She must, at the very least, be first returned to the protection of the semi-civilization along the Arkansas.

After that had been accomplished, he would consider his own safety.

He wondered if Hope really was her name, and whether it was the family cognomen, or her given name.

That she was Christie Maclaire he had no question, yet that artistic embellishment was probably merely assumed for the work of the concert hall.

Both he and Hawley could scarcely be mistaken as to her identity in this respect, and, indeed, she had never openly denied the fact.