Eve could hear him piling dry wood on the fire; the light on the tree trunks grew redder; a pungent reek of smoke was drawn through the forest aisles. She sniffed it, listened, and watched, her rifle across her knees.
Eve never had been afraid of anything. She was not afraid of this man. If it came to combat she would have to kill. It never entered her mind to fear Quintana's rifle. Even Clinch was not as swift with a rifle as she. ... Only Stormont had been swifter -- thank God!---She thought of Stormont -- sat there in the terrific darkness loving him, her heart of a child tremulous with adoration.
Then the memory of Darragh pushed in and hot hatred possessed her. Always, in her heart, she had distrusted the man.
Instinct had warned her. A spy! What evil had he worked already? Where was her father? Evidently Quintana had escaped him at Drowned Valley. ... Quintana was yonder by his fire, preparing the flee the wilderness where men hunted him. ... But where was Clinch? Had this sneak, Darragh, betrayed him? Was Clinch already in the clutch of the State Troopers? Was he in jail?
At the thought the girl felt slightly faint, then a rush f angry blood stung her face in the darkness. Except for game and excise violations the stories they told about Clinch were lies.
He had nothing to fear, nothing to be ashamed of. Harrod had driven him to lawlessness; the Government took away what was left him to make a living. He had to live. What if he did break laws made by millionaire and fanatic! What of it? He had her love and her respect -- and her deep, deep pity. And these were enough for any girl to fight for.
Dawn spread a silvery light above the pines, but Quintana's fire still reddened the tree trunks; and she could hear him feeding it at intervals.
Finally she saw him. He came out on the edge of the ruddy ring of light and stood peering around at the woods where already a vague greyness was revealing nearer trees.
When, finally, he turned his back and looked at his fire, Eve rose and stood between the two big pines. Behind one of them she placed her rifle.
It was growing lighter in the woods. She could see Quintana in the fire ring and outside, -- saw him go to the spring rivulet, lie flat, drink, then, on his knees, wash face and hands in the icy water.
It became plain to her that he was nearly ready to depart. She watched him preparing. And now she could see him plainly, and knew him to be Quintana and no other.