there was no moon. only a starry sheen lit the night. a wonderful peace had descended upon the hills. the quiet was the hush of the still prairie night. teeming maybe with restless life; but it was a life invisible, and rarely audible. nevertheless the hush was merely a veil. a veil which concealed, but had no power to sweep away the garnered harvest of violent human passions.

the figure of a man lay stretched upon his back on the bank of the river. his head was carefully pillowed. a covering had been spread over the upper body, as though to hide that which lay beneath, rather than yield warmth and comfort on the summer night. the covering was a coat, a woman's coat, and the owner of it sat crouching over her charge.

nan stirred. she reached out and tucked the long skirts of the coat under the man's shoulders with that mother instinct at once so solicitous, so tender. she shifted her position which had become cramped with her long vigil. these were moments of darkness, literal and mental. her anxiety and dread were almost overwhelming. the waiting seemed interminable.

she raised her eyes from her yearning regard of the still, bandaged head with its pale features. she sighed, as she turned them in another direction, toward an object lying beneath the shadow of a great red willow near by. it was a dark object, huddled and, like the other, quite still. a curious sort of fascination held her for some moments, then, almost reluctantly, as though impelled by the trend of her feelings, her gaze wandered in the direction whence was wafted toward her a pungent reek of burning. it was the dimly outlined skeleton of the station house, roofless and partly fallen, white-ashed and still faintly smoking.

for long moments she regarded this sign of the destruction which had been wrought. nor was the sigh which escaped her wholly of regret. a deep stirring was in her heart. she was thinking of the heroic battle which the station home had witnessed. she was thinking of the desperate odds one man had faced within those four walls. she was thinking, too, of the victory which ultimately had been his. but the cost. she shuddered. and her eyes came back to the white upturned features of the man before her.

she started. the man's eyes were open. tenderly she raised a hand and smoothed the cold forehead with its soft palm. tears of emotion had gathered in her eyes on the instant. but they did not overflow down her cheeks.

the eyes closed again. the lids moved slowly, as though reluctant to perform their office. the girl literally held her breath. would they open again? or---- her question was answered almost on the instant. they reopened. this time even more widely. they were staring straight up at the starlit sky, quite unmoving. there was no consciousness in them, and barely life.

nan waited for some long apprehensive moments. her heart was full of a wild, new-born hope. but fear held her, too. at last she moved. she withdrew herself gently but swiftly. then she stood up, a picture of dapper womanhood in the white shirt-waist and loose riding breeches which the coat spread over the man's body should have held concealed. a moment later the darkness swallowed her up as she sped down the trail which passed near by.

with her going there crept into the man's vacant eyes the first real sign of life.

five minutes later the girl was back at his side. but she had not returned alone. bud was with her, and together they bent over the prostrate form. the girl was kneeling. she had gently taken possession of one of the bandaged hands lying inert at the man's side. tenderly enough she held it between her own soft palms and chafed it, while her shining eyes, yielding all the secrets of her devoted heart, gazed yearningly down into his.

"jeff!" she murmured, in a low, eager tone. "jeff!"

there was no response. the eyes were fixed and staring.

bud had less scruples in his anxious impatience.

"say, that ain't no sort o' way to wake him, nan," he whispered hoarsely. then in his deep gruff voice he displayed his better understanding. "say, jeff! you ken hear me, boy. you're jest foolin'. say, hark to this. you beat 'em. you beat 'em single-handed, an' shot 'em plumb down."

curiously enough there was almost instant result, and bud's satisfaction became evident. the staring eyes relaxed their regard of the starry heavens. the lids flickered, then the eyes themselves turned in the direction whence came those sonorous tones.

"you ken hear?"

bud's words came on the instant, and were full of triumph. then he turned to the girl who had promptly relinquished jeff's hand.

"we ain't got a thing to hand him, 'cep' it's water," he said half-angrily. "we can't jest move him, not nothin', till the boys git along with the wagon, an' that blamed dope merchant gits around. what in hell ken we do?"

"wait."

nan's finality robbed her father of his complaint.

"guess we'll hev to. say----"

"yes?"

"do you guess he ken talk if he feels that way?"

but nan was no longer giving him any attention. all her thoughts, all her being was for the man before them.

a faint tinge of color was creeping under his skin, up to the soft white wrapping fastened about his fire-scorched forehead. even in the starlight it was plainly visible to the girl's eager eyes. there was something else, too. the look in his eyes had completely changed. to nan there was something approaching the shadow of a smile.

she moved close to his side so that she could reach out and give him support. then she gave the father at her side his orders.

"get water, dad--quick!" she demanded.

bud demurred.

"i only got my hat," he said helplessly.

"it'll do. but get it."

bud moved away, with the heavy haste of two hundred and ten pounds of mental disturbance.

the moment he had gone a faint sigh escaped the injured man. nan held her breath. would he--speak? she would give worlds to hear the sound of his voice, she had believed him dying. now a wild hope surged. if he would--could speak, it seemed to her simple logic that he must--live.

"nan!"

the word was distinct, but, oh, the weakness of voice. the girl thrilled.

"yes, jeff. i'm here. i'm right beside you."

"tell me--things."

the girl's heart sank. in a flash she remembered all there was to tell. why had his first thoughts on returning life been of these--things? yet it was like him--so like him. she drew a deep breath and resorted to subterfuge.

"it's as dad shouted at you just now, jeff. you beat them all--lone-handed. but you mustn't talk. don't worry about them. guess they're not worth it. you've been shot up, jeff, an' dad an' i we've just fixed you the best we know, an' the boys have gone right in for a wagon, an' a doctor. the doc's got to get in from moose creek, twenty miles away. that's what scares me."

the smile in the man's eyes had deepened.

"don't--get--scared, nan. i'm--not dying."

the girl thrilled at the assurance in the tired voice. but the thrill passed as swiftly as it came. she knew what would follow when jeff had gathered sufficient strength.

sure enough he went on presently:

"i remember everything--till--i dropped," he said haltingly. "what happened--after--that? y'see--i--heard--firing."

nan glanced helplessly about her. if only her father would return with the water! it might help her. she felt that she could not, could not tell him the things he was demanding of her.

but again came his demand, and in the tone of it was a sound of peevish impatience.

"what--happened--after--nan? i need--to know."

"it all came of a rush. i can't just tell it right."

the man's eyes closed again. he remained silent so long that nan's apprehensions reawakened. she even forgot her panic at his persistence.

"jeff! jeff!"

her call to him was almost a whisper. but the man heard. his eyes opened at once.

"yes, nan?"

the girl laughed a little hysterically.

"i--i--was----"

"you thought i----"

"yes, yes. but you are--better? sure?"

the man's head turned deliberately toward her. there was astonishing vigor in the movement.

"ther's things broke inside me, nan," he said, in a voice that was growing stronger. "a rib, i guess. maybe it's my shoulder. the others--guess they're just nothing. now tell me--the things i asked. how did you happen to git around? start that way."

a sense of relief helped the girl. he had given her an opportunity which she seized upon.

"oh, jeff, it was just thanks to evie. i guess she saved your life."

"how?"

the girl's enthusiasm received a set-back in his tone.

"she came right along over to us, and told us--everything--the moment you'd gone. we followed you just as hard as the horses could lay foot to the ground. dad an' me, and six of the boys."

"what did evie do?"

"she came along--too."

"wher' is she?"

nan made no answer. the question was repeated more sharply.

"wher' is she?"

"she's under that red willow--yonder."

the girl's voice was low. her words were little more than a whisper.

"is she--hurt?"

"she's--dead."

at that moment bud reappeared bearing a hat full clear river water.

nan looked up.

"how can we give it him?" she questioned. somehow the importance of the water had lessened in her mind.

jeff answered the question himself.

"i don't need it, bud," he said. then he added as an afterthought: "thanks."

nan looked up at her father who stood doubtfully by.

"set it down, daddy. then get right along an' look out for the doc, an' the wagon. hustle 'em along."

bud obeyed unquestioningly. he felt that nan's understanding of the situation was better than any ideas of his. he set the hat down for the water to percolate through the soft felt at its leisure. then he moved on.

the moment he was out of earshot jeff's voice broke the silence once more.

"nan?"

"yes, jeff?"

"wher's the red willow? how far away?"

"a few yards."

"can you help me up?" the question came after a long considering pause. it came with a certain eagerness.

but nan remonstrated with all her might.

"no, no, jeff," she cried, in serious alarm. "you mustn't. true you mustn't. it'll kill you to move now."

her appeal was quite without effect.

"then i'll have to do it myself."

jeff's obstinate decision was immovable, and in the end the girl was forced to give way.

the sick man endured five minutes of the intensest agony in the effort required. twice he nearly fainted, but, in the end, he stood beside the somewhat huddled figure under the red willow, gasping under the excruciation of internal pains.

"i can lie here, nan," he said. "will you--help me?"

exerting all her strength the girl helped him to the ground. the position he had chosen was close to the still form of his dead wife. once he was safely resting again, nan breathed her relief.

he looked up at her, and something like a smile was in his blue eyes.

"thanks, nan. say--i'll need that coat of yours--later. will you go along--and get it?"

nan moved away. she needed no second bidding. nor did she return until the man's voice summoned her.

"nan!" he called.

she came to him at once bearing her coat in her hands. for a second, surprise widened her eyes. he was no longer where she had left him. he had moved a few yards away. and she wondered how he had been capable of the unassisted effort. then she glanced swiftly at the dead woman. the covering over the body had been moved. she was certain. it had been replaced differently from the way she had arranged it. she offered no comment, but busied herself spreading her coat over the man's bared chest, where the rough bandages had been fastened with her father's aid.

again she seated herself on the ground beside him, but now his face was turned from her. it was toward the still figure a few yards away.

"tell me the rest now, nan," he said. "she did her--best--to--save me."

"more than her best. say, jeff, she loved you better than life. that's why she's--there."

"tell me."

a new note had crept into his demand. there was a hush in his voice which gave his words a curious tenderness, reverence even for the woman they were speaking of.

"guess it must have been over in a minute. oh, say, it was just the biggest, blindest, most tremendous thing. it was too awful. she was so beautiful, too. and then the love in it. i kind of shiver when i think of it. we heard your shout, jeff. evie came right along with us. she insisted. you see, i'd made her mad. i'd blamed her to her face. i--i'm sorry now. but, my, she was brave, and how she loved you! well, when bud heard your shout i guess it didn't take him more than a minute to beat in the door they'd fastened. him an' the boys. the rest took seconds. we stood clear, as you said, guessing you meant a run for it. the place was ablaze. when the door fell we saw it all. you were near it. beyond you were two men. sikkem was one. they were against the far wall, sideways from the door. they had guns in their hands. they meant finishing you anyway, whatever happened after. but there was a bundle of blazing stuff in front of them, an' it seemed to worry them quite a deal. you started for the door. they got busy to use their guns right away. then something happened. we'd forgot evie. guess we were plumb staggered. something rushed past us, into that blazing hut. it was evie, an' she managed to get between you and them just as you dropped. she fell where she stood. it was the shots they'd meant for you. then bud opened on 'em, the boys did too, and after that we dragged you and evie out. oh, jeff, she just didn't want to live without you."

a great sob broke from the girl, and it found an echo deep down in the man's heart. nan buried her face in her hands, and the sound of her sobs alone broke the stillness.

the man offered no comment. he made no movement. he lay there with his clear eyes gazing at the silhouette of that still dark figure against the mysterious sheen of night. his look gave no key to his thoughts or emotions. his own physical sufferings even found no expression in them. but thoughts were stirring, deep thoughts and emotions which were his alone, and would remain his alone until the end.