He has killed the friends of Pierre one by one; Pierre himself is the next in order--Pierre or myself.

And when those two meet there will be the greatest fight that was ever staged in the mountain-desert." She stood straight, staring past Wilbur with hungry eyes.
"I knew he needed me.

I have to save him, Dick.

You see that?
I have to bring him down from the mountains and keep him safe from McGurk.
McGurk! Somehow the sound means what 'devil' used to mean to me." "You've never traveled alone, and yet you'd go up there and brave everything that comes for the sake of Pierre?
What has he done to deserve it, Mary ?".
"What have I done, Dick, to deserve the care you have for me ?" He stared gloomily on her.
"When do you start ?" "Tonight." "Your friends won't let you go." "I'll steal away and leave a note behind me." "And you'll go alone ?" She caught at a hope.
"Unless you'll go with me, Dick ?" "I?
Take you--to Pierre ?" She did not speak to urge him, but in the silence her beauty pleaded for her.
He said: "Mary, how lovely you are.

If I go I will have you for a few days--for a week at most, all to myself." She shook her head.