Then what?
A headstrong girl to be convinced of danger, and controlled.

The longer he thought about it all, the more intensely disagreeable the task appeared, yet the clearer did he appreciate its necessity.

He chafed at the knowledge that it had become his work--that he had permitted himself to be ensnared--yet he dug his spurs into the mustang and rode steadily, grimly, forward.
The real truth was that Hamlin comprehended much more fully than did the men at Devere the danger menacing travellers along the main trail to Santa Fe.

News reached Fort Union much quicker than it did that isolated post up on the Cimarron.

He knew of the fight in Raton Pass, and that two stages within ten days had been attacked, one several miles east of Bent's Fort.