hate the sight of him. I tried to kill him. I
wish I had killed him."
"I'm never safe while he's near."
"Then I will kill him."
"Hush! you'll not be desperate unless you have to be. ... Listen.
I'm safe with Kells for the present. And he's friendly to you. Let
us wait. I'll keep trying to influence him. I have won the
friendship of some of his men. We'll stay with him--travel with him.
Surely we'd have a better chance to excape after we reach that gold-
camp. You must play your part. But do it without drinking and
fighting. I couldn't bear that. We'll see each other somehow. We'll
plan. Then we'll take the first chance to get away."
"We might never have a better chance than we've got right now," he
remonstrated.
"It may seem so to you. But I KNOW. I haven't watched these ruffians
for nothing. I tell you Gulden has split with Kells because of me. I
don't know how I know. And I think I'd die of terror out on the
trail with two hundred miles to go--and that gorilla after me."
"But, Joan, if we once got away Gulden would never take you alive,"
said Jim, earnestly. "So you needn't fear that."
"I've uncanny horror of him. It's as if he were a gorilla--and would
take me off even if I were dead! ... No, Jim, let us wait. Let me
select the time. I can do it. Trust me. Oh, Jim, now that I've saved
you from being a bandit, I can do anything. I can fool Kells or
Pearce or Wood--any of them, except Gulden."
"If Kells had to choose now between trailing you and rushing for the
gold-camp, which would he do?"
"He'd trail me," she said.
"But Kells is crazy over gold. He has two passions. To steal gold,
and to gamble with it."