destination danger . by Ernest Haycox . illustrated by Edwin Phillips . Bill wanted her to be his alone - despite her past . but first he had to settle a grudge this was one of those years when Apache smoke signals spiralled from the mountain tops , when many a ranch-house lay as a square of blackened ashes and the departure of a stage from Tonto started an adventure that had no certain ending . the stage , with its six horses , waited in Tonto &apos;s town square . on the box was Happy Stewart , the reins between his fingers . John Strang rode shotgun guard . and an escort of 10 cavalrymen waited behind the coach , half asleep in their saddles . in the dawn , this high air was cold . a small crowd stood in the square , presenting their final messages to the passengers . there was a girl going to marry an infantry officer , a tall , thin Englishman carrying a sporting rifle , a gambler , a cattleman - and a slim blond man . Happy Stuart and the shotgun guard looked at him with narrow-eyed interest . this seemed all until a girl known commonly throughout Arizona territory as Henriette walked from the crowd . she was small , with a touch of paleness in her cheeks . the blond man stepped back from the coach door and her eyes lifted at his unexpected courtesy . they showed faint surprise . men in the crowd were smiling - derisively . but the blond man turned - the movement like the swift cut of a knife - and his sharp-bright attention covered them until the smiling quit . he was a lean man , and stamped as a gun-fighter by the Colts slung on his hip . but it was n&apos;t the guns alone . something in his face , watchful and smooth , showed his trade , too . Happy Stuart kicked off the brakes and yelled : hi ! the stage rolled from the town in a cloud of dust , the cavalrymen trotting briskly behind . beyond them stretched the journey no coach had attempted for 45 days . out below in the desert &apos;s distance stood the relay stations they hoped to reach and pass . between lay a country swept empty by the quick raids of Geronimo &apos;s savages . the Englishman , the gambler and the blond man sat jammed together in the forward seat . the cattleman and the two women shared the rear seat . now the cattleman leaned towards Henriette , his knees almost touching her . a huge gold nugget slid gently back and forth along the gold watch chain slung across his wide chest . his eyes looked into hers , reading something that caused him to smile . they were strangers packed closely together with nothing in common save a destination . yet the cattleman &apos;s smile and the boldness of his glance was something as audible as speech , noted by everyone except the Englishman , who sat bolt upright in the corner , covered by stony indifference . the army girl , tall and demurely pretty , threw a quick side-glance at Henriette , then looked away with a touch of colour . three hours from Tonto the road , making a last round sweep , let them down into the flat desert . from now on they would be on their own . the cavalrymen wheeled back to town , their sergeant yelling , doubtfully : good luck . the miles fell behind and the smell of alkali dust got thicker . up on the box , Johnny Strang shifted the gun on his lap . what &apos;s Malpais Bill - the blond one - riding with us for ? I guess I would n&apos;t ask him , Happy Stuart replied , - and studied the hazy horizon . all day they were tormented by a cruel , relentless sun . now as the coach trundled to a stop outside Gap Station , they were red-eyed and aching from the stinging dust . a short man with a tremendous stomach shuffled through the dusk . he said : was n&apos;t sure you &apos;d get through , Happy . where &apos;s the soldiers for tomorrow ? other side of the mountains . everybody &apos;s chased out . what ai n&apos;t forted up here was sent into Lordsburg . he looked first at the army girl , then appraised Henriette instantly . his eyes slid on to Malpais Bill standing in the background . recognition stirred him then and made his voice careful . hello , Bill . what brings you this way ? Malpais Bill &apos;s cigarette glowed in the gathering dusk and Henriette caught the brief image of his face , serene and watchful . Malpais Bill &apos;s tone was easy , it was soft . just the trip . they were moving on towards the frame house . as the army girl walked into the station &apos;s big room , a soldier in a dishevelled uniform stepped forward . he said : Miss Robertson ? Lieutenant Hauser was to have met you here . he is at Lordsburg . he was wounded in a brush with the Apaches last night . the girl stood very still . she said : badly ? well , yes , said the soldier . Henriette &apos;s dove-coloured dress blended with the background shadows . she was watching the other girl &apos;s face whiten . but there was a strength in the army girl , a fortitude that made her think of the soldier . for she said quietly : you must have had a bad trip . nothing - nothing at all , said the soldier . as the trooper left the room , the gambler turned to the army girl with an odd expression , as though he were remembering painful things . after dinner , Malpais Bill lounged , cigarette in hand , in the yard . the moonlight was a frozen silver that could not dissolve the desert &apos;s incredible blackness . as Henriette walked towards him from the Tonto road , her face was clear and strange and incurious in the night . he said : Apaches like to crawl down next to a settlement and wait for strays . she was indifferent , unafraid . her voice was cool , and he could hear the faint loneliness in it , the fatalism that made her words so even . there &apos;s a wind coming up , so soft and good . he took off his hat , long legs braced and his eyes quick and puzzled in their watchfulness . his blond hair glowed in the fugitive light . his lips were restless and the sing and rush of strong feeling was like a current of quick wind around him . it was that unruly . you have folks in Lordsburg ? she spoke in a direct patient way as though explaining something he should have known without asking . I run a house in Lordsburg . no , he said , it was n&apos;t what I asked . my folks are dead - I think . there was a massacre in the Superstition Mountains when I was a baby . he stood with his head bowed . there was a hardness and a rawness to this land and little sympathy for the weak . she had survived , and had paid for her survival and she looked at him now in a way that offered no explanation or apologies . he said : over in the Tonto Basin it &apos;s fine land . I still have a piece of a ranch there - with a house half built . if that &apos;s your country , why are you here ? his lips laughed and the rashness in him glowed hot again and he seemed to grow taller in the moonlight . a debt to collect . you will never get through collecting those kind of debts . everybody in the territory knows you . once you were just a rancher . then you tried to wipe out a grudge and then there was a bigger one to wipe out - and the debt kept growing and more men are waiting to kill you . some day a man will . run away from the debts . his bright smile kept constant , which made her shoulders lift in resignation . no , she murmured . you will n&apos;t run . he said : we &apos;d better go back , and they went across the yard in silence . she turned to look at him once more and then passed down the narrow corridor to her own quarters . beyond her window in the yard , a man was murmuring to another man : Plummer and Shanley are in Lordsburg . Malpais Bill knows it . through the thin partition of the adjoining room she heard the army girl crying with uncontrollable regularity . Henriette stared at the dark wall , her shoulders and head bowed . then she returned to the hall , knocked on the army girl &apos;s door and went in . it was morning . six fresh horses fidgeted in front of the coach and the fat host of Gap Station came across the yard swinging a lantern against the dead , bitter black . all the passengers filed sleep-dulled and miserable from the house . the Gap host grumbled : if they do n&apos;t jump you before you get to Al &apos;s ranch , you &apos;ll be all right . it was noon when Henriette caught the smell of smoke in the windless air . looking through the angled vista of the window panel she saw a clay and rock chimney standing up like a gaunt skeleton against the day &apos;s light . the house that had been there was a black square on the ground , smoke still rising from pieces that had not been completely burned . the stage stopped and all the men were instantly out . an iron stove squatted on the earth , with one section of pipe stuck upright to it . fire licked lazily along the collapsed fragments of what had been a trunk . beyond the house lay two nude figures grotesquely bald , with deliberate knife-slashes marking their bodies . Happy Stuart walked over and returned quickly . Al and his wife . Malpais Bill knew now that they had a battle ahead . with Happy and the shotgun guard he clambered on to the coach roof - ready for the fight . back on the coach , the gambler said to the army girl : you &apos;re pretty safe between two fellows . he hauled a .44 from a back pocket and laid it on his lap . the Englishman pulled the rifle from between his knees and laid it across the sill of the window . the cattleman swept back his coat to clear the gun holster . Henriette sat with her eyes pinned to the gloved tips of her fingers , remembering the tall shape of Malpais Bill cut against the moonlight of Gap Station . he had smiled at her as a man might smile at any desirable woman , with the sweep and swing of laughter in his voice . his eyes had been gentle . the gambler spoke very quietly and she did n&apos;t hear him until his fingers gripped her arm . he said again , not raising his voice : get down . Henriette dropped to her knees , hearing gunfire blast through the rush and run of the coach . Happy Stuart ceased to yell and the army girl &apos;s eyes were round and dark , yet showing no fright . looking upward through the window on the gambler &apos;s side , Henriette saw the weaving figure of an Apache warrior reel nakedly on a pony and rush by with a rifle raised and pointed in his bony elbows . the gambler took a cool aim . the stockman fired and aimed again . the Englishman &apos;s sporting rifle blasted heavy echoes through the coach , hurting her ears , and the smell of powder got rank and bitter . the blond man &apos;s boots scraped the coach top and round small holes began to dimple the panelling as the Apaches &apos; bullets struck . an Indian came boldly abreast the coach and made a target that could n&apos;t be missed . the cattleman dropped him with one shot . the coach hubs screamed as its wheels slewed around the sharp ruts and the whole heavy superstructure bounced high in the air . the gambler said , quietly : you &apos;d better take this , handing Henriette his gun . he leaned against the door , with his small hands gripping the sill . pallor loosened the cheeks . he said , to the army girl : be sure to keep between those gentlemen . he slumped on to the window sill . they were rolling down the mountain without brake . gunfire fell off and the crying of the Indians faded back . coming up from her knees then , she saw the desert &apos;s flat surface far below , with the angular pattern of Lordsburg vaguely on the far borders of the heat fog . with a roar , Happy Stuart &apos;s voice lifted again and brakes were screaming on the wheels , and going off , and screaming again . the Englishman stared out of the window sullenly . the army girl seemed in a deep desperate dream . the cattleman &apos;s face was shining with a strange sweat . 