CHAPTER II.
A PERILOUS VENTURE Any call to action, of either hazard or pleasure, steadies my nerves.
To realize necessity for doing renders me a new man, clear of brain, quick of decision.

Possibly this comes from that active life I have always led in the open.

Be the cause what it may, I was the first to recover speech.
"I hope to show myself worthy your trust, Madame," I said somewhat stiffly, for it hurt to realize that this emotion arose from her husband's peril.

"At best I am only an adventurer, and rely upon those means with which life upon the border renders me familiar.

Such may prove useless where I have soldiers of skill to deal with.