Still, with the horror thick upon her, Joan could not wholly give
up. The moment Jim Cleve's name and his ruin burst upon her ears, in
the gossip of these bandits, she had become another girl--a girl
wholly become a woman, and one with a driving passion to save if it
cost her life. She lost her fear of Kells, of the others, of all
except Gulden. He was not human, and instinctively she knew she
could do nothing with him. She might influence the others, but never
Gulden.
The torment in her brain eased then, and gradually she quieted down,
with only a pang and a weight in her breast. The past seemed far
away. The present was nothing. Only the future, that contained Jim
Cleve, mattered to her. She would not have left the clutches of
Kells, if at that moment she could have walked forth free and safe.
She was going on to Cabin Gulch. And that thought was the last one
in her weary mind as she dropped to sleep.