A Texas Ranger

By William MacLeod Raine, 1910

 FOREWORD TO YE GENTLE READER. 

Within the memory of those of us still on the sunny side of forty themore remote West has passed from rollicking boyhood to its responsiblemajority. The frontier has gone to join the good Indian. In place ofthe ranger who patrolled the border for "bad men" has come the forestranger, type of the forward lapping tide of civilization. The placewhere I write this-- Tucson, Arizona-- is now essentially morecivilized than New York. Only at the moving picture shows can the oldWest, melodramatically overpainted, be shown to the manicured sons anddaughters of those, still living, who brought law and order to themesquite. 

As Arthur Chapman, the Western poet, has written:

 No loopholes now are framing Lean faces, grim and brown; No more keen eyes are aiming To bring the redskin down. The plough team's trappings jingle Across the furrowed field, And sounds domestic mingle Where valor hung its shield. But every wind careering Seems here to breathe a song-- A song of brave frontiering-- A saga of the strong. 

 Part I

 (In Which Steve Plays Second Fiddle)

THE MAN FROM THE PANHANDLE

 CHAPTER I

 A DESERT MEETING

As she lay crouched in the bear-grass there came to the girl clearlythe crunch of wheels over disintegrated granite. The trap had dippedinto a draw, but she knew that presently it would reappear on thewinding road. The knowledge smote her like a blast of winter, sentchills racing down her spine, and shook her as with an ague. Only thedesperation of her plight spurred her flagging courage. 

Round the bend came a pair of bays hitched to a single-seated openrig. They were driven by a young man, and as he reached the summit hedrew up opposite her and looked down into the valley. 

It lay in a golden glow at their feet, a basin of pure light andsilence stretching mile on mile to the distant edge of jaggedmountain-line which formed its lip. Sunlight strong as wine flooded aclean world, an amber Eden slumbering in an unbroken, hazy dreamprimeval. 

"Don't move!"

At the summons the driver swung his head sharply to a picture he willnever forget. A young woman was standing on the bank at the edge ofthe road covering him with a revolver, having apparently just steppedfrom behind the trunk of the cottonwood beside her. The color had fledher cheeks even to the edge of the dull red-copper waves of hair, buthe could detect in her slim young suppleness no doubt or uncertainty. On the contrary, despite her girlish freshness, she looked very muchlike business. She was like some young wild creature of the forestcornered and brought to bay, but the very terror in her soul renderedher more dangerous. Of the heart beating like a trip-hammer the grayunwinking eyes that looked into hers read nothing. She had schooledher taut nerves to obedience, and they answered her resolute willsteadily despite fluttering pulses. 

"Don't move!" she said again. 

"What do you want?" he asked harshly. 

"I want your team, " she panted. 

"What for?"

"Never mind. I want it. "

The rigor of his gaze slowly softened to a smile compound both ofhumor and grimness. He was a man to appreciate a piquant situation, none the less because it was at his expense. The spark that gleamed inhis bold eye held some spice of the devil. 

"All right. This is your hold-up, ma'am. I'll not move, " he said, almost genially. 

She was uneasily aware that his surrender had been too tame. Strengthlay in that close-gripped salient jaw, in every line of the recklesssardonic face, in the set of the lean muscular shoulders. She hadnerved herself to meet resistance, and instead he was yielding withcomplacent good nature. 

"Get out!" she commanded. 

He stepped from the rig and offered her the reins. As she reached forthem his right hand shot out and caught the wrist that held theweapon, his left encircled her waist and drew her to him. She gave alittle cry of fear and strained from him, fighting with all her lissomstrength to free herself. 

For all the impression she made the girdle round her waist might havebeen of steel. Without moving, he held her as she struggled, his brownmuscular fingers slowly tightening round her wrist. Her stifled crywas of pain this time, and before it had died the revolver fell to theground from her paralyzed grip. 

But her exclamation had been involuntary and born of the soft tenderflesh. The wild eyes that flamed into his asked for no quarter andreceived none. He drew her slowly down toward him, inch by inch, tillshe lay crushed and panting against him, but still unconquered. Thoughhe held the stiff resistant figure motionless she still flashed battleat him. 

He looked into the storm and fury of her face, hiding he knew not whatof terror, and laughed in insolent delight. Then, very deliberately, he kissed her lips. 

"You-- coward!" came instantly her choking defiance. 

"Another for that, " he laughed, kissing her again. 

Her little fist beat against his face and he captured it, but as helooked at her something that had come into the girl's face moved hisnot very accessible heart. The salt of the adventure was gone, hisvictory worse than a barren one. For stark fear stared at him, nakedand unconcealed, and back of that he glimpsed a subtle something thathe dimly recognized for the outraged maidenly modesty he had soruthlessly trampled upon. His hands fell to his side reluctantly. 

She stumbled back against the tree trunk, watching him with fascinatedeyes that searched him anxiously. They found their answer, and with along ragged breath the girl turned and burst into hysterical tears. 

The man was amazed. A moment since the fury of a tigress had possessedher. Now she was all weak womanish despair. She leaned against thecottonwood and buried her face in her arm, the while uneven sobs shookher slender body. He frowned resentfully at this change of front, andbecause his calloused conscience was disturbed he began to justifyhimself. Why didn't she play it out instead of coming the baby act onhim? She had undertaken to hold him up and he had made her payforfeit. He didn't see that she had any kick coming. If she was thiskind of a boarding-school kid she ought not to have monkeyed with thebuzz-saw. She was lucky he didn't take her to El Paso with him andhave her jailed. 

"I reckon we'll listen to explanations now, " he said grimly after aminute of silence interrupted only by her sobs. 

The little fist that had struck at his face now bruised itself inunconscious blows at the bark of the tree. He waited till the staccatobreaths had subsided, then took her by the shoulders and swung herround. 

"You have the floor, ma'am. What does this gun-play business mean?"

Through the tears her angry eyes flashed starlike. 

"I sha'n't tell you, " she flamed. "You had no right to-- How dared youinsult me as you have?"

"Did I insult you?" he asked, with suave gentleness. "Then if you feelinsulted I expect you lay claim to being a lady. But I reckon thatdon't fit in with holding up strangers at the end of a gun. If I'veinsulted you I'll ce'tainly apologize, but you'll have to show me Ihave. We're in Texas, which is next door but one to Missouri, ma'am. "

"I don't want your apologies. I detest and hate you, " she cried, "That's your privilege, ma'am, and it's mine to know whyfor I'm heldup with a gun when I'm traveling peaceably along the road, " heanswered evenly. 

"I'll not tell you. "

He spoke softly as if to himself. "That's too bad. I kinder hate totake her to jail, but I reckon I must. "

She shrank back, aghast and white. 

"No, no! You don't understand. I didn't mean to-- I only wanted-- Why, I meant to pay you for the team. "

"I'll understand when you tell me, " he said placidly. 

"I've told you. I needed the team. I was going to let you have one ofour horses and seventy-five dollars. It's all I have with me. "

"One of your horses, you say? With seventy-five dollars to boot? Andyou was intending to arrange the trade from behind that gun. I expectyou needed a team right bad. "

His steady eyes rested on her, searched her, appraised her, while hemeditated aloud in a low easy drawl. 

"Yes, you ce'tainly must need the team. Now I wonder why? Well, I'dhate to refuse a lady anything she wants as bad as you do that. " Heswiftly swooped down and caught up her revolver from the ground, tossed it into the air so as to shift his hold from butt to barrel, and handed it to her with a bow. "Allow me to return the pop-gun youdropped, ma'am, "

She snatched it from him and leveled it at him so that it almosttouched his forehead. He looked at her and laughed in delightedmockery. 

"All serene, ma'am. You've got me dead to rights again. "

His very nonchalance disarmed her. What could she do while his lowlaughter mocked her?

"When you've gone through me complete I think I'll take a littlepasear over the hill and have a look at your hawss. Mebbe we mightstill do business. "

As he had anticipated, his suggestion filled her with alarm. She flewto bar the way. 

"You can't go. It isn't necessary. "

"Sho! Of course it's necessary. Think I'm going to buy a hawss I'venever seen?" he asked, with deep innocence. 

"I'll bring it here. "

"In Texas, ma'am, we wait on the ladies. Still, it's your say-so whenyou're behind that big gun. "

He said it laughing, and she threw the weapon angrily into the seat ofthe rig. 

"Thank you, ma'am. I'll amble down and see what's behind the hill. "

By the flinch in her eyes he tested his center shot and knew it true. Her breast was rising and falling tumultuously. A shiver ran throughher. 

"No-- no. I'm not hiding-- anything, " she gasped. 

"Then if you're not you can't object to my going there. "

She caught her hands together in despair. There was about himsomething masterful that told her she could not prevent him frominvestigating; and it was impossible to guess how he would act afterhe knew. The men she had known had been bound by convention to respecta woman's wishes, but even her ignorance of his type made guess thatthis steel-eyed, close-knit young Westerner-- or was he aSoutherner?-- would be impervious to appeals founded upon the rules ofthe society to which she had been accustomed. A glance at hisstone-wall face, at the lazy confidence of his manner, made herdismally aware that the data gathered by her experience of themasculine gender were insufficient to cover this specimen. 

"You can't go. "

But her imperative refusal was an appeal. For though she hated himfrom the depths of her proud, untamed heart for the humiliation he hadput upon her, yet for the sake of that ferocious hunted animal she hadleft lying under a cottonwood she must bend her spirit to win him. 

"I'm going to sit in this game and see it out, " he said, not unkindly. 

"Please!"

Her sweet slenderness barred the way about as electively as a motherquail does the road to her young. He smiled, put his big hands on herelbows, and gently lifted her to one side. Then he strode forwardlightly, with the long, easy, tireless stride of a beast of prey, striking direct for his quarry. 

A bullet whizzed by his ear, and like a flash of light his weapon wasunscabbarded and ready for action. He felt a flame of fire scorch hischeek and knew a second shot had grazed him. 

"Hands up! Quick!" ordered the traveler. 

Lying on the ground before him was a man with close-cropped hair and avillainous scarred face. A revolver in his hand showed the source ofthe bullets. 

Eye to eye the men measured strength, fighting out to the last ditchthe moral battle which was to determine the physical one. Sullenly, atthe last, the one on the ground shifted his gaze and dropped his gunwith a vile curse. 

"Run to earth, " he snarled, his lip lifting from the tobacco-stainedupper teeth in an ugly fashion. 

The girl ran toward the Westerner and caught at his arm. "Don'tshoot, " she implored

Without moving his eyes from the man on the ground he swept her back. 

"This outfit is too prevalent with its hardware, " he growled. "Chewout an explanation, my friend, or you're liable to get spoiled. "

It was the girl that spoke, in a low voice and very evidently under atense excitement. 

"He is my brother and he has-- hurt himself. He can't ride any fartherand we have seventy miles still to travel. We didn't know what to do, and so--"

"You started out to be a road-agent and he took a pot-shot at thefirst person he saw. I'm surely obliged to you both for taking so muchinterest in me, or rather in my team. Robbery and murder are quite afamily pastime, ain't they?"

The girl went white as snow, seemed to shrink before his sneer as froma deadly weapon; and like a flash of light some divination of thetruth pierced the Westerner's brain. They were fugitives from justice, making for the Mexican line. That the man was wounded a single glancehad told him. It was plain to be seen that the wear and tear ofkeeping the saddle had been too much for him. 

"I acted on an impulse, " the girl explained in the same low tone. "Isaw you coming and I didn't know-- hadn't money enough to buy theteam-- besides--"

He took the words out of her mouth when she broke down. 

"Besides, I might have happened to be a sheriff. I might be, but thenI'm not. "

The traveler stepped forward and kicked the wounded man's revolverbeyond his reach, then swiftly ran a hand over him to make sure hecarried no other gun. 

The fellow on the ground eyed him furtively. "What are you going to dowith me?" he growled. 

The other addressed himself to the girl, ignoring him utterly. 

"What has this man done?"

"He has-- broken out from-- from prison. "

"Where?"

"At Yuma. "

"Damn you, you're snitching, " interrupted the criminal in a screamthat was both wheedling and threatening. 

The young man put his foot on the burly neck and calmly ground it intothe dust. Otherwise he paid no attention to him, but held the burningeyes of the girl that stared at him from a bloodless face. 

"What was he in for?"

"For holding up a train. "

She had answered in spite of herself, by reason of somethingcompelling in him that drew the truth from her. 

"How long has he been in the penitentiary?"

"Seven years. " Then, miserably, she added: "He was weak and fell intobad company. They led him into it. "

"When did he escape?"

"Two days ago. Last night he knocked at my window-- at the window ofthe room where I lodge in Fort Lincoln. I had not heard of his escape, but I took him in. There were horses in the barn. One of them wasmine. I saddled, and after I had dressed his wound we started. Hecouldn't get any farther than this. "

"Do you live in Fort Lincoln?"

"I came there to teach school. My home was in Wisconsin before. "

"You came out here to be near him?"

"Yes. That is, near as I could get a school. I was to have got in theTucson schools next year. That's much nearer. "

"You visited him at the penitentiary?"

"No. I was going to during the Thanksgiving vacation. Until last nightI had not seen him since he left home. I was a child of seven then. "

The Texan looked down at the ruffian under his feet. 

"Do you know the road to Mexico by the Arivaca cut-off?"

"Yes. "

"Then climb into my rig and hit the trail hard-- burn it up tillyou've crossed the line. "

The fellow began to whine thanks, but the man above would have none ofthem, "I'm giving you this chance for your sister's sake. You won'tmake anything of it. You're born for meanness and deviltry. I knowyour kind from El Paso to Dawson. But she's game and she's white clearthrough, even if she is your sister and a plumb little fool. Can youwalk to the road?" he ended abruptly. 

"I think so. It's in my ankle. Some hell-hound gave it me while wewere getting over the wall, " the fellow growled. 

"Don't blame him. His intentions were good. He meant to blow out yourbrains. "

The convict cursed vilely, but in the midst of his impotent rage theother stopped and dragged him to his feet. 

"That's enough. You padlock that ugly mouth and light a shuck. "

The girl came forward and the man leaned heavily on her as he limpedto the road. The Texan followed with the buckskin she had been ridingand tied it to the back of the road-wagon. 

"Give me my purse, " the girl said to the convict after they wereseated. 

She emptied it and handed the roll of bills it contained to the ownerof the team. He looked at it and at her, then shook his head. 

"You'll need it likely. I reckon I can trust you. Schoolmarms aremostly reliable. "

"I had rather pay now, " she answered tartly. 

"What's the rush?"

"I prefer to settle with you now. "

"All right, but I'm in no sweat for my money. My team and the wagonare worth two hundred and fifty dollars. Put this plug at forty and itwould be high. " He jerked his head toward the brush where the othersaddle-horse was. "That leaves me a balance of about two hundred andten. Is that fair?"

She bit her lip in vexation. "I expect so, but I haven't that muchwith me. Can't I pay this seventy on account?"

"No, ma'am, you can't. All or none. " There was a gleam of humor in hishard eyes. "I reckon you better let me come and collect after you getback to Fort Lincoln. "

She took out a note-book and pencil. "If you will give me your nameand address please. "

He smiled hardily at her. "I've clean forgotten them. "

There was a warning flash in her disdainful eye. 

"Just as you like. My name is Margaret Kinney. I will leave the moneyfor you at the First National Bank. "

She gathered up the rains deftly. 

"One moment. " He laid a hand on the lines. "I reckon you think I oweyou an apology for what happened when we first met. "

A flood of spreading color dyed her cheeks. "I don't think anythingabout it. "

"Oh, yes, you do, " he contradicted. "And you're going to think a heapmore about it. You're going to lay awake nights going over it. "

Out of eyes like live coals she gave him one look. "Will you take yourhands from these reins please?"

"Presently. Just now I'm talking and you're listening. "

"I don't care to hear any apologies, sir, " she said stiffly. 

"I'm not offering any, " he laughed, yet stung by her words. 

"You're merely insulting me again, I presume?"

"Some young women need punishing. I expect you're one. "

She handed him the horsewhip, a sudden pulse of passion beatingfiercely in her throat. "Very well. Make an end of it and let me seethe last of you, " she challenged. 

He cracked the lash expertly so that the horses quivered and wouldhave started if his strong hand had not tightened on the lines. 

The Westerner laughed again. "You're game anyhow. "

"When you are quite through with me, " she suggested, very quietly. 

But he noticed the fury of her deep-pupiled eyes, the turbulent riseand fall of her bosom. 

"I'll not punish you that way this time. " And he gave back the whip. 

"If you won't use it I will. "

The lash flashed up and down, twined itself savagely round his wrist, and left behind a bracelet of crimson. Startled, the horses leapedforward. The reins slipped free from his numbed fingers. Miss Kinneyhad made her good-by and was descending swiftly into the valley. 

The man watched the rig sweep along that branch of the road which ledto the south. Then he looked at his wrist and laughed. 

"The plucky little devil! She's a thoroughbred for fair. You bet I'llmake her pay for this. But ain't she got sand in her craw? She'ssurely hating me proper. " He laughed again in remembrance of the wholeepisode, finding in it something that stirred his blood immensely. 

After the trap had swept round a curve out of sight he disappeared inthe mesquite and bear-grass, presently returning with the roan thathad been ridden by the escaped convict. 

"Whoever would suppose she was the sister of that scurvy scalawag withjailbird branded all over his hulking hide? He ain't fit to wipe herlittle feet on. She's as fine as silk. Think of her going through whatshe is to save that coyote, and him as crooked as a dog's hind leg. There ain't any limit to what a good woman will do for a man when shethinks he's got a claim on her, more especially if he's a ruffian. "

With this bit of philosophic observation he rolled a cigarette and litit. 

"Him fall into bad company and be led away?" he added in disgust. "There ain't any worse than him. But he'll work her to the limitbefore she finds it out. "

Leisurely he swung to the saddle and rode down into the valley of theSan Xavier, which rolled away from his feet in numberless tawny wavesof unfeatured foot-hills and mesas and washes. Almost as far as theeye could see there stretched a sea of hilltops bathed in sun. Only onthe west were they bounded, by the irregular saw-toothed edge of theFrenchman Hills, silhouetted against an incomparable blue. For astretch of many miles the side of the range was painted scarlet bymillions of poppies splashed broadcast. 

"Nature's gone to flower-gardening for fair on the mountains, "murmured the rider. "What with one thing and another I've got a notionI'm going to take a liking to this country. "

The man was plainly very tired with rapid travel, and about the middleof the afternoon the young man unsaddled and picketed the animal neara water-hole. He lay down in the shadow of a cottonwood, flat on hisback, face upturned to the deep cobalt sky. Presently the drowse ofthe afternoon crept over him. The slumberous valley grew hazy to hisnodding eyes. The reluctant lids ceased to open and he was fastasleep. 

 CHAPTER II

 LIEUTENANT FRASER INTERFERES. 

The sun had declined almost to a saddle in the Cuesta del Burro whenthe sleeper reopened his eyes. Even before he had shaken himself freeof sleep he was uneasily aware of something wrong. Hazily the sound ofvoices drifted to him across an immense space. Blurred figures crossedbefore his unfocused gaze. 

The first thing he saw clearly was the roan, still grazing in thecircle of its picket-rope. Beside the bronco were two men looking theanimal over critically. 

"Been going some, " he heard one remark, pointing at the same time tothe sweat-stains that streaked the shoulders and flanks. 

"If he had me on his back he'd still be burning the wind, me being inhis boots, " returned the second, with a grating laugh, jerking hishead toward the sleeper. "Whatever led the durned fool to stop thisside of the line beats me. "

"If he was hiking for Chihuahua he's been hitting a mighty crookedtrail. I don't savvy it, him knowing the country as well as they sayhe does, " the first speaker made answer. 

The traveler's circling eye now discovered two more men, each of themcovering him with a rifle. A voice from the rear assured him there wasalso a fifth member to the party. 

"Look out! He's awake, " it warned. 

The young man's hand inadvertently moved toward his revolver-butt. This drew a sharp imperative order from one of the men in front. 

"Throw up your hands, and damn quick!"

"You seem to have the call, gentlemen, " he smiled. "Would you mindtelling me what it's all about?"

"You know what it's all about as well as we do. Collect his gun, Tom. "

"This hold-up business seems to be a habit in this section. Secondtime to-day I've been the victim of it, " said the victim easily. 

"It will be the last, " retorted one of the men grimly. 

"If you're after the mazuma you've struck a poor bank. "

"You've got your nerve, " cried one of the men in a rage; and anotherdemanded: "Where did you get that hawss?"

"Why, I got it--" The young man stopped in the middle of his sentence. His jaw clamped and his eyes grew hard. "I expect you better explainwhat right you got to ask that question. "

The man laughed without cordiality. "Seeing as I have owned it threeyears I allow I have some right. "

"What's the use of talking? He's the man we want, broke in anotherimpatiently. 

"Who is the man you want?" asked their prisoner. 

"You're the man we want, Jim Kinney. "

"Wrong guess. My name is Larry Neill. I'm from the Panhandle and I'venever been in this part of the country till two days ago. "

"You may have a dozen names. We don't care what you call yourself. Ofcourse you would deny being the man we're after. But that don't gowith us. "

"All right. Take me back to Fort Lincoln, or take me to the prisonofficials. They will tell you whether I am the man. "

The leader of the party pounced on his slip. "Who mentioned prison?Who told you we wanted an escaped prisoner?"

"He's give himself away, " triumphed the one edged Tom. "I guess thatclinches it. He's riding Maloney's hawss. He's wounded; so's the manwe want. He answers the description-- gray eyes, tall, slim, muscular. Same gun-- automatic Colt. Tell you there's nothin' to it, Duffield. "

"If you're not Kinney, how come you with this hawss? He stole it froma barn in Fort Lincoln last night. That's known, " said the leader, Duffield. 

The imperilled man thought of the girl bing toward the border with herbrother and the remembrance padlocked his tongue. 

"Take me to the proper authorities and I'll answer questions. But, I'll not talk here. What's the use? You don't believe a word I say. "

"You spoke the truth that time, " said one. 

"If you ever want to do any explaining now's the hour, " added another. 

"I'll do mine later, gentlemen. "

They looked at each other and one of them spoke. 

"It will be too late to explain then. "

"Too late?"

Some inkling of the man's hideous meaning seared him and ran like anice-blast through him. 

"You've done all the meanness you'll ever do in this world. Poor DaveLong is the last man you'll ever kill. We're going to do justice rightnow. "

"Dave Long! I never heard of him, " the prisoner repeated mechanically. "Good God, do you think I'm a murderer?"

One of the men thrust himself forward. "We know it. Y'u and thathellish partner of yours shot him while he was locking the gate. Buty'u made a mistake when y'u come to Fort Lincoln. He lived therebefore he went to be a guard at the Arizona penitentiary. I'm hisbrother. These gentlemen are his neighbors. Y'u're not going back toprison. Y'u're going to stay right here under this cottonwood. "

If the extraordinary menace of the man appalled Neill he gave no signof it. His gray eye passed from one to another of them quietly withoutgiving any sign of the impotent tempest raging within him. 

"You're going to lynch me then?"

"Y'u've called the turn. "

"Without giving me a chance to prove my innocence?"

"Without giving y'u a chance to escape or sneak back to thepenitentiary. "

The thing was horribly unthinkable. The warm mellow afternoon sunshinewrapped them about. The horses grazed with quiet unconcern. One ofthese hard-faced frontiersmen was chewing tobacco with machine-likeregularity. Another was rolling a cigarette. There was nothing ofdramatic effect. Not a man had raised his voice. But Neill knew therewas no appeal. He had come to the end of the passage through ahorrible mistake. He raged in bitter resentment against his fate, against these men who stood so quietly about him ready to execute it, most of all against the girl who had let him sacrifice himself byconcealing the vital fact that her brother had murdered a guard toeffect his escape. Fool that he had been, he had stumbled into a trap, and she had let him do it without a word of warning. Wild, chaoticthoughts crowded his brain furiously. 

But the voice with which he addressed them was singularly even andcolorless. 

"I am a stranger to this country. I was born in Tennessee, brought upin the Panhandle. I'm an irrigation engineer by profession. This is myvacation. I'm headed now for the Mal Pais mines. Friends of mine areinterested in a property there with me and I have been sent to lookthe ground over and make a report. I never heard of Kinney tillto-day. You've got the wrong man, gentlemen. "

"We'll risk it, " laughed one brutally. "Bring that riata, Tom. "

Neill did not struggle or cry out frantically. He stood motionlesswhile they adjusted the rope round his bronzed throat. They had judgedhim for a villain; they should at least know him a man. So he stoodthere straight and lithe, wide-shouldered and lean-flanked, a man in athousand. Not a twitch of the well-packed muscles, not a quiver of theeyelash nor a swelling of the throat betrayed any fear. His cool eyeswere quiet and steady. 

"If you want to leave any message for anybody I'll see it'sdelivered, " promised Duffield. 

"I'll not trouble you with any. "

"Just as you like. "

"He didn't give poor Dave any time for messages, " cried Tom Longbitterly. 

"That's right, " assented another with a curse. 

It was plain to the victim they were spurring their nerves tohardihood. 

"Who's that?" cried one of the men, pointing to a rider gallopingtoward them. 

The newcomer approached rapidly, covered by their weapons, and flunghimself from his pony as he dragged it to a halt beside the group. 

"Steve Fraser, " cried Duffield in surprise, and added, "He's anofficer in the rangers. "

"Right, gentlemen. Come to claim my prisoner, " said the rangerpromptly. 

"Y'u can't have him, Steve. We took him and he's got to hang. "

The lieutenant of rangers shook his dark curly head. 

"Won't do, Duffield. Won't do at all, " he said decisively. "You'dought to know law's on top in Texas these days. "

Tom Long shouldered his way to the front. "Law! Where was the law whenthis ruffian Kinney shot down my poor brother Dave? I guess a rope anda cottonwood's good enough law for him. Anyhow, that's what he gits. "

Fraser, hard-packed, lithe, and graceful, laid a friendly hand on theother's shoulder and smiled sunnily at him. 

"I know how you feel, Tom. We all thought a heap of Dave and you'rehis brother. But Dave died for the law. Both you boys have alwaysstood for order. He'd be troubled if he knew you were turned enemy toit on his account. "

"I'm for justice, Steve. This skunk deserves death and I'm going tosee he gits it. "

"No, Tom. "

"I say yes. Y'u ain't sitting in this game, Steve. "

"I reckon I'll have to take a hand then. "

The ranger's voice was soft and drawling, but his eyes wereindomitably steady. Throughout the Southwest his reputation forfearlessness was established even among a population singularlycourageous. The audacity of his daredevil recklessness was become aproverb. 

"We got a full table. Better ride away and forget it, " said another. 

"That ain't what I'm paid for, Jack, " returned Fraser good-naturedly. "Better turn him over to me peaceable, boys. He'll get what's comingto him all right. "

"He'll get it now, Steve, without any help of yours. We don't aim toallow any butting in. "

"Don't you?"

There was a flash of steel as the ranger dived forward. Next instanthe and the prisoner stood with their backs to the cottonwood, arevolver having somehow leaped from its scabbard to his hand. Hishunting-knife had sheared at a stroke the riata round the engineer'sneck. 

"Take it easy, boys, " urged Fraser, still in his gentle drawl, to theastonished vigilantes whom his sudden sally had robbed of theirvictim. "Think about it twice. We'll all be a long time dead. No usein hurrying the funerals. "

Nevertheless he recognized battle as inevitable. Friends of his thoughthey were, he knew these sturdy plainsmen would never submit to befoiled in their purpose by one man. In the momentary silence beforethe clash the quiet voice of the prisoner made itself heard. 

"Just a moment, gentlemen. I don't want you spilling lead over me. I'mthe wrong man, and I can prove it if you'll give me time. Here's thekey to my room at the hotel in San Antonio. In my suit-case you'llfind letters that prove--"

"We don't need them. I've got proof right here, " cut in Fraser, remembering. 

He slipped a hand into his coat pocket and drew out two photographs. "Boys, here are the pictures and descriptions of the two men thatescaped from Yuma the other day. I hadn't had time to see thisgentleman before he spoke, being some busy explaining the situation toyou, but a blind jackass could see he don't favor either Kinney orStruve, You're sure barking up the wrong tree. "

The self-appointed committee for the execution of justice and the manfrom the Panhandle looked the prison photographs over blankly. Betweenthe hard, clean-cut face of their prisoner and those that looked atthem from the photographs it was impossible to find any resemblance. Duffield handed the prints back with puzzled chagrin. 

"I guess you're right, Steve. But I'd like this gentleman to explainhow come he to be riding the horse one of these miscreants stole fromMaloney's barn last night. "

Steve looked at the prisoner. "It's your spiel, friend, " he said. 

"All right. I'll tell you some facts. Just as I was coming down fromthe Roskruge range this mo'ning I was held up for my team. One ofthese fellows-- the one called Kinney-- had started from Fort Lincolnon this roan here, but he was wounded and broke down. There was somegun-play, and he gave me this scratch on the cheek. The end of it wasthat he took my team and left me with his worn-out bronc. I plugged onall day with the hawss till about three mebbe, then seeing it was allin I unsaddled and picketed. I lay down and dropped asleep. Next Iknew the necktie-party was in session. "

"What time was it y'u met this fellow Kinney?" asked Long sharply. 

"Must have been about nine or nine-thirty I judge. "

"And it's five now. That's eight hours' start, and four more before wecan cut his trail on Roskruge. By God, we've lost him!"

"Looks like, " agreed another ruefully. 

"Make straight for the Arivaca cut-off and you ought to stand a show, "suggested Fraser. 

"That's right. If we ride all night, might beat him to it" Each of thefive contributed a word of agreement. 

Five minutes later the Texan and the ranger watched a dust-clouddrifting to the south. In it was hidden the posse disappearing overthe hilltop. 

Steve grinned. "I hate to disappoint the boys. They're so plumbanxious. But I reckon I'll strike the telephone line and send word toMoreno for one of the rangers to cut out after Kinney. Going my way, seh?"

"If you're going mine. "

"I reckon I am. And just to pass the time you might tell me the realstory of that hold-up while we ride. "

"The real story?"

"Well, I don't aim to doubt your word, but I reckon you forgot to tellsome of it. " He turned on the other his gay smile. "For instance, seh, you ain't asking me to believe that you handed over your rig to Kinneyso peaceful and that he went away and clean forgot to unload from youthat gun you pack. "

The eyes of the two met and looked into each other's as clear andstraight as Texas sunshine. Slowly Neill's relaxed into a smile. 

"No, I won't ask you to believe that. I owe you something because yousaved my life--"

"Forget it, " commanded the lieutenant crisply. 

"And I can't do less than tell you the whole story. "

He told it, yet not the whole of it either; for there was one detailhe omitted completely. It had to do with the cause for existence ofthe little black-and-blue bruise under his right eye and the purpleridge that seamed his wrist. Nor with all his acuteness could StephenFraser guess that the one swelling had been made by a gold ring on theclenched fist of an angry girl held tight in Larry Neill's arms, theother by the lash of a horsewhip wielded by the same young woman. 

 CHAPTER III

 A DISCOVERY

The roan, having been much refreshed by a few hours on grass, provedto be a good traveller. The two men took a road-gait and held itsteadily till they reached a telephone-line which stretched across thedesert and joined two outposts of civilization. Steve strapped on hisclimbing spurs and went up a post lightly with his test outfit. In afew minutes he had Moreno on the wire and was in touch with one of hisrangers. 

"Hello! This you, Ferguson? This is Fraser. No, Fraser-- LieutenantFraser. Yes. How many of the boys can you get in touch with rightaway? Two? Good. I want you to cover the Arivaca cut-off. Kinney isheaded that way in a rig. His sister is with him. She is not to beinjured under any circumstances. Understand? Wire me at the Mal Paismines to-morrow your news. By the way, Tom Long and some of the boysare headed down that way with notions of lynching Kinney. Dodge themif you can and rush your man up to the Mal Pais. Good-bye. "

"Suppose they can't dodge them?" ventured Neill after Steve hadrejoined him. 

"I reckon they can. If not-- well, my rangers are good boys; I expectthey won't give up a prisoner. "

"I'm right glad to find you are going to the Mal Pais mines with me, lieutenant. I wasn't expecting company on the way. "

"I'll bet a dollar Mex against two plunks gold that you're wonderingwhyfor I'm going. "

Larry laughed. "You're right. I was wondering. "

"Well, then, it's this way. What with all these boys on Kinney's trailhe's as good as rounded up. Fact is, Kinney's only a weak sisteranyhow. He turned State's witness at the trial, and it was histestimony that convicted Struve. I know something about this because Ihappened to be the man that caught Struve. I had just joined therangers. It was my first assignment. The other three got away. Two ofthem escaped and the third was not tried for lack of sufficientevidence. Now, then: Kinney rides the rods from Yuma to Marfa and isnow or had ought to be somewhere in this valley between Posa Buena andTaylor's ranch. But where is Struve, the hardier ruffian of the two?He ain't been seen since they broke out. He sure never reached Ft. Lincoln. My notion is that he dropped off the train in the darknessabout Casa Grande, then rolled his tail for the Mal Pais country. Youreyes are asking whys mighty loud, my friend; and my answer is thatthere's a man up there mebbe who has got to hide Struve if he showsup. That's only a guess, but it looks good to me. This man was thebrains of the whole outfit, and folks say that he's got cached thewhole haul the gang made from that S. P. Hold-up. What's more, hescattered gold so liberal that his name wasn't even mentioned at thetrial. He's a big man now, a millionaire copper king and intogold-mines up to the hocks. In the Southwest those things happen. Itdoesn't always do to look too closely at a man's past. 

"We'll say Struve drops in on him and threatens to squeak. Mebbe hehas got evidence; mebbe he hasn't. Anyhow, our big duck wants toforget the time he was wearing a mask and bending a six-gun for aliving. Also and moreover, he's right anxious to have other folks geta chance to forget. From what I can hear he's clean mashed on somegirl at Amarillo, or maybe it's Fort Lincoln. See what a twistStrove's got on him if he can slip into the Mal Pais country on the q. T. "

"And you're going up there to look out for him?"

"I'm going in to take a casual look around. There's no telling what aman might happen onto accidentally if he travels with his ear to theground. "

The other nodded. He could now understand easily why Fraser was goinginto the Mal Pais country, but he could not make out why the ranger, naturally a man who lived under his own hat and kept his own counsel, had told him so much as he had. The officer shortly relieved his mindon this point. 

"I may need help while I'm there. May I call on you if I do, seh?"

Neill felt his heart warm toward this hard-faced, genial frontiersman, who knew how to judge so well the timbre of a casual acquaintance. 

"You sure may, lieutenant. "

"Good. I'll count on you then. "

So, in these few words, the compact of friendship and alliance wassealed between them. Each of them was strangely taken with the other, but it is not the way of the Anglo-Saxon fighting man to voice hissentiment. Though each of them admired the stark courage and theflawless fortitude he knew to dwell in the other, impassivity sat ontheir faces like an ice-mask. For this is the hall-mark of theSouthwest, that a man must love and hate with the same unchanging faceof iron, save only when a woman is in consideration. 

They were to camp that night by Cottonwood Spring, and darkness caughtthem still some miles from their camp. They were on no road, but weretravelling across country through washes and over countless hills. Theranger led the way, true as an arrow, even after velvet night hadenveloped them. 

"It must be right over this mesa among the cottonwoods you see risingfrom that arroyo, " he announced at last. 

He had scarcely spoken before they struck a trail that led them directto the spring. But as they were descending this in a circle Fraser'shorse shied. 

"Hyer you, Pinto! What's the matter with--"

The ranger cut his sentence in two and slid from the saddle. When hiscompanion reached him and drew rein the ranger was bending over a darkmass stretched across the trail. He looked up quietly. 

"Man's body, " he said briefly. 

"Dead?"

"Yes. "

Neill dismounted and came forward. The moon-crescent was up by now andhad lit the country with a chill radiance. The figure was dressed inthe coarse striped suit of a convict. 

"I don't savvy this play, " Fraser confessed softly to himself. 

"Do you know him?"

"Suppose you look at him and see if you know him. "

Neill looked into the white face and shook his head. 

"No, I don't know him, but I suppose it is Struve. "

From his pocket the ranger produced a photograph and handed it to him. 

"Hyer, I'll strike a match and you'll see better. "

The match flared up in the slight breeze and presently went out, butnot before Neill had seen that it was the face of the man who laybefore them. 

"Did you see the name under the picture, seh?"

"No. "

Another match flared and the man from the Panhandle read a name, butit was not the one he had expected to see. The words printed therewere "James Kinney. "

"I don't understand. This ain't Kinney. He is a heavy-set man with avillainous face. There's some mistake. "

"There ce'tainly is, but not at this end of the line. This is Kinneyall right. I've seen him at Yuma. He was heading for the Mal Paiscountry and he died on the way. See hyer. Look at these soakedbandages. He's been wounded-- shot mebbe-- and the wound broke out onhim again so that he bled to death. "

"It's all a daze to me. Who is the other man if he isn't Kinney?"

"We're coming to that. I'm beginning to see daylight, " said Steve, gently. "Let's run over this thing the way it might be. You've got tokeep in mind that this man was weak, one of those spineless fellowsthat stronger folks lead around by the nose. Well, they make theirgetaway at Yuma after Struve has killed a guard. That killing of DaveLong shakes Kinney up a lot, he being no desperado but only a poorlost-dog kind of a guy. Struve notices it and remembers that thisfellow weakened before. He makes up his mind to take no chances. Fromthat moment he watches for a chance to make an end of his pardner. AtCasa Grande they drop off the train they're riding and cut acrosscountry toward the Mal Pais. Mebbe they quarrel or mebbe Struve getshis chance and takes it. But after he has shot his man he sees he hasmade a mistake. Perhaps they were seen travelling in that direction. Anyhow, he is afraid the body will be found since he can't bury itright. He changes his plan and takes a big chance; cuts back to thetrack, boards a freight, and reaches Fort Lincoln. "

"My God!" cried the other, startled for once out of his calm. 

The officer nodded. "You're on the trail right enough. I wish we wereboth wrong, but we ain't. "

"But surely she would have known he wasn't her brother, surely--"

The ranger shook his head. "She hadn't seen the black sheep since shewas a kid of about seven. How would she know what he looked like? AndStruve was primed with all the facts he had heard Kinney blat out timeand again. She wasn't suspecting any imposition and he worked her to afare-you-well. "

Larry Neill set his teeth on a wave of icy despair. 

"And she's in that devil's power. She would be as safe in a den ofrattlers. To think that I had my foot on his neck this mo'ning anddidn't break it. "

"She's safe so long as she is necessary to him. She's in deadly perilas soon as he finds her one witness too many. If he walks into myboys' trap at the Arivaca cut-off, all right. If not, God help her!I've shut the door to Mexico and safety in his face. He'll strike backfor the Mal Pais country. It's his one chance, and he'll want totravel light and fast. "

"If he starts back Tom Long's party may get him. "

"That's one more chance for her, but it's a slim one. He'll cutstraight across country; they're following the trail. No, seh, ourbest bet is my rangers. They'd ought to land him, too. "

"Oh, ought to, " derided the other impatiently. "Point is, if theydon't. How are we going to save her? You know this country. I don't. "

"Don't tear your shirt, amigo, " smiled the ranger. "We'll arrivefaster if we don't go off half-cocked. Let's picket the broncs, ambledown to the spring, and smoke a cigaret. We've got to ride twentymiles for fresh hawsses and these have got to have a little rest. "

They unsaddled and picketed, then strolled to the spring. 

"I've been thinking that maybe we have made a mistake. Isn't itpossible the man with Miss Kinney is not Struve?" asked Neill. 

"That's easy proved. You saw him this mo'ning. " The lieutenant wentdown into his pocket once more for a photograph. "Does this favor theman with Miss Kinney?"

Under the blaze of another match, shielded by the ranger s hands, Larry looked into the scowling, villainous face he had seen earlier inthe day. There could be no mistaking those leering, cruel eyes nor theratlike, shifty look of the face, not to mention the long scar acrossit. His heart sank. 

"It's the man. "

"Don't you blame yourself for not putting his lights out. How couldyou tell who he was?"

"I knew he was a ruffian, hide and hair. "

"But you thought he was her brother and that's a whole lot different. What do you say to grubbing here? We've got to go to the Halle ranchfor hawsses and it's a long jog. "

They lit a fire and over their coffee discussed plans. In the midst ofthese the Southerner picked up idly a piece of wrapping-paper. Upon itwas pencilled a wavering scrawl:

Bleeding has broke out again. Can't stop it. Struve shot me and leftme for dead ten miles back. I didn't kill the guard or know he meantto. J. KINNEY. 

Neill handed the paper to the ranger, who read it through, folded it, and gave it back to the other. 

"Keep that paper. We may need it. " His grave eyes went up the trail towhere the dark figure lay motionless in the cold moonlight. "Well, he's come to the end of the trail-- the only end he could havereached. He wasn't strong enough to survive as a bad man. Poor devil!"

They buried him in a clump of cottonwoods and left a little pile ofrocks to mark the spot. 

 CHAPTER IV

 LOST!

After her precipitate leave-taking of the man whose team she hadbought or borrowed, Margaret Kinney nursed the fires of herindignation in silence, banking them for future use against the timewhen she should meet him again in the event that should ever happen. She brought her whip-lash snapping above the backs of the horses, andthere was that in the supple motion of the small strong wrist whichsuggested that nothing would have pleased her more than having thisaudacious Texan there in place of the innocent animals. For whateverof inherited savagery lay latent in her blood had been flogged to thesurface by the circumstances into which she had been thrust. Never inall her placid life had she known the tug of passion any closer thanfrom across the footlights of a theatre. 

She had had, to be sure, one stinging shame, but it had been buried infar-away Arizona, quite beyond the ken of the convention-bound peopleof the little Wisconsin town where she dwelt. But within the pasttwelve hours Fate had taken hold of her with both hands and thrust herinto Life. She sensed for the first time its roughness, its nakedness, its tragedy. She had known the sensations of a hunted wild beast, theflush of shame for her kinship to this coarse ruffian by her side, andthe shock of outraged maiden modesty at kisses ravished from her byforce. The teacher hardly knew herself for the same young woman whobut yesterday was engrossed in multiplication tables and thirdreaders. 

A sinister laugh from the man beside her brought the girl back to thepresent. 

She looked at him and then looked quickly away again. There wassomething absolutely repulsive in the creature-- in the big ears thatstood out from the close-cropped head, in the fishy eyes that saweverything without ever looking directly at anything, in the crookedmouth with its irregular rows of stained teeth from which several weremissing. She had often wondered about her brother, but never at theworst had she imagined anything so bad as this. The memory would beenough to give one the shudders for years. 

"Guess I ain't next to all that happened there in the mesquite, " hesneered, with a lift of the ugly lip. 

She did not look at him. She did not speak. There seethed in her aloathing and a disgust beyond expression. 

"Guess you forgot that a fellow can sometimes hear even when he can'tsee. Since I'm chaperooning you I'll make out to be there next timeyou meet a good-looking lady-killer. Funny, the difference it makes, being your brother. You ain't seen me since you was a kid, but youplumb forgot to kiss me. "

There was a note in his voice she had not heard before, some hint ofleering ribaldry in the thick laugh that for the first time stirredunease in her heart. She did not know that the desperate, wild-animalfear in him, so overpowering that everything else had been pushed tothe background, had obscured certain phases of him that made herpresence here such a danger as she could not yet conceive. That fearwas now lifting, and the peril loomed imminent. 

He put his arm along the back of the seat and grinned at her from hisloose-lipped mouth. 

"But o' course it ain't too late to begin now, my dearie. "

Her fearless level eyes met squarely his shifty ones and read theresomething she could dread without understanding, something that was anundefined sacrilege of her sweet purity. For woman-like her instinctleaped beyond reason. 

"Take down your arm, " she ordered. 

"Oh, I don't know, sis. I reckon your brother--"

"You're no brother of mine, " she broke in. "At most it is an accidentof birth I disown. I'll have no relationship with you of any sort. "

"Is that why you're driving with me to Mexico?" he jeered. 

"I made a mistake in trying to save you. If it were to do over again Ishould not lift a hand. "

"You wouldn't, eh?"

There was something almost wolfish in the facial malignity thatdistorted him. 

"Not a finger. "

"Perhaps you'd give me up now if you had a chance?"

"I would if I did what was right. "

"And you'd sure want to do what was right, " he snarled. 

"Take down your arm, " she ordered again, a dangerous glitter in hereyes. 

He thrust his evil face close to hers and showed his teeth in a blindrage that forgot everything else. 

"Listen here, you little locoed baby. I got something to tell youthat'll make your hair curl. You're right, I ain't your brother. I'mNick Struve-- Wolf Struve if you like that better. I lied you intobelieving me your brother, who ain't ever been anything but askim-milk quitter. He's dead back there in the cactus somewhere, and Ikilled him!"

Terror flooded her eyes. Her very breathing hung suspended. She gazedat him in a frozen fascination of horror. 

"Killed him because he gave me away seven years ago and was gittin'ready to round on me again. Folks don't live long that play WolfStruve for a lamb. A wolf! That's what I am, a born wolf, and don'tyou forget it. "

The fact itself did not need his words for emphasis. He fairly reekedthe beast of prey. She had to nerve herself against faintness. Shemust not swoon. She dared not. 

"Think you can threaten to give me up, do you? 'Fore I'm through withyou you'll wish you had never been born. You'll crawl on your kneesand beg me to kill you. "

Such a devil of wickedness she had never seen in human eyes before. The ruthlessness left no room for appeal. Unless the courage to tamehim lay in her she was lost utterly. 

He continued his exultant bragging, blatantly, ferociously. 

"I didn't tell you about my escape; how a guard tried to stop me and Iput the son of a gun out of business. There's a price on my head. D'yethink I'm the man to give you a chance to squeal on me? D'ye thinkI'll let a pink-and-white chit send me back to be strangled?" hescreamed. 

The stark courage in her rose to the crisis. Not an hour before shehad seen the Texan cow him. He was of the kind would take the whipwhiningly could she but wield it. Her scornful eyes fastened on himcontemptuously, chiseled into the cur heart of him. 

"What will you do?" she demanded, fronting the issue that must sooneror later rise. 

The raucous jangle of his laugh failed to disturb the steadiness ofher gaze. To reassure himself of his mastery he began to bluster, tothreaten, turning loose such a storm of vile abuse as she had neverheard. He was plainly working his nerve up to the necessary pitch. 

In her first terror she had dropped the reins. Her hands had slippedunconsciously under the lap-robe. Now one of them touched somethingchilly on the seat beside her. She almost gasped her relief. It wasthe selfsame revolver with which she had tried to hold up the Texan. 

In the midst of Struve's flood of invective the girl's hand leapedquickly from the lap-robe. A cold muzzle pressed against his cheekbrought the convict's outburst to an abrupt close. 

"If you move I'll fire, " she said quietly. 

For a long moment their gazes gripped, the deadly clear eyes of theyoung woman and the furtive ones of the miscreant. Underneath the robeshe felt a stealthy movement, and cried out quickly: "Hands up!"

With a curse he threw his arms into the air. 

"Jump out! Don't lower your hands!"

"My ankle, " he whined. 

"Jump!"

His leap cleared the wheel and threw him to the ground. She caught upthe whip and slashed wildly at the horses. They sprang forward in apanic, flying wildly across the open plain. Margaret heard a revolverbark twice. After that she was so busy trying to regain control of theteam that she could think of nothing else. The horses were young andfull of spirit, so that she had all she could do to keep the trap frombeing upset. It wound in and out among the hills, taking perilousplaces safely to her surprise, and was at last brought to a stop onlyby the narrowing of a draw into which the animals had bolted. 

They were quiet now beyond any chance of farther runaway, even had itbeen possible. Margaret dropped the lines on the dashboard and beganto sob, at first in slow deep breaths and then in quicker uneven ones. Plucky as she was, the girl had had about all her nerves could standfor one day. The strain of her preparation for flight, the long nightdrive, and the excitement of the last two hours were telling on her ina hysterical reaction. 

She wept herself out, dried her eyes with dabs of her little kerchief, and came back to a calm consideration of her situation. She must getback to Fort Lincoln as soon as possible, and she must do it withoutencountering the convict. For in the course of the runaway therevolver had been jolted from the trap. 

Not quite sure in which direction lay the road, she got out from thetrap, topped the hill to her right, and looked around. She saw in alldirections nothing but rolling hilltops, merging into each other evento the horizon's edge. In her wild flight among these hills she hadlost count of direction. She had not yet learned how to know northfrom south by the sun, and if she had it would have helped but littlesince she knew only vaguely the general line of their travel. 

She felt sure that from the top of the next rise she could locate theroad, but once there she was as uncertain as before. Before giving upshe breasted a third hill to the summit. Still no signs of the road. Reluctantly she retraced her steps, and at the foot of the hill wasuncertain whether she should turn to right or left. Choosing the left, from the next height she could see nothing of the team. She was notyet alarmed. It was ridiculous to suppose that she was lost. How couldshe be when she was within three or four hundred yards of the rig? Shewould cut across the shoulder into the wash and climb the hillockbeyond. For behind it the team must certainly be. 

But at her journey's end her eyes were gladdened by no sight of thehorses. Every draw was like its neighbor, every rolling rise a replicaof the next. The truth came home to a sinking heart. She was lost inone of the great deserts of Texas. She would wander for days as othershad, and she would die in the end of starvation and thirst. Nobodywould know where to look for her, since she had told none where shewas going. Only yesterday at her boarding-house she had heard a youngman tell how a tenderfoot had been found dead after he had wanderedround and round in intersecting circles. She sank down and gaveherself up to despair. 

But not for long. She was too full of grit to give up without a longfight. How many hours she wandered Margaret Kinney did not know. Thesun was high in the heavens when she began. It had given place toflooding moonlight long before her worn feet and aching heart gave upthe search for some human landmark. Once at least she must have slept, for she stared up from a spot where she had sunk down to look up intoa starry sky that was new to her. 

The moon had sailed across the vault and grown chill and faint withdawn before she gave up, completely exhausted, and when her eyesopened again it was upon a young day fresh and sweet. She knew by thistime hunger and an acute thirst. As the day increased, this last sheknew must be a torment of swollen tongue and lime-kiln throat. Yesterday she had cried for help till her voice had failed. A dumbdespair had now driven away her terror. 

And then into the awful silence leaped a sound like a messenger ofhope. It was a shot, so close that she could see the smoke rise froman arroyo near. She ran forward till she could look down into it andcaught sight of a man with a dead bird in his hand. He had his backtoward her and was stooping over a fire. Slithering down over theshort dry grass, she was upon him almost before she could stop. 

"I've been lost all night and all yesterday, " she sobbed. 

He snatched at the revolver lying beside him and whirled like a flashas if to meet an attack. The girl's pumping heart seemed to standstill. The man snarling at her was the convict Struve. 

 CHAPTER V

 LARRY NEILL TO THE RESCUE

The snarl gave way slowly to a grim more malign than his openhostility. 

"So you've been lost! And now you're found-- come safe back to yourloving brother. Ain't that luck for you? Hunted all over Texas tillyou found him, eh? And it's a powerful big State, too. "

She caught sight of something that made her forget all else. 

"Have you got water in that canteen?" she asked, her parched eyesstaring at it. 

"Yes, dearie. "

"Give it me. "

He squatted tailor-fashion on the ground, put the canteen between hisknees, and shoved his teeth in a crooked grin. 

"Thirsty?"

"I'm dying for a drink"

"You look like a right lively corpse. "

"Give it to me. "

"Will you take it now or wait till you get it?"

"My throat's baked. I want water, " she said hoarsely. 

"Most folks want a lot they never get. "

She walked toward him with her hand outstretched. 

"I tell you I've got to have it. "

He laughed evilly. "Water's at a premium right now. Likely there ain'tenough here to get us both out of this infernal hole alive. Yes, it'ssure at a premium. "

He let his eye drift insolently over her and take stock of his prey, in the same feline way of a cat with a mouse, gloating over herdistress and the details of her young good looks. His tainted gaze gotthe faint pure touch of color in her face, the reddish tinge of herwavy brown hair, the desirable sweetness of her rounded maidenhood. Ifher step dragged, if dusky hollows shadowed her lids, if the nativecourage had been washed from the hopeless eyes, there was no spring ofmanliness hid deep within him that rose to refresh her exhaustion. Nopity or compunction stirred at her sweet helplessness. 

"Do you want my money?" she asked wearily. 

"I'll take that to begin with. "

She tossed him her purse. "There should be seventy dollars there. MayI have a drink now?"

"Not yet, my dear. First you got to come up to me and put your armsround--"

He broke off with a curse, for she was flying toward the little circleof cottonwoods some forty yards away. She had caught a glimpse of thewater-hole and was speeding for it. 

"Come back here, " he called, and in a rage let fly a bullet after her. 

She paid no heed, did not stop till she reached the spring and threwherself down full length to drink, to lave her burnt face, to drinkagain of the alkali brackish water that trickled down her throat likenectar incomparably delicious. 

She was just rising to her feet when Struve hobbled up. 

"Don't you think you can play with me, missie. When I give the wordyou stop in your tracks, and when I say 'Jump!' step lively. "

She did not answer. Her head was lifted in a listening attitude, as ifto catch some sound that came faintly to her from a distance. 

"You're mine, my beauty, to do with as I please, and don't you forgetit. "

She did not hear him. Her ears were attuned to voices floating to heracross the desert. Of course she was beginning to wander in her mind. She knew that. There could be no other human beings in this sea ofloneliness. They were alone; just they two, the degenerate ruffian andhis victim. Still, it was strange. She certainly had imagined themurmur of people talking. It must be the beginning of delirium. 

"Do you hear me?" screamed Struve, striking her on the cheek with hisfist. "I'm your master and you're my squaw. "

She did not cringe as he had expected, nor did she show fight. Indeedthe knowledge of the blow seemed scarcely to have penetrated hermental penumbra. She still had that strange waiting aspect, but hereyes were beginning to light with new-born hope. Something in hermanner shook the man's confidence; a dawning fear swept away hisbluster. He, too, was now listening intently. 

Again the low murmur, beyond a possibility of doubt. Both of themcaught it. The girl opened her throat in a loud cry for help. Ananswering shout came back clear and strong. Struve wheeled and startedup the arroyo, bending in and out among the cactus till he disappearedover the brow. 

Two horsemen burst into sight, galloping down the steep trail atbreakneck speed, flinging down a small avalanche of shale with them. One of them caught sight of the girl, drew up so short that his horseslid to its haunches, and leaped from the saddle in a cloud of dust. 

He ran toward her, and she to him, hands out to meet her rescuer. 

"Why didn't you come sooner? I've waited so long, " she criedpathetically, as his arms went about her. 

"You poor lamb! Thank God we're in time!" was all he could say. 

Then for the first time in her life she fainted. 

The other rider lounged forward, a hat in his hand that he had justpicked up close to the fire. 

"We seem to have stampeded part of this camping party. I'll just takea run up this hill and see if I can't find the missing section andpersuade it to stay a while. I don't reckon you need me hyer, do you?"he grinned, with a glance at Neill and his burden. 

"All right. You'll find me here when you get back, Fraser, " the otheranswered. 

Larry carried the girl to the water-hole and set her down beside it. He sprinkled her face with water, and presently her lids trembled andfluttered open. She lay there with her head on his arm and looked athim quite without surprise. 

"How did you find me?"

"Mainly luck. We followed your trail to where we found the rig. Afterthat it was guessing where the needle was in the haystack It justhappened we were cutting across country to water when we heard ashot. "

"That must have been when he fired at me, " she said. 

"My God! Did he shoot at you?"

"Yes. Where is he now?" She shuddered. 

"Cutting over the hills with Steve after him. "

"Steve?"

"My friend, Lieutenant Fraser. He is an officer in the ranger force. "

"Oh!" She relapsed into a momentary silence before she said: "He isn'tmy brother at all. He is a murderer. " She gave a sudden little moan ofpain as memory pierced her of what he had said. "He bragged to me thathe had killed my brother. He meant to kill me, I think. "

"Sho! It doesn't matter what the coyote meant. It's all over now. You're with friends. "

A warm smile lit his steel-blue eyes, softened the lines of his lean, hard face. Never had shipwrecked mariner come to safer harbor thanshe. She knew that this slim, sun-bronzed Westerner was a man's man, that strength and nerve inhabited his sinewy frame. He would fight forher because she was a woman as long as he could stand and see. 

A touch of color washed back into her cheeks, a glow of courage intoher heart. "Yes, it's all over. The weary, weary hours-- and thefear-- and the pain-- and the dreadful thirst-- and worst of all, him!"

She began to cry softly, hiding her face in his coat-sleeve. 

"I'm crying because-- it's all over. I'm a little fool, just as-- asyou said I was. "

"I didn't know you then, " he smiled. "I'm right likely to makesnap-shot judgments that are 'way off. "

"You knew me well enough to--" She broke off in the middle, bathed ina flush of remembrance that brought her coppery head up from his arminstantly. 

"Be careful. You're dizzy yet. "

"I'm all right now, thank you, " she answered, her embarrassed profilehaughtily in the air. "But I'm ravenous for something to eat. It'sbeen twenty-four hours since I've had a bite. That's why I'm weepy andfaint. I should think you might make a snap-shot judgment thatbreakfast wouldn't hurt me. "

He jumped up contritely. "That's right. What a goat I am!"

His long, clean stride carried him over the distance that separatedhim from his bronco. Out of the saddle-bags he drew some sandwicheswrapped in a newspaper. 

"Here, Miss Margaret! You begin on these. I'll have coffee ready intwo shakes of a cow's tail. And what do you say to bacon?"

He understood her to remark from the depths of a sandwich that shesaid "Amen!" to it, and that she would take everything he had and assoon as he could get it ready. She was as good as her word. He foundno cause to complain of her appetite. Bacon and sandwiches and coffeewere all consumed in quantities reasonable for a famished girl who hadbeen tramping actively for a day and a night, and, since she was achild of impulse, she turned more friendly eyes on him who hadappeased her appetite. 

"I suppose you are a cowboy like everybody else in this country?" sheventured amiably after her hunger had become less sharp. 

"No, I belong to the government reclamation service. "

"Oh!" She had a vague idea she had heard of it before. "Who is it youreclaim? Indians, I suppose. "

"We reclaim young ladies when we find them wandering about thedesert, " he smiled. 

"Is that what the government pays you for?"

"Not entirely. Part of the time I examine irrigation projects andreport on their feasibility. I have been known to build dams and boretunnels, "

"And what of the young ladies you reclaim? Do you bore them?" sheasked saucily. 

"I understand they have hitherto always found me very entertaining, "he claimed boldly, his smiling eyes on her. 

"Indeed!"

"But young ladies are peculiar. Sometimes we think we're entertainingthem when we ain't. "

"I'm sure you are right. "

"And other times they're interested when they pretend they're not. "

"It must be comforting to your vanity to think that, " she said coldly. For his words had recalled similar ones spoken by him twenty-fourhours earlier, which in turn had recalled his unpardonable sin. 

The lieutenant of rangers appeared over the hill and descended intothe draw. Miss Kinney went to meet him. 

"He got away?" she asked. 

"Yes, ma'am. I lost him in some of these hollows, or rather I neverfound him. I'm going to take my hawss and swing round in a circle. "

"What are you going to do with me?" she smiled. 

"I been thinking that the best thing would be for you to go to the MalPais mines with Mr. Neill. "

"Who is Mr. Neill?"

"The gentleman over there by the fire. "

"Must I go with him? I should feel safer in your company, lieutenant. "

"You'll be safe enough in his, Miss Kinney. "

"You know me then?" she asked. 

"I've seen you at Fort Lincoln. You were pointed out to me once as anew teacher. "

"But I don't want to go to the Mal Pais mines. I want to go to FortLincoln. As to this gentleman, I have no claims on him and shall nottrouble him to burden himself with me. "

Steve laughed. "I don't reckon he would think, it a terrible burden, ma'am. And about the Mal Pais-- this is how it is. Fort Lincoln is allof sixty miles from here as the crow flies. The mines are aboutseventeen. My notion was you could get there and take the stageto-morrow to your town. "

"What shall I do for a horse?"

"I expect Mr. Neill will let you ride his. He can walk beside thehawss. "

"That won't do at all. Why should I put him to that inconvenience?I'll walk myself. "

The ranger flashed his friendly smile at her. He had an instinct thatserved him with women. "Any way that suits you and him suits me. I'mright sorry that I've got to leave you and take out after that houndStruve, but you may take my word for it that this gentleman will lookafter you all right and bring you safe to the Mal Pais. "

"He is a stranger to me. I've only met him once and on that occasionnot pleasantly. I don't like to put myself under an obligation to him. But of course if I must I must. "

"That's the right sensible way to look at it. In this little old worldwe got to do a heap we don't want to do. For instance, I'd rather seeyou to the Mal Pais than hike over the hills after this fellow, " heconcluded gallantly. 

Neill, who had been packing the coffee-pot and the frying-pan, nowsauntered forward with his horse. 

"Well, what's the program?" he wanted to know. 

"It's you and Miss Kinney for the Mal Pais, me for the trail. I ain'tvery likely to find Mr. Struve, but you can't always sometimes tell. Anyhow, I'm going to take a shot at it, " the ranger answered. 

"And at him?" his friend suggested. 

"Oh, I reckon not. He may be a sure-enough wolf, but I expect thisain't his day to howl. "

Steve whistled to his pony, swung to the saddle when it trotted up, and waved his hat in farewell. 

His "Adios!" drifted back to them from the crown of the hill justbefore he disappeared over its edge. 

 CHAPTER VI

 SOMEBODY'S ACTING MIGHTY FOOLISH. 

Larry Neill watched him vanish and then turned smiling to Miss Kinney. 

"All aboard for the Mal Pais, " he sang out cheerfully. 

Too cheerfully perhaps. His assurance that all was well between themchilled her manner. He might forgive himself easily if he was thatsort of man; she would at least show him she was no party, to it. Hehad treated her outrageously, had manhandled her with deliberateintent to insult. She would show him no one alive could treat her soand calmly assume to her that it was all right. 

Her cool eyes examined the horse, and him. 

"I don't quite see how you expect to arrange it, Mr. Neill. That isyour name, isn't it?" she added indifferently. 

"That's my name-- Larry Neill. Easiest thing in the world to arrange. We ride pillion if it suits you; if not, I'll walk. "

"Neither plan suits me, " she announced curtly, her gaze on thefar-away hills. 

He glanced at her in quick surprise, then made the mistake of lettinghimself smile at her frosty aloofness instead of being crestfallen byit. She happened to look round and catch that smile before he couldextinguish it. Her petulance hardened instantly to a resolution. 

"I don't quite know what we're going to do about it-- unless youwalk, " he proposed, amused at the absurdity of his suggestion. 

"That's just what I'm going to do, " she retorted promptly. 

"What!" He wheeled on her with an astonished smile on his face. 

This served merely to irritate her. 

"I said I was going to walk. "

"Walk seventeen miles?"

"Seventy if I choose. "

"Nonsense! Of course you won't. "

Her eyebrows lifted in ironic demurrer. "I think you must let me bethe judge of that, " she said gently. 

"Walk!" he reiterated. "Why, you're walked out. You couldn't go amile. What do you take me for? Think I'm going to let you come that onme. "

"I don't quite see how you can help it, Mr. Neill, " she answered. 

"Help it! Why, it ain't reasonable. Of course you'll ride. "

"Of course I won't. "

She set off briskly, almost jauntily, despite her tired feet andaching limbs. 

"Well, if that don't beat--" He broke off to laugh at the situation. After she had gone twenty steps he called after her in a voice thatdid not suppress its chuckle: "You ain't going the right direction, Miss Kinney. "

She whirled round on him in anger. How dared he laugh at her?

"Which is the right way?" she choked. 

"North by west is about it. "

She was almost reduced to stamping her foot. 

Without condescending to ask more definite instructions she struck offat haphazard, and by chance guessed right. There was nothing for itbut to pursue. Wherefore the man pursued. The horse at his heelshampered his stride, but he caught up with her soon. 

"Somebody's acting mighty foolish, " he said. 

She said nothing very eloquently. 

"If I need punishing, ma'am, don't punish yourself, but me. You ain'table to walk and that's a fact. "

She gave her silent attention strictly to the business of makingprogress through the cactus and the sand. 

"Say I'm all you think I am. You can trample on me proper after we getto the Mal Pais. Don't have to know me at all if you don't want to. Won't you ride, ma'am? Please!"

His distress filled her with a fierce delight. She stumbled defiantlyforward. 

He pondered a while before he asked quietly:

"Ain't you going to ride, Miss Kinney?"

"No, I'm not. Better go on. Pray don't let me detain you. "

"All right. See that peak with the spur to it? Well, you keep thatdirectly in line and make straight for it. I'll say good-by now, ma'am. I got to hurry to be in time for dinner. I'll send some one outfrom the camp to meet you that ain't such a villain as I am. "

He swung to the saddle, put spurs to his pony, and cantered away. Shecould scarce believe it, even when he rode straight over the hillwithout a backward glance. He would never leave her. Surely he wouldnot do that. She could never reach the camp, and he knew it. To beleft alone in the desert again; the horror of it broke her down, butnot immediately. She went proudly forward with her head in the air atfirst. He might look round. Perhaps he was peeping at her from behindsome cholla. She would not gratify him by showing any interest in hiswhereabouts. But presently she began to lag, to scan draws and mesasanxiously for him, even to call aloud in an ineffective little voicewhich the empty hills echoed faintly. But from him there came noanswer. 

She sat down and wept in self-pity. Of course she had told him to go, but he knew well enough she did not mean it. A magnanimous man wouldhave taken a better revenge on an exhausted girl than to leave heralone in such a spot, and after she had endured such a terribleexperience as she had. She had read about the chivalry of Western men. Yet these two had ridden away on their horses and left her to live ordie as chance willed it. 

"Now, don't you feel so bad, Miss Margaret. I wasn't aiming really toleave you, of course, " a voice interrupted her sobs to say. 

She looked through the laced fingers that covered her face, mightilyrelieved, but not yet willing to confess it. The engineer had made acircuit and stolen up quietly behind. 

"Oh! I thought you had gone, " she said as carelessly as she could witha voice not clear of tears. 

"Were you crying because you were afraid I hadn't?" he asked. 

"I ran a cactus into my foot. And I didn't say anything about crying. "

"Then if your foot is hurt you will want to ride. That seventeen milesmight be too long a stroll before you get through with it. "

"I don't know what I'll do yet, " she answered shortly. 

"I know what you'll do. "

"Yes?"

"You'll quit your foolishness and get on this hawss. "

She flushed angrily. "I won't!"

He stooped down, gathered her up in his arms, and lifted her to thesaddle. 

"That's what you're going to do whether you like it or not, " heinformed her. 

"How are you going to make me stay here, now you have put me here?"

"I'm going to get on behind and hold you if it's necessary. "

He was sensible enough of the folly of it all, but he did not see whatelse he could do. She had chosen to punish him through herself in away that was impossible. It was a childish thing to do, born of sometouch of hysteria her experience had induced, and he could only treather as a child till she was safely back in civilization. 

Their wills met in their eyes, and the man's, masculine and dominant, won the battle. The long fringe of hers fell to the soft cheeks. 

"It won't be at all necessary, " she promised. 

"Are you sure?"

"Quite sure. "

"That's the way to talk. "

"If you care to know, " she boiled over, "I think you the most hatefulman I ever met. "

"That's all right, " he grinned ruefully. "You're the most contrairywoman I ever bumped into, so I reckon honors are easy. "

He strode along beside the horse, mile after mile, in a silence whichneither of them cared to break. The sap of youth flowed free in him, was in his elastic tread, in the set of his broad shoulders, in thecarriage of his small, well-shaped head. He was as lean-loined andlithe as a panther, and his stride ate up the miles as easily. 

They nooned at a spring in the dry wash of Bronco Creek. After he hadunsaddled and picketed he condescended to explain to her. 

"We'll stay here three hours or mebbe four through the heat of theday. "

"Is it far now?" she asked wearily. 

"Not more than seven miles I should judge. Are you about all in?"

"Oh, no! I'm all right, thank you, " she said, with forcedsprightliness. 

His shrewd, hard gaze went over her and knew better. 

"You lie down under those live-oaks and I'll get some grub ready. "

"I'll cook lunch while you lie down. You must be tired walking so farthrough the sun, " said Miss Kinney. 

"Have I got to pick you up again and carry you there?"

"No, you haven't. You keep your hands off me, " she flashed. 

But nevertheless she betook herself to the shade of the live-oaks andlay down. When he went to call her for lunch he found her fast asleepwith her head pillowed on her arm. She looked so haggard that he hadnot the heart to rouse her. 

"Let her sleep. It will be the making of her. She's fair done. Butain't she plucky? And that spirited! Ready to fight so long as she candrag a foot. And her so sorter slim and delicate. Funny how she hangsonto her grudge against me. Sho! I hadn't ought to have kissed her, but I'll never tell her so. "

He went back to his coffee and bacon, dined, and lay down for a siestabeneath a cottonwood some distance removed from the live-oaks whereMiss Kinney reposed. For two or three hours he slept soundly, havingbeen in the saddle all night. It was mid-afternoon when he awoke, andthe sun was sliding down the blue vault toward the sawtoothed range tothe west. He found the girl still lost to the world in deep slumber. 

The man from the Panhandle looked across the desert that palpitatedwith heat, and saw through the marvelous atmosphere the smoke of theore-mills curling upward. He was no tenderfoot, to suppose that tenminutes' brisk walking would take him to them. He guessed the distanceat about two and a half hour's travel. 

"This is ce'tainly a hot evening. I expect we better wait till sundownbefore moving, " he said aloud. 

Having made up his mind, it was characteristic of him that he wasasleep again in five minutes. This time she wakened before him, tolook into a wonderful sea of gold that filled the crotches of thehills between the purple teeth. No sun was to be seen-- it had sunkbehind the peaks-- but the trail of its declension was marked by thatgreat pool of glory into which she gazed. 

Margaret crossed the wash to the cottonwood under which her escort waslying. He was fast asleep on his back, his gray shirt open at thebronzed, sinewy neck. The supple, graceful lines of him were relaxed, but even her inexperience appreciated the splendid shoulders and thelong rippling muscles. The maidenly instinct in her would allow butone glance at him, and she was turning away when his eyes opened. 

Her face, judging from its tint, might have absorbed some of thesun-glow into which she had been gazing. 

"I came to see if you were awake, " she explained. 

"Yes, ma'am, I am, " he smiled. 

"I was thinking that we ought to be going. It will be dark before wereach Mal Pais. "

He leaped to his feet and faced her. 

"C'rect. "

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes. "

He relit the fire and put on the coffee-pot before he saddled thehorse. She ate and drank hurriedly, soon announcing herself ready forthe start. 

She mounted from his hand; then without asking any questions he swungto a place behind her. 

"We'll both ride, " he said. 

The stars were out before they reached the outskirts of themining-camp. At the first house of the rambling suburbs Neill slippedto the ground and walked beside her toward the old adobe plaza of theMexican town

People passed them on the run, paying no attention to them, and othersdribbled singly or in small groups from the houses and saloons. All ofthem were converging excitedly to the plaza. 

"Must be something doing here, " said her guide. "Now I wonder what!"

Round the next turn he found his answer. There must have been presenttwo or three hundred men, mostly miners, and their gazes all focussedon two figures which stood against a door at the top of five or sixsteps. One of the forms was crouched on its knees, abject, cringingterror stamped on the white villainous face upturned to the electriclight above. But the other was on its feet, a revolver in each hand, asmile of reckless daring on the boyish countenance that just now stoodfor law and order in Mal Pais. 

The man beside the girl read the situation at a glance. The handcuffedfigure groveling on the steps belonged to the murderer Struve, andover him stood lightly the young ranger Steve Fraser. He was standingoff a mob that had gathered to lynch his prisoner, and one glance athim was enough to explain how he had won his reputation as the mostdashing and fearless member of a singularly efficient force. For plainto be read as the danger that confronted him was the fact that perilwas as the breath of life to his nostrils. 

 CHAPTER VII

 ENTER MR. DUNKE

"He's my prisoner and you can't have him, " the girl heard the rangersay. 

The answer came in a roar of rage. "By God, we'll show you!"

"If you want him, take him. But don't come unless you are ready to paythe price!" warned the officer. 

He was bareheaded and his dark-brown curly hair crisped round hisforehead engagingly. Round his right hand was tied a blood-stainedhandkerchief. A boy he looked, but his record was a man's, and so themob that swayed uncertainly below him knew. His gray eyes were steadyas steel despite the fire that glowed in them. He stood at ease, withnerve unshaken, the curious lifted look of a great moment about thepoise of his graceful figure. 

"It is Lieutenant Fraser, " cried Margaret, but as she looked down shemissed her escort. 

An instant, and she saw him. He was circling the outskirts of thecrowd at a run. For just a heart-beat she wondered what he was about, but her brain told her before her eye. He swung in toward the steps, shoulders down, and bored a way through the stragglers straight to theheart of the turmoil. Taking the steps in two jumps, he stood besidethe ranger. 

"Hello, Tennessee, " grinned that young man. "Come to be apall-bearer?"

"Hello, Texas! Can't say, I'm sure. Just dropped in to see what'sdoing. "

Steve's admiring gaze approved him a man from the ground up. But theranger only laughed and said: "The band's going to play a right livelytune, looks like. "

The man from the Panhandle had his revolvers out already. "Yes, therewill be a hot time in the old town to-night, I shouldn't wonder. "

But for the moment the attackers were inclined to parley. Their leaderstepped out and held up a hand for a suspension of hostilities. He wasa large man, heavily built, and powerful as a bear. There was abouthim an air of authority, as of one used to being obeyed. He wasdressed roughly enough in corduroy and miner's half-leg boots, butthese were of the most expensive material and cut. His cold gray eyeand thin lips denied the manner of superficial heartiness hehabitually carried. If one scratched the veneer of good nature it wasto find a hard selfishness that went to his core. 

"It's Mr. Dunke!" the young school-teacher cried aloud in surprise. 

"I've got something to say to you, Mr. Lieutenant Ranger, " heannounced, with importance. 

"Uncork it, " was Fraser's advice. 

"We don't want to have any trouble with you, but we're here forbusiness. This man is a cold-blooded murderer and we mean to dojustice on him. "

Steve laughed insolently. "If all them that hollers for justice theloudest got it done to them, Mr. Dunke, there'd be a right smartshrinkage in the census returns. "

Dunke's eye gleamed with anger. "We're not here to listen to any smartguys, sir. Will you give up Struve to us or will you not?"

"That's easy. I will not. "

The mob leader turned to the Tennessean. "Young man, I don't know whoyou are, but if you mean to butt into a quarrel that ain't yours allI've got to say is that you're hunting an early grave. "

"We'll know about that later, seh. "

"You stand pat, do you?"

"Well, seh, I draw to a pair that opens the pot anyhow, " answeredLarry, with a slight motion of his weapons. 

Dunke fell back into the mob, a shot rang out into the night, and thecrowd swayed forward. But at that instant the door behind Fraser swungopen. A frightened voice sounded in his ear. 

"Quick, Steve!"

The ranger slewed his head, gave an exclamation of surprise, andhurriedly threw his prisoner into the open passage. 

"Back, Larry! Lively, my boy!" he ordered. 

Neill leaped back in a spatter of bullets that rained round him. Nextmoment the door was swung shut again. 

"You all right, Nell?" asked Fraser quickly of the young woman who hadopened the door, and upon her affirmative reply he added: "Everybodyalive and kicking? Nobody get a pill?"

"I'm all right for one, " returned Larry. "But we had better get out ofthis passage. I notice our friends the enemy are sending their cardsthrough the door after us right anxious. "

As he spoke a bullet tore a jagged splinter from a panel and burieditself in the ceiling. A second and a third followed. 

"That's c'rect. We'd better be 'Not at home' when they call. Eh, Nell?"

Steve put an arm affectionately round the waist of the young woman whohad come in such timely fashion to their aid and ran through thepassage with her to the room beyond, Neill following with theprisoner. 

"You're wounded, Steve, " the young woman cried. 

He shrugged. "Scratch in the hand. Got it when I arrested him. Had toshoot his trigger finger off. "

"But I must see to it. "

"Not now; wait till we're out of the woods. " He turned to his friend:"Nell, let me introduce to you Mr. Neill, from the Panhandle. Mr. Neill, this is my sister. I don't know how come she to drop downbehind us like an angel from heaven, but that's a story will wait. Thething we got to do right now is to light a shuck out of here. "

His friend nodded, listening to the sound of blows battering the outerdoor. "They'll have it down in another minute. We've got to burn thewind seven ways for Sunday. "

"What I'd like to know is whether there are two entrances to thisrat-trap. Do you happen to know, Nell?" asked Fraser of his sister. 

"Three, " she answered promptly. "There's a back door into the courtand a trap-door to the roof. That's the way I came. "

"And it's the way we'll go. I might a-known you'd know all about itgive you a quarter of a chance, " her brother said admiringly. "We'llduck through the roof and let Mr. Dunke hold the sack. Lead the way, sis. "

She guided them along another passageway and up some stairs to thesecond story. The trap-door that opened to the flat roof was above thebed about six feet. Neill caught the edges of the narrow opening, drewhimself up, and wriggled through. Fraser lifted his sister by thewaist high enough for Larry to catch her hands and draw her up. 

"Hurry, Steve, " she urged. "They've broken in. Hurry, dear. "

The ranger unlocked his prisoner's handcuffs and tossed them up to theTennessean. 

"Get a move on you, Mr. Struve, unless you want to figure in a necktieparty, " he advised. 

But the convict's flabby muscles were unequal to the task of gettinghim through the opening. Besides which, his wounded hand, tied up witha blood-soaked rag, impeded him. He had to be pulled from above andboosted from behind. Fraser, fit to handle his weight in wildcats, asan admirer had once put it, found no trouble in following. Steps werealready heard on the stairs below when Larry slipped the cover to itsplace and put upon it a large flat stone which he found on the rooffor that purpose. The fugitives crawled along the roof on their handsand knees so as to escape the observation of the howling mob outsidethe house. Presently they came into the shadows, and Nell rose, ranforward to a little ladder which led to a higher roof, and swiftlyascended. Neill, who was at her heels, could not fail to note thelight supple grace with which she moved. He thought he had never seena more charming woman in appearance. She still somehow retained theslim figure and taking ways of a girl, in conjunction with the softrounded curves of a present-day Madonna. 

Two more roofs were crossed before they came to another opentrap-door. A lamp in the room below showed it to be a bedroom with twocots in it. Two children, one of them a baby, were asleep in these. Asweet-faced woman past middle age looked anxiously up with handsclasped together as in prayer. 

"Is it you, Nellie?" she asked. 

"Yes, mother, and Steve, and his friend. We're all right. "

Fraser dropped through, and his sister let herself down into his arms. Struve followed, and was immediately handcuffed. Larry put back thetrap and fastened it from within before he dropped down. 

"We shall have to leave at once, mother, without waiting to dress thechildren, " explained Fraser. "Wrap them in blankets and take someclothes along. I'll drop you at the hotel and slip my prisoner intothe jail the back way if I can; that is, if another plan I havedoesn't work. "

The oldest child awoke and caught sight of Fraser. He reached out hishands in excitement and began to call: "Uncle Steve! Uncle Steve backagain. "

Fraser picked up the youngster. "Yes, Uncle Steve is back. But we'regoing to play a game that Indians are after us. Webb must be good andkeep very, very still. He mustn't say a word till uncle tells him hemay. "

The little fellow clapped his hands. "Goody, goody! Shall we beginnow?"

"Right this minute, son. Better take your money with you, mother. Isfather here?"

"No, he is at the ranch. He went down in the stage to-day. "

"All right, friends. We'll take the back way. Tennessee, will you lookout for Mr. Struve? Sis will want to carry the baby. "

They passed quietly down-stairs and out the back door. The starrynight enveloped them coldly, and the moon looked down through riftedclouds. Nature was peaceful as her own silent hills, but the raucousjangle of cursing voices from a distance made discord of the harmony. They slipped along through the shadows, meeting none except occasionalfigures hurrying to the plaza. At the hotel door the two men separatedfrom the rest of the party, and took with them their prisoner. 

"I'm going to put him for safe-keeping down the shaft of a mine myfather and I own, " explained Steve. "He wouldn't be safe in the jail, because Dunke, for private reasons, has made up his mind to put outhis lights. "

"Private reasons?" echoed the engineer. 

"Mighty good ones, too. Ain't that right?" demanded the ranger ofStruve. 

The convict cursed, though his teeth still chattered with fright fromthe narrow escape he had had, but through his prison jargon ran a hintof some power he had over the man Dunke. It was plain he thought thelatter had incited the lynching in order to shut the convict's mouthforever. 

"Where is this shaft?" asked Neill. 

"Up a gulch about half a mile from here. "

Fraser's eyes fixed themselves on a young man who passed on the run. He suddenly put his fingers to his lips and gave a low whistle. Therunning man stopped instantly, his head alert to catch the directionfrom which the sound had come. Steve whistled again and the strangerturned toward them. 

"It's Brown, one of my rangers, " explained the lieutenant. 

Brown, it appeared, had just reached town and stabled his horse whenword came to him that there was trouble on the plaza. He had beenmaking for it when his officer's whistle stopped him. 

"It's all over except getting this man to safety. I'm going to put himdown an abandoned shaft of the Jackrabbit. He'll be safe there, andnobody will think to look for him in any such place, " said Fraser. 

The man from the Panhandle drew his friend to one side. "Do you needme any longer? I left Miss Kinney right on the edge of that mob, and Iexpect I better look around and see where she is now. "

"All right. No, we don't need you. Take care you don't let any ofthese miners recognize you. They might make you trouble while they'restill hot. Well, so-long. See you to-morrow at the hotel. "

The Tennessean looked to his guns to make sure they hung loose in thescabbards, then stepped briskly back toward the plaza. 

 CHAPTER VIII

 WOULD YOU WORRY ABOUT ME?

Margaret Kinney's heart ceased beating in that breathless instantafter the two dauntless friends had flung defiance to two hundred. There was a sudden tightening of her throat, a fixing of dilated eyeson what would have been a thrilling spectacle had it not meant so muchmore to her. For as she leaned forward in the saddle with parted lipsshe knew a passionate surge of fear for one of the apparently doomedmen that went through her like swift poison, that left her dizzy withthe shock of it. 

The thought of action came to her too late. As Dunke stepped back togive the signal for attack she cried out his name, but her voice wasdrowned in the yell of rage that filled the street. She tried to spurher horse into the crowd, to force a way to the men standing with suchsplendid fearlessness above this thirsty pack of wolves. But thedenseness of the throng held her fixed even while revolvers flashed. 

And then the miracle happened. She saw the door open and limned in apenumbra of darkness the white comely face of a woman. She saw thebeleaguered men sway back and the door close in the faces of thehorde. She saw bullets go crashing into the door, heard screams ofbaffled fury, and presently the crash of axes into the panels of thebarrier that held them back. It seemed to fade away before her gaze, and instead of it she saw a doorway full of furious crowding miners. 

Then presently her heart stood still again. From her higher place inthe saddle, well back in the outskirts of the throng, in the dim lightshe made out a figure crouching on the roof; then another, andanother, and a fourth. She suffered an agony of fear in the fewheart-beats before they began to slip away. Her eyes swept the facesnear her. One and all they were turned upon the struggling mass ofhumanity at the entrance to the passage. When she dared look again tothe roof the fugitives were gone. She thought she perceived themswarming up a ladder to the higher roof, but in the surroundinggrayness she could not be sure of this. 

The stamping of feet inside the house continued. Once there was thesound of an exploding revolver. After a long time a heavy figurestruggled into view through the roof-trap. It was Dunke himself. Hecaught sight of the ladder, gave a shout of triumph, and was off inpursuit of his flying prey. As others appeared on the roof they, too, took up the chase, a long line of indistinct running figures. 

There were other women on the street now, most of them Mexicans, sothat Margaret attracted little attention. She moved up opposite thehouse that had become the scene of action, expecting every moment tohear the shots that would determine the fate of the victims. 

But no shots came. Lights flashed from room to room, and presently onelight began to fill a room so brilliantly that she knew a lamp musthave been overturned and set the house on fire. Dunke burst from thefront door, scarce a dozen paces from her. There was a kind of luridfury in his eyes. He was as ravenously fierce as a wolf balked of itskill. She chose that moment to call him. 

"Mr. Dunke!"

Her voice struck him into a sort of listening alertness, and again shepronounced his name. 

"You, Miss Kinney-- here?" he asked in amazement. 

"Yes-- Miss Kinney. "

"But-- What are you doing here? I thought you were at Fort Lincoln. "

"I was, but I'm here now. "

"Why? This is no place for you to-night. Hell's broke loose. "

"So it seems, " she answered, with shining eyes. 

"There's trouble afoot, Miss Margaret. No girl should be out, letalone an unprotected one. "

"I did not come here unprotected. There was a man with me. The one, Mr. Dunke, that you are now looking for to murder!"

She gave it to him straight from the shoulder, her eyes holding hissteadily. 

"Struve?" he gasped, taken completely aback. 

"No, not Struve. The man who stood beside Lieutenant Fraser, the oneyou threatened to kill because he backed the law. "

"I guess you don't know all the facts, Miss Kinney. " He came close andmet her gaze while he spoke in a low voice. "There ain't many knowwhat I know. Mebbe there ain't any beside you now. But I know you'reJim Kinney's sister. "

"You are welcome to the knowledge. It is no secret. Lieutenant Fraserknows it. So does his friend. I'm not trying to hide it. What of it?"

Her quiet scorn drew the blood to his face. 

"That's all right. If you do want to keep it quiet I'm with you. Butthere's something more. Your brother escaped from Yuma with thisfellow Struve. Word came over the wire an hour or two ago that Struvehad been captured and that it was certain he had killed his pal, yourbrother. That's why I mean to see him hanged before mo'ning. "

"He did kill my brother. He told me so himself. " Her voice carried asob for an instant, but she went on resolutely. "What has that to dowith it? Isn't there any law in Texas? Hasn't he been captured? Andisn't he being taken back to his punishment?"

"He told you so himself!" the man echoed. "When did he tell you? Whendid you see him?"

"I was alone with him for twelve hours in the desert. "

"Alone with you?" His puzzled face showed how he was trying to takethis in, "I don't understand. How could he be alone with you?"

"I thought he was my brother and I was helping him to escape from FortLincoln. "

"Helping him to escape! Helping Wolf Struve to escape! Well, I'mdarned if that don't beat my time. How come you to think him yourbrother?" the man asked suspiciously. 

"It doesn't matter how or why. I thought so. That's enough. "

"And you were alone with him-- why, you must have been alone with himall night, " cried Dunke, coming to a fresh discovery. 

"I was, " she admitted very quietly. 

A new suspicion edged itself into his mind. "What did you talk about?Did he say anything about-- Did he-- He always was a terrible liar. Nobody ever believed Wolf Struve. "

Without understanding the reason for it, she could see that he wasuneasy, that he was trying to discount the value of anything theconvict might have told her. Yet what could Struve the convict, No. 9, 432, have to do with the millionaire mine-owner, Thomas J. Dunke?What could there be in common between them? Why should the latter fearwhat the other had to tell? The thing was preposterous on the face ofit, but the girl knew by some woman's instinct that she was on theedge of a secret Dunke held hidden deep in his heart from all theworld. Only this much she guessed; that Struve was a sharer of hissecret, and therefore he was set on lynching the man before he hadtime to tell it. 

"They got away, didn't they?" she asked. 

"They got away-- for the present, " he answered grimly. "But we'restill hunting them. "

"Can't you let the law take its course, Mr. Danke? Is it necessary todo this terrible thing?"

"Don't you worry any about it, Miss Kinney. This ain't a woman's job. I'll attend to it. "

"But my friends, " she reminded him. 

"We ain't intending to hurt them any. Come, I'll see you home. Youstaying at the hotel?"

"I don't know. I haven't made any arrangements yet. "

"Well, we'll go make them now. "

But she did not move. "I'm not going in till I know how this comesout. "

He was a man used to having his own brutal way, one strong by nature, with strength increased by the money upon which he rode rough-shod tosuccess. 

He laughed as he caught hold of the rein. "That's ridiculous!"

"But my business, I think, " the girl answered sharply, jerking thebridle from his fingers. 

Dunke stared at her. It was his night of surprises. He failed torecognize the conventional teacher he knew in this bright-eyed, full-throated young woman who fronted him so sure of herself. Sheseemed to him to swim brilliantly in a tide of flushed beauty, inspite of the dust and the stains of travel. She was in a shapelesskhaki riding-suit and a plain, gray, broad-brimmed Stetson. But theone could not hide the flexible curves that made so frankly for grace, nor the other the coppery tendrils that escaped in fascinatingdisorder from under its brim. 

"You hadn't ought to be out here. It ain't right. "

"I don't remember asking you to act as a standard of right and wrongfor me. "

He laughed awkwardly. "We ain't quarreling, are we, Miss Margaret?"

"Certainly I am not. I don't quarrel with anybody but my friends. "

"Well, I didn't aim to offend you anyway. You know me better thanthat. " He let his voice fall into a caressing modulation and put apropitiatory hand on her skirt, but under the uncompromising hardnessof her gaze the hand fell away to his side. "I'm your friend--leastways I want to be. "

"My friends don't lynch men. "

"But after what he did to your brother. "

"The law will take care of that. If you want to please me call offyour men before it is too late. "

It was his cue to please her, for so far as it was in him the manloved her. He had set his strong will to trample on his past, to riseto a place where no man could shake his security with proof of hisformer misdeeds. He meant to marry her and to place her out of reachof those evil days of his. Only Struve was left of the old gang, andhe knew the Wolf well enough to be sure that the fellow would delightin blackmailing him. The convict's mouth must be closed. But just nowhe must promise t she wanted, and he did. 

The promise was still on his lips when a third person strode intotheir conversation. 

"Sorry I had to leave you so hastily, Miss Kinney. I'm ready to takeyou to the hotel now if it suits you. "

Both of them turned quickly, to see the man from the Panhandlesauntering forth from the darkness. There was a slight smile on hisface, which did not abate when he nodded to Dunke amiably. 

"You?" exclaimed the mine-owner angrily. 

"Why, yes-- me. Hope we didn't inconvenience you, seh, by postponingthe coyote's journey to Kingdom Come. My friend had to take a handbecause he is a ranger, and I sat in to oblige him. No hard feelings, I hope. "

"Did you-- Are you all safe?" Margaret asked. 

"Yes, ma'am. Got away slick and clean. "

"Where?" barked Dunke. 

"Where what, my friend?"

"Where did you take him?"

Larry laughed in slow deep enjoyment. "I hate to disappoint you, butif I told that would be telling. No, I reckon I won't table my cardsyet a while. If you're playing in this game of Hi-Spy go to it andhunt. "

"Perhaps you don't know that I am T. J. Dunke. "

"You don't say! And I'm General Grant. This lady hyer is FlorenceNightingale or Martha Washington, I disremember which. "

Miss Kinney laughed. "Whichever she is she's very very tired, " shesaid. "I think I'll accept your offer to see me to the hotel, Mr. Neill. "

She nodded a careless good night to the mine-owner, and touched thehorse with her heel. At the porch of the rather primitive hotel shedescended stiffly from the saddle. 

Before she left the Southerner-- or the Westerner, for sometimes sheclassified him as one, sometimes as the other-- she asked him onehesitant question. 

"Were you thinking of going out again tonight?"

"I did think of taking a turn out to see if I could find Fraser. Anything I can do for you?"

"Yes. Please don't go. I don't want to have to worry about you. I havehad enough trouble for the present. "

"Would you worry about me?" he asked quietly, his eyes steadily onher. 

"I lie awake about the most unaccountable things sometimes. "

He smiled in his slow Southern fashion. "Very well. I'll stay indoors. I reckon Steve ain't lost, anyhow. You're too tired to have to lieawake about me to-night. There's going to be lots of other nights foryou to think of me. "

She glanced at him with a quick curiosity. "Well, of all the conceit Iever heard!"

"I'm the limit, ain't I?" he grinned as he took himself off. 

 CHAPTER IX

 DOWN THE JACKRABBIT SHAFT. 

Next morning Larry got up so late that he had to Order a specialbreakfast for himself, the dining-room being closed. He found oneguest there, however, just beginning her oatmeal, and he invitedhimself to eat at her table. 

"Good mawnin', Miss Kinney. You don't look like you had been lyingawake worrying about me, " he began by way of opening the conversation. 

Nor did she. Youth recuperates quickly, and after a night's soundsleep she was glowing with health and sweet vitality. He could see aflush beat into the fresh softness of her flesh, but she lifted herdark lashes promptly to meet him, and came to the sex duel gaily. 

"I suppose you think I had to take a sleeping-powder to keep me fromit?" she flashed back. 

"Oh, well, a person can dream, " he suggested. 

"How did you know? But you are right. I did dream of you. "

To the waiter he gave his order before answering her. "Some oatmealand bacon and eggs. Yes, coffee. And some hot cakes, Charlie. Did youhonest dream about me?" This last not to the Chinese waiter who hadpadded soft-footed to the kitchen. 

"Yes. "

She smiled shyly at him with sweet innocence, and he drew his chair atrifle closer

"Tell me. "

"I don't like to. "

"But you must. Go on. "

"Well, " very reluctantly. "I dreamed I was visiting the penitentiaryand you were there in stripes. You were in for stealing a sheep, Ithink. Yes, that was it, for stealing a sheep. "

"Couldn't you make it something more classy if you're bound to have mein?" he begged, enjoying immensely the rise she was taking out of him. 

"I have to tell it the way it was, " she insisted, her eyes bubblingwith fun. "And it seems you were the prison cook. First thing I knewyou were standing in front of a wall and two hundred of the prisonerswere shooting at you. They were using your biscuits as bullets. "

"That was a terrible revenge to take on me for baking them. "

"It seems you had your sheep with you-- the one you stole, and you andit were being pelted all over. "

"Did you see a lady hold-up among those shooting at me?" he inquiredanxiously. 

She shook her head. "And just when the biscuits were flying thickestthe wall opened and Mr. Fraser appeared. He caught you and the sheepby the back of your necks, and flung you in. Then the wall closed, andI awoke. "

"That's about as near the facts as dreams usually get. "

He was very much pleased, for it would have been a greatdisappointment to him if she had admitted dreaming about him for anyreason except to make fun of him. The thing about her that touched hisimagination most was something wild and untamed, some quality ofsilken strength in her slim supple youth that scoffed at all men andknew none as master. He meant to wrest from her if he could aninterest that would set him apart in her mind from all others, but hewanted the price of victory to cost him something. Thus the value ofit would be enhanced. 

"But tell me about your escape-- all about it and what became ofLieutenant Fraser. And first of all, who the lady was that opened thedoor for you, " she demanded. 

"She was his sister. "

"Oh! His sister. " Her voice was colorless. She observed him withoutappearing to do so. "Very pretty, I thought her. Didn't you?"

"Right nice looking. Had a sort of an expression made a man want tolook at her again. "

"Yes. "

Innocently unaware that he was being pumped, he contributed moreinformation. "And that game. "

"She was splendid. I can see her now opening the door in the face ofthe bullets. "

"Never a scream out of her either. Just as cool. "

"That is the quality men admire most, isn't it-- courage?"

"I don't reckon that would come first. Course it wouldn't make a hitwith a man to have a woman puling around all the time. "

"My kind, you mean. "

Though she was smiling at him with her lips, it came to him that hiswords were being warped to a wrong meaning. 

"No, I don't, " he retorted bluntly. 

"As I remember it, I was bawling every chance I got yesterday and theday before, " she recalled, with fine contempt of herself. 

"Oh, well! You had reason a-plenty. And sometimes a woman cries justlike a man cusses. It don't mean anything. I once knew a woman wet herhandkerchief to a sop crying because her husband forgot one mo'ning tokiss her good-by. She quit irrigating to run into a burning houseafter a neighbor's kids. "

"I accept your apology for my behavior if you'll promise I won't do itagain, " she laughed. "But tell me more about Miss Fraser. Does shelive here?"

For a moment he was puzzled. "Miss Fraser! Oh! She gave up that nameseveral years ago. Mrs. Collins they call her. And say, you ought tosee her kiddies. You'd fall in love with them sure. "

The girl covered her mistake promptly with a little laugh. It wouldnever do for him to know she had been yielding to incipient jealousy. "Why can't I know them? I want to meet her too. "

The door opened and a curly head was thrust in. "Dining-room closesfor breakfast at nine. My clock says it's ten-thirty now. Pretty nearwork to keep eating that long, ain't it? And this Sunday, too! I'llhave you put in the calaboose for breaking the Sabbath. "

"We're only bending it, " grinned Neill. "Good mo'ning, Lieutenant. Howis Mrs. Collins, and the pickaninnies?"

"First rate. Waiting in the parlor to be introduced to Miss Kinney. "

"We're through, " announced Margaret, rising. 

"You too, Tennessee? The proprietor will be grateful. "

The young women took to each other at once. Margaret was very fond ofchildren, and the little boy won her heart immediately. Both he andhis baby sister were well-trained, healthy, and lovable little folks, and they adopted "Aunt Peggy" enthusiastically. 

Presently the ranger proposed to Neill an adjournment. 

"I got to take some breakfast down the Jackrabbit shaft to myprisoner. Wanter take a stroll that way?" he asked. 

"If the ladies will excuse us. "

"Glad to get rid of you, " Miss Kinney assured him promptly, but with abright smile that neutralized the effect of her sauciness. "Mrs. Collins and I want to have a talk. "

The way to the Jackrabbit lay up a gulch behind the town. Up oneincline was a shaft-house with a great gray dump at the foot of it. This they left behind them, climbing the hill till they came to thesummit. 

The ranger pointed to another shaft-house and dump on the nexthillside. 

"That's the Mal Pais, from which the district is named. Dunke owns itand most of the others round here. His workings and ours come togetherin several places, but we have boarded up the tunnels at those pointsand locked the doors we put in. Wonder where Brown is? I told him tomeet me here to let us down. "

At this moment they caught sight of him coming up a timbered draw. Helowered them into the shaft, which was about six hundred feet deep. From the foot of the shaft went a tunnel into the heart of themountain. Steve led the way, flashing an electric searchlight as hewent. 

"We aren't working this part of the mine any more, " he explained. "Itconnects with the newer workings by a tunnel. We'll go back that wayto the shaft. "

"You've got quite a safe prison, " commented the other. 

"It's commodious, anyhow; and I reckon it's safe. If a man was to getloose he couldn't reach the surface without taking somebody intopartner-ship with him. There ain't but three ways to daylight; one bythe shaft we came down, another by way of our shaft-house, and thethird by Dunke's, assuming he could break through into the Mal Pais. He'd better not break loose and go to wandering around. There areseventeen miles of workings down here in the Jackrabbit, let alone theMal Pais. He might easily get lost and starve to death. Here he is atthe end of this tunnel. "

Steve flashed the light twice before he could believe his eyes. Therewas no sign of Struve except the handcuffs depending from an ironchain connected by a heavy staple with the granite wall. Apparently hehad somehow managed to slip from the gyves by working at themconstantly. 

The officer turned to his friend and laughed. "I reckon I'm holdingthe sack this time. See. There's blood on these cuffs. He rasped hishands some before he got them out. "

"Well, you've still got him safe down here somewhere. "

"Yes, I have or Dunke has. The trouble is both the mines are shut downjust now. He's got about forty miles of tunnel to playhide-and-go-seek in. He's in luck if he doesn't starve to death. "

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I'll have to get some of my men out on search-parties-- just tellthem there's a man lost down here without telling them who. I reckonwe better say nothing about it to the ladies. You know howtender-hearted they are. Nellie wouldn't sleep a wink to-night forworrying. "

"All right. We'd better get to it at once then. "

Fraser nodded. "We'll go up and rustle a few of the boys that know themine well. I expect before we find him Mr. Wolf Struve will be a lamband right anxious for the shepherd to arrive. "

All day the search proceeded without results, and all of the next day. The evening of this second day found Struve still not accounted for. 

 CHAPTER X

 IN A TUNNEL OF THE MAL PAIS

Although Miss Kinney had assured Neill that she was glad to be rid ofhim it occurred to her more than once in the course of the day that hewas taking her a little too literally. On Sunday she did not see aglimpse of him after he left. At lunch he did not appear, nor was hein evidence at dinner. Next morning she learned that he had been tobreakfast and had gone before she got down. She withheld judgment tilllunch, being almost certain that he would be on hand to that meal. Hisabsence roused her resentment and her independence. If he didn't careto see her she certainly did not want to see him. She was not going tosit around and wait for him to take her down into the mine he hadpromised she should see. Let him forget his appointment if he liked. He would wait a long time before she made any more engagements withhim. 

About this time Dunke began to flatter himself that he had made animpression. Miss Kinney was all smiles. She was graciously pleased totake a horseback ride over the camp with him, nor did he know that herroving eye was constantly on the lookout for a certain spare, clean-built figure she could recognize at a considerable distance bythe easy, elastic tread. Monday evening the mine-owner called upon herand Mrs. Collins, whose brother also was among the missing, and shewas delighted to accept his invitation to go through the Mal Paisworkings with him. 

"That is, if Mrs. Collins will go, too, " she added as an afterthought. 

That young woman hesitated. Though this man had led his miners againsther brother, she was ready to believe the attack not caused bypersonal enmity. The best of feeling did not exist between the ownersof the Jackrabbit and those of the Mal Pais. Dunke was suspected ofboldly crossing into the territory of his neighbor where his veins didnot lead. But there had been no open rupture. For the very reason thatan undertow of feeling existed Nellie consented to join the party. Shedid not want by a refusal to put into words a hostility tha e hadalways carefully veiled. She was in the position of not wanting to goat all, yet wanting still less to decline to do so. 

"I shall be glad to go, " she said. 

"Fine. We'll start about nine, or nine-thirty say. I'll drive up in asurrey. "

"And we'll have lunch for the party put up at the hotel here. I'll getsome fruit to take along, " said Margaret. 

"We'll make a regular picnic of it, " added Dunke heartily. "You'llenjoy eating out of a dinner-pail for once just like one of my miners, Miss Kinney, "

After he had gone Margaret mentioned to Mrs. Collins her feelingconcerning him. "I don't really like him. Or rather I don't give himmy full confidence. He seems pleasant enough, too. " She laughed alittle as she added: "You know he does me the honor to admire me. "

"Yes, I know that. I was wondering how you felt about it. "

"How ought one to feel about one of the great mining kings of theWest?"

"Has that anything to do with it, my dear? I mean his being a miningking?" asked Mrs. Collins gently. 

Margaret went up to her and kissed her. "You're a romantic littlething. That's because you probably married a heaven-sent man. We can'tall be fortunate. "

"We none of us need to marry where we don't love. "

"Goodness me! I'm not thinking of marrying Mr. Dunke's millions. Theonly thing is that I don't have a Croesus to exhibit every day at mychariot wheels. It's horrid of course, but I have a natural femininereluctance to surrendering him all at once. I don't object in theleast to trampling on him, but somehow I don't feel ready for hisdeclaration of independence. "

"Oh, if that's all!" her friend smiled. 

"That's quite all. "

"Perhaps you prefer Texans who come from the Panhandle. "

Mrs. Collins happened to be looking straight at her out of her bigbrown eyes. Wherefore she could not help observing the pink glow thatdeepened in the soft cheeks. 

"He hasn't preferred me much lately. "

Nellie knitted her brow in perplexity. "I don't understand. Steve'sbeen away, too, nearly all the time. Something is going on that wedon't know about. "

"Not that I care. Mr. Neill is welcome to stay away. "

Her new friend shot a swift slant look at her. "I don't suppose youtrample on him much. "

Margaret flushed. "No, I don't. It's the other way. I never sawanybody so rude. He does not seem to have any saving sense of theproper thing. "

"He's a man, dearie, and a good one. He may be untrammeled byconvention, but he is clean and brave. He has eyes that look throughcowardice and treachery, fine strong eyes that are honest andunafraid. "

"Dear me, you must have studied them a good deal to see all that inthem, " said Miss Peggy lightly, yet pleased withal. 

"My dear, " reproached her friend, so seriously that Peggy repented. 

"I didn't really mean it, " she laughed. "I've heard already on goodauthority that you see no man's eyes except the handsome ones in theface of Mr. Tim Collins. "

"I do think Tim has fine eyes, " blushed the accused. 

"No doubt of it. Since you have been admiring my young man I mustpraise yours, " teased Miss Kinney. 

"Am I to wish you joy? I didn't know he was your young man, " flashedback the other. 

"I understand that you have been trying to put him off on me. "

"You'll find he does not need any 'putting off' on anybody. "

"At least, he has a good friend in you. I think I'll tell him, so thatwhen he does condescend to become interested in a young woman he mayrefer her to you for a recommendation. "

The young wife borrowed for the occasion some of Miss Peggy'saudacity. "I'm recommending him to that young woman now, my dear, " shemade answer. 

Dunke's party left for the mine on schedule time, Water-proof coatsand high lace-boots had been borrowed for the ladies as a protectionagainst the moisture they were sure to meet in the tunnels onethousand feet below the ground. The mine-owner had had thehoisting-engine started for the occasion, and the cage took them downas swiftly and as smoothly as a metropolitan elevator. NeverthelessMargaret clung tightly to her friend, for if was her first experienceof the kind. She had never before dropped nearly a quarter of a milestraight down into the heart of the earth and she felt a smotheredsensation, a sense of danger induced by her unaccustomed surroundings. It is the unknown that awes, and when she first stepped from the cageand peered down the long, low tunnel through which a tramway ran shecaught her breath rather quickly. She had an active imagination, andshe conjured cave-ins, explosions, and all the other mine horrors shehad read about. 

Their host had spared no expense to make the occasion a gala one. Electric lights were twinkling at intervals down the tunnel, and anelectric ore-car with a man in charge was waiting to run them into theworkings nearly a mile distant. Dunke dealt out candles and assistedhis guests into the car, which presently carried them deep into themine. Margaret observed that the timbered sides of the tunnel leanedinward slightly and that the roof was heavily cross-timbered. 

"It looks safe, " she thought aloud. 

"It's safe enough, " returned Dunke carelessly. "The place for cave-insis at the head of the workings, before we get drifts timbered. "

"Are we going into any of those places?"

"I wouldn't take you into any place that wasn't safe, Miss Margaret. "

"Is it always so dreadfully warm down here?" she asked. 

"You must remember we're somewhere around a thousand feet in the heartof the earth. Yes, it's always warm. "

"I don't see how the men stand it and work. "

"Oh, they get used to it. "

They left the car and followed a drift which took them into a regionof perpetual darkness, into which the electric lights did notpenetrate. Margaret noticed that her host carried his candle withease, holding it at an angle that gave the best light and mostresistance to the air, while she on her part had much ado to keep hersfrom going out. Frequently she had to stop and let the tiny flamerenew its hold on the base of supplies. So, without his knowing it, she fell behind gradually, and his explanations of stopes, drifts, air-drills, and pay-streaks fell only upon the already enlightenedears of Mrs. Collins. 

The girl had been picking her way through some puddles of water thathad settled on the floor, and when she looked up the lights of thoseahead had disappeared. She called to them faintly and hurried on, appalled at the thought of possibly losing them in these dreadfulunderground catacombs where Stygian night forever reigned. But hervery hurry delayed her, for in her haste the gust of her motion sweptout the flame. She felt her way forward along the wall, in a darknesssuch as she had never conceived before. Nor could she know that bychance she was following the wrong wall. Had she chosen the other herhand must have come to a break in it which showed that a passage atthat point deflected from the drift toward the left. Unconsciously shepassed this, already frightened but resolutely repressing her fear. 

"I'll not let them know what an idiot I am. I'll not! I'll not!" shetold herself. 

Therefore she did not call yet, thinking she must come on them at anymoment, unaware that every step was taking her farther from thegallery into which they had turned. When at last she cried out it wastoo late. The walls hemmed in her cry and flung it back tauntingly toher-- the damp walls against which she crouched in terror of thesubterranean vault in which she was buried. She was alone with thepowers of darkness, with the imprisoned spirits of the underworld thatfought inarticulately against the audacity of the puny humans whodared venture here. So her vivid imagination conceived it, terrorizingher against both will and reason. 

How long she wandered, a prey to terror, calling helplessly in theblackness, she did not know. It seemed to her that she must alwayswander so, a perpetual prisoner condemned to this living grave. Sothat it was with a distinct shock of glad surprise she heard a voiceanswer faintly her calls. Calling and listening alternately, shegroped her way in the direction of the sounds, and so at last cameplump against the figure of the approaching rescuer. 

"Who is it?" a hoarse voice demanded. 

But before she could answer a match flared and was held close to herface. The same light that revealed her to him told the girl who thisman was that had met her alone a million miles from human aid. Thehaggard, drawn countenance with the lifted upper lip and the sunkeneyes that glared into hers belonged to the convict Nick Struve. 

The match went out before either of them spoke. 

"You-- you here!" she exclaimed, and was oddly conscious that herrelief at meeting even him had wiped out for the present her fear ofthe man. 

"For God's sake, have you got anything to eat?" he breathed thickly. 

It had been part of the play that each member of their little partyshould carry a dinner-pail just like an ordinary miner. Wherefore shehad hers still in her hand. 

"Yes, and I have a candle here. Have you another match?"

He lit the candle with a shaking hand. 

"Gimme that bucket, " he ordered gruffly, and began to devourravenously the food he found in it, tearing at sandwiches and gulpingthem down like a hungry dog. 

"What day is this?" he stopped to ask after he had stayed the firstpangs. 

She told him Tuesday. 

"I ain't eaten since Saturday, " he told her. "I figured it was a week. There ain't any days in this place-- nothin' but night. Can't tell onefrom another. "

"It's terrible, " she agreed. 

His appetite was wolfish. She could see that he was spent, so weakwith hunger that he had reeled against the wall as she handed him thedinner-pail. Pallor was on the sunken face, and exhaustion in thetrembling hands and unsteady gait. 

"I'm about all in, what with hunger and all I been through. I thoughtI was out of my head when I heard you holler. " He snatched up thecandle from the place where he had set it and searched her face by itsflame. "How come you down here? You didn't come alone. What you doin'here?" he demanded suspiciously. 

"I came down with Mr. Dunke and a, friend to look over his mine. I hadnever been in one before. "

"Dunke!" A spasm of rage swept the man's face. "You're a friend ofhis, are you? Where is he? If you came with him how come you to beroaming around alone?"

"I got lost. Then my light went out. "

"So you're a friend of Dunke, that damned double-crosser! He's amillionaire, you think, a big man in this Western country. That's whathe claims, eh?" Struve shook a fist into the air in a mad burst ofpassion. "Just watch me blow him higher'n a kite. I know what he is, and I got proof. The Judas! I keep my mug shut and do time while hegets off scot-free and makes his pile. But you listen to me, ma'am. Your friend ain't nothin' but an outlaw. If he got his like I got minehe'd be at Yuma to-day. Your brother could a-told you. Dunke was atthe head of the gang that held up that train. We got nabbed, me andJim. Burch got shot in the Catalinas by one of the rangers, and Smithdied of fever in Sonora. But Dunke, curse him, he sneaks out and buysthe officers off with our plunder. That's what he done-- let hispartners get railroaded through while he sails out slick and easy. Buthe made one mistake, Mr. Dunke did. He wrote me a letter and told meto keep mum and he would fix it for me to get out in a few months. Ibelieved him, kept my mouth padlocked, and served seven years withouthim lifting a hand for me. Then, when I make my getaway he tries firstoff to shut my mouth by putting me out of business. That's what yourfriend done, ma'am. "

"Is this true?" asked the girl whitely. 

"So help me God, every word of it. "

"He let my brother go to prison without trying to help him?"

"Worse than that. He sent him to prison. Jim was all right when hefirst met up with Dunke. It was Dunke that got him into his wild waysand led him into trouble. It was Dunke took him into the hold-upbusiness. Hadn't been for him Jim never would have gone wrong. "

She made no answer. Her mind was busy piecing out the facts of herbrother's misspent life. As a little girl she remembered her bigbrother before he went away, good-natured, friendly, always ready toplay with her. She was sure he had not been bad, only fatally weak. Even this man who had slain him was ready to testify to that. 

She came back from her absorption to find Struve outlining what hemeant to do. 

"We'll go back this passage along the way you came. I want to find Mr. Dunke. I allow I've got something to tell him he will be rightinterested in hearing. "

He picked up the candle and led the way along the tunnel. Margaretfollowed him in silence. 

 CHAPTER XI

 THE SOUTHERNER TAKES A RISK

The convict shambled forward through the tunnel till he came to adrift which ran into it at a right angle. 

"Which way now?" he demanded. 

"I don't know. "

"Don't know, " he screamed. "Didn't you just come along here? Do youwant me to get lost again in this hell-hole?"

The stricken fear leaped into his face. He had forgotten her danger, forgotten everything but the craven terror that engulfed him. Lookingat him, she was struck for the first time with the thought that hemight be on the verge of madness. 

His cry still rang through the tunnel when Margaret saw a gleam ofdistant light. She pointed it out to Struve, who wheeled and fastenedhis eyes upon it. Slowly the faint yellow candle-rays wavered towardthem. A man was approaching through the gloom, a large man whom shepresently recognized as Dunke. A quick gasp from the one beside hershowed that he too knew the man. He took a dozen running stepsforward, so that in his haste the candle flickered out. 

"That you, Miss Margaret?" the mine-owner called. 

Neither she nor Struve answered. The latter had stopped and waswaiting tensely his enemy's approach. When he was within a few yardsof the other Dunke raised his candle and peered into the blacknessahead of him. 

"What's the matter? Isn't it you, Miss Peggy?"

"No, it ain't. It's your old pal, Nick Struve. Ain't you glad to seehim, Joe?"

Dunke looked him over without a word. His thin lips set and his gazegrew wall-eyed. The candle passed from right to left hand. 

Struve laughed evilly. "No, I'm not going to pay you that way-- notyet; nor you ain't going to rid yourself of me either. Want to knowwhy, Mr. Millionaire Dunke, what used to be my old pal? Want to knowwhy it ain't going to do you any good to drop that right hand anycloseter to your hip pocket?"

Still Dunke said nothing, but the candle-glow that lit his face showedan ugly expression. 

"Don't you whip that gun out, Joe Dunke. Don't you! 'Cause why? If youdo you're a goner. "

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I kept the letter you wrote me seven years ago, and haveput it where it will do you no good if anything happens to me. That'swhy you won't draw that gun, Joe Dunke. If you do it will send you toYuma. Millionaire you may be, but that won't keep you from wearingstripes. "

Struve's voice rang exultantly. From the look in the face of his oldcomrade in crime who had prospered at his expense, as he chose tothink, he saw that for the time being he had got the whip-hand. 

There was a long silence before Dunke asked hoarsely:

"What do you want?"

"I want you to hide me. I want you to get me out of this country. Iwant you to divvy up with me. Didn't we grub-stake you with the haulfrom the Overland? Don't we go share and share alike, the two of usthat's left? Ain't that fair and square? You wouldn't want to do lessthan right by an old pal, cap, you that are so respectable and propernow. You ain't forgot the man that lay in the ditch with you the nightwe held up the flyer, the man that rode beside you when you shot--"

"For God's sake don't rake up forgotten scrapes. We were all youngtogether then. I'll do what's right by you, but you got to keep yourmouth shut and let me manage this. "

"The way you managed it before when you let me rot at Yuma sevenyears, " jeered Struve. 

"I couldn't help it. They were on my trail and I had to lie low. Itell you I'll pull you through if you do as I say. "

"And I tell you I don't believe a word you say. You double-crossed mebefore and you will again if you get a chance. I'll not let you out ofmy sight. "

"Don't be a fool, Nick. How can I help you if I can't move around tomake the arrangements for running you across the line?"

"And what guarantee have I got you ain't making arrangements to haveme scragged? Think I'm forgetting Saturday night?"

The girl in the blackness without the candle-shine moved slightly. 

"What's that?" asked Dunke, startled. 

"What's what?"

"That noise. Some one moved. "

Dunke's revolver came swiftly from his pocket. 

"I reckon it must a-been the girl. "

"What girl? Miss Kinney?"

Dunke's hard eyes fastened on the other like steel augers. 

Margaret came forward and took wraithlike shape. 

"I want you to take me to Mrs. Collins, Mr. Dunke, " she said. 

The steel probes shifted from Struve to her. 

"What did you hear, Miss Kinney? This man is a storehouse of lies. Ilet him run on to see how far he would go. "

Struve's harsh laugh filled the tunnel. 

"Take me to Mrs. Collins, " she reiterated wearily. 

"Not till I know what you heard, " answered Dunke doggedly. 

"I heard everything, " she avowed boldly. "The whole wretched, miserable truth. "

She would have pushed past him, but he caught her arm. 

"Let me go!"

"I tell you it's all a mistake. I can explain it. Give me time. "

"I won't listen, I want never to see either of you again. What have Iever done that I should be mixed up with such men?" she cried, withbitter despair. 

"Don't go off half-cocked. 'Course I'll take you to Mrs. Collins ifyou like. But you got to listen to what I say. "

Another candle glimmered dimly in the tunnel and came toward them. Itpresently stopped, and a voice rolled along the vault. 

"Hello, there!"

Margaret would have known that voice anywhere among a thousand. Now itcame to her sweet as water after a drought. She slipped past Dunke andran stumbling through the darkness to its source. 

"Mr. Neill! Mr. Neill!"

The pitiful note in her voice, which he recognized instantly, stirredhim to the core. Astonished that she should be in the mine and introuble, he dashed forward, and his candle went out in the rush. Groping in the darkness her hands encountered his. His arms closedround her, and in her need of protection that brushed asideconventions and non-essentials, the need that had spoken in her cry ofrelief, in her hurried flight to him, she lay panting and trembling inhis arms. He held her tight, as one who would keep his own against theworld. 

"How did you get here-- what has happened?" he demanded. 

Hurriedly she explained. 

"Oh, take me away, take me away!" she concluded, nestling to him withno thought now of seeking to disguise her helpless dependence uponhim, of hiding from herself the realization that he was the man intowhose keeping destiny had ordained that she was to give her heart. 

"All right, honey. You're sure all safe now, " he said tenderly, and inthe blackness his lips sought and met hers in a kiss that sealed theunderstanding their souls had reached. 

At the sound of Neill's voice Dunke had extinguished the candle andvanished in the darkness with Struve, the latter holding him by thearm in a despairing grip. Neill shouted again and again, as herelighted his candle, but there came no answer to his calls. 

"We had better make for the shaft, " he said. 

They set out on the long walk to the opening that led up to the lightand the pure air. For a while they walked on in silence. At last hetook her hand and guided her fingers across the seam on his wrist. 

"It don't seem only four days since you did that, honey, " he murmured. 

"Did I do that?" Her voice was full of self-reproach, and before hecould stop her she lifted his hand and kissed the welt. 

"Don't, sweet. I deserved what I got and more. I'm ready with thatapology you didn't want then, Peggy. "

"But I don't want it now, either. I won't have it. Didn't I tell you Iwouldn't? Besides, " she added, with a little leap of laughter in hervoice, "why should you ask pardon for kissing the girl you were meantto-- to----"

He finished it for her. 

"To marry, Peggy. I didn't know it then, but I knew it before you saidgood-by with your whip. "

"And I didn't know it till next morning, " she said. 

"Did you know it then, when you were so mean to me?"

"That was why I was so mean to you. I had to punish myself and youbecause I-- liked you so well. "

She buried her face shyly in his coat to cover this confession. 

It seemed easy for both of them to laugh over nothing in theexuberance of their common happiness. His joy pealed now delightedly. 

"I can't believe it-- that four days ago you wasn't on the earth forme. Seems like you always belonged; seems like I always enjoyed yoursassy ways. "

"That's just the way I feel about you. It's really scandalous that inless than a week-- just a little more than half a week-- we should beengaged. We are engaged, aren't we?"

"Very much. "

"Well, then-- it sounds improper, but it isn't the least bit. It'sright. Isn't it?"

"It ce'tainly is. "

"But you know I've always thought that people who got engaged so soonare the same kind of people that correspond through matrimonialpapers. I didn't suppose it would ever happen to me. "

"Some right strange things happen while a person is alive, Peggy. "

"And I don't really know anything at all about you except that you sayyour name is Larry Neill. Maybe you are married already. "

She paused, startled at the impossible thought. 

"It must have happened before I can remember, then, " he laughed. 

"Or engaged. Very likely you have been engaged a dozen times. Southernpeople do, they say. "

"Then I'm an exception. "

"And me-- you don't know anything about me. "

"A fellow has to take some risk or quit living, " he told her gaily. 

"When you think of my temper doesn't it make you afraid?"

"The samples I've had were surely right exhilarating, " he conceded. "I'm expecting enough difference of opinion to keep life interesting. "

"Well, then, if you won't be warned you'll just have to take me andrisk it. "

And she slipped her arm into his and held up her lips for the kissawaiting her. 

 CHAPTER XII

 EXIT DUNKE

Dunke plowed back through the tunnel in a blind whirl of passion. Rage, chagrin, offended vanity, acute disappointment, all blended witha dull heartache to which he was a stranger. He was a dangerous man ina dangerous mood, and so Wolf Struve was likely to discover. But theconvict was not an observant man. His loose upper lip lifted in theugly sneer to which it was accustomed. 

"Got onto you, didn't she?"

Dunke stuck his candle in a niche of the ragged granite wall, strodeacross to his former partner in crime, and took the man by the throat. 

"I'll learn you to keep that vile tongue of yours still, " he saidbetween set teeth, and shook the hapless man till he was black in theface. 

Struve hung, sputtering and coughing, against the wall where he hadbeen thrown. It was long before he could do more than gasp. 

"What-- what did you do-- that for?" His furtive ratlike face lookedvenomous in its impotent anger. "I'll pay you for this-- and don'tyou-- forget it, Joe Dunke!"

"You'd shoot me in the back the way you did Jim Kinney if you got achance. I know that; but you see you won't get a chance. "

"I ain't looking for no such chance. I--"

"That's enough. I don't have to stand for your talk even if I do haveto take care of you. Light your candle and move along this tunnellively. "

Something in Dunke's eye quelled the rebellion the other contemplated. He shuffled along, whining as he went that he would never have lookedfor his old pal to treat him so. They climbed ladders to the nextlevel, passed through an empty stope, and stopped at the end of adrift. 

"I'll arrange to get you out of here to-night and have you run acrossthe line. I'm going to give you three hundred dollars. That's the lastcent you'll ever get out of me. If you ever come back to this countryI'll see that you're hanged as you deserve. "

With that Dunke turned on his heel and was gone. But his contempt forthe ruffian he had cowed was too fearless. He would have thought so ifhe could have known of the shadow that dogged his heels through thetunnel, if he could have seen the bare fangs that had gained Struvehis name of "Wolf, " if he could have caught the flash of the knifethat trembled in the eager hand. He did not know that, as he shot upin the cage to the sunlight, the other was filling the tunnel withimprecations and wild threats, that he was hugging himself with thepromise of a revenge that should be sure and final. 

Dunke went about the task of making the necessary arrangementspersonally. He had his surrey packed with food, and about eleveno'clock drove up to the mine and was lowered to the ninth level. Anhour later he stepped out of the cage with a prisoner whom he keptcovered with a revolver. 

"It's that fellow Struve, " he explained to the astonished engineer inthe shaft-house. "I found him down below. It seems that Fraser tookhim down the Jackrabbit and he broke loose and worked through to ourground. "

"Do you want any help in taking him downtown, sir? Shall I phone forthe marshal?"

His boss laughed scornfully. 

"When I can't handle one man after I've got him covered I'll let youknow, Johnson. "

The two men went out into the starlit night and got into the surrey. The play with the revolver had hitherto been for the benefit ofJohnson, but it now became very real. Dunke jammed the rim close tothe other's temple. 

"I want that letter I wrote you. Quick, by Heaven! No fairy-tales, butthe letter!"

"I swear, Joe--"

"The letter, you villain! I know you never let it go out of yourpossession. Give it up! Quick!"

Struve's hand stole to his breast, came out slowly to the edge of hiscoat, then leaped with a flash of something bright toward the other'sthroat. Simultaneously the revolver rang out. A curse, the sound of afalling body, and the frightened horses leaped forward. The wheelsslipped over the edge of the narrow mountain road, and surrey, horses, and driver plunged a hundred feet down to the sharp, broken rocksbelow. 

Johnson, hearing the shot, ran out and stumbled over a body lying inthe road. By the bright moonlight he could see that it was that of hisemployer. The surrey was nowhere in sight, but he could easily makeout where it had slipped over the precipice. He ran back into theshaft-house and began telephoning wildly to town. 

 CHAPTER XIII

 STEVE OFFERS CONGRATULATIONS

When Fraser reached the dining-room for breakfast his immediate familyhad finished and departed. He had been up till four o'clock and hismother had let him sleep as long as he would. Now, at nine, he was upagain and fresh as a daisy after a morning bath. 

He found at the next table two other late breakfasters. 

"Mo'ning, Miss Kinney. How are you, Tennessee?" he said amiably. 

Both Larry and the young woman admitted good health, the latter soblushingly that Steve's keen eyes suggested to him that he might notbe the only one with news to tell this morning. 

"What's that I hear about Struve and Dunke?" asked Neill at once. 

"Oh, you've heard it. Well, it's true. I judge Dunke was arranging toget him out of the country. Anyhow, Johnson says he took the fellowout to his surrey from the shaft-house of the Mal Pais under his gun. A moment later the engineer heard a shot and ran out. Dunke lay in theroad dead, with a knife through his heart. We found the surrey down inthe canyon. It had gone over the edge of the road. Both the hawsseswere dead, and Struve had disappeared. How the thing happened I reckonnever will be known unless the convict tells it. My guess would bethat Dunke attacked him and the convict was just a little bit morethan ready for him. "

"Have you any idea where Struve is?"

"The obvious guess would be that he is heading for Mexico. But I'vegot another notion. He knows that's where we will be looking for him. His record shows that he used to trail with a bunch of outlaws up inWyoming. That was most twenty years ago. His old pals have disappearedlong since. But he knows that country up there. He'll figure that downhere he's sure to be caught and hanged sooner or later. Up there he'llhave a chance to hide under another name. "

Neill nodded. "That's a big country up there and the mountains arefull of pockets. If he can reach there he will be safe. "

"Maybe, " the ranger amended quietly. 

"Would you follow him?"

The officer's opaque gaze met the eyes of his friend. "We don't aim tolet a prisoner make his getaway once we get our hands on him. Wyomingain't so blamed far to travel after him-- if I learn he is there. "

For a moment all of them were silent. Each of them was thinking of thefellow and the horrible trail of blood he had left behind him in oneshort week. Margaret looked at her lover and shuddered. She had notthe least doubt that this man sitting opposite them would bring thecriminal back to his punishment, but the sinister grotesque shadow ofthe convict seemed to fall between her and her happiness. 

Larry caught her hand under the table and gave it a little pressure ofreassurance. He spoke in a low voice. "This hasn't a thing to do withus, Peggy-- not a thing. They were already both out of your life. "

"Yes, I know, but--"

"There aren't any buts. " He smiled warmly, and his smile took theother man into their confidence. "You've been having a nightmare. That's past. See the sunshine on those hills. It's bright mo'ning, girl. A new day for you and for me. "

Steve grinned. "This is awful sudden, Tennessee. You must a-beensawing wood right industrious on the hawssback ride and down in thetunnel. I expect there wasn't any sunshine down there, was there?"

"You go to grass, Steve. "

"No, Tennessee is ce'tainly no two-bit man. Lemme see. One-- two--three-- four days. That's surely going some, " the ranger soliloquized. 

"Mr. Fraser, " the young woman reproved with a blush. 

"Don't mind him, Peggy. He's merely jealous, " came back Larry. 

"Course I'm jealous. Whyfor not? What license have these Panhandleguys to come in and tote off our girls? But don't mind me. I'll paystrict attention to my ham and eggs and not see a thing that's goingon. "

"Lieutenant!" Miss Margaret was both embarrassed and shocked. 

"Want me to shut my eyes, Tennessee?"

"Next time we get engaged you'll not be let in on the ground floor, "Neill predicted. 

"Four days! My, my! If that ain't rapid transit for fair!"

"You're a man of one idea, Steve. Cayn't you see that the fact's themain thing, not the time it took to make it one?"

"And counting out Sunday and Monday, it only leaves two days. "

"Don't let that interfere with your breakfast. You haven't beenelected timekeeper for this outfit, you know!"

Fraser recovered from his daze and duly offered congratulations to theone and hopes for unalloyed joy to the other party to the engagement. 

"But four days!" he added in his pleasant drawl. "That's sure someprecipitous. Just to look at him, ma'am"-- this innocently to Peggy--"a man wouldn't think he had it in him to locate, stake out, and dothe necessary assessment work on such a rich claim as the MargaretKinney all in four days. Mostly a fellow don't strike such high-gradeore without a lot of--"

"That will do for you, lieutenant, " interrupted Miss Kinney, withmerry, sparkling eyes. "You needn't think we're going to let you trailthis off into a compliment now. I'm going to leave you and see whatMrs. Collins says. She won't sit there and parrot 'Four days' for therest of her life. "

With which Mistress Peggy sailed from the room in mock hauteur. 

When Larry came back from closing the door after her, his friend fellupon him with vigorous. Hands to the amazement of Wun Hop, the waiter. 

"You blamed lucky son of a gun, " he cried exuberantly between punches. "You've ce'tainly struck pure gold, Tennessee. Looks like Old Man GoodLuck has come home to roost with you, son. "

The other, smiling, shook hands with him. "I'm of that opinion myself, Steve, " he said. 

 Part II

THE GIRL OF LOST VALLEY

 CHAPTER I

 IN THE FIRE ZONE

"Say, you Teddy hawss, I'm plumb fed up with sagebrush and scenery. Ikinder yearn for co'n bread and ham. I sure would give six bits for adrink of real wet water. Yore sentiments are similar, I reckon, Teddy. "

The Texan patted the neck of his cow pony, which reached roundplayfully and pretended to nip his leg. They understood each other, and were now making the best of a very unpleasant situation. Sincemorning they had been lost on the desert. The heat of midday had foundthem plowing over sandy wastes. The declining sun had left them amongthe foothills, wandering from one to another, in the vain hope thateach summit might show the silvery gleam of a windmill, or even thatoutpost of civilization, the barb-wire fence. And now the stars lookeddown indifferently, myriads of them, upon the travelers still ploddingwearily through a land magically transformed by moonlight to a silveryloveliness that blotted out all the garish details of day. 

The Texan drew rein. "We all been discovering that Wyoming is apowerful big state. Going to feed me a cigarette, Teddy. Too bad ahawss cayn't smoke his troubles away, " he drawled, and proceeded toroll a cigarette, lighting it with one sweeping motion of his arm, that passed down the leg of his chaps and ended in the upward curve athis lips. 

The flame had not yet died, when faintly through the illimitablevelvet night there drifted to him a sound. 

"Did you hear that, pardner?" the man demanded softly, listeningintently for a repetition of it. 

It came presently, from away over to the left, and, after it, whatmight have been taken for the popping of a distant bunch offirecrackers. 

"Celebrating the Fourth some premature, looks like. What? Think not, Teddy! Some one getting shot up? Sho! You are romancin', old hawss. "

Nevertheless he swung the pony round and started rapidly in thedirection of the shots. From time to time there came a renewal ofthem, though the intervals grew longer and the explosions were nowindividual ones. He took the precaution to draw his revolver from theholster and to examine it carefully. 

"Nothing like being sure. It's a heap better than being sorryafterward, " he explained to the cow pony. 

For the first time in twelve hours, he struck a road. Following thisas it wound up to the summit of a hill, he discovered that the area ofdisturbance was in the valley below. For, as he began his descent, there was a flash from a clump of cotton-woods almost at his feet. 

"Did yo' git him?" a voice demanded anxiously. 

"Don't know, dad, " the answer came, young, warm, and tremulous. 

"Hello! There's a kid there, " the Texan decided. Aloud, he askedquietly: "What's the row, gentlemen?"

One of the figures whirled-- it was the boyish one, crouched behind adead horse-- and fired at him. 

"Hold on, sonny! I'm a stranger. Don't make any more mistakes likethat. "

"Who are you?"

"Steve Fraser they call me. I just arrived from Texas. Wait a jiff, and I'll come down and explain. "

He stayed for no permission, but swung from the saddle, trailed thereins, and started down the slope. He could hear a low-voiced colloquybetween the two dark figures, and one of them called roughly:

"Hands up, friend! We'll take no chances on yo'. "

The Texan's hands went up promptly, just as a bullet flattened itselfagainst a rock behind him. It had been fired from the bank of the drywash, some hundred and fifty yards away. 

"That's no fair! Both sides oughtn't to plug at me, " he protested, grinning. 

The darkness which blurred detail melted as Fraser approached, and themoonlight showed him a tall, lank, unshaven old mountaineer, standingbehind a horse, his shotgun thrown across the saddle. 

"That's near enough, Mr. Fraser from Texas, " said the old man, in aslow voice that carried the Southern intonation. "This old gun isloaded with buckshot, and she scatters like hell. Speak yore littlepiece. How came yo' here, right now?"

"I got lost in the Wind River bad lands this mo'ning, and I beenplaying hide and go seek with myself ever since. "

"Where yo' haided for?"

"Gimlet Butte. "

"Huh! That's right funny, too. "

"Why?"

"Because all yo' got to do to reach the butte is to follow this roadand yore nose for about three miles. "

A bullet flung up a spurt of sand beside the horse. 

The young fellow behind the dead horse broke in, with impatient alarm:"He's all right, dad. Can't you tell by his way of talking that he'sfrom the South? Make him lie down. "

Something sweet and vibrant in the voice lingered afterward in theTexan's mind almost like a caress, but at the time he was too busy tothink of this. He dropped behind a cottonwood, and drew his revolver. 

"How many of them are there?" he asked of the lad, in a whisper. 

"About six, I think. I'm sorry I shot at you. "

"What's the row?"

"They followed us out of Gimlet Butte. They've been drinking. Isn'tthat some one climbing up the side of the ridge?"

"I believe it is. Let me have your rifle, kid. "

"What for?" The youngster took careful aim, and fired. 

A scream from the sagebrush-- just one, and then no more. 

"Bully for you', Arlie, " the old man said. 

None of them spoke for some minutes, then Fraser heard a sob-- astifled one, but unmistakable none the less. 

"Don't be afraid, kid. We'll stand 'em off, " the Texan encouraged. 

"I ain't afraid, but I-- I---- Oh, God, I've killed a man. "

The Texan stared at him, where he lay in the heavy shadows, shakenwith his remorse. "Holy smoke! Wasn't he aiming to kill you? He likelyisn't dead, anyhow. You got real troubles to worry about, withoutmaking up any. "

He could see the youngster shaking with the horror of it, and couldhear the staccato sobs forcing themselves through the closed teeth. Something about it, some touch of pathos he could not account for, moved his not very accessible heart. After all, he was a slim littlekid to be engaged in such a desperate encounter Fraser remembered hisown boyhood and the first time he had ever seen bloodshed, and, recalling it, he slipped across in the darkness and laid an arm acrossthe slight shoulder. 

"Don't you worry, kid. It's all right. You didn't mean--"

He broke off in swift, unspeakable amazement. His eye traveled up theslender figure from the telltale skirt. This was no boy at all, but agirl. As he took in the mass of blue-black hair and the soft butclean-cut modeling from ear to chin, his hand fell from her shoulder. What an idiot he had been not to know from the first that such a voicecould have come only from a woman! He had been deceived by thedarkness and by the slouch hat she wore. He wanted to laugh insardonic scorn of his perception. 

But on the heel of that came a realization of her danger. He must gether out of there at once, for he knew that the enemy must be circlinground, to take them on the flank too. It was not a question of whetherthey could hold off the attackers. They might do that, and yet shemight be killed while they were doing it. A man used to coping withemergencies, his brain now swiftly worked out a way of escape. 

"Yore father and I will take care of these coyotes. You slip alongthose shadows up the hill to where my Teddy hawss is, and burn thewind out of here, " he told her. 

"I'll not leave dad, " she said quickly. 

The old mountaineer behind the horse laughed apologetically. "I beentrying to git her to go, but she won't stir. With the pinto daid, o'course we couldn't both make it. "

"That's plumb foolishness, " the Texan commented irritably. 

"Mebbe, " admitted the girl; "but I reckon I'll stay long as dad does. "

"No use being pigheaded about it. "

Her dark eyes flashed. "Is this your say-so, Mr. Whatever-your-name-is?" she asked sharply, less because she resentedwhat he said than because she was strung to a wire edge. 

His troubled gaze took in again her slim girlishness. The frequency ofdanger had made him proof against fear for himself, but just now hewas very much afraid for her. Hard man as he was, he had theSoutherner's instinctive chivalry toward woman. 

"You better go, Arlie, " her father counseled weakly. 

"Well, I won't, " she retorted emphatically. 

The old man looked whimsically at the Texan. "Yo' see yo'self how itis, stranger. "

Fraser saw, and the girl's stanchness stirred his admiration evenwhile it irritated him. He made his decision immediately. 

"All right. Both of you go. "

"But we have only one horse, " the girl objected. "They would catchus. "

"Take my Teddy. "

"And leave you here?" The dark eyes were full on him again, this timein a wide-open surprise. 

"Oh, I'll get out once you're gone. No trouble about that. "

"How?"

"We couldn't light out, and leave yo' here, " the father interrupted. 

"Of course we couldn't, " the girl added quickly. "It isn't yourquarrel, anyhow. "

"What good can you do staying here?" argued Fraser. "They want you, not me. With you gone, I'll slip away or come to terms with them. Theyhaven't a thing against me. "

"That's right, " agreed the older man, rubbing his stubbly beard withhis hand. "That's sho'ly right. "

"But they might get you before they understood, " Arlie urged. 

"Oh, I'll keep under cover, and when it's time, I'll sing out and letthem know. Better leave me that rifle, though. " He went right on, taking it for granted that she had consented to go: "Slip throughthose shadows up that draw. You'll have no trouble with Teddy. Whistlewhen you're ready, and your father will make a break up the hill onhis hawss. So-long. See you later some time, mebbe. "

She went reluctantly, not convinced, but overborne by the quality ofcheerful compulsion that lay in him. He was not a large man, thoughthe pack and symmetry of his muscles promised unusual strength. Butthe close-gripped jaw, the cool serenity of the gray eyes that lookedwithout excitement upon whatever they saw, the perfect poise of hiscarriage-- all contributed to a personality plainly that of a leaderof men. 

It was scarce a minute later that the whistle came from the hilltop. The mountaineer instantly swung to the saddle and set his pony to acanter up the draw. Fraser could see him join his daughter in the dimlight, for the moon had momentarily gone behind a cloud, but almost atonce the darkness swallowed them. 

Some one in the sagebrush called to a companion, and the Texan knewthat the attackers had heard the sound of the galloping horses. Without waiting an instant, he fired twice in rapid succession. 

"That'll hold them for a minute or two, " he told himself. "They won'tunderstand it, and they'll get together and have a powwow. "

He crouched behind the dead horse, his gaze sweeping the wash, thesagebrush, and the distant group of cottonwoods from which he had seena shot fired. Though he lay absolutely still, without the leastvisible excitement, he was alert and tense to the finger tips. Not theslightest sound, not the smallest motion of the moonlit underbrush, escaped his unwavering scrutiny. 

The problem before him was to hold the attackers long enough for Arlieand her father to make their escape, without killing any of them orgetting killed himself. He knew that, once out of the immediatevicinity, the fugitives would leave the road and take to some of thecanyons that ran from the foothills into the mountains. If he couldsecure them a start of fifteen minutes that ought to be enough. 

A voice from the wash presently hailed him:

"See here! We're going to take you back with us, old man. That's acinch. We want you for that Squaw Creek raid, and we're going to haveyou. You done enough damage. Better surrender peaceable, and we'llpromise to take you back to jail. What say?"

"Gimme five minutes to think it over, " demanded the Texan. 

"All right, five minutes. But you want to remember that it's all offwith you if you don't give up. Billy Faulkner's dead, and we'll surecome a-shooting. "

Fraser waited till his five minutes was nearly up, then plunged acrossthe road into the sagebrush growing thick there. A shot or two rangout, without stopping him. Suddenly a man rose out of the sage infront of him, a revolver in his hand. 

For a fraction of a second, the two men faced each other before eitherspoke. 

"Who are you?"

Fraser's answer was to dive for the man's knees, just as a footballtackle does. They went down together, but it was the Texan got upfirst. A second man was running toward him. 

"Hands up, there!" the newcomer ordered. 

Fraser's hand went up, but with his forty-five in it. The man pitchedforward into the sage. The Southerner twisted forward again, slid downinto the dry creek, and ran along its winding bed for a hundred yards. Then he left it, cutting back toward the spot where he had lain behindthe dead horse. Hiding in the sage, he heard the pursuit pouring downthe creek, waited till it was past, and quickly recrossed the road. Here, among the cow-backed hills, he knew he was as safe as a needlein a haystack. 

"I had to get that anxious guy, but it might have been a whole lotworse. I only plugged his laig for him, " he reflected comfortably. "Wonder why they wanted to collect the old man's scalp, anyhow? Thelittle girl sure was game. Just like a woman, though, the way shebroke down because she hit that fellow. "

Within five minutes he was lost again among the thousand hills thatrose like waves of the sea, one after another. It was not till nearlymorning that he again struck a road. 

He was halted abruptly by a crisp command from behind a bowlder:

"Up with your hands-- quick!"

"Who are you, my friend?" the Texan asked mildly. 

"Deputy sheriff, " was the prompt response. "Now, reach for the sky, and prompt, too. "

"Just as you say. You've ce'tainly got the crawl on me. "

The deputy disarmed his captive, and drove him into town before him. When morning dawned, Fraser found himself behind the bars. He wasarrested for the murder of Faulkner. 

 CHAPTER II

 A COMPACT

After the jailer had brought his breakfast, Fraser was honored by avisit from the sheriff, a big, rawboned Westerner, with the creases offifty outdoor years stamped on his brown, leathery face. 

He greeted his prisoner pleasantly enough, and sat down on the bed. 

"Treating you right, are they?" he asked, glancing around. "Breakfastup to the mark?"

"I've got no kick coming, thank you, " said Fraser. 

"Good!"

The sheriff relapsed into sombre silence. There was a troubled look inthe keen eyes that the Texan did not understand. Fraser waited for theofficer to develop the object of his visit, and it was set down to hiscredit. A weaker man would have rushed at once into excuses andexplanations. But in the prisoner's quiet, steely eyes, in theclose-shut mouth and salient jaw, in the set of his well-knit figure, Sheriff Brandt found small room for weakness. Whoever he was, this manwas one who could hold his own in the strenuous game of life. 

"My friend, " said the sheriff abruptly, "you and I are up against it. There is going to be trouble in town to-night. "

The level, gray eyes looked questioningly at the sheriff. 

"You butted into grief a-plenty when you lined up with the cattlemenin this sheep war. Who do you ride for?"

"I'm not riding for anybody, " responded Fraser. "I just arrived fromTexas. Didn't even know there was a feud on. "

Brandt laughed incredulously. "That will sound good to a jury, if yourcase ever comes to that stage. How do you expect to explain BillyFaulkner's death?"

"Is there any proof I killed him?"

"Some. You were recognized by two men last night while you were tryingto escape. You carried a rifle that uses the same weight bullet as theone we dug out of Billy. When you attacked Tom Peake you dropped thatrifle, and in your getaway hadn't time to pick it up again. That isevidence enough for a Wyoming jury, in the present state of publicopinion. "

"What do you mean by 'in the present state of public opinion'?"

"I mean that this whole country is pretty nearly solid against theCedar Mountain cattlemen, since they killed Campeau and Jennings inthat raid on their camp. You know what I mean as well as I do. "

Fraser did not argue the point. He remembered now having seen anaccount of the Squaw Creek raid on a sheep camp, ending in a battlethat had resulted in the death of two men and the wounding of threeothers. He had been sitting in a hotel at San Antonio, Texas, when hehad read the story over his after-dinner cigar. The item had notseemed even remotely connected with himself. Now he was in prison atGimlet Butte, charged with murder, and unless he was very muchmistaken the sheriff was hinting at a lynching. The Squaw Creek raidhad come very near to him, for he knew the fight he had interruptedlast night had grown out of it, "What do you mean by trouble to-night?" he asked, in an even, conversational tone. 

The sheriff looked directly at him. "You're a man, I reckon. Thatcalls for the truth. Men are riding up and down this country to-day, stirring up sentiment against your outfit. To-night the people willgather in town, and the jail will be attacked. "

"And you?"

"I'll uphold the law as long as I can. "

Fraser nodded. He knew Brandt spoke the simple truth. What he hadsworn to do he would do to the best of his ability. But the Texanknew, too, that the ramshackle jail would be torn to pieces and thesheriff overpowered. 

From his coat pocket he drew a letter, and presented it to the other. "I didn't expect to give this to you under these circumstances, Mr. Brandt, but I'd like you to know that I'm on the level when I say Idon't know any of the Squaw Creek cattlemen and have never ridden forany outfit in this State. "

Brandt tore open the letter, and glanced hurriedly through it. "Why, it's from old Sam Slauson! We used to ride herd together when we wereboys. " And he real aloud:

"Introducing Steve Fraser, lieutenant in the Texas Rangers. "

He glanced up quickly. "You're not the Fraser that ran down Chacon andhis gang of murderers?"

"Yes, I was on that job. "

Brandt shook hands heartily. "They say it was a dandy piece of work. Iread that story in a magazine. You delivered the goods proper. "

The ranger was embarrassed. "Oh, it wasn't much of a job. The man thatwrote it put in the fancy touches, to make his story sell, I expect. "

"Yes, he did! I know all about that!" the sheriff derided. "I've gotto get you out of this hole somehow. Do you mind if I send forHilliard, the prosecuting attorney? He's a bright young fellow, loadedto the guards with ideas. What I want is to get at a legal way offixing this thing up, you understand. I'll call him up on the phone, and have him run over. "

Hilliard was shortly on the spot-- a short, fat little fellow witheyeglasses. He did not at first show any enthusiasm in the prisoner'sbehalf. 

"I don't doubt for a moment that you are the man this letter says youare, Mr. Fraser, " he said suavely. "But facts are stubborn things. Youwere seen carrying the gun that killed Faulkner. We can't get awayfrom that just because you happen to have a letter of introduction toMr. Brandt. "

"I don't want to get away from it, " retorted. Fraser. "I haveexplained how I got into the fight. A man doesn't stand back and seetwo people, and one of them a girl, slaughtered by seven or eight. "

The lawyer's fat forefinger sawed the air. "That's how you put it. Mind, I don't for a moment say it isn't the right way. But what thepublic wants is proof. Can you give evidence to show that Faulkner andhis friends attacked Dillon and his daughter? Have you even got themon hand here to support your statement? Have you got a grain ofevidence, apart from your bare word?"

"That letter shows--"

"It shows nothing. You might have written it yourself last night. Anyhow, a letter of introduction isn't quite an excuse for murder. "

"It wasn't murder. "

"That's what you say. I'll be glad to have you prove it. "

"They followed Dillon-- if that is his name-- out of town. "

"They put it that they were on their way home, when they wereattacked. "

"By an old man and his daughter, " the Texan added significantly. 

"There again we have only your statement for it. Half a dozen men hadbeen in town during the day from the Cedar Mountain district. Thesemen were witnesses in the suit that rose over a sheep raid. They mayall have been on the spot, to ambush Faulkner's crowd. "

Brandt broke in: "Are you personally convinced that this gentleman isLieutenant Fraser of the Rangers?"

"Personally, I am of opinion that he is, but--"

"Hold your horses, Dave. Believing that, do you think that we ought toleave him here to be lynched to-night by Peake's outfit?"

"That isn't my responsibility, but speaking merely as a privatecitizen, I should say, No. "

"What would you do with him then?"

"Why not take him up to your house?"

"Wouldn't be safe a minute, or in any other house in town. "

"Then get out of town with him. "

"It can't be done. I'm watched. "

Hilliard shrugged. 

The ranger's keen eyes went from one to another. He saw that what thelawyer needed was some personal interest to convert him into apartisan. From his pocket he drew another letter and some papers. 

"If you doubt that I am Lieutenant Fraser you can wire my captain atDallas. This is a letter of congratulation to me from the Governor ofTexas for my work in the Chacon case. Here's my railroad ticket, andmy lodge receipt. You gentlemen are the officers in charge. I hold youpersonally responsible for my safety-- for the safety of a man whosename, by chance, is now known all over this country. "

This was a new phase of the situation, and it went home to thelawyer's mind at once. He had been brought into the case willy nilly, and he would be blamed for anything that happened to this young Texan, whose deeds had recently been exploited broadcast in the papers. Hestood for an instant in frowning thought, and as he did so a clause inthe letter from the Governor of Texas caught and held his eye. 

 which I regard as the ablest, most daring, and, at the same time, the most difficult and most successful piece of secret service that has come to my knowledge. .. . 

Suddenly, Hilliard saw the way out-- a way that appealed to him nonethe less because it would also serve his own ambitions. 

"Neither you nor I have any right to help this gentleman to escape, sheriff. The law is plain. He is charged with murder. We haven't anyright to let our private sympathies run away with us. But there is onething we can do. "

"What is that?" the sheriff asked. 

"Let him earn his freedom. "

"Earn it! How?"

"By serving the State in this very matter of the Squaw Creek raid. Asprosecuting attorney, it is in my discretion to accept the service ofan accomplice to a crime in fixing the guilt upon the principals. Before the law, Lieutenant Fraser stands accused of complicity. Webelieve him not guilty, but that does not affect the situation. Lethim go up into the Cedar Mountain country and find out the guiltyparties in the Squaw Creek raid. "

"And admit my guilt by compromising with you?" the Texan scoffed. 

"Not at all. You need not go publicly. In point of fact, you couldn'tget out of town alive if it were known. No, we'll arrange to let youbreak jail on condition that you go up into the Lost Canyon district, and run down the murderers of Campeau and Jennings, That gives us anexcuse for letting you go. You see the point-- don't you?"

The Texan grinned. "That isn't quite the point, is it?" he drawled. "If I should be successful, you will achieve a reputation, without anycost to yourself. That's worth mentioning, "

Hilliard showed a momentary embarrassment. 

"That's incidental. Besides, it will help your reputation more thanmine "

Brandt got busy at once with the details of the escape. "We'll loosenup the mortar round the bars in the south room. They are so ricketyanyhow I haven't kept any prisoners there for years. After you havesqueezed through you will find a horse saddled in the draw, back here. You'll want a gun of course. "

"Always providing Lieutenant Fraser consents to the arrangement, " thelawyer added smoothly. 

"Oh, I'll consent, " laughed Fraser wryly. "I have no option. Ofcourse, if I win I get the reward-- whatever it is. "

"Oh, of course. "

"Then I'm at your service, gentlemen, to escape whenever you say theword. "

"The best time would be right after lunch. That would give you fivehours before Nichols was in here again, " the sheriff suggested. 

"Suppose you draw a map, showing the route I'm to follow to reachCedar Mountain. I reckon I had better not trouble folks to ask themthe way. " And the Texan grinned. 

"That's right. I'll fix you up, and tell you later just where you'llfind the horse, " Brandt answered. 

"You're an officer yourself, lieutenant, " said the lawyer. "You knowjust how much evidence it takes to convict. Well, that's just how muchwe want. If you have to communicate with us, address 'T. L. Meredith, Box 117. ' Better send your letter in cipher. Here's a little code Iworked out that we sometimes use. Well, so-long. Good hunting, lieutenant. "

Fraser nodded farewell, but did not offer to shake hands. 

Brandt lingered for an instant. "Don't make any mistake, Fraser, aboutthis job you've bit off. It's a big one, and don't you forget it. People are sore on me because I have fallen down on it. I can't helpit. I just can't get the evidence. If you tackle it, you'll be indanger from start to finish. There are some bad men in this country, and the worst of them are lying low in Lost Valley. "

The ranger smiled amiably. "Where is this Lost Valley?"

"Somewhere up in the Cedar Mountain district. I've never been there. Few men have, for it is not easy to find; and even if it werestrangers are not invited. "

"Well, I'll have to invite myself. "

"That's all right. But remember this. There are men up there who woulddrill holes in a dying man. I guess Lost Valley is the country Godforgot. "

"Sounds right interesting. "

"You'll find it all that, and don't forget that if they find out whatyou are doing there, it will be God help Steve Fraser!"

The ranger's eyes gleamed. "I'll try to remember it. "

 CHAPTER III

 INTO LOST VALLEY

It was one-twenty when Fraser slipped the iron bar from the masonryinto which it had been fixed and began to lower himself from thewindow. The back of the jail faced on the bank of a creek; and intothe aspens, which ran along it at this point in a little grove, thefugitive pushed his way. He descended to the creek edge and crossedthe mountain stream on bowlders which filled its bed. From here hefollowed the trail for a hundred yards that led up the little river. On the way he passed a boy fishing and nodded a greeting to him. 

"What time is it, mister?" the youngster asked. 

A glance at his watch showed the Texan that it was one-twenty-five. 

"The fish have quit biting. Blame it all, I'm going home. Say, mister, Jimmie Spence says they're going to lynch that fellow who killed BillyFaulkner-- going to hang him to-night, Jimmie says. Do you reckon theywill?"

"No, I reckon not. "

"Tha's what I told him, but Jimmie says he heard Tom Peake say so. Jimmie says this town will be full o' folks by night. "

Without waiting to hear any more of Jimmie's prophecies, Fraserfollowed the trail till it reached a waterfall Brandt bad mentioned, then struck sharply to the right. In a little bunch of scrub oaks hefound a saddled horse tied to a sapling. His instructions were tocross the road, which ran parallel with the stream, and follow thegulch that led to the river. Half an hour's travel brought him toanother road. Into this he turned, and followed it. 

In a desperate hurry though he was, Steve dared not show it. He heldhis piebald broncho to the ambling trot a cowpony naturally dropsinto. From his coat pocket he flashed a mouthharp for use inemergency. 

Presently he met three men riding into town. They nodded at him, inthe friendly, casual way of the outdoors West. The gait of the ponywas a leisurely walk, and its rider was industriously executing, "IMet My Love In the Alamo. "

"Going the wrong way, aren't you?" one of the three suggested. 

"Don't you worry, I'll be there when y'u hang that guy they caughtlast night, " he told them with a grin. 

From time to time he met others. All travel seemed to be headedtownward. There was excitement in the air. In the clear atmospherevoices carried a long way, and all the conversation that came to himwas on the subjects of the war for the range, the battle of theprevious evening, and the lynching scheduled to take place in a fewhours. He realized that he had escaped none too soon, for it wascertain that as the crowd in town multiplied, they would set a watchon the jail to prevent Brandt from slipping out with his prisoner. 

About four miles from town he cut the telephone wires, for he knewthat as soon as his escape became known to the jailer, the sheriffwould be notified, and he would telephone in every direction theescape of his prisoner, just the same as if there had been noarrangement between them. It was certain, too, that all the roadsleading from Gimlet Butte would be followed and patrolled immediately. For which reason he left the road after cutting the wires, and took tothe hill trail marked out for him in the map furnished by Brandt. 

By night, he was far up in the foothills. Close to a running stream, he camped in a little, grassy park, where his pony could find forage. Brandt had stuffed his saddlebags with food, and had tied behind asack, with a feed or two of oats for his horse. Fraser had ridden therange too many years to risk lighting a fire, even though he had putthirty-five miles between him and Gimlet Butte. The night was chill, as it always is in that altitude, but he rolled up in his blanket, gotwhat sleep he could, and was off again by daybreak. 

Before noon he was high in the mountain passes, from which he couldsometimes look down into the green parks where nested the littleranches of small cattlemen. He knew now that he was beyond the dangerof the first hurried pursuit, and that it was more than likely thatany of these mountaineers would hide him rather than give him up. Nevertheless, he had no immediate intention of putting them to thetest. 

The second night came down on him far up on Dutchman Creek, in theCedar Mountain district. He made a bed, where his horse found a meal, in a haystack of a small ranch, the buildings of which were strungalong the creek. He was weary, and he slept deep. When he awakenednext morning, it was to hear the sound of men's voices. They driftedto him from the road in front of the house. 

Carefully he looked down from the top of his stack upon three horsementalking to the bare-headed ranchman whom they had called out from hisbreakfast. 

"No, I ain't seen a thing of him. Shot Billy Faulkner, you say? Whatin time for?" the rancher was innocently asking. 

"You know what for, Hank Speed, " the leader of the posse made sullenanswer. "Well, boys, we better be pushing on, I expect. "

Fraser breathed freer when they rode out of sight. He had overslept, and had had a narrow shave; for his pony was grazing in the alfalfafield within a hundred yards of them at that moment. No sooner had theposse gone than Hank Speed stepped across the field without aninstant's hesitation and looked the animal over, after which hereturned to the house and came out again with a rifle in his hands. 

The ranger slid down the farther side of the stack and slipped hisrevolver from its holster. He watched the ranchman make a tour of theout-buildings very carefully and cautiously, then make a circuit ofthe haystack at a safe distance. Soon the rancher caught sight of theman crouching against it. 

"Oh, you're there, are you? Put up that gun. I ain't going to do youany harm. "

"What's the matter with you putting yours up first?" asked the Texanamiably. 

"I tell you I ain't going to hurt you. Soon as I stepped out of thehouse I seen your horse. All I had to do was to say so, and they wouldhave had you slick. "

"What did you get your gun for, then?"

"I ain't taking any chances till folks' intentions has been declared. You might have let drive at me before I got a show to talk to you. "

"All right. I'll trust you. " Fraser dropped his revolver, and theother came across to him. 

"Up in this country we ain't in mourning for Billy Faulkner. Old manDillon told me what you done for him. I reckon we can find cover foryou till things quiet down. My name is Speed. "

"Call me Fraser. "

"Glad to meet you, Mr. Fraser. I reckon we better move you back intothe timber a bit. Deputy sheriffs are some thick around here rightnow. If you have to lie hid up in this country for a spell, we'll makean arrangement to have you taken care of. "

"I'll have to lie hid. There's no doubt about that. I made my jailbreak just in time to keep from being invited as chief guest to anecktie party. "

"Well, we'll put you where the whole United States Army couldn't findyou. "

They had been walking across the field and now crawled between thestrands of fence wire. 

"I left my saddle on top of the stack, " the ranger explained. 

"I'll take care of it. You better take cover on top of this ridge tillI get word to Dillon you're here. My wife will fix you up somebreakfast, and I'll bring it out. "

"I've ce'tainly struck the good Samaritan, " the Texan smiled. 

"Sho! There ain't a man in the hills wouldn't do that much for afriend. "

"I'm glad I have so many friends I never saw. "

"Friends? The hills are full of them. You took a hand when old manDillon and his girl were sure up against it. Cedar Mountain standstogether these days. What you did for them was done for us all, " Speedexplained simply. 

Fraser waited on the ridge till his host brought breakfast of bacon, biscuits, hard-boiled eggs, and coffee. While he ate, Speed sat downon a bowlder beside him and talked. 

"I sent my boy with a note to Dillon. It's a good thirty miles fromhere, and the old man won't make it back till some time to-morrow. Course, you're welcome at the house, but I judge it wouldn't be bestfor you to be seen there. No knowing when some of Brandt's deputiesmight butt in with a warrant. You can slip down again after dark andburrow in the haystack. Eh? What think?"

"I'm in your hands, but I don't want to put you and your friends to somuch trouble. Isn't there some mountain trail off the beaten road thatI could take to Dillon's ranch, and so save him from the trip afterme?"

Speed grinned. "Not in a thousand years, my friend. Dillon's ranchain't to be found, except by them that know every pocket of thesehills like their own back yard. I'll guarantee you couldn't find it ina month, unless you had a map locating it. "

"Must be in that Lost Valley, which some folks say is a fairy tale, "the ranger said carelessly, but with his eyes on the other. 

The cattleman made no comment. It occurred to Fraser that his remarkhad stirred some suspicion of him. At least, it suggested caution. 

"If you're through with your breakfast, I'll take back the dishes, "Speed said dryly. 

The day wore to sunset. After dark had fallen the Texan slippedthrough the alfalfa field again and bedded in the stack. Before themorning was more than gray he returned to the underbrush of the ridge. His breakfast finished, and Speed gone, he lay down on a great flat, sun-dappled rock, and looked into the unflecked blue sky. The seasonwas spring, and the earth seemed fairly palpitating with young life. The low, tireless hum of insects went on all about him. The air wasvocal with the notes of nesting birds. Away across the valley he couldsee a mountain slope, with snow gulches glowing pink in the dawn. Little checkerboard squares along the river showed irrigated patches. In the pleasant warmth he grew drowsy. His eyes closed, opened, closedagain. 

He was conscious of no sound that awakened him, yet he was aware of apresence that drew him from drowsiness to an alert attention. Instinctively, his hand crept to his scabbarded weapon. 

"Don't shoot me, " a voice implored with laughter-- a warm, vividvoice, that struck pleasantly on his memory. 

The Texan turned lazily, and leaned on his elbow. She came smiling outof the brush, light as a roe, and with much of its slim, supple grace. Before, he had seen her veiled by night; the day disclosed her a dark, spirited young creature. The mass of blue-black hair coiled at thenape of the brown neck, the flash of dark eyes beneath straight, darkeyebrows, together with a certain deliberation of movement that wasnot languor, made it impossible to doubt that she was a Southerner byinheritance, if not by birth. 

"I don't reckon I will, " he greeted, smiling. "Down in Texas it ain'tcounted right good manners to shoot up young ladies. "

"And in Wyoming you think it is. "

"I judge by appearances, ma'am. "

"Then you judge wrong. Those men did not know I was with dad thatnight. They thought I was another man. You see, they had just losttheir suit for damages against dad and some more for the loss of sixhundred sheep in a raid last year. They couldn't prove who did it. "She flamed into a sudden passion of resentment. "I don't defend themany. They are a lot of coyotes, or they wouldn't have attacked twomen, riding alone. "

He ventured a rapier thrust. "How about the Squaw Creek raid? Don'tyour friends sometimes forget to fight fair, too?"

He had stamped the fire out of her in an instant. She drooped visibly. "Yes-- yes, they do, " she faltered. "I don't defend them, either. Dadhad nothing to do with that. He doesn't shoot in the back. "

"I'm glad to hear it, " he retorted cheerfully. "And I'm glad to hearthat your friends the enemy didn't know it was a girl they wereattacking. Fact is, I thought you were a boy myself when first Ihappened in and you fanned me with your welcome. "

"I didn't know. I hadn't time to think. So I let fly. But I was soexcited I likely missed you a mile. "

He took off his felt hat and examined with interest a bullet holethrough the rim. "If it was a mile, I'd hate to have you miss me ahundred yards, " he commented, with a little ripple of laughter. 

"I didn't! Did I? As near as that?" She caught her hands together in asudden anguish for what might have been. 

"Don't you care, ma'am. A miss is as good as a mile. It ain't thefirst time I've had my hat ventilated. I mentioned it, so you wouldn'tget discouraged at your shooting. It's plenty good. Good enough tosuit me. I wouldn't want it any better. "

"What about the man I wounded. " she asked apprehensively. "Is he-- isit all right?"

"Haven't you heard?"

"Heard what?" He could see the terror in her eyes. 

"How it all came out?"

He could not tell why he did it, any more than he could tell why hehad attempted no denial to the sheriff of responsibility for the deathof Faulkner, but as he looked at this girl he shifted the burden fromher shoulders to his. "You got your man in the ankle. I had worse luckafter you left. They buried mine. "

"Oh!" From her lips a little cry of pain forced itself. "It wasn'tyour fault. It was for us you did it. Oh, why did they attack us?"

"I did what I had to do. There is no blame due either you or me forit, " he said, with quiet conviction. 

"I know. But it seems so dreadful. And then they put you in jail-- andyou broke out! Wasn't that it?"

"That was the way of it, Miss Arlie. How did you know?"

"Henry Speed's note to father said you had broken jail. Dad wasn't athome. You know, the round-up is on now and he has to be there. So Isaddled, and came right away. "

"That was right good of you. "

"Wasn't it?" There was a softened, almost tender, jeer in her voice. "Since you only saved our lives!"

"I ain't claiming all that, Miss Arlie. "

"Then I'll claim it for you. I suppose you gave yourself up to themand explained how it was after we left. "

"Not exactly that. I managed to slip away, through the sage. It wasmo'ning before I found the road again. Soon as I did, a deputy taggedme, and said, 'You're mine. ' He spoke for me so prompt and seemed sosure about what he was saying, I didn't argue the matter with him. " Helaughed gayly. 

"And then?"

"Then he herded me to town, and I was invited to be the county'sguest. Not liking the accommodations, I took the first chance and flewthe coop. They missed a knife in my pocket when they searched me, andI chipped the cement away from the window bars, let myself down by thebed linen, and borrowed a cow-pony I found saddled at the edge oftown. So, you see, I'm a hawss thief too, ma'am. "

She could not take it so lightly as he did, even though she did notknow that he had barely escaped with his life. Something about hisdebonair, smiling hardihood touched her imagination, as did also thevirile competence of the man. If the cool eyes in his weatherbeatenface could be hard as agates, they could also light up with sparklingimps of mischief. Certainly he was no boy, but the close-cut waves ofcrisp, reddish hair and the ready smile contributed to an impressionof youth that came and went. 

"Willie Speed is saddling you a horse. The one you came on has beenturned loose to go back when it wants to. I'm going to take you homewith me, " she told him. 

"Well, I'm willing to be kidnapped. "

"I brought your horse Teddy. If you like, you may ride that, and I'lltake the other. "

"Yore a gentleman, ma'am. I sure would. "

When Arlie saw with what pleasure the friends met, how Teddy nickeredand rubbed his nose up and down his master's coat and how the Texanput him through his little repertoire of tricks and fed him a lump ofsugar from his coat pocket, she was glad she had ridden Teddy insteadof her own pony to the meeting. 

They took the road without loss of time. Arlie Dillon knew exactly howto cross this difficult region. She knew the Cedar Mountain districtas a grade teacher knows her arithmetic. In daylight or in darkness, with or without a trail, she could have traveled almost a bee line tothe point she wanted. Her life had been spent largely in the saddle--at least that part of it which had been lived outdoors. Wherefore shewas able to lead her guest by secret trails that wound in and outamong the passes and through unsuspected gorges to hazardous descentspossible only to goats and cow ponies. No stranger finding his way inwould have stood a chance of getting out again unaided. 

Among these peaks lay hidden pockets and caches by hundreds, rockfissures which made the country a very maze to the uninitiated. Theranger, himself one of the best trailers in Texas, doubted whether hecould retrace his steps to the Speed place. 

After several hours of travel, they emerged from a gulch to a littlevalley known as Beaver Dam Park. The girl pointed out to her companiona narrow brown ribbon that wound through the park. 

"There's the road again. That's the last we shall see of it-- or itwill be when we have crossed it. Once we reach the Twin Buttes thatare the gateway to French Cañon you are perfectly safe. You can seethe buttes from here. No, farther to the right. "

"I thought I'd ridden some tough trails in my time, but this countryce'tainly takes the cake, " Fraser said admiringly, as his gaze sweptthe horizon. "It puts it over anything I ever met up with. Ain't thatright, Teddy hawss?"

The girl flushed with pleasure at his praise. She was mountain bred, and she loved the country of the great peaks. 

They descended the valley, crossed the road, and in an open grassyspot just beyond, came plump upon four men who had unsaddled to eatlunch. 

The meeting came too abruptly for Arlie to avoid it. One glance toldher that they were deputies from Gimlet Butte. Without the leasthesitation she rode forward and gave them the casual greeting ofcattleland. Fraser, riding beside her, nodded coolly, drew to a halt, and lit a cigarette. 

"Found him yet, gentlemen?" he asked. 

"No, nor we ain't likely to, if he's reached this far, " one of the menanswered. 

"It would be some difficult to collect him here, " the Texan admittedimpartially. 

"Among his friends, " one of the deputies put in, with a snarl. 

Fraser laughed easily. "Oh, well, we ain't his enemies, though heain't very well known in the Cedar Mountain country. What might he belike, pardner?"

"Hasn't he lived up here long?" asked one of the men, busy with somebacon over a fire. 

"They say not. "

"He's a heavy-set fellow, with reddish hair; not so tall as you, Ireckon, and some heavier. Was wearing chaps and gauntlets when he madehis getaway. From the description, he looks something like you, Ishouldn't wonder. "

Fraser congratulated himself that he had had the foresight to discardas many as possible of these helps to identification before he wasthree miles from Gimlet Butte. Now he laughed pleasantly. 

"Sure he's heavier than me, and not so tall. "

"It would be a good joke, Bud, if they took you back to town for thisman, " cut in Arlie, troubled at the direction the conversation wastaking, but not obviously so. 

"I ain't objecting any, sis. About three days of the joys of townwould sure agree with my run-down system, " the Texan answeredjoyously. 

"When you cowpunchers do get in, you surely make Rome howl, " one ofthe deputies agreed, with a grin. "Been in to the Butte lately?"

The Texan met his grin. "It ain't been so long. "

"Well, you ain't liable to get in again for a while, " Arlie saidemphatically. "Come on, Bud, we've got to be moving. "

"Which way is Dead Cow Creek?" one of the men called after them. 

Fraser pointed in the direction from which he had just come. 

After they had ridden a hundred yards, the girl laughed aloud herrelief at their escape. "If they go the way you pointed for Dead CowCreek, they will have to go clear round the world to get to it. We'reheaded for the creek now. "

"A fellow can't always guess right, " pleaded the Texan. "If he could, what a fiend he would be at playing the wheel! Shall I go back andtell him I misremembered for a moment where the creek is?"

"No, sir. You had me scared badly enough when you drew their attentionto yourself. Why did you do it?"

"It was the surest way to disarm any suspicion they might have had. One of them had just said the man they wanted was like me. Presently, one would have been guessing that it was me. " He looked at her drolly, and added: "You played up to me fine, sis. "

A touch of deeper color beat into her dusky cheeks. "We'll drop therelationship right now, if you please. I said only what you made mesay, " she told him, a little stiffly. 

But presently she relaxed to the note of friendliness, even ofcomradeship, habitual to her. She was a singularly frank creature, having been brought up in a country where women were few and far, andwhere conventions were of the simplest. Otherwise, she would not haveconfessed to him with unconscious näiveté, as she now did, how greatlyshe had been troubled for him before she received the note from Speed. 

"It worried me all the time, and it troubled dad, too. I could seethat. We had hardly left you before I knew we had done wrong. Dad didit for me, of course; but he felt mighty bad about it. Somehow, Icouldn't think of anything but you there, with all those men shootingat you. Suppose you had waited too long before surrendering! Supposeyou had been killed for us!" She looked at him, and felt a shiver runover her in the warm sunlight. "Night before last I was worn out. Islept some, but I kept dreaming they were killing you. Oh, you don'tknow bow glad I was to get word from Speed that you were alive. " Hersoft voice had the gift of expressing feeling, and it was resonantwith it now. 

"I'm glad you were glad, " he said quietly. 

Across Dead Cow Creek they rode, following the stream up French Cañonto what was known as the Narrows. Here the great rock walls, nearlytwo thousand feet high, came so close together as to leave barely roomfor a footpath beside the creek which boiled down over great bowlders. Unexpectedly, there opened in the wall a rock fissure, and throughthis Arlie guided her horse. 

The Texan wondered where she could be taking him, for the fissureterminated in a great rock slide some two hundred yards ahead of them. Before reaching this she turned sharply to the left, and began windingin and out among the big bowlders which had fallen from the summit farabove. 

Presently Fraser observed with astonishment that they were following apath that crept up the very face of the bluff. Up-- up-- up they wentuntil they reached a rift in the wall, and into this the trail wentprecipitously. Stones clattered down from the hoofs of the horses asthey clambered up like mountain goats. Once the Texan had to throwhimself to the ground to keep Teddy from falling backward. 

Arlie, working her pony forward with voice and body and knees, so thatfrom her seat in the saddle she seemed literally to lift him up, reached the summit and looked back. 

"All right back there?" she asked quietly. 

"All right, " came the cheerful answer. "Teddy isn't used to climbingup a wall, but he'll make it or know why. "

A minute later, man and horse were beside her. 

"Good for Teddy, " she said, fondling his nose. 

"Look out! He doesn't like strangers to handle him. "

"We're not strangers. We're tillicums. Aren't we, Teddy?"

Teddy said "Yes" after the manner of a horse, as plain as words couldsay it. 

From their feet the trail dropped again to another gorge, beyond whichthe ranger could make out a stretch of valley through which ran thegleam of a silvery thread. 

"We're going down now into Mantrap Gulch. The patch of green you seebeyond is Lost Valley, " she told him, "Lost Valley, " he repeated, in amazement. "Are we going to LostValley?"

"You've named our destination. "

"But-- you don't live in Lost Valley. "

"Don't I?"

"Do you?"

"Yes, " she answered, amused at his consternation, if it were that. 

"I wish I had known, " he said, as if to himself. 

"You know now. Isn't that soon enough? Are you afraid of the place, because people make a mystery of it?" she demanded impatiently. 

"No. It isn't that. " He looked across at the valley again, and askedabruptly: "Is this the only way in?"

"No. There is another, but this is the quickest. "

"Is the other as difficult as this?"

"In a way, yes. It is very much more round-about. It isn't known muchby the public. Not many outsiders have business in the valley. "

She volunteered no explanation in detail, and the man beside her said, with a grim laugh:

"There isn't any general admission to the public this way, is there?"

"No. Oh, folks can come if they want to. "

He looked full in her face, and said significantly: "I thought the wayto Lost Valley was a sort of a secret-- one that those who know arenot expected to tell. "

"Oh, that's just talk. Not many come in but our friends. We've had tobe careful lately. But you can't call a secret what a thousand folksknow. "

It was like a blow in the face to him. Not many but their friends! Andshe was taking him in confidently because he was her friend. What sortof a friend was he? he asked himself. He could not perform the task towhich he was pledged without striking home at her. If he succeeded inferreting out the Squaw Creek raiders he must send to thepenitentiary, perhaps to death, her neighbors, and possibly herrelatives. She had told him her father was not implicated, but adaughter's faith in her parent was not convincing proof of hisinnocence. If not her father, a brother might be involved. And she wasinnocently making it easy for him to meet on a friendly footing thesehospitable, unsuspecting savages, who had shed human blood because ofthe unleashed passions in them!

In that moment, while he looked away toward Lost Valley, he sickenedof the task that lay before him. What would she think of him if sheknew?

Arlie, too, had been looking down the gulch toward the valley. Now hergaze came slowly round to him and caught the expression of his face. 

"What's the matter?" she cried. 

"Nothing. Nothing at all. An old heart pain that caught me suddenly. "

"I'm sorry. We'll soon be home now. We'll travel slowly. "

Her voice was tender with sympathy; so, too, were her eyes when he metthem. 

He looked away again and groaned in his heart. 

 CHAPTER IV

 THE WARNING OF MANTRAP GULCH

They followed the trail down into the cañon. As the ponies slowlypicked their footing on the steep narrow path, he asked:

"Why do they call it Mantrap Gulch?"

"It got its name before my time in the days when outlaws hid here. Ahunted man came to Lost Cañon, a murderer wanted by the law for morecrimes than one. He was well treated by the settlers. They gave himshelter and work. He was safe, and he knew it. But he tried to makehis peace with the law outside by breaking the law of the valley. Heknew that two men were lying hid in a pocket gulch, opening from thevalley-- men who were wanted for train robbery. He wrote to thecompany offering to betray these men if they would pay him the rewardand see that he was not punished for his crimes. 

"It seems he was suspected. His letter was opened, and the exits fromthe valley were both guarded. Knowing he was discovered, he tried toslip out by the river way. He failed, sneaked through the settlementat night, and slipped into the cañon here. At this end of it he foundarmed men on guard. He ran back and found the entrance closed. He wasin a trap. He tried to climb one of the walls. Do you see that pointwhere the rock juts out?"

"About five hundred feet up? Yes. "

"He managed to climb that high. Nobody ever knows how he did it, butwhen morning broke there he was, like a fly on a wall. His hunterscame and saw him. I suppose he could hear them laughing as theirvoices came echoing up to him. They shot above him, below him, oneither side of him. He knew they were playing with him, and that theywould finish him when they got ready. He must have been half crazywith fear. Anyhow, he lost his hold and fell. He was dead before theyreached him. From that day this has been called Mantrap Gulch. "

The ranger looked up at the frowning walls which shut out thesunlight. His imagination pictured the drama-- the hunted man's wildflight up the gulch; his dreadful discovery that it was closed; hisdesperate attempt to climb by moonlight the impossible cliff, and thetragedy that overtook him. 

The girl spoke again softly, almost as if she were in the presence ofthat far-off Nemesis. "I suppose he deserved, it. It's an awful thingto be a traitor; to sell the people who have befriended you. We can'tput ourselves in his place and know why he did it. All we can say isthat we're glad-- glad that we have never known men who do suchthings. Do you think people always felt a sort of shrinking when theywere near him, or did he seem just like other men?"

Glancing at the man who rode beside her, she cried out at the strickenlook on his face. "It's your heart again. You're worn out with anxietyand privations. I should have remembered and come slower, " shereproached herself. 

"I'm all right-- now. It passes in a moment, " he said hoarsely. 

But she had already slipped from the saddle and was at his bridlerein. "No-- no. You must get down. We have plenty of time. We'll resthere till you are better. "

There was nothing for it but to obey. He dismounted, feeling himself ahumbug and a scoundrel. He sat down on a mossy rock, his back againstanother, while she trailed the reins and joined him. 

"You are better now, aren't you?" she asked, as she seated herself onan adjacent bowlder. 

Gruffly he answered: "I'm all right. "

She thought she understood. Men do not like to be coddled. She beganto talk cheerfully of the first thing that came into her head. He madethe necessary monosyllabic responses when her speech put it up to him, but she saw that his mind was brooding over something else. Once shesaw his gaze go up to the point on the cliff reached by the fugitive. 

But it was not until they were again in the saddle that he spoke. 

"Yes, he got what was coming to him. He had no right to complain. "

"That's what my father says. I don't deny the justice of it, butwhenever I think of it, I feel sorry for him. "

"Why?"

Despite the quietness of the monosyllable, she divined an eagerinterest back of his question. 

"He must have suffered so. He wasn't a brave man, they say. And he wasone against many. They didn't hunt him. They just closed the trap andlet him wear himself out trying to get through. Think of that awfulweek of hunger and exposure in the hills before the end!"

"It must have been pretty bad, especially if he wasn't a game man. Buthe had no legitimate kick coming. He took his chance and lost. It wasup to him to pay. "

"His name was David Burke. When he was a little boy I suppose hismother used to call him Davy. He wasn't bad then; just a little boy tobe cuddled and petted. Perhaps he was married. Perhaps he had asweetheart waiting for him outside, and praying for him. And theysnuffed his life out as if he had been a rattlesnake. "

"Because he was a miscreant and it was best he shouldn't live. Yes, they did right. I would have helped do it in their place. "

"My father did, " she sighed. 

They did not speak again until they had passed from between the chillwalls to the warm sunshine of the valley beyond. Among the rocks abovethe trail, she glimpsed some early anemones blossoming bravely. 

She drew up with a little cry of pleasure. "They're the first I haveseen. I must have them. "

Fraser swung from the saddle, but he was not quick enough. She reachedthem before he did, and after they had gathered them she insisted uponsitting down again. 

He had his suspicions, and voiced them. "I believe you got me off justto make me sit down. "

She laughed with deep delight. "I didn't, but since we are here weshall. " And she ended debate by sitting down tailor-fashion, andbeginning to arrange her little bouquet. 

A meadow lark, troubadour of spring, trilled joyously somewhere in thepines above. The man looked up, then down at the vivid creature busywith her flowers at his feet. There was kinship between the two. She, too, was athrob with the joy note of spring. 

"You're to sit down, " she ordered, without looking up from the sheafof anemone blossoms she was arranging. 

He sank down beside her, aware vaguely of something new and poignantin his life. 

 CHAPTER V

 JED BRISCOE TAKES A HAND

Suddenly a footfall, and a voice:

"Hello, Arlie! I been looking for you everywhere. "

The Texan's gaze took in a slim dark man, goodlooking after a fashion, but with dissipation written on the rather sullen face. 

"Well, you've found me, " the girl answered coolly. 

"Yes, I've found you, " the man answered, with a steady, watchful eyeon the Texan. 

Miss Dillon was embarrassed at this plain hostility, but indignationtoo sparkled in her eye. "Anything in particular you want?"

The newcomer ignored her question. His hard gaze challenged theSoutherner; did more than challenge-- weighed and condemned. 

But this young woman was not used to being ignored. Her voice took onan edge of sharpness. 

"What can I do for you, Jed?"

"Who's your friend?" the man demanded bluntly, insolently. 

Arlie's flush showed the swift, upblazing resentment she immediatelycontrolled. "Mr. Fraser-- just arrived from Texas. Mr. Fraser, let meintroduce to you Mr. Briscoe. "

The Texan stepped forward to offer his hand, but Briscoe deliberatelyput both of his behind him. 

"Might I ask what Mr. Fraser, just arrived from Texas, is doing here?"the young man drawled, contriving to make an insult of every syllable. 

The girl's eyes flashed dangerously. "He is here as my guest. "

"Oh, as your guest!"

"Doesn't it please you, Jed?"

"Have I said it didn't please me?" he retorted smoothly. 

"Your looks say it. "

He let out a sudden furious oath. "Then my looks don't lie any. "

Fraser was stepping forward, but with a gesture Arlie held him back. This was her battle, not his. 

"What have you got to say about it?" she demanded. 

"You had no right to bring him here. Who is he anyhow?"

"I think that is his business, and mine. "

"I make it mine, " he declared hotly. "I've heard about this fellowfrom your father. You met up with him on the trail. He says his nameis Fraser. You don't even know whether that is true. He may be a spy. How do you know he ain't?"

"How do I know you aren't?" she countered swiftly. 

"You've known me all my life. Did you ever see him before?"

"Never. "

"Well, then!"

"He risked his life to save ours. "

"Risked nothing! It was a trick, I tell you. "

"It makes no difference to me what you tell me. Your opinion can'taffect mine. "

"You know the feeling of the valley just now about strangers, " saidBriscoe sullenly. 

"It depends on who the stranger is. "

"Well, I object to this one. "

"So it seems; but I don't know any law that makes me do whatever youwant me to. " Her voice, low and clear, cut like a whiplash. 

Beneath the dust of travel the young man's face burned with anger. "We're not discussing that just now. What I say is that you had noright to bring him here-- not now, especially. You know why, " headded, almost in a whisper. 

"If you had waited and not attempted to brow-beat me, I would haveshown you that that is the very reason I had to bring him. "

"How do you mean?"

"Never mind what I mean. You have insulted my friend, and through him, me. That is enough for one day. " She turned from him haughtily andspoke to the Texan. "If you are ready, Mr. Fraser, we'll be goingnow. "

The ranger, whose fingers had been itching to get at the throat ofthis insolent young man, turned without a word and obediently broughtthe girl's pony, then helped her to mount. Briscoe glared, in a silenttempest of passion. 

"I think I have left a glove and my anemones where we were sitting, "the girl said sweetly to the Texan. 

Fraser found them, tightened the saddle girth, and mounted Teddy. Asthey cantered away, Arlie called to him to look at the sunset behindthe mountains. 

From the moment of her dismissal of Briscoe the girl had apparentlyput him out of her thoughts. No fine lady of the courts could havedone it with more disdainful ease. And the Texan, following her lead, played his part in the little comedy, ignoring the other man ascompletely as she did. 

The young cattleman, furious, his teeth set in impotent rage, watchedit all with the lust to kill in his heart. When they had gone, heflung himself into the saddle and rode away in a tumultuous fury. 

Before they had covered two hundred yards Arlie turned to hercompanion, all contrition. "There! I've done it again. My fits ofpassion are always getting me into trouble. This time one of them hasgiven you an enemy, and a bad one, too. "

"No. He would have been my enemy no rnatter what you said. Soon as heput his eyes on me, I knew it. "

"Because I brought you here, you mean?"

"I don't mean only that. Some folks are born to be enemies, just assome are born to be friends. They've only got to look in each other'seyes once to know it. "

"That's strange. I never heard anybody else say that. Do you reallymean it?"

"Yes. "

"And did you ever have such an enemy before? Don't answer me if Ioughtn't to ask that, " she added quickly. 

"Yes. "

"Where?"

"In Texas. Why, here we are at a ranch!"

"Yes. It's ours, and yours as long as you want to stay. Did you feelthat you were enemies the moment you saw this man in Texas?"

"I knew we were going to have trouble as soon as we looked at eachother. I had no feeling toward him, but he had toward me. "

"And did you have trouble?"

"Some, before I landed him. The way it turned out he had most of it. "

She glanced quickly at him. "What do you mean by 'landed'?"

"I am an officer in the Texas Rangers. "

"What are they? Something like our forest rangers?"

"No. The duty of a Texas Ranger is to enforce the law againstdesperadoes. We prevent crime if we can. When we can't do that, wehunt down the criminals. "

Arlie looked at him in a startled silence. 

"You are an officer of the law-- a sort of sheriff?" she said, atlast. 

"Yes, in Texas. This is Wyoming. " He made his distinction, knowing itwas a false one. Somehow he had the feeling of a whipped cur. 

"I wish I had known. If you had only told me earlier, " she said, solow as to be almost a whisper. 

"I'm sorry. If you like, I'll go away again, " he offered. 

"No, no. I'm only thinking that it gives Jed a hold, gives himsomething to stir up his friends with, you know. That is, it would ifhe knew. He mustn't find out. "

"Be frank. Don't make any secret of it. That's the best way, " headvised. 

She shook her head. "You don't know Jed's crowd. They'd be suspiciousof any officer, no matter where he came from. "

"Far as I can make out, that young man is going to be loaded withsuspicions of me anyhow, " he laughed. 

"It isn't anything to laugh at. You don't know him, " she told himgravely. 

"And can't say I'm suffering to, " he drawled. 

She looked at him a little impatiently, as if he were a child playingwith gunpowder and unaware of its potentialities. 

"Can't you understand? You're not in Texas with your friends allaround you. This is Lost Valley-- and Lost Valley isn't on the map. Men make their own law here. That is, some of them do. I wouldn't givea snap of my fingers for your life if the impression spread that youare a spy. It doesn't matter that I know you're not. Others must feelit, too. "

"I see. And Mr. Briscoe will be a molder of public opinion?"

"So far as he can he will. We must forestall him. "

"Beat him to it, and give me a clean bill of moral health, eh?"

She frowned. "This is serious business, my friend. "

"I'm taking it that way, " he said smilingly. 

"I shouldn't have guessed it. "

Yet for all his debonair ease the man had an air of quiet competence. His strong, bronzed face and neck, the set of his shoulders, the lightpoise of him in the saddle, the steady confidence of the gray eyes, all told her as much. She was aware of a curiosity about what washidden behind that stone-wall face of his. 

"You didn't finish telling me about that enemy in Texas, " shesuggested suddenly. 

"Oh, there ain't much to tell. He broke out from the pen, where I hadput him when I was a kid. He was a desperado wanted by theauthorities, so I arrested him again. "

"Sounds easy. "

"He made some trouble, shot up two or three men first. " Fraser liftedhis hand absently. 

"Is that scar on your hand where he shot you?" Arlie asked. 

He looked up in quick surprise. "Now, how did you know that?"

"You were talking of the trouble he made and you looked at your hand, "she explained. "Where is he now? In the penitentiary?"

"No. He broke away before I got him there. "

She had another flash of inspiration. "And you came to Wyoming to gethim again. "

"Good gracious, ma'am, but you're ce'tainly a wizard! That's why Icame, though it's a secret. "

"What is he wanted for?"

"Robbing a train, three murders and a few other things. "

As she swung from her pony in front of the old-fashioned Southern loghouse, Artie laughed at him over her shoulder. 

"You're a fine officer! Tell all you know to the first girl you meet!"

"Well, you see, the girl happened to be-- you!"

After the manner of the old-fashioned Southern house a wide "gallery"bisected it from porch to rear. Saddles hung from pegs in the gallery. Horse blankets and bridles, spurs and saddlebags, lay here and therein disarray. A disjointed rifle which some one had started to cleanwas on the porch. Swiftly Arlie stripped saddle, bridle, and blanketfrom her pony and flung them down as a contribution to the generaldisorder, and at her suggestion Fraser did the same. A half-grown ladcame running to herd the horses into a corral close at hand. 

"I want you when you've finished feeding, Bobbie, " Arlie told the lad. Then briefly to her guest: "This way, please. "

She led him into a large, cheerful living room, into which, throughbig casement windows, the light streamed. It was a pleasant room, despite its barbaric touch. There was a grizzly bear skin before thegreat open, stone fireplace, and Navajo rugs covered the floor andhung on the walls. The skin of a silver-tip bear was stretched beneatha writing desk, a trophy of Arlie's rifle, which hung in a rack above. Civilization had furnished its quota to the room in a piano, somebooks, and a few photographs. 

The Texan observed that order reigned here, even though it did notinterfere with the large effect of comfort. 

The girl left him, to return presently with her aunt, to whom sheintroduced him. Miss Ruth Dillon was a little, bright-eyed old lady, whose hair was still black, and her step light. Evidently she had herinstructions, for she greeted their guest with charming cordiality, and thanked him for the service he had rendered her brother and herniece. 

Presently the boy Bobbie arrived for further orders. Arlie went to herdesk and wrote hurriedly. 

"You're to give this note to my father, " she directed. "Be sure hegets it himself. You ought to find him down in Jackson's Pocket, ifthe drive is from Round Top to-day. But you can ask about that alongthe road. "

When the boy had gone, Arlie turned to Fraser. 

"I want to tell father you're here before Jed gets to him with hisstory, " she explained. "I've asked him to ride down right away. He'llprobably come in a few hours and spend the night here. "

After they had eaten supper they returned to the living room, where agreat fire, built by Jim the negro horse wrangler, was roaring up thechimney. 

It was almost eleven o'clock when horses galloped up and Dillon cameinto the house, followed by Jed Briscoe. The latter looked triumphant, the former embarrassed as he disgorged letters and newspapers from hispocket. 

"I stopped at the office to get the mail as I came down. Here's yorepaper, Ruth. "

Miss Dillon pounced eagerly upon the Gimlet Butte Avalanche, anddisappeared with it to her bedroom. She had formerly lived in GimletButte, and was still keenly interested in the gossip of the town. 

Briscoe had scored one against Arlie by meeting her father, tellinghis side of the story, and returning with him to the house. Nevertheless Arlie, after giving him the slightest nod her duty ashostess would permit, made her frontal attack without hesitation. 

"You'll be glad to know, dad, that Mr. Fraser is our guest. He has hadrather a stormy time since we saw him last, and he has consented tostay with us a few days till things blow over. "

Dillon, very ill at ease, shook hands with the Texan, and wasunderstood to say that he was glad to see him. 

"Then you don't look it, dad, " Arlie told him, with a gleam of vexedlaughter. 

Her father turned reproachfully upon her. "Now, honey, yo' done wrongto say that. Yo' know Mr. Fraser is welcome to stay in my house longas he wants. I'm proud to have him stay. Do you think I forgot alreadywhat he done for us?"

"Of course not. Then it's all settled, " Arlie cut in, and rushed on toanother subject. "How's the round-up coming, dad?"

"We'll talk about the round-up later. What I'm saying is that Mr, Fraser has only got to say the word, and I'm there to he'p him tillthe cows come home. "

"That's just what I told him, dad. "

"Hold yore hawsses, will yo', honey? But, notwithstanding which, andnot backing water on that proposition none, we come to another p'int. "

"Which Jed made to you carefully on the way down, " his daughterinterrupted scornfully. 

"It don't matter who made it. The p'int is that there are reasons whystrangers ain't exactly welcome in this valley right now, Mr. Fraser. This country is full o' suspicion. Whilst it's onjust, charges arebeing made against us on the outside. Right now the settlers here havegot to guard against furriners. Now I know yo're all right, Mr. Fraser. But my neighbors don't know it. "

"It was our lives he saved, not our neighbors', " scoffed Arlie. 

"K'rect. So I say, Mr. Fraser, if yo' are out o' funds, I'll financeyou. Wherever you want to go I'll see you git there, but I hain't gotthe right to invite you to stay in Lost Valley. "

"Better send him to Gimlet Butte, dad! He killed a man in helping usto escape, and he 's wanted bad! He broke jail to get here! Pay hisexpenses back to the Butte! Then if there's a reward, you and Jed candivide it!" his daughter jeered. 

"What's that? Killed a man, yo' say?"

"Yes. To save us. Shall we send him back under a rifle guard? Or shallwe have Sheriff Brandt come and get him?"

"Gracious goodness, gyurl, shet up whilst I think. Killed a man, eh?This valley has always been open to fugitives. Ain't that right, Jed?"

"To fugitives, yes, " said Jed significantly. "But that fact ain'tproved. "

"Jed's getting right important. We'll soon be asking him whether wecan stay here, " said Arlie, with a scornful laugh. "And I say it isproved. We met the deputies the yon side of the big cañon. "

Briscoe looked at her out of dogged, half-shuttered eyes. He saidnothing, but he looked the picture of malice. 

Dillon rasped his stubbly chin and looked at the Texan. Far from analert-minded man, he came to conclusions slowly. Now he arrived atone. 

"Dad burn it, we'll take the 'fugitive' for granted. Yo' kin lie uphere long as yo' like, friend. I'll guarantee yo' to my neighbors. Ireckon if they don't like it they kin lump it. I ain't a-going to giveup the man that saved my gyurl's life. "

The door opened and let in Miss Ruth Dillon. The little old lady hadthe newspaper in her hand, and her beady eyes were shining withexcitement. 

"It's all in here, Mr. Fraser-- about your capture and escape. But youdidn't tell us all of it. Perhaps you didn't know, though, that theyhad plans to storm the jail and hang you?"

"Yes, I knew that, " the Texan answered coolly. "The jailer told mewhat was coming to me. I decided not to wait and see whether he waslying. I wrenched a bar from the window, lowered myself by my bedding, flew the coop, and borrowed a horse. That's the whole story, ma'am, except that Miss Arlie brought me here to hide me. "

"Read aloud what the paper says, " Dillon ordered. 

His sister handed the Avalanche to her niece. Arlie found the articleand began to read:

"A dastardly outrage occurred three miles from Gimlet Butte lastnight. While on their way home from the trial of the well-known ThreePines sheep raid case, a small party of citizens were attacked bymiscreants presumed to be from the Cedar Mountain country. How many ofthese there were we have no means of knowing, as the culpritsdisappeared in the mountains after murdering William Faulkner, awell-known sheep man, and wounding Tom Long. "

There followed a lurid account of the battle, written from the pointof view of the other side. After which the editor paid his respects toFraser, though not by name. 

"One of the ruffians, for some unknown reason-- perhaps in the hope ofgetting a chance to slay another victim-- remained too long near thescene of the atrocity and was apprehended early this morning by thatfearless deputy, James Schilling. He refused to give his name or anyother information about himself. While the man is a stranger to GimletButte, there can be no doubt that he is one of the Lost Valleydesperadoes implicated in the Squaw Creek raid some months ago. Sincethe bullet that killed Faulkner was probably fired from the riflecarried by this man, it is safe to assume that the actual murderer wasapprehended. The man is above medium height, well built and muscular, and carries all the earmarks of a desperate character. "

Arlie glanced up from her reading to smile at Fraser. "Dad and I aremiscreants, and you are a ruffian and a desperate character, " she toldhim gayly. 

"Go on, honey, " her father urged. 

The account told how the prisoner had been confined in the jail, andhow the citizens, wrought up by the continued lawlessness of the LostValley district, had quietly gathered to make an example of thecaptured man. While condemning lynching in general, the Avalanchewanted to go on record as saying that if ever it was justifiable thiswas the occasion. Unfortunately, the prisoner, giving thus furtherevidence of his desperate nature, had cut his way out of prison with apocketknife and escaped from town by means of a horse he found saddledand did not hesitate to steal. At the time of going to press he hadnot yet been recaptured, though Sheriff Brandt had several posses onhis trail. The outlaw had cut the telephone wires, but it wasconfidently believed he would be captured before he reached hisfriends in the mountains. 

Arlie's eyes were shining. She looked at Briscoe and handed him thepaper triumphantly. This was her vindication for bringing the huntedman to Lost Valley. He had been fighting their battles and had almostlost his life in doing it. Jed might say what he liked while she hadthis to refute him. 

"I guess that editor doesn't believe so confidently as he pretends, "she said. "Anyhow, he has guessed wrong. Mr. Fraser has reached hisfriends, and they'll look out for him. "

Her father came to her support radiantly. "You bet yore boots theywill, honey. Shake hands on it, Mr. Fraser. I reckon yore satisfiedtoo, Jed. Eh, boy?"

Briscoe viewed the scene with cynical malice. "Quite a hero, ain't he?If you want to know, I stand pat. Mr. Fraser from Texas don't draw thewool over my eyes none. Right now I serve notice to that effect. Meantime, since I don't aim to join the happy circle of his admirers, I reckon I'll duck. "

He nodded impudently at Arlie, turned on his heel, and went trailingoff with jingling spur. They heard him cursing at his horse as hemounted. The cruel swish of a quirt came to them, after which theswift pounding of a horse's hoofs. The cow pony had found its gallopin a stride. 

The Texan laughed lightly. "Exit Mr. Briscoe, some disappointed, " hemurmured. 

He noticed that none of the others shared his mirth. 

 CHAPTER VI

 A SURE ENOUGH WOLF

Briscoe did not return at once to the scene of the round-up. Hefollowed the trail toward Jackson's Pocket, but diverged after he hadgone a few miles and turned into one of the hundred blind gulches thatran out from the valley to the impassable mountain wall behind. It wasknown as Jack Rabbit Run, because its labyrinthine trails offered aretreat into which hunted men might always dive for safety. Nobodyknew its recesses better than Jed Briscoe, who was acknowledged to bethe leader of that faction in the valley which had brought it the badname it held. 

Long before Jed's time there had been such a faction, then thedominant one of the place, now steadily losing ground as civilizationseeped in, but still strong because bound by ties of kindred and ofinterest to the honest law-abiding majority. Of it were the outlawswho came periodically to find shelter here, the hasty men who hadstruck in heat and found it necessary to get beyond the law's reachfor a time, and reckless cowpunchers, who foregathered with these, because they were birds of a feather. To all such, Jack Rabbit Run wasa haven of rest. 

By devious paths the cattleman guided his horse until he came to akind of pouch, guarded by a thick growth of aspens. The front of thesehe skirted, plunged into them at the farther edge, and followed anarrow trail which wound among them till the grove opened upon asaucer-shaped valley in which nestled a little log cabin. Lightsgleamed from the windows hospitably and suggested the comfortablewarmth of a log fire and good-fellowship. So many a hunted man hadthought as he emerged from that grove to look down upon the valleynestling at his feet. 

Jed turned his horse into a corral back of the house, let out the hootof an owl as he fed and watered, and returning to the cabin, gave thefour knocks that were the signal for admission. 

Bolts were promptly withdrawn and the door thrown open by a slender, fair-haired fellow, whose features looked as if they had been roughedout and not finished. He grinned amiably at the newcomer and greetedhim with: "Hello, Jed. "

"Hello, Tommie, " returned Briscoe, carelessly, and let his glance passto the three men seated at the table with cards and poker chips infront of them, The man facing Briscoe was a big, heavy-set, unmistakable ruffian with long, drooping, red mustache, andvillainous, fishy eyes. It was observable that the trigger finger ofhis right hand was missing. Also, there was a nasty scar on his rightcheek running from the bridge of the nose halfway to the ear. Thisgave surplusage to the sinister appearance he already had. To himBriscoe spoke first, attempting a geniality he did not feel. 

"How're they coming, Texas?"

"You ain't heard me kicking any, have you?" the man made sullenanswer. 

"Not out loud, " said Briscoe significantly, his eyes narrowing after atrick they had when he was most on his guard. 

"I reckon my remarks will be plumb audible when I've got any kick toregister, seh. "

"I hope not, Mr. Johnson. In this neck of woods a man is liable to gethimself disliked if he shoots off his mouth too prevalent. Folks thatdon't like our ways can usually find a door open out of Lost Valley---if they don't wait too long!"

"I'm some haidstrong. I reckon I'll stay. " He scowled at Jed withdisfavor, meeting him eye to eye. But presently the rigor of his gazerelaxed. Me remembered that he was a fugitive from justice, and at themercy of this man who had so far guessed his secret. Putting atemporary curb on his bilious jealousy, he sulkily added: "Leastways, if there's no objection, Mr. Briscoe. I ain't looking for trouble withanybody. "

"A man who's looking for it usually finds it, Mr. Johnson. A man thatain't, lives longer and more peaceable. " At this point Jed pulledhimself together and bottled his arrogance, remembering that he hadcome to make an alliance with this man. "But that's no way for friendsto talk. I got a piece of news for you. We'll talk it over in theother room and not disturb these gentlemen. "

One of the "gentlemen" grinned. He was a round-bodied, bullet-headedcowpuncher, with a face like burnt leather. He was in chaps, flannelshirt, and broad-brimmed hat. From a pocket in his chaps a revolverprotruded. "That's right, Jed. Wrap it up proper. You'd hate todisturb us, wouldn't you?"

"I'll not interrupt you from losing your money more than five minutes, Yorky, " answered Briscoe promptly. 

The third man at the table laughed suddenly. "Ay bane laik to know howyuh feel now, Yorky?" he taunted. 

"It ain't you that's taking my spondulix in, you big, overgrownSwede!" returned Yorky amiably. "It's the gent from Texas. How can afellow buck against luck that fills from a pair to a full house on thedraw?"

The blond giant, Siegfried-- who was not a Swede, but a Norwegian--announced that he was seventeen dollars in the game himself. 

Tommie, already broke, and an onlooker, reported sadly. 

"Sixty-one for me, durn it!"

Jed picked up a lamp, led the way to the other room, and closed thedoor behind them. 

"I thought it might interest you to know that there's a new arrival inthe valley, Mr. Struve, " he said smoothly. 

"Who says my name's Struve?" demanded the man who called himselfJohnson, with fierce suspicion. 

Briscoe laughed softly. "I say it-- Wolf Struve. Up till last monthyour address for two years has been number nine thousand four hundredand thirty-two, care of Penitentiary Warden, Yuma, Arizona. "

"Prove it. Prove it, " blustered the accused man. 

"Sure. " From his inside coat pocket Jed took out a printed noticeoffering a reward for the capture of Nick Struve, alias "Wolf" Struve, convict, who had broken prison on the night of February seventh, andescaped, after murdering one of the guards. A description and aphotograph of the man wanted was appended. 

"Looks some like you. Don't it, Mr. -- shall I say Johnson or Struve?"

"Say Johnson!" roared the Texan. "That ain't me. I'm no jailbird. "

"Glad to know it. " Briscoe laughed in suave triumph. "I thought youmight be. This description sounds some familiar. I'll not read it all. But listen: 'Scar on right cheek, running from bridge of nose towardear. Trigger finger missing; shot away when last arrested. Weight, about one hundred and ninety. ' By the way, just out of curiosity, howheavy are you, Mr. Johnson? 'Height, five feet nine inches. Protuberant, fishy eyes. Long, drooping, reddish mustache. ' I'd shavethat mustache if I were you, Mr. -- er-- Johnson. Some one mightmistake you for Nick Struve. "

The man who called himself Johnson recognized denial as futile. Heflung up the sponge with a blasphemous oath. "What do you want? What'syour game? Do you want to sell me for the reward? By thunder, you'dbetter not!"

Briscoe gave way to one of the swift bursts of passion to which he wassubject. "Don't threaten me, you prison scum! Don't come here and tryto dictate what I'm to do, and what I'm not to do. I'll sell you if Iwant to. I'll send you back to be hanged like a dog. Say the word, andI'll have you dragged out of here inside of forty-eight hours. "

Struve reached for his gun, but the other, wary as a panther, had himcovered while the convict's revolver was still in his pocket. 

"Reach for the roof! Quick-- or I'll drill a hole in you! That's theidea. I reckon I'll collect your hardware while I'm at it. That's aheap better. "

Struve glared at him, speechless. 

"You're too slow on the draw for this part of the country, my friend, "jeered Briscoe. "Or perhaps, while you were at Yuma, you got out ofpractice. It's like stealing candy from a kid to beat you to it. Don'tever try to draw a gun again in Lost Valley while you're asleep. Youmight never waken. "

Jed was in high good humor with himself. His victim looked silentmurder at him. 

"One more thing, while you're in a teachable frame of mind, " continuedBriscoe. "I run Lost Valley. What I say, goes here. Get that soakedinto your think-tank, my friend. Ever since you came, you've beendisputing that in your mind. You've been stirring up the boys againstme. Think I haven't noticed it? Guess again, Mr. Struve. You'd like tobe boss yourself, wouldn't you? Forget it. Down in Texas you may be abad, bad man, a sure enough wolf, but in Wyoming you only stack up tocoyote size. Let this slip your mind, and I'll be running Lost Valleyafter your bones are picked white by the buzzards. "

"I ain't a-goin' to make you any trouble. Didn't I tell you thatbefore?" growled Struve reluctantly. 

"See you don't, then. Now I'll come again to my news. I was tellingyou that there's another stranger in this valley, Mr. Struve. Hailsfrom Texas, too. Name of Fraser. Ever hear of him?"

Briscoe was hardly prepared for the change which came over the Texanat mention of that name. The prominent eyes stared, and a deep, apoplectic flush ran over the scarred face. The hand that caught atthe wall trembled with excitement. 

"You mean Steve Fraser-- Fraser of the Rangers!" he gasped. 

"That's what I'm not sure of. I got to milling it over after I lefthim, and it come to me I'd seen him or his picture before. You stillgot that magazine with the article about him?"

"Yes, "

"I looked it over hurriedly. Let me see his picture again, and I'lltell you if it's the same man. "

"It's in the other room. "

"Get it. "

Struve presently returned with the magazine, and, opening it, pointedto a photograph of a young officer in uniform, with the captionunderneath:

 LIEUTENANT STEPHEN FRASER OF THE TEXAS RANGERSWho, single-handed, ran down and brought to justice the worst gang of outlaws known in recent years. 

"It's the same man, " Briscoe announced. 

The escaped convict's mouth set in a cruel line. 

"One of us, either him or me, never leaves this valley alive, " heannounced. 

Jed laughed softly and handed back the revolver. "That's the way totalk. My friend, if you mean that, you'll need your gun. Here's hopingyou beat him to it. "

"It won't be an even break this time if I can help it. "

"I gather that it was, last time. "

"Yep. We drew together. " Struve interlarded his explanation withoaths. "He's a devil with a gun. See that?" He held up his right band. 

"I see you're shy your most useful finger, if that's what you mean. "

"Fraser took it off clean at twenty yards. I got him in the hand, too, but right or left he's a dead shot. He might 'a' killed me if hehadn't wanted to take me alive. Before I'm through with him he'll wishhe had. "

"Well, you don't want to make any mistake next time. Get him right. "

"I sure will. " Hitherto Struve had been absorbed in his own turbidemotions, but he came back from them now with a new-born suspicion inhis eyes. "Where do you come in, Mr. Briscoe? Why are you so plumbanxious I should load him up with lead? If it's a showdown, I'd somelike to see your cards too. "

Jed shrugged. "My reasons ain't urgent like yours. I don't favor spiespoking their noses in here. That's all there's to it. "

Jed had worked out a plot as he rode through the night from the Dillonranch-- one so safe and certain that it pointed to sure success. Jedwas no coward, but he had a spider-like cunning that wove others asdupes into the web of his plans. 

The only weakness in his position lay in himself, in that suddenboiling up of passion in him that was likely to tear through his ownweb and destroy it. Three months ago he had given way to one of theseoutbursts, and he knew that any one of four or five men could put anoose around his neck. That was another reason why such a man as thisTexas ranger must not be allowed to meet and mix with them. 

It was his cue to know as much as he could of every man that came intothe valley. Wherefore he had run down the record of Struve from thereward placard which a detective agency furnished him of hundreds ofcriminals who were wanted. What could be more simple than to stir upthe convict, in order to save himself, to destroy the ranger who hadrun him down before? There would be a demand so insistent for thepunishment of the murderer that it could not be ignored. He would findsome pretext to lure Struve from the valley for a day or two, andwould arrange it so that he would be arrested while he was away. Thushe would be rid of both these troublesome intruders without making amove that could be seen. 

It was all as simple as A B C. Already Struve had walked into thetrap. As Jed sat down to take a hand in the poker game that was inprogress, he chuckled quietly to himself. He was quite sure that hewas already practically master of the situation. 

 CHAPTER VII

 THE ROUND-UP

"Would you like to take in the round-up to-day?"

Arlie flung the question at Fraser with a frank directness ofsloe-black eyes that had never known coquetry. She was washinghandkerchiefs, and her sleeves were rolled to the elbows of theslender, but muscular, coffee-brown arms. 

"I would. "

"If you like you may ride out with me to Willow Spring. I have someletters to take to dad. "

"Suits me down to the ground, ma'am. "

It was a morning beautiful even for Wyoming. The spring calledpotently to the youth in them. The fine untempered air was like wine, and out of a blue sky the sun beat pleasantly down through acrystal-clear atmosphere known only to the region of the Rockies. Nature was preaching a wordless sermon on the duty of happiness to twobuoyant hearts that scarce needed it. 

Long before they reached the scene of the round-up they could hear thealmost continual bawl of worried cattle, and could even see the cloudof dust they stirred. They passed the remuda, in charge of two ladslounging sleepily in their saddles with only an occasional glance atthe bunch of grazing horses they were watching. Presently they lookeddown from a high ridge at the busy scene below. 

Out of Lost Valley ran a hundred rough and wooded gulches to theimpassable cliff wall which bounded it. Into one of these they nowdescended slowly, letting their ponies pick a way among the loosestones and shale which covered the steep hillside. 

What their eyes fell upon was cattle-land at its busiest. Severalhundred wild hill cattle were gathered in the green draw, and aroundthem was a cordon of riders holding the gather steady. Now and againone of the cows would make a dash to escape, and instantly the nearestrider would wheel, as on a batter's plate, give chase, and herd theanimal back after a more or less lengthy pursuit. 

Several of the riders were cutting out from the main herd cows withunmarked calves, which last were immediately roped and thrown. Usuallyit took only an instant to determine with whose cow the calf had been, and a few seconds to drive home the correct brand upon the sizzlingflank. Occasionally the discussion was more protracted, in order tosolve a doubt as to the ownership, and once a calf was released thatit might again seek its mother to prove identity. 

Arlie observed that Fraser's eyes were shining. 

"I used to be a puncher myse'f, " he explained. "I tell you it feelsgood to grip a saddle between your knees, and to swallow the dust andhear the bellow of the cows. I used to live in them days. I sure did. "

A boyish puncher galloped past with a whoop and waved his hat toArlie. For two weeks he had been in the saddle for fourteen hours outof the twenty-four. He was grimy with dust, and hollow-eyed from wantof sleep. A stubbly beard covered his brick-baked face. But theunquenchable gayety of the youthful West could not be extinguished. Though his flannel shirt gaped where the thorns had torn it, and thepolka-dot bandanna round his throat was discolored with sweat, he wasas blithely debonair as ever. 

"That's Dick France. He's a great friend of mine, " Arlie explained. 

"Dick's in luck, " Fraser commented, but whether because he wasenjoying himself so thoroughly or because he was her friend the rangerdid not explain. 

They stayed through the day, and ate dinner at the tail of the chuckwagon with the cattlemen. The light of the camp fires, already blazingin the nipping night air, shone brightly. The ranger rode back withher to the ranch, but next morning he asked Arlie if she could lendhim an old pair of chaps discarded by her father. 

She found a pair for him. 

"If you don't mind, I'll ride out to the round-up and stay with theboys a few days, " he suggested. 

"You're going to ride with them, " she accused. 

"I thought I would. I'm not going to saddle myse'f on you two ladiesforever. "

"You know we're glad to have you. But that isn't it. What about yourheart? You know you can't ride the range. "

He flushed, and knew again that feeling of contempt for himself, or, to be more exact, for his position. 

"I'll be awful careful, Miss Arlie, " was all he found to say. 

She could not urge him further, lest he misunderstand her. 

"Of course, you know best, " she said, with a touch of coldness. 

He saddled Teddy and rode back. The drive for the day was already on, but he fell in beside young France and did his part. Before two dayshad passed he was accepted as one of these hard-riding punchers, forhe was a competent vaquero and stood the grueling work as one born toit. He was, moreover, well liked, both because he could tell a goodstory and because these sons of Anak recognized in him that dynamicquality of manhood they could not choose but respect. In this afortunate accident aided him. 

They were working Lost Creek, a deep and rapid stream at the pointwhere the drive ended. The big Norwegian, Siegfried, trying to headoff a wild cow racing along the bank with tail up, got too near theedge. The bank caved beneath the feet of his pony, and man and horsewent head first into the turbid waters. Fraser galloped up at once, flung himself from his saddle, and took in at a glance the fact thatthe big blond Hercules could not swim. 

The Texan dived for him as he was going down, got hold of him by thehair, and after a struggle managed somehow to reach the farther shore. As they both lay there, one exhausted, and the other fighting for thebreath he had nearly lost forever, Dillon reached the bank. 

"Is it all right, Steve?" he called anxiously. 

"All right, " grinned the ranger weakly. "He'll go on many a spree yet. Eh, Siegfried?"

The Norwegian nodded. He was still frightened and half drowned. It wasnot till they were riding up the creek to find a shallow place theycould ford that he spoke his mind. 

"Ay bane all in ven you got me, pardner. "

"Oh, you were still kicking. "

"Ay bane t'ink Ay had van chance not to get out. But Ay bane notforget dees. Eef you ever get in a tight place, send vor SigSiegfried. "

"That's all right, Sig. "

Nobody wasted any compliments on him. After the fashion of their kind, they guyed the Norwegian about the bath he had taken. Nevertheless, Fraser knew that he had won the liking of these men, as well as theirdeep respect. They began to call him by his first name, which hithertoonly Dillon had done, and they included him in the rough, practicaljokes they played on each other. 

One night they initiated him-- an experience to be both dreaded anddesired. To be desired because it implies the conferring of thethirty-second degree of the freemasonry of Cattleland's approval; tobe dreaded because hazing is mild compared with some features of theexercises. 

Fraser was dragged from sweet slumber, pegged face down on hisblankets, with a large-sized man at the extremity of each arm and leg, and introduced to a chapping. Dick France wielded the chaps vigorouslyupon the portions of his anatomy where they would do the mostexecution. The Texan did not enjoy it, but he refrained from sayingso. When he was freed, he sat down painfully on a saddle and remarkedamiably:

"You're a beautiful bunch, ain't you? Anybody got any smoking?"

This proper acceptance of their attentions so delighted theseovergrown children that they dug up three bottles of whisky that werekept in camp for rattlesnake bites, and made Rome howl. They hadridden all day, and for many weary days before that; but they werestarted toward making a night of it when Dillon appeared. 

Dillon was boss of the round-up-- he had been elected by generalconsent, and his word was law. He looked round upon them with atwinkling eye, and wanted to know how long it was going to last. Butthe way he put his question was:

"How much whisky is there left?"

Finding there was none, he ordered them all back to their blankets. After a little skylarking, they obeyed. Next day Fraser rode thehills, a sore, sore man. But nobody who did not know could haveguessed it. He would have died before admitting it to any of hiscompanions. Thus he won the accolade of his peers as a worthyhorse-man of the hills. 

 CHAPTER VIII

 THE BRONCHO BUSTERS

Jed Briscoe rejoined the round-up the day following Fraser'sinitiation. He took silent note of the Texan's popularity, of how theboys all called him "Steve" because he had become one of them, andwere ready either to lark with him or work with him. He noticed, too, that the ranger did his share of work without a whimper, apparentlyenjoying the long, hard hours in the saddle. The hill riding was ofthe roughest, and the cattle were wild as deers and as agile. Butthere was no break-neck incline too steep for Steve Fraser to follow. 

Once Jed chanced upon Steve stripped for a bath beside the creek, andhe understood the physical reason for his perfect poise. The wiry, sinuous muscles, packed compactly without obtrusion, played beneaththe skin like those of a panther. He walked as softly and as easily asone, with something of the rippling, unconscious grace of that junglelord. It was this certainty of himself that vivified the steel-grayeyes which looked forth unafraid, and yet amiably, upon a worldprimitive enough to demand proof of every man who would hold therespect of his fellows. 

Meanwhile, Briscoe waited for Struve and his enemy to become entangledin the net he was spinning. He made no pretense of fellowship withFraser; nor, on the other hand, did he actively set himself againsthim with the men. He was ready enough to sneer when Dick France grewenthusiastic about his new friend, but this was to be expected fromone of his jaundiced temper. 

"Who is this all-round crackerjack you're touting, Dick?" he askedsignificantly. 

France was puzzled. "Who is he? Why, he's Steve Fraser. "

"I ain't asking you what his name is. I'm asking who he is. What doeshe do for a living? Who recommended him so strong to the boys thatthey take up with him so sudden?"

"I don't care what he does for a living. Likely, he rides the range inTexas. When it comes to recommendations, he's got one mighty good onewritten on his face, "

"You think so, do you?"

"That's what I think, Jed. He's the goods-- best of company, astraight-up rider, and a first-rate puncher. Ask any of the boys. "

"I'm using my eyes, Dick. They tell me all I need to know. "

"Well, use them to-morrow. He's going to take a whirl at riding DeadEasy. Next day he's going to take on Rocking Horse. If he makes goodon them, you'll admit he can ride. "

"I ain't saying he can't ride. So can you. If it's plumb gentle, I canmake out to stick on a pony myself. "

"Course you can ride. Everybody knows that. You're the best ever. Anyman that can win the championship of Wyoming---- But you'll sayyourself them strawberry roans are wicked devils. "

"He hasn't ridden them yet, Dick. "

"He's going to. "

"We'll be there to see it. Mebbe he will. Mebbe he won't. I've knownmen before who thought they were going to. "

It was in no moment of good-natured weakness that Fraser had consentedto try riding the outlaw horses. Nor had his vanity anything to dowith it. He knew a time might be coming when he would need all theprestige and all the friendship he could earn to tide him over thecrisis. Jed Briscoe had won his leadership, partly because he couldshoot quicker and straighter, ride harder, throw a rope moreaccurately, and play poker better than his companions, Steve had a mind to show that he, too, could do some of these thingspassing well. Wherefore, he had let himself be badgered good-naturedlyinto trying a fall with these famous buckers. As the heavy work of theround-up was almost over, Dillon was glad to relax discipline enoughto give the boys a little fun. 

The remuda was driven up while the outfit was at breakfast. Hisfriends guyed Steve with pleasant prophecy. 

"He'll be hunting leather about the fourth buck!"

"If he ain't trying to make of himse'f one of them there Darius Greenmachines!" suggested another. 

"Got any last words, Steve? Dead Easy most generally eats 'em alive, "Dick derided. 

"Sho! Cayn't you see he's so plumb scared he cayn't talk?"

Fraser grinned and continued to eat. When he had finished he got hislariat from the saddle, swung to Siegfried's pony, and rodeunobtrusively forward to the remuda. The horses were circling roundand round, so that it was several minutes before he found a chance. When he did, the rope snaked forward and dropped over the head of thestrawberry roan. The horse stood trembling, making not the leastresistance, even while the ranger saddled and cinched. 

But before the man settled to the saddle, the outlaw was off on itsfurious resistance. It went forward and up into the air with aplunging leap. The rider swung his hat and gave a joyous whoop. Nextinstant there was a scatter of laughing men as the horse came towardthem in a series of short, stiff-legged bucks which would have jarredits rider like a pile driver falling on his head had he not lethimself grow limp to meet the shock. 

All the tricks of its kind this unbroken five-year-old knew. Weaving, pitching, sunfishing, it fought superbly, the while Steve rode withthe consummate ease of a master. His sinuous form swayed instinctivelyto every changing motion of his mount. Even when it flung itself backin blind fury, he dropped lightly from the saddle and into it again asthe animal struggled to its feet. 

The cook waved a frying pan in frantic glee. "Hurra-ay! You're thegoods, all right, all right. "

"You bet. Watch Steve fan him. And he ain't pulled leather yet. Notonce. "

An unseen spectator was taking it in from the brow of a little hillcrowned with a group of firs. She had reached this point just as theTexan had swung to the saddle, and she watched the battle betweenhorse and man intently. If any had been there to see, he might haveobserved a strange fire smouldering in her eyes. For the first timethere was filtering through her a vague suspicion of this man whoclaimed to have heart trouble, and had deliberately subjected himselfto the terrific strain of such a test. She had seen broncho bustersget off bleeding at mouth and nose and ears after a hard fight, andshe had never seen a contest more superbly fought than this one. Butfull of courage as the horse was, it had met its master and began toknow it. 

The ranger's quirt was going up and down, stinging Dead Easy to moreviolent exertions, if possible. But the outlaw had shot its bolt. Theplunges grew less vicious, the bucks more feeble. It still pitched, because of the unbroken gameness that defied defeat, but somechanically that the motions could be forecasted. 

Then Steve began to soothe the brute. Somehow the wild creatu ecameaware that this man who was his master was also disposed to befriendly. Presently it gave up the battle, quivering in every limb. Fraser slipped from the saddle, and putting his arm across its neckbegan to gentle the outlaw. The animal had always looked theincarnation of wickedness. The red eyes in its ill-shaped head wereenough to give one bad dreams. A quarter of an hour before, it had bitsavagely at him. Now it stood breathing deep, and trembling while itsmaster let his hand pass gently over the nose and neck with soft wordsthat slowly won the pony back from the terror into which it had workeditself. 

"You did well, Mr. Fraser from Texas, " Jed complimented him, with asmile that thinly hid his malice. "But it won't do to have you goingback to Texas with the word that Wyoming is shy of riders. I ain't anygreat shakes, but I reckon I'll have to take a whirl at RockingHorse. " He had decided to ride for two reasons. One was that he hadglimpsed the girl among the firs; the other was to dissipate theadmiration his rival had created among the men. 

Briscoe lounged toward the remuda, rope in hand. It was his cue to gethimself up picturesquely in all the paraphernalia of the cowboy. Black-haired and white-toothed, lithe as a wolf, and endowed with agrace almost feline, it was easy to understand how this man appealedto the imagination of the reckless young fellows of this primevalvalley. Everything he did was done well. Furthermore, he looked andacted the part of leader which he assumed. 

Rocking Horse was in a different mood from its brother. It was hard torope, and when Jed's raw-hide had fallen over its head it wasnecessary to reënforce the lariat with two others. Finally the ponyhad to be flung down before a saddle could be put on. When Siegfried, who had been kneeling on its head, stepped back, the outlaw staggeredto its feet, already badly shaken, to find an incubus clamped to thesaddle. 

No matter how it pitched, the human clothespin stuck to his seat, andapparently with as little concern as if he had been in a rowboatgently moved to and fro by the waves. Jed rode like a centaur, everymotion attuned to those of the animal as much as if he were a part ofit. No matter how it pounded or tossed, he stuck securely to thehurricane deck of the broncho. 

Once only he was in danger, and that because Rocking Horse flungfuriously against the wheel of a wagon and ground the rider's leg tillhe grew dizzy with the pain. For an instant he caught at the saddlehorn to steady himself as the roan bucked into the open again. 

"He's pulling leather!" some one shouted. 

"Shut up, you goat!" advised the Texan good-naturedly. "Can't you seehis laig got jammed till he's groggy? Wonder is, he didn't take thedust! They don't raise better riders than he is. "

"By hockey! He's all in. Look out! Jed's falling, " France cried, running forward. 

It looked so for a moment, then Jed swam back to clear consciousnessagain, and waved them back. He began to use his quirt without mercy. 

"Might know he'd game it out, " remarked Yorky. 

He did. It was a long fight, and the horse was flecked with bloodyfoam before its spirit and strength failed. But the man in the saddlekept his seat till the victory was won. 

Steve was on the spot to join heartily the murmur of applause, for hewas too good a sportsman to grudge admiration even to his enemy. 

"You're the one best bet in riders, Mr. Briscoe. It's a pleasure towatch you, " he said frankly. 

Jed's narrowed eyes drifted to him. "Oh, hell!" he drawled withinsolent contempt, and turned on his heel. 

From the clump of firs a young woman was descending, and Jed went tomeet her. 

"You rode splendidly, " she told him with vivid eyes. "Were you hurtwhen you were jammed again the wagon? I mean, does it still hurt?" Forshe noticed that he walked with a limp. 

"I reckon I can stand the grief without an amputation. Arlie, I gotsomething to tell you. "

She looked at him in her direct fashion and waited. 

"It's about your new friend. " He drew from a pocket some leaves tornout of a magazine. His finger indicated a picture. "Ever see thatgentleman before?"

The girl looked at it coolly. "It seems to be Mr. Fraser taken in hisuniform; Lieutenant Fraser, I should say. "

The cattleman's face fell. "You know, then, who he is, and what he'sdoing here. "

Without evasion, her gaze met his. "I understood him to say he was anofficer in the Texas Rangers. You know why he is here. "

"You're right, I do. But do you?"

"Well, what is it you mean? Out with it, Jed, " she demandedimpatiently. 

"He is here to get a man wanted in Texas, a man hiding in this valleyright now. "

"I don't believe it, " she returned quickly. "And if he is, that's notyour business or mine. It's his duty, isn't it?"

"I ain't discussing that. You know the law of the valley, Arlie. "

"I don't accept that as binding, Jed. Lots of people here don't. Because Lost Valley used to be a nest of miscreants, it needn't alwaysbe. I don't see what right we've got to set ourselves above the law. "

"This valley has always stood by hunted men when they reached it. That's our custom, and I mean to stick to it. "

"Very well. I hold you to that, " she answered quickly. "This manFraser is a hunted man. He's hunted because of what he did for me anddad. I claim the protection of the valley for him. "

"He can have it-- if he's what he says he is. But why ain't he beensquare with us? Why didn't he tell who he was?"

"He told me. "

"That ain't enough, Arlie. If he did, you kept it quiet. We all had aright to know. "

"If you had asked him, he would have told you. "

"I ain't so sure he would. Anyhow, I don't like it. I believe he ishere to get the man I told you of. Mebbe that ain't all. "

"What more?" she scoffed. 

"This fellow is the best range detective in the country. My notion ishe's spying around about that Squaw Creek raid. "

Under the dusky skin she flushed angrily. "My notion is you're daffy, Jed. Talk sense, and I'll listen to you. You haven't a grain ofproof. "

"I may get some yet, " he told her sulkily. 

She laughed her disbelief. "When you do, let me know, "

And with that she gave her pony the signal to more forward. 

Nevertheless, she met the ranger at the foot of the little hill withdistinct coldness. When he came up to shake hands, she was too busydismounting to notice. 

"Your heart must be a good deal better. I suppose Lost Valley agreeswith you. " She had swung down on the other side of the horse, and herglance at him across the saddle seat was like a rapier thrust. 

He was aware at once of being in disgrace with her, and it chafed himthat he had no adequate answer to her implied charge. 

"My heart's all right, " he said a little gruffly. 

"Yes, it seems to be, lieutenant. "

She trailed the reins and turned away at once to find her father. Thegirl was disappointed in him. He had, in effect, lied to her. That wasbad enough; but she felt that his lie had concealed something, howmuch she scarce dared say. Her tangled thoughts were in chaos. Onemoment she was ready to believe the worst; the next, it was impossibleto conceive such a man so vile a spy as to reward hospitality withtreachery. 

Yet she remembered now that it had been while she was telling of thefate of the traitor Burke that she had driven him to his lie. Or hadhe not told it first when she pointed out Lost Valley at his feet?Yes, it was at that moment she had noticed his pallor. He had, atleast, conscience enough to be ashamed of what he was doing. But sherecognized a wide margin of difference between the possibilities ofhis guilt. It was one thing to come to the valley for an escapedmurderer; it was quite another to use the hospitality of his host as ameans to betray the friends of that host. Deep in her heart she couldnot find it possible to convict him of the latter alternative. He wastoo much a man, too vitally dynamic. No; whatever else he was, shefelt sure he was not so hopelessly lost to decency. He had thatelectric spark of self-respect which may coexist with many faults, butnot with treachery. 

 CHAPTER IX

 A SHOT FROM BALD KNOB

A bunch of young steers which had strayed from their range were to bedriven to the Dillon ranch, and the boss of the rodeo appointed Franceand Fraser to the task. 

"Yo'll have company home, honey, " he told his daughter, "and yo'll beable to give the boys a hand if they need it. These hill cattle arestill some wild, though we've been working them a week. Yo're a heapbetter cowboy than some that works more steady at the business. "

Briscoe nodded. "You bet! I ain't forgot that day Arlie rode BigTimber with me two years ago. She wasn't sixteen then, but she herdedthem hill steers like they belonged to a milk bunch. "

He spoke his compliment patly enough, but somehow the girl had animpression that he was thinking of something else. She was right, foras he helped gather the drive his mind was busy with a problem. Presently he dismounted to tighten a cinch, and made a signal to ayoung fellow known as Slim Leroy. The latter was a new and tenderrecruit to Jed's band of miscreants. He drew up beside his leader andexamined one of the fore hoofs of his pony. 

"Slim, I'm going to have Dillon send you for the mail to-day. When hetells you, that's the first you know about it. Understand? You'll haveto take the hill cut to Jack Rabbit Run on your way in. At the cabinback of the aspens, inquire for a man that calls himself Johnson. Ifhe's there, give him this message: 'This afternoon from Bald Knob. 'Remember! Just those words, and nothing more. If he isn't there, forget the message. You'll know the man you want because he is shy histrigger finger and has a ragged scar across his right cheek. Make nomistake about this, Slim. "

"Sure I won't. "

Briscoe, having finished cinching, swung to his saddle and rode up tosay good-by to Arlie. 

"Hope you'll have no trouble with this bunch. If you push right alongyou'd ought to get home by night, " he told her. 

Arlie agreed carelessly. "I don't expect any trouble with them. So-long, Jed. "

It would not have been her choice to ride home with the lieutenant ofrangers, but since her father had made the appointment publicly shedid not care to make objection. Yet she took care to let Fraser seethat he was in her black books. The men rode toward the rear of theherd, one on each side, and Arlie fell in beside her old playmate, Dick. She laughed and talked with him about a hundred things in whichSteve could have had no part, even if he had been close enough tocatch more than one word out of twenty. Not once did she even look hisway. Quite plainly she had taken pains to forget his existence. 

"It was Briscoe's turn the other day, " mused the Texan. "It's minenow. I wonder when it will be Dick's to get put out in the cold!"

Nevertheless, though he tried to act the philosopher, it cut him thatthe high-spirited girl had condemned him. He felt himself in a falseposition from which he could not easily extricate himself. The worstof it was that if it came to a showdown he could not expect the simpletruth to exonerate him. 

From where they rode there drifted to him occasionally the sound ofthe gay voices of the young people. It struck him for the first timethat he was getting old. Arlie could not be over eighteen, and Dickperhaps twenty-one. Maybe young people like that thought a fellow oftwenty-seven a Methusaleh. 

After a time the thirsty cattle smelt water and hit a bee line sosteadily for it that they needed no watching. Every minute or two oneof the leaders stretched out its neck and let out a bellow withoutslackening its pace. 

Steve lazed on his pony, shifting his position to ease his crampedlimbs after the manner of the range rider. In spite of himself, hiseyes would drift toward the jaunty little figure on the pinto. Themasculine in him approved mightily her lissom grace and the proud liltof her dark head, with its sun-kissed face set in profile to him. Hethought her serviceable costume very becoming, from the pinched felthat pinned to the dark mass of hair, and the red silk kerchief knottedloosely round the pretty throat, to the leggings beneath the corduroyskirt and the flannel waist with sleeves rolled up in summer-girlfashion to leave the tanned arms bare to the dimpled elbows. 

The trail, winding through a narrow defile, brought them side by sideagain. 

"Ever notice what a persistent color buckskin is, Steve?" inquiredFrance, by way of bringing him into the conversation. "It's strong inevery one of these cattle, though the old man has been trying to getrid of it for ten years. "

"You mustn't talk to me, Dick, " responded his friend gravely. "LittleWillie told a lie, and he's being stood in a corner. "

Arlie flushed angrily, opened her mouth to speak, and, changing hermind, looked at him witheringly. He didn't wither, however. Instead, he smiled broadly, got out his mouth organ, and cheerfully entertainedthem with his favorite, "I Met My Love In the Alamo. "

The hot blood under dusky skin held its own in her cheeks. She wasfurious with him, and dared not trust herself to speak. As soon asthey had passed through the defile she spurred forward, as if to turnthe leaders. France turned to his friend and laughed ruefully. 

"She's full of pepper, Steve. "

The ranger nodded. "She's all right, Dick. If you want to know, she'sgot a right to make a doormat of me. I lied to her. I was up againstit, and I kinder had to. You ride along and join her. If you want toget right solid, tell her how many kinds of a skunk I am. Worst of itis, I ain't any too sure I'm not. "

"I'm sure for you then, Steve, " the lad called back, as he lopedforward after the girl. 

He was so sure, that he began to praise his friend to Arlie, to tellher of what a competent cowman he was, how none of them could make acut or rope a wild steer like him. She presently wanted to knowwhether Dick could not find something more interesting to talk about. 

He could not help smiling at her downright manner. "You've surely gotit in for him, Arlie. I thought you liked him. "

She pulled up her horse, and looked at him. "What made you think that?Did he tell you so?"

Dick fairly shouted. "You do rub it in, girl, when you've got a downon a fellow. No, he didn't tell me. You did. "

"Me?" she protested indignantly. "I never did. "

"Oh, you didn't say so, but I don't need a church to fall on me beforeI can take a hint. You acted as though you liked him that day you andhim came riding into camp. "

"I didn't do any such thing, Dick France. I don't like him at all, "very decidedly. 

"All the boys do-- all but Jed. I don't reckon he does. "

"Do I have to like him because the boys do?" she demanded. 

"O' course not. " Dick stopped, trying to puzzle it out. "He says youain't to blame, that he lied to you. That seems right strange, too. Itain't like Steve to lie. "

"How do you know so much about him? You haven't known him a week. "

"That's what Jed says. I say it ain't a question of time. Some menI've knew ten years I ain't half so sure of. He's a man from theground up. Any one could tell that, before they had seen him fiveminutes "

Secretly, the girl was greatly pleased. She so wanted to believe thatDick was right. It was what she herself had thought. 

"I wish you'd seen him the day he pulled Siegfried out of Lost Creek. Tell you, I thought they were both goners, " Dick continued. 

"I expect it was most ankle-deep, " she scoffed. "Hello, we're pastBald Knob!"

"They both came mighty nigh handing in their checks. "

"I didn't know that, though I knew, of course, he was fearless, " Arliesaid. 

"What's that?" Dick drew in his horse sharply, and looked back. 

The sound of a rifle shot echoed from hillside to hillside. Like astreak of light, the girl's pinto flashed past him. He heard her givea sobbing cry of anguish. Then he saw that Steve was slipping veryslowly from his saddle. 

A second shot rang out. The light was beginning to fail, but he madeout a man's figure crouched among the small pines on the shoulder ofBald Knob. Dick jerked out his revolver as he rode back, and firedtwice. He was quite out of pistol range, but he wanted the man inambush to see that help was at hand. He saw Arlie fling herself fromher pony in time to support the Texan just as he sank to the ground. 

"She'll take care of Steve. It's me for that murderer, " the young manthought. 

Acting upon that impulse, he slid from his horse and slipped into thesagebrush of the hillside. By good fortune he was wearing a gray shirtof a shade which melted into that of the underbrush. Night fallsswiftly in the mountains, and already dusk was softly spreading itselfover the hills. 

Dick went up a draw, where young pines huddled together in the trough;and from the upper end of this he emerged upon a steep ridge, eyes andears alert for the least sign of human presence. A third shot had rungout while he was in the dense mass of foliage of the evergreens, butnow silence lay heavy all about him. The gathering darkness blurreddetail, so that any one of a dozen bowlders might be a shield for acrouching man. 

Once, nerves at a wire edge from the strain on him, he thought he sawa moving figure. Throwing up his gun, he fired quickly. But he musthave been mistaken, for, shortly afterward, he heard some one crashingthrough dead brush at a distance. 

"He's on the run, whoever he is. Guess I'll get back to Steve, "decided France wisely. 

He found his friend stretched on the ground, with his head in Arlie'slap. 

"Is it very bad?" he asked the girl. 

"I don't know. There's no light. Whatever shall we do?" she moaned. 

"I'm a right smart of a nuisance, ain't I?" drawled the wounded manunexpectedly. 

She leaned forward quickly. "Where are you hit?"

"In the shoulder, ma'am. "

"Can you ride, Steve? Do you reckon you could make out the fivemiles?" Dick asked. 

Arlie answered for him. She had felt the inert weight of his heavybody and knew that he was beyond helping himself. "No. Is there nohouse near? There's Alec Howard's cabin. "

"He's at the round-up, but I guess we had better take Steve there-- ifwe could make out to get him that far. "

The girl took command quietly. "Unsaddle Teddy. "

She had unloosened his shirt and was tying her silk kerchief over thewound, from which blood was coming in little jets. 

"We can't carry him, " she decided. "It's too far. We'll have to lifthim to the back of the horse, and let him lie there. Steady, Dick. That's right. You must hold him on, while I lead the horse. "

Heavy as he was, they somehow hoisted him, and started. He had faintedagain, and hung limply, with his face buried in the mane of the pony. It seemed an age before the cabin loomed, shadow-like, out of thedarkness. They found the door unlocked, as usual, and carried him into the bed. 

"Give me your knife, Dick, " Arlie ordered quietly. "And I want water. If that's a towel over there, bring it. "

"Just a moment. I'll strike a light, and we'll see where we're at. "

"No. We'll have to work in the dark. A light might bring them down onus. " She had been cutting the band of the shirt, and now ripped it soas to expose the wounded shoulder. 

Dick took a bucket to the creek, and presently returned with it. Inhis right hand he carried his revolver. When he reached the cabin hegave an audible sigh of relief and quickly locked the door. 

"Of course you'll have to go for help, Dick. Bring old Doc Lee. "

"Why, Arlie, I can't leave you here alone. What are you talkingabout?"

"You'll have to. It's the only thing to do. You'll have to give meyour revolver. And, oh, Dick, don't lose a moment on the way. "

He was plainly troubled. "I just can't leave you here alone, girl. What would your father say if anything happened? I don't reckonanything will, but we can't tell. No, I'll stay here, too. Steve musttake his chance. "

"You'll not stay. " She flamed round upon him, with the fierce passionof a tigress fighting for her young. "You'll go this minute-- thisvery minute!"

"But don't you see I oughtn't to leave you? Anybody would tell youthat, " he pleaded. 

"And you call yourself his friend, " she cried, in a low, bitter voice. 

"I call myself yours, too, " he made answer doggedly. 

"Then go. Go this instant. You'll go, anyway; but if you're my friend, you'll go gladly, and bring help to save us both. "

"I wisht I knew what to do, " he groaned. 

Her palms fastened on his shoulders. She was a creature transformed. Such bravery, such feminine ferocity, such a burning passion of thespirit, was altogether outside of his experience of her or any otherwoman. He could no more resist her than he could fly to the top ofBald Knob. 

"I'll go, Arlie. "

"And bring help soon. Get Doc Lee here soon as you can. Leave word forarmed men to follow. Don't wait for them. "

"No. "

"Take his Teddy horse. It can cover ground faster than yours, "

"Yes. "

With plain misgivings, he left her, and presently she heard the soundof his galloping horse. It seemed to her for a moment as if she mustcall him back, but she strangled the cry in her throat. She locked thedoor and bolted it, then turned back to the bed, upon which thewounded man was beginning to moan in his delirium. 

 CHAPTER X

 DOC LEE

Arlie knew nothing of wounds or their treatment. All she could do wasto wash the shoulder in cold water and bind it with strips torn fromher white underskirt. When his face and hands grew hot with the fever, she bathed them with a wet towel. How badly he was hurt-- whether hemight not even die before Dick's return-- she had no way of telling. His inconsequent babble at first frightened her, for she had neverbefore seen a person in delirium, nor heard of the insistence withwhich one harps upon some fantasy seized upon by a diseased mind. 

"She thinks you're a skunk, Steve. So you are. She's dead right-- deadright-- dead right. You lied to her, you coyote! Stand up in thecorner, you liar, while she whangs at you with a six-gun! You're askunk-- dead right. "

So he would run on in a variation of monotony, the strong, supple, masterful man as helpless as a child, all the splendid virilitystricken from him by the pressure of an enemy's finger. The eyes thatshe had known so full of expression, now like half-scabbarded steel, and now again bubbling from the inner mirth of him, were glazed andunmeaning. The girl had felt in him a capacity for silentself-containment; and here he was, picking at the coverlet withrestless fingers, prattling foolishly, like an infant. 

She was a child of impulse, sensitive and plastic. Because she hadbeen hard on him before he was struck down, her spirit ran open-armedto make amends. What manner of man he was she did not know. But whatavailed that to keep her, a creature of fire and dew, from the clutchof emotions strange and poignant? He had called himself a liar and acoyote, yet she knew it was not true, or at worst, true in somequalified sense. He might be hard, reckless, even wicked in some ways. But, vaguely, she felt that if he were a sinner he sinned withself-respect. He was in no moral collapse, at least. It was impossibleto fit him to her conception of a spy. No, no! Anything but that!

So she sat there, her fingers laced about her knee, as she leanedforward to wait upon the needs she could imagine for him, the dumbtragedy of despair in her childish face. 

The situation was one that made for terror. To be alone with a woundedman, his hurt undressed, to hear his delirium and not to know whetherhe might not die any minute-- this would have been enough to causeapprehension. Add to it the darkness, her deep interest in him, thestruggle of her soul, and the dread of unseen murder stalking in thesilent night. 

Though her thought was of him, it was not wholly upon him. She satwhere she could watch the window, Dick's revolver in another chairbeside her. It was a still, starry night, and faintly she could seethe hazy purple, mountain line. Somewhere beneath those uncaring starswas the man who had done this awful thing. Was he far, or was he near?Would he come to make sure he had not failed? Her fearful heart toldher that he would come. 

She must have fought her fears nearly an hour before she heard thefaintest of sounds outside. Her hand leaped to the revolver. She satmotionless, listening, with nerves taut. It came again presently, adeadened footfall, close to the door. Then, after an eternity, thelatch clicked softly. Some one, with infinite care, was trying todiscover whether the door was locked. 

His next move she anticipated. Her eyes fastened on the window, whileshe waited breathlessly. Her heart was stammering furiously. Momentspassed, in which she had to set her teeth to keep from screamingaloud. The revolver was shaking so that she had to steady the barrelwith her left hand. A shadow crossed one pane, the shadow of a head inprofile, and pushed itself forward till shoulders, arm, and poisedrevolver covered the lower sash. Very, very slowly the head itselfcrept into sight. 

Arlie fired and screamed simultaneously. The thud of a fall, thescuffle of a man gathering himself to his feet again, the rush ofretreating steps, all merged themselves in one single impression offierce, exultant triumph. 

Her only regret was that she had not killed him. She was not even surethat she had hit him, for her bullet had gone through the glass withinan inch of the inner woodwork. Nevertheless, she knew that he had hada shock that would carry him far. Unless he had accomplices with him--and of that there had been no evidence at the time of the attack fromBald Knob-- he would not venture another attempt. Of one thing she wassure. The face that had looked in at the window was one she had neverseen before, In this, too, she found relief-- for she knew now thatthe face she had expected to see follow the shadow over the pane hadbeen that of Jed Briscoe; and Jed had too much of the courage ofLucifer incarnate in him to give up because an unexpected revolver hadbeen fired in his face. 

Time crept slowly, but it could hardly have been a quarter of an hourlater that she heard the galloping of horses. 

"It is Dick!" she cried joyfully, and, running to the door, sheunbolted and unlocked it just as France dragged Teddy to a halt andflung himself to the ground. 

The young man gave a shout of gladness at sight of her. 

"Is it all right, Arlie?"

"Yes. That is-- I don't know. He is delirious. A man came to thewindow, and I shot at him. Oh, Dick, I'm so glad you're back. "

In her great joy, she put her arms round his neck and kissed him. OldDoctor Lee, dismounting more leisurely, drawled his protest. 

"Look-a-here, Arlie. I'm the doctor. Where do I come in?"

"I'll kiss you, too, when you tell me he'll get well. " Thehalf-hysterical laugh died out of her voice, and she caught himfiercely by the arm. "Doc, doc, don't let him die, " she begged. 

He had known her all her life, had been by the bedside when she cameinto the world, and he put his arm round her shoulders and gave her alittle hug as they passed into the room. 

"We'll do our level best, little girl. "

She lit a lamp, and drew the window curtain, so that none could seefrom the outside. While the old doctor arranged his instruments andbandages on chairs, she waited on him. He noticed how white she was, for he said, not unkindly:

"I don't want two patients right now, Arlie. If you're going to keelover in a faint right in the middle of it, I'll have Dick help. "

"No, no, I won't, doc. Truly, I won't, " she promised. 

"All right, little girl. We'll see how game you are. Dick, hold thelight. Hold it right there. See?"

The Texan had ceased talking, and was silent, except for a low moan, repeated at regular intervals. The doctor showed Arlie how toadminister the anaesthetic after he had washed the wound. While he wassearching for the bullet with his probe she flinched as if he hadtouched a bare nerve, but she stuck to her work regardless of herfeelings, until the lead was found and extracted and the wounddressed. 

Afterward, Dick found her seated on a rock outside cryinghysterically. He did not attempt to cope with the situation, butreturned to the house and told Lee. 

"Best thing for her. Her nerves are overwrought and unstrung. She'llbe all right, once she has her cry out. I'll drift around, and jollyher along. "

The doctor presently came up and took a seat beside her. 

"Wha-- what do you think, doctor?" she sobbed. 

"Well, I think it's tarnation hot operating with a big kerosene lampsix inches from your haid, " he said, as he mopped his forehead. 

"I mean-- will he-- get well?"

Lee snorted. "Well, I'd be ashamed of him if he didn't. If he lets anice, clean, flesh wound put him out of business he don't deserve tolive. Don't worry any about him, young lady. Say, I wish I had zweibeer right now, Arlie. "

"You mean it? You're not just saying it to please me?"

"Of course, I mean it, " he protested indignantly. "I wish I hadthree. "

"I mean, are you sure he'll get well?" she explained, a faint smiletouching her wan face. 

"Yes, I mean that, too, but right now I mean the beer most. Now, honest, haven't I earned a beer?"

"You've earned a hundred thousand, doc. You're the kindest and dearestman that ever lived, " she cried. 

"Ain't that rather a large order, my dear?" he protested mildly. "Icouldn't really use a hundred thousand. And I'd hate to be better thanJob and Moses and Pharaoh and them Bible characters. Wouldn't I haveto give up chewing? Somehow, a halo don't seem to fit my haid. It'smost too bald to carry one graceful. .. . You may do that again if youwant to. " This last, apropos of the promised reward which had justbeen paid in full. 

Arlie found she could manage a little laugh by this time. 

"Well, if you ain't going to, we might as well go in and have a lookat that false-alarm patient of ours, " he continued. "We'll have to situp all night with him. I was sixty-three yesterday. I'm going to quitthis doctor game. I'm too old to go racing round the country nightsjust because you young folks enjoy shooting each other up. Yes, ma'am, I'm going to quit. I serve notice right here. What's the use of havinga good ranch and some cattle if you can't enjoy them?"

As the doctor had been serving notice of his intention to quitdoctoring for over ten years, Arlie did not take him too seriously. She knew him for what he was-- a whimsical old fellow, who would dropin the saddle before he would let a patient suffer; one of the oldschool, who loved his work but liked to grumble over it. 

"Maybe you'll be able to take a rest soon. You know that young doctorfrom Denver, who was talking about settling here----"

This, as she knew, was a sore point with him. "So you're tired of me, are you? Want a new-fangled appendix cutter from Denver, do you? Timeto shove old Doc Lee aside, eh?"

"I didn't say that, doc, " she repented. 

"Huh! You meant it. Wonder how many times he'd get up at midnight andplow through three-foot snow for six miles to see the most ungrateful, squalling little brat----"

"Was it me, doc?" she ungrammatically demanded. 

"It was you, Miss Impudence. "

They had reached the door, but she held him there a moment, while shelaughed delightedly and hugged him. "I knew it was me. As if we'd letour old doc go, or have anything to do with a young ignoramus fromDenver! Didn't you know I was joking? Of course you did. "

He still pretended severity. "Oh, I know you. When it comes towheedling an old fool, you've got the rest of the girls in this valleybeat to a fare-you-well. "

"Is that why you always loved me?" she asked, with a sparkle ofmischief in her eye. 

"I didn't love you. I never did. The idea!" he snorted. "I don't knowwhat you young giddy pates are coming to. Huh! Love you!"

"I'll forgive you, even if you did, " she told him sweetly. 

"That's it! That's it!" he barked. "You forgive all the young idiotswhen they do. And they all do-- every last one of them. But I'm tooold for you, young lady. Sixty-three yesterday. Huh!"

"I like you better than the younger ones. "

"Want us all, do you? Young and old alike. Well, count me out. "

He broke away, and went into the house. But there was an unconquerablyyouthful smile dancing in his eyes. This young lady and he had madelove to each other in some such fashion ever since she had been a yearold. He was a mellow and confirmed old bachelor, but he proposed tocontinue their innocent coquetry until he was laid away, no matterwhich of the young bucks of the valley had the good fortune to win herfor a wife. 

 CHAPTER XI

 THE FAT IN THE FIRE

For two days Fraser remained in the cabin of the stockman Howard, France making it his business to see that the place was never leftunguarded for a moment. At the end of that time the fever had greatlyabated, and he was doing so well that Doctor Lee decided it would bebetter to move him to the Dillon ranch for the convenience of allparties. 

This was done, and the patient continued steadily to improve. Hisvigorous constitution, helped by the healthy, clean, outdoor life hehad led, stood him in good stead. Day by day he renewed the blood hehad lost. Soon he was eating prodigious dinners, and between meals wasdrinking milk with an egg beaten in it. 

On a sunny forenoon, when he lay in the big window of the living room, reading a magazine, Arlie entered, a newspaper in her hand. Her eyeswere strangely bright, even for her, and she had a manner of repressedexcitement, Her face was almost colorless. 

"Here's some more in the Avalanche about our adventure near GimletButte, " she told him, waving the paper. 

"Nothing like keeping in the public eye, " said Steve, grinning. "Idon't reckon our little picnic at Bald Knob is likely to get in theAvalanche, though. It probably hasn't any correspondent at LostValley. Anyhow, I'm hoping not. "

"Mr. Fraser, there is something in this paper I want you to explain. But tell me first when it was you shot this man Faulkner. I mean atjust what time in the fight. "

"Why, I reckon it must have been just before I ducked. "

"That's funny, too. " She fixed her direct, fearless gaze on him. "Theevidence at the coroner's jury shows that it was in the early part ofthe fight he was shot, before father and I left you. "

"No, that couldn't have been, Miss Arlie, because----"

"Because----" she prompted, smiling at him in a peculiar manner. 

He flushed, and could only say that the newspapers were always gettingthings wrong. 

"But this is the evidence at the coroner's inquest, " she said, fallinggrave again on the instant. "I understand one thing now, very clearly, and that is that Faulkner was killed early in the fight, and the otherman was wounded in the ankle near the finish. "

He shook his head obstinately. "No, I reckon not. "

"Yet it is true. What's more, you knew it all the time. "

"You ce'tainly jump to conclusions, Miss Arlie. "

"And you let them arrest you, without telling them the truth! And theycame near lynching you! And there's a warrant out now for your arrestfor the murder of Faulkner, while all the time I killed him, and youknew it!"

He gathered together his lame defense. "You run ahaid too fast for me, ma'am. Supposing he was hit while we were all there together, how wasI to know who did it?"

"You knew it couldn't have been you, for he wasn't struck with arevolver. It couldn't have been dad, since he had his shotgun loadedwith buckshot. "

"What difference did it make?" he wanted to know impatiently. "Say I'dhave explained till kingdom come that I borrowed the rifle from afriend five minutes after Faulkner was hit-- would anybody havebelieved me? Would it have made a bit of difference?"

Her shining eyes were more eloquent than a thousand tongues. "I don'tsay it would, but there was always the chance. You didn't take it. Youwould have let them hang you, without speaking the word that broughtme into it. Why?"

"I'm awful obstinate when I get my back up, " he smiled. 

"That wasn't it. You did it to save a girl you had never seen butonce. I want to know why. "

"All right. Have it your own way. But don't ask me to explain thewhyfors. I'm no Harvard professor. "

"I know, " she said softly. She was not looking at him, but out of thewindow, and there were tears in her voice. 

"Sho! Don't make too much of it. We'll let it go that I ain't allcoyote, after all. But that don't entitle me to any reward of merit. Now, don't you cry, Miss Arlie. Don't you. "

She choked back the tears, and spoke in deep self-scorn. "No! Youdon't deserve anything except what you've been getting from me--suspicion and distrust and hard words! You haven't done anything worthspeaking of-- just broke into a quarrel that wasn't yours, at the riskof your life; then took it on your shoulders to let us escape; and, afterward, when you were captured, refused to drag me in, because Ihappen to be a girl! But it's not worth mentioning that you did allthis for strangers, and that later you did not tell even me, becauseyou knew it would trouble me that I had killed him, though inself-defense. And to think that all the time I've been full of hatefulsuspicions about you! Oh, you don't know how I despise myself!"

She let her head fall upon her arm on the table, and sobbed. 

Fraser, greatly disturbed, patted gently the heavy coil of blue-blackhair. 

"Now, don't you, Arlie; don't you. I ain't worth it. Honest, I ain't. I did what it was up to me to do. Not a thing more. Dick would havedone it. Any of the boys would. Now, let's look at what you've donefor me. "

From under the arm a muffled voice insisted she had done nothing butsuspect him. 

"Hold on, girl. Play fair. First off you ride sixty miles to help mewhen I'm hunted right hard. You bring me to your home in this valleywhere strangers ain't over and above welcome just now. You learn I'man officer and still you look out for me and fight for me, till youmake friends for me. It's through you I get started right with theboys. On your say-so they give me the glad hand. You learn I've liedto you, and two or three hours later you save my life. You sit theresteady, with my haid in your lap, while some one is plugging away atus. You get me to a house, take care of my wounds, and hold the fortalone in the night till help comes. Not only that, but you drive myenemy away. Later, you bring me home, and nurse me like I was along-lost brother. What I did for you ain't in the same class withwhat you've done for me. "

"But I was suspicious of you all the time. "

"So you had a right to be. That ain't the point, which is that a girldid all that for a man she thought might be an enemy and a low-downspy. Men are expected to take chances like I did, but girls ain't. Youtook 'em. If I lived a thousand years, I couldn't tell you all thethanks I feel. "

"Ah! It makes it worse that you're that kind of a man. But I'm goingto show you whether I trust you. " Her eyes were filled with the gladlight of her resolve. She spoke with a sort of proud humility. "Do youknow, there was a time when I thought you might have-- I didn't reallybelieve it, but I thought it just possible-- that you might have comehere to get evidence against the Squaw Creek raiders? You'll despiseme, but it's the truth. "

His face lost color. "And now?" he asked quietly. 

"Now? I would as soon suspect my father-- or myself! I'll show youwhat I think. The men in it were Jed Briscoe and Yorky and Dick France"Stop, " he cried hoarsely. 

"Is it your wound?" she said quickly. 

"No. That's all right. But you musn't tell----"

"I'm telling, to show whether I trust you. Jed and Yorky and Dick andSlim----"

She stopped to listen. Her father's voice was calling her. She rosefrom her seat. 

"Wait a moment. There's something I've got to tell you, " the Texangroaned. 

"I'll be back in a moment. Dad wants to see me about some letters. "

And with that she was gone. Whatever the business was, it detained herlonger than she expected. The minutes slipped away, and still she didnot return. A step sounded in the hall, a door opened, and Jed Briscoestood before him. 

"You're here, are you?" he said. 

The Texan measured looks with him. "Yes, I'm here. "

"Grand-standing still, I reckon. "

"If you could only learn to mind your own affairs, " the Texansuggested evenly. 

"You'll wish I could before I'm through with you. "

"Am I to thank you for that little courtesy from Bald Knob the otherevening?"

"Not directly. At three hundred yards, I could have shot a heapstraighter than that. The fool must have been drunk. "

"You'll have to excuse him. It was beginning to get dark. Hisintentions were good. "

There was a quick light step behind him, and Arlie came into the room. She glanced quickly from one to the other, and there was apprehensionin her look. 

"I've come to see Lieutenant Fraser on business, " Briscoe explained, with an air patently triumphant. 

Arlie made no offer to leave the room. "He's hardly up to businessyet, is he?" she asked, as carelessly as she could. 

"Then we'll give it another name. I'm making a neighborly call to askhow he is, and to return some things he lost. "

Jed's hand went into his pocket and drew forth leisurely a photograph. This he handed to Arlie right side up, smiling the while, with a kindof masked deviltry. 

"Found it in Alec Howard's cabin. Seems your coat was hanging over theback of a chair, lieutenant, and this and a paper fell out. One of theboys must have kicked it to one side, and it was overlooked. Later, Iran across it. So I'm bringing it back to you. "

In spite of herself Arlie's eyes fell to the photograph. It was asnapshot of the ranger and a very attractive young woman. They weresmiling into each other's eyes with a manner of perfect and friendlyunderstanding. To see it gave Arlie a pang. Flushing at her mistake, she turned the card over and handed it to the owner. 

"Sorry. I looked without thinking, " she said in a low voice. 

Fraser nodded his acceptance of her apology, but his words and hiseyes were for his enemy. "You mentioned something else you had found, seems to me. "

Behind drooping eyelids Jed was malevolently feline. "Seems to me Idid. "

From his pocket came slowly a folded paper. He opened and looked itover at leisure before his mocking eyes lifted again to the woundedman. "This belongs to you, too, but I know you'll excuse me if I keepit to show to the boys before returning it. "

"So you've read it, " Arlie broke in scornfully. 

He grinned at her, and nodded. "Yes, I've read it, my dear. I had toread it, to find out whose it was. Taken by and large, it's a rightinteresting document, too. "

He smiled at the ranger maliciously, yet with a certain catlikepleasure in tormenting his victim. Arlie began to feel a tightening ofher throat, a sinking of the heart. But Fraser looked at the man witha quiet, scornful steadfastness. He knew what was coming, and haddecided upon his course. 

"Seems to be a kind of map, lieutenant. Here's Gimlet Butte and theHalf Way House and Sweetwater Dam and the blasted pine. Looks like itmight be a map from the Butte to this part of the country. Eh, Mr. Fraser from Texas?"

"And if it is?"

"Then I should have to ask you how you come by it, seeing as the mapis drawn on Sheriff Brandt's official stationery, " Jed rasped swiftly. 

"I got it from Sheriff Brandt, Mr. Briscoe, since you want to know. You're not entitled to the information, but I'll make you a gift ofit. He gave it to me to guide me here. "

Even Briscoe was taken aback. He had expected evasion, denial, anything but a bold acceptance of his challenge. His foe watched thewariness settle upon him by the narrowing of his eyes. 

"So the sheriff knew you were coming?"

"Yes. "

"I thought you broke jail. That was the story I had dished up to me. "

"I did, with the help of the sheriff. "

"Oh, with the help of the sheriff? Come to think of it, that soundsright funny-- a sheriff helping his prisoner to escape. "

"Yet it is true, as it happens. "

"I don't doubt it, lieutenant. Fact is, I had some such notion all thetime. Now, I wonder why-for he took so friendly an interest in you. "

"I had a letter of introduction to him from a friend in Texas. When heknew who I was, he decided he couldn't afford to have me lynchedwithout trying to save me. "

"I see. And the map?"

"This was the only part of the country in which I would be safe fromcapture. He knew I had a claim on some of the Cedar Mountain people, because it was to help them I had got into trouble. "

"Yes, I can see that. " Arlie nodded quickly. "Of course, that is justwhat the sheriff would think. "

"Folks can always see what they want to, Arlie, " Jed commented. "Now, I can't see all that, by a lot. "

"It isn't necessary you should, Mr. Briscoe, " Fraser retorted. 

"Or else I see a good deal more, lieutenant, " Jed returned, with hissmooth smile. "Mebbe the sheriff helped you on your way because you'resuch a good detective. He's got ambitions, Brandt has. So hasHilliard, the prosecuting attorney. Happen to see him, by the way?"

"Yes. "

Jed nodded. "I figured you had. Yes, it would be Hilliard worked thescheme out, I expect. "

"You're a good deal of a detective yourself, Mr. Briscoe, " the Texanlaughed hardily. "Perhaps I could get you a job in the rangers. "

"There may be a vacancy there soon, " Jed agreed. 

"What's the use of talking that way, Jed? Are you threatening Mr. Fraser? If anything happens to him, I'll remember this, " Arlie toldhim. 

"Have I mentioned any threats, Arlie? It is well known that LieutenantFraser has enemies here. It don't take a prophet to tell that, afterwhat happened the other night. "

"Any more than it takes a prophet to tell that you are one of them. "

"I play my own hand. I don't lie down before him, or any other man. He'd better not get in my way, unless he's sure he's a better man thanI am. "

"But he isn't in your way, " Arlie insisted. "He has told a plainstory. I believe every word of it. "

"I notice he didn't tell any of his plain story until we proved it onhim. He comes through with his story after he's caught with the goods. Don't you know that every criminal that is caught has a smoothexplanation?"

"I haven't any doubt Mr. Briscoe will have one when his turn comes, "the ranger remarked. 

Jed wheeled on him. His eyes glittered menace. "You've said one wordtoo much. I'll give you forty-eight hours to get out of this valley. "

"How dare you, Jed-- and in my house!" Arlie cried. "I won't have it. I won't have blood shed between you. "

"It's up to him, " answered the cattleman, his jaw set like a vise. "Persuade him to git out, and there'll be no blood shed. "

"You have no right to ask it of him. You ought not----" She stopped, aware of the futility of urging a moral consideration upon the man, and fell back upon the practical. "He couldn't travel that soon, evenif he wanted to. He's not strong enough. You know that. "

"All right. We'll call it a week. If he's still here a week fromto-day, there will be trouble. "

With that, he turned on his heel and left the room. They heard hisspurs trailing across the porch and jingling down the steps, afterwhich they caught a momentary vision of him, dark and sinister, as hishorse flashed past the window. 

The ranger smiled, but rather seriously. "The fat's in the fire now, sure enough, ma'am. "

She turned anxiously upon him. "Why did you tell him all that? Why didyou let him go away, believing you were here as a spy to trap him andhis friends?"

"I let him have the truth. Anyhow, I couldn't have made good with adenial. He had the evidence. I can't keep him from believing what hewants to. "

"He'll tell all his friends. He'll exaggerate the facts and stir upsentiment against you. He'll say you came here as a detective, to getevidence against the Squaw Creek raiders. " "Then he'll tell thetruth!"

She took it in slowly, with a gathering horror. "The truth!" sherepeated, almost under her breath. "You don't mean---- You can'tmean---- Are you here as a spy upon my friends?"

"I didn't know they were your friends when I took the job. If you'lllisten, I'll explain. "

Words burst from her in gathering bitterness. 

"What is there to explain, sir? The facts cry to heaven. I brought youinto this valley, gave you the freedom of our home against my father'sfirst instinct. I introduced you to my friends, and no doubt they toldyou much you wanted to know. They are simple, honest folks, who don'tknow a spy when they see one. And I-- fool that I am-- I vouched foryou. More, I stood between you and the fate you deserved. And, lastly, in my blind conceit, I have told you the names of the men in the SquawCreek trouble. If I had only known-- and I had all the evidence, but Iwas so blind I would not see you were a snake in the grass. "

He put out a hand to stop her, and she drew back as if his touch werepollution. From the other side of the room, she looked across at himin bitter scorn. 

"I shall make arrangements to have you taken out of the valley atonce, sir. "

"You needn't take the trouble, Miss Arlie. I'm not going out of thevalley. If you'll have me taken to Alec Howard's shack, which is whereyou brought me from, I'll be under obligations to you. "

"Whatever you are, I'm not going to have your blood on my hands. You've got to leave the valley. "

"I have to thank you for all your kindness to me. If you'd extend it atrifle further and listen to what I've got to say, I'd be grateful. "

"I don't care to hear your excuses. Go quickly, sir, before you meetthe end you deserve, and give up the poor men I have betrayed to you. "She spoke in a choked voice, as if she could scarce breathe. 

"If you'd only listen before you----"

"I've listened to you too long. I was so sure I knew more than myfather, than my friends. I'll listen no more. "

The Texan gave it up. "All right, ma'am. Just as you say. If you'llorder some kind of a rig for me, I'll not trouble you longer. I'msorry that it's got to be this way. Maybe some time you'll see itdifferent. "

"Never, " she flashed passionately, and fled from the room. 

He did not see her again before he left. Bobbie came to get him in alight road trap they had. The boy looked at him askance, as if he knewsomething was wrong. Presently they turned a corner and left the ranchshut from sight in a fold of the hills. 

At the first division of the road Fraser came to a difference ofopinion with Bobbie. 

"Arlie said you was going to leave the valley. She told me I was totake you to Speed's place. "

"She misunderstood. I am going to Alec Howard's. "

"But that ain't what she told me. "

Steve took the reins from him, and turned into the trail that led toHoward's place. "You can explain to her, Bobbie, that you couldn'tmake me see it that way. "

An hour later, he descended upon Howard-- a big, rawboned ranchman, who had succumbed quickly to a deep friendship for this "AdmirableCrichton" of the plains. 

"Hello, Steve! Glad to death to see you. Hope you've come to stay, youold pie eater, " he cried joyously, at sight of the Texan. 

Fraser got down. "Wait here a moment, Bobbie. I want to have a talkwith Alec. I may go on with you. "

They went into the cabin, and Fraser sat down. He was still far fromstrong. 

"What's up, Steve?" the rancher asked. 

"You asked me to stay, Alec. Before I say whether I will or not, I'vegot a story to tell you. After I've told it, you can ask me again ifyou want me to stop with you. If you don't ask me, I'll ride off withthe boy. "

"All right. Fire ahead, old hoss. I'll ask you fast enough. "

The Texan told his story from the beginning. Only one thing heomitted-- that Arlie had told him the name of the Squaw Creek raiders. 

"There are the facts, Alec. You've got them from beginning to end. It's up to you. Do you want me here?"

"Before I answer that, I'll have to put a question myse'f, Steve. Whydo you want to stay? Why not leave the valley while you're still ableto?"

"Because Jed Briscoe put it up to me that I'd got to leave within aweek. I'll go when I'm good and ready. "

Alec nodded his appreciation of the point. "Sure. You don't want tosneak out, with yore tail betwixt yore laigs. That brings up anotherquestion, Steve. What about the Squaw Creek sheep raiders? Just forargument, we'll put it that some of them are my friends. Youunderstand-- just for argument. Are you still aiming to run themdown?"

Fraser met his frank question frankly. "No, Alec, I've had to give upthat notion long since-- soon as I began to guess they were friends ofMiss Arlie. I'm going back to tell Hilliard so. But I ain't going tobe run out by Briscoe. "

"Good enough. Put her there, son. This shack's yore home till hellfreezes over, Steve. "

"You haven't any doubts about me, Alec. If you have, better say sonow. "

"Doubts? I reckon not. Don't I know a man when I see one? I'm plumbsurprised at Arlie. " He strode to the door, and called to Bobbie:"Roll along home, son. Yore passenger is going to stay a spell withme. "

"Of course, I understand what this means, Alec. Jed and his crowdaren't going to be any too well pleased when they learn you have takenme in. They may make you trouble, " the ranger said. 

The big cow man laughed. "Oh, cut it out, Steve. Jed don't have to O. K. My guest list. Not on yore life. I'm about ready for a ruction withthat young man, anyway. He's too blamed bossy. I ain't wearing hisbrand. Fact is, I been having notions this valley has been sufferingfrom too much Briscoe. Others are sharing that opinion with me. AskDick France. Ask Arlie, for that matter. "

"I'm afraid I'm off that young lady's list of friends. "

"Sho! She'll come round. She's some hot-haided. It always was her wayto get mad first, and find out why afterward. But don't make anymistake about her, Steve. She's the salt of the earth, Arlie Dillonis. She figured it out you wasn't playing it quite on the square withher. Onct she's milled it around a spell, she'll see things different. I've knowed her since she was knee-high, and I tell you she's a gamelittle thoroughbred. "

The Texan looked at him a moment, then stared out of the window. 

"We won't quarrel about that any, Alec. I'll indorse those sentiments, and then some, even if she did call me a snake in the grass. "

 CHAPTER XII

 THE DANCE

The day after Fraser changed his quarters, Dick France rode up to theHoward ranch. Without alighting, he nodded casually to Alec, and thento his guest. 

"Hello, Steve! How's the shoulder?"

"Fine and dandy. "

"You moved, I see. " The puncher grinned. 

"If you see it for yourself, I'll not attempt to deny it. "

"Being stood in the corner some more, looks like! Little Willie beentelling some more lies?"

"Come in, Dick, and I'll put you wise. "

Steve went over the story again. When he mentioned the Squaw Creekraid, he observed that his two friends looked quickly at each otherand then away. He saw, however, that Dick took his pledge in regard tothe raiders at face value, without the least question of doubt. Hemade only one comment on the situation. 

"If Jed has served notice that he's going after you, Steve, he'llce'tainly back the play. What's more, he won't be any too particularhow he gets you, just so he gets you. He may come a-shooting in theopen. Then, again, he may not. All according to how the notion strikeshim. "

"That's about it, " agreed Howard. 

"While it's fresh on my mind, I'll unload some more comfort. You'vegot an enemy in this valley you don't know about. "

"The one that shot me?"

"I ain't been told that. I was to say, 'One enemy more than he knowsof. ' "

"Who told you to say it?"

"I was to forget to tell you that, Steve. "

"Then I must have a friend more than I know of, too. "

"I ain't so sure about that. You might call her a hostile friend. "

"It's a lady, then. I can guess who. "

"Honest, I didn't mean to tell you, Steve. It slipped out. "

"I won't hold it against you. "

"She sent for me last night, and this morning I dropped round. Now, what do you reckon she wanted with me?"

"Give it up. "

"I'm to take a day off and ride around among the boys, so as to seethem before Jed does. I'm to load 'em up with misrepresentations abouthow you and the sheriff happen to be working in cahoots. I gatheredthat the lady is through with you, but she don't want your scalpcollected by the boys. "

"I'm learning to be thankful for small favors, " Fraser said dryly. "She figures me up a skunk, but hates to have me massacreed in herback yard. Ain't that about it, Dick?"

"Somewheres betwixt and between, " France nodded. "Say, you lads goingto the dance at Millikan's?"

"Didn't know there was one. "

"Sure. Big doings. Monday night. Always have a dance after the springround-up. Jed and his friends will be there-- that ought to fetchyou!" Dick grinned. 

"I haven't noticed any pressing invitation to my address yet, " saidSteve. 

"I'm extending it right now. Millikan told me to pass the word amongthe boys. Everybody and his neighbor invited. " Dick lit a cigar, andgathered up his reins. "So-long, boys. I got to be going. " Over hisshoulder he fired another joyous shot as he cantered away. "I reckonthat hostile friend will be there, too, Steve, if that's anyinducement. "

Whether it was an inducement is not a matter of record, but certain itis that the Texan found it easy to decide to go. Everybody in thevalley would be there, and absence on his part would be construed asweakness, even as a confession of guilt. He had often observed that aman's friends are strong for him only when he is strong for himself. 

Howard and his guest drove to Millikan's Draw, for the wound of thelatter was still too new to stand so long a horseback ride. Theyarrived late, and the dance was already in full swing. As they stabledand fed the team, they could hear the high notes of the fiddles andthe singsong chant of the caller. 

"Alemane left. Right han' t'yer pardner, an' gran' right and left. Ev-v-rybody swing. "

The ranch house was a large one, the most pretentious in the valley. Alarge hall opened into a living room and a dining room, by means oflarge double doors, which had been drawn back, so as to make one roomof them. 

As they pushed their way through the crowd of rough young fellows whoclustered round the door, as if afraid their escape might be cut off, Fraser observed that the floor was already crowded with dancers. 

The quadrille came to an end as he arrived, and, after they had seatedtheir partners, red-faced perspiring young punchers swelled the knotaround the door. 

Alec stayed to chaff with them, while the Texan sauntered across thefloor and took a seat on one of the benches which lined the walls. Ashe did so, a man and his partner, so busy in talk with each other thatthey had not observed who he was, sat down beside him in such positionthat the young woman was next him. Without having looked directly ateither of them, Fraser knew that the girl was Arlie Dillon, and herescort Jed Briscoe. She had her back half turned toward him, so that, even after she was seated she did not recognize her neighbor. 

Steve smiled pleasantly, and became absorbed in a rather noisy bout ofrepartee going on between one swain and his lass, not so absorbed, however, as not to notice that he and his unconscious neighbors werebecoming a covert focus of attention. He had already noticed a shadeof self-consciousness in the greeting of those whom he met, a hint ofa suggestion that he was on trial. Among some this feeling wasevidently more pronounced. He met more than one pair of eyes that gaveback to his genial nod cold hostility. 

At such an affair as this, Jed Briscoe was always at his best. He wasone of the few men in the valley who knew how to waltz well, and musicand rhythm always brought out in him a gay charm women liked. Hislithe grace, his assurance, his ease of manner and speech, alwaysdifferentiated him from the other ranchmen. 

No wonder rumor had coupled his name with that of Arlie as her futurehusband. He knew how to make light love by implication, to skatearound the subject skilfully and boldly with innuendo and suggestion. 

Arlie knew him for what he was-- a man passionate and revengeful, theleader of that side of the valley's life which she deplored. She didnot trust him. Nevertheless, she felt his fascination. He made thatappeal to her which a graceless young villain often does to a goodwoman who lets herself become interested in trying to understand thesinner and his sins. There was another reason why just now she showedhim special favor. She wanted to blunt the edge of his anger againstthe Texan ranger, though her reason for this she did not admit even toherself. 

She had-- oh, she was quite sure of this-- no longer any interest inFraser except the impersonal desire to save his life. Having thoughtit all over, she was convinced that her friends had nothing to fearfrom him as a spy. That was what he had tried to tell her when shewould not listen. 

Deep in her heart she knew why she had not listened. It had to do withthat picture of a pretty girl smiling up happily into his eyes-- athing she had not forgotten for one waking moment since. Like a knifethe certainty had stabbed her heart that they were lovers. Herexperience had been limited. Kodaks had not yet reached Lost Valley ascommon possessions. In the mountains no girl had her photograph takenbeside a man unless they had a special interest in each other. And themanner of these two had implied the possession of a secret not knownto the world. 

So Arlie froze her heart toward the Texan, all the more because he hadtouched her girlish imagination to sweet hidden dreams of which herinnocence had been unnecessarily ashamed. He had spoken no love toher, nor had he implied it exactly. There had been times she hadthought something more than friendship lay under his warm smile. Butnow she scourged herself for her folly, believed she had beenunmaidenly, and set her heart to be like flint against him. She hadbeen ready to give him what he had not wanted. Before she would lethim guess it she would rather die, a thousand times rather, she toldherself passionately. 

She presently became aware that attention was being directed towardher and Jed and somebody who sat on the other side of her. Withoutlooking round, she mentioned the fact in a low voice to her partner ofthe dance just finished. Jed looked up, and for the first timeobserved the man behind her. Instantly the gayety was sponged from hisface. 

"Who is it?" she asked. 

"That man from Texas. "

Arlie felt the blood sting her cheeks. The musicians were juststarting a waltz. She leaned slightly toward Jed, and said, in a lowvoice:

"Did you ask me to dance this with you?"

He had not, but he did now. He got to his feet, with shining eyes, andwhirled her off. The girl did not look toward the Texan. Nevertheless, as they circled the room, she was constantly aware of him. Sittingthere, with a smile on his strong face, apparently unperturbed, hegave no hint of the stern fact that he was circled by enemies, any oneof whom might carry his death in a hip pocket. His gaze was serene, unabashed, even amused. 

The young woman was irritably suspicious that he found her angeramusing, just as he seemed to find the dangerous position in which hewas placed. Yet her resentment coexisted with a sympathy for him thatwould not down. She believed he was marked for death by a coterie ofthose present, chief of whom was the man smiling down into her facefrom half-shut, smouldering eyes. 

Her heart was a flame of protest against their decree, all the more sobecause she held herself partly responsible for it. In a panic ofrepentance, she had told Dick of her confession to the ranger of thenames of the Squaw Creek raiders, and France had warned hisconfederates. He had done this, not because he distrusted Fraser, butbecause he felt it was their due to get a chance to escape if theywanted to do so. 

Always a creature of impulse, Arlie had repented her repentance whentoo late. Now she would have fought to save the Texan, but the horrorof it was that she could not guess how the blow would fall. She triedto believe he was safe, at least until the week was up. 

When Dick strolled across the floor, sat down beside Steve, and begancasually to chat with him, she could have thanked the boy with tears. It was equivalent to a public declaration of his intentions. At least, the ranger was not friendless. One of the raiders was going to standby him. Besides Dick, he might count on Howard; perhaps on others. 

Jed was in high good humor. All along the line he seemed to bewinning. Arlie had discarded this intruder from Texas and was showingherself very friendly to the cattleman. The suspicion of Fraser whichhe had disseminated was bearing fruit; and so, more potently, was theword the girl had dropped incautiously. He had only to wait in orderto see his rival wiped out. So that, when Arlie put in her littleplea, he felt it would not cost him anything to affect a largegenerosity. 

"Let him go, Jed. He is discredited. Folks are all on their guardbefore him now. He can't do any harm here. Dick says he is onlywaiting out his week because of your threat. Don't make trouble. Lethim sneak back home, like a whipped cur, " she begged. 

"I don't want any trouble with him, girl. All I ask is that he leavethe valley. Let Dick arrange that, and I'll give him a chance. "

She thanked him, with a look that said more than words. 

It was two hours later, when she was waltzing with Jed again, thatArlie caught sight of a face that disturbed her greatly. It was acountenance disfigured by a ragged scar, running from the bridge ofthe nose. She had last seen it gazing into the window of Alec Howard'scabin on a certain never-to-be-forgotten night. 

"Who is that man-- the one leaning against the door jamb, just behindSlim Leroy?" she asked. 

"He's a fellow that calls himself Johnson. His real name is Struve, "Jed answered carelessly. 

"He's the man that shot the Texas lieutenant, " she said. 

"I dare say. He's got a good reason for shooting him. The man brokeout of the Arizona penitentiary, and Fraser came north to rearresthim. At least, that's my guess. He wouldn't have been here to-night ifhe hadn't figured Fraser too sick to come. Watch him duck when helearns the ranger's here. "

At the first opportunity Arlie signaled to Dick that she wanted to seehim. Fraser, she observed, was no longer in the dancing rooms. Dicktook her out from the hot room to the porch. 

"Let's walk a little, Dick. I want to tell you something. "

They sauntered toward the fine grove of pines that ran up the hillsideback of the house. 

"Did you notice that man with the scar, Dick?" she presently asked. 

"Yes. I ain't seen him before. Must be one of the Rabbit Run guys, Itake it. "

"I've seen him. He's the man that shot your friend. He was the man Ishot at when he looked in the window, "

"Sure, Arlie?"

"Dead sure, Dick. He's an escaped convict, and he has a grudge at yourfriend. He is afraid of him, too. Look out for Lieutenant Fraserto-night. Don't let him wander around outside. If he does, there maybe murder done. "

Even as she spoke, there came a sound from the wooded hillside-- thesound of a stifled cry, followed by an imprecation and the heavyshuffling of feet. 

"Listen, Dick!"

For an instant he listened. Then: "There's trouble in the grove, andI'm not armed, " he cried. 

"Never mind! Go-- go!" she shrieked, pushing him forward. 

For herself, she turned, and ran like a deer for the house. 

Siegfried was sitting on the porch, whittling a stick. 

"They-- they're killing Steve-- in the grove, " she panted. 

Without a word he rolled off, like a buffalo cow, toward the scene ofaction. 

Arlie pushed into the house and called for Jed. 

 CHAPTER XIII

 THE WOLF HOWLS

As Steve strolled out into the moonlight, he left behind him themonotonous thumping of heavy feet and the singsong voice of thecaller. 

 "Birdie fly out, Crow hop in, Join all hands And circle ag'in. "

came to him, in the high, strident voice of Lute Perkins. He took adeep breath of fresh, clean air, and looked about him. After the hot, dusty room, the grove, with its green foliage, through which themoonlight filtered, looked invitingly cool. He sauntered forward, climbed the hill up which the wooded patch straggled, and sat down, with his back to a pine. 

Behind the valley rampart, he could see the dim, saw-toothed Tetonpeaks, looking like ghostly shapes in the moonlight. The night waspeaceful. Faint and mellow came the sound of jovial romping from thehouse; otherwise, beneath the distant stars, a perfect stillness held. 

How long he sat there, letting thoughts happen dreamily rather thanproducing them of gray matter, he did not know. A slight sound, thesnapping of a twig, brought his mind to alertness without causing theslightest movement of his body. 

His first thought was that, in accordance with dance etiquette in theranch country, his revolver was in its holster under the seat of thetrap in which they had driven over. Since his week was not up, he hadexpected no attack from Jed and his friends. As for the enemy, of whomArlie had advised him, surely a public dance was the last place totempt one who apparently preferred to attack from cover. But hisinstinct was certain. He did not need to look round to know he wastrapped. 

"I'm unarmed. You'd better come round and shoot me from in front. Itwill look better at the inquest, " he said quietly. 

"Don't move. You're surrounded, " a voice answered. 

A rope snaked forward and descended over the ranger's head, to bejerked tight, with a suddenness that sent a pain like a knife thrustthrough the wounded shoulder. The instinct for self-preservation wasalready at work in him. He fought his left arm free from the rope thatpressed it to his side, and dived toward the figure at the end of therope. Even as he plunged, he found time to be surprised that norevolver shot echoed through the night, and to know that the reasonwas because his enemies preferred to do their work in silence. 

The man upon whom he leaped gave a startled oath and stumbled backwardover a root. 

Fraser, his hand already upon the man's throat, went down too. Uponhim charged men from all directions. In the shadows, they must havehampered each other, for the ranger, despite his wound-- his shoulderwas screaming with pain-- got to his knees, and slowly from his kneesto his feet, shaking the clinging bodies from him. 

Wrenching his other hand from under the rope, he fought them back as ahurt grizzly does the wolf pack gathered for the kill. None but a verypowerful man could ever have reached his feet. None less agile andsinewy than a panther could have beaten them back as at first he did. They fought in grim silence, yet the grove was full of the sounds ofbattle. The heavy breathing, the beat of shifting feet, the softimpact of flesh striking flesh, the thud of falling bodies-- of thesethe air was vocal. Yet, save for the gasps of sudden pain, no manbroke silence save once. 

"The snake'll get away yet!" a hoarse voice cried, not loudly, butwith an emphasis that indicated strong conviction. 

Impossible as it seemed, the ranger might have done it but for anaccident. In the struggle, the rope had slipped to a point just belowhis knees. Fighting his way down the hill, foot by foot, the Texanfelt the rope tighten. One of his attackers flung himself against hischest and he was tripped. The pack was on him again. Here there wasmore light, and though for a time the mass swayed back and forth, atlast they hammered him down by main strength. He was bound hand andfoot, and dragged back to the grove. 

They faced their victim, panting deeply from their exertions. Fraserlooked round upon the circle of distorted faces, and stopped at one. Seen now, with the fury and malignancy of its triumph painted upon it, the face was one to bring bad dreams. 

The lieutenant, his chest still laboring heavily, racked with thetorture of his torn shoulder, looked into that face out of the onlycalm eyes in the group. 

"So it's you, Struve?"

"Yes, it's me-- me and my friends. "

"I've been looking for you high and low. "

"Well, you've found me, " came the immediate exultant answer. 

"I reckon I'm indebted to you for this. " Fraser moved his shoulderslightly. 

"You'll owe me a heap more than that before the night's over. "

"Your intentions were good then, I expect. Being shy a trigger fingerspoils a man's aim. "

"Not always. "

"Didn't like to risk another shot from Bald Knob, eh? Must be somediscouraging to hit only once out of three times at three hundredyards, and a scratch at that. "

The convict swore. "I'll not miss this time, Mr. Lieutenant. "

"You'd better not, or I'll take you back to the penitentiary where Iput you before. "

"You'll never put another man there, you meddling spy, " Struve criedfuriously. 

"I'm not so sure of that. I know what you've got against me, but Ishould like to know what kick your friends have coming, " the rangerretorted. 

"You may have mine, right off the reel, Mr. Fraser, or whatever youcall yourself. You came into this valley with a lie on your lips. Weplayed you for a friend, and you played us for suckers. All the timeyou was in a deal with the sheriff for you know what. I hate a spylike I do a rattlesnake. "

It was the man Yorky that spoke. Steve's eyes met his. 

"So I'm a spy, am I?"

"You know best. "

"Anyhow, you're going to shoot me first, and find out afterward?"

"Wrong guess. We're going to hang you. " Struve, unable to keep backlonger his bitter spleen, hissed this at him. 

"Yes, that's about your size, Struve. You can crow loud now, when theodds are six to one, with the one unarmed and tied at that. But what Iwant to know is-- are you playing fair with your friends? Have youtold them that every man in to-night's business will hang, sure asfate? Have you told them of those cowardly murders you did in Arizonaand Texas? Have you told them that your life is forfeit, anyway? Dothey know you're trying to drag them into your troubles? No? Youdidn't tell them that. I'm surprised at you, Struve. "

"My name's Johnson. "

"Not in Arizona, it isn't. Wolf Struve it is there, wanted for murderand other sundries. " He turned swiftly from him to his confederates. "You fools, you're putting your heads into a noose. He's in already, and wants you in, too. Test him. Throw the end of that rope over thelimb, and stand back, while he pulls me up alone. He daren't-- not forhis life, he daren't. He knows that whoever pulls on that rope hangshimself as surely as he hangs me. "

The men looked at each other, and at Struve. Were they being led intotrouble to pay this man's scores off for him? Suspicion stirreduneasily in them. 

"That's right, too. Let Johnson pull him up, " Slim Leroy saidsullenly. 

"Sure. You've got more at stake than we have. It's up to you, Johnson, " Yorky agreed. 

"That's right, " a third chipped in. 

"We'll all pull together, boys, " Struve insinuated. "It's only a bluffof his. Don't let him scare you off. "

"He ain't scaring me off any, " declared Yorky. "He's a spy, and he'sgetting what is coming to him. But you're a stranger too, Johnson. Idon't trust you any-- not any farther than I can see you, my friend. I'll stand for being an aider and abettor, but I reckon if there's anyhanging to be done you'll have to be the sheriff, " replied Yorkystiffly. 

Struve turned his sinister face on one and another of them. His lipswere drawn back, so that the wolfish teeth gleamed in the moonlight. He felt himself being driven into a trap, from which there was noescape. He dared not let Fraser go with his life, for he knew that, sooner or later, the ranger would run him to earth, and drag him backto the punishment that was awaiting him in the South. Nor did he wantto shoulder the responsibility of murdering this man before fivewitnesses. 

Came the sound of running footsteps. 

"What's that?" asked Slim nervously. 

"Where are you, Steve?" called a voice. 

"Here, " the ranger shouted back. 

A moment later Dick France burst into the group. "What's doing?" hepanted. 

The ranger laughed hardily. "Nothing, Dick. Nothing at all. Some ofthe boys had notions of a necktie party, but they're a little shy ofsand. Have you met Mr. Struve, Dick? I know you're acquainted with theothers, Mr. Struve is from Yuma. An old friend of mine. Fact is, Iinduced him to locate at Yuma. "

Dick caught at the rope, but Yorky flung him roughly back. 

"This ain't your put in, France, " he said. "It's up to Johnson. " Andto the latter: "Get busy, if you're going to. "

"He's a spy on you-all, just the same as he is on me, " blurted theconvict. 

"That's a lie, Struve, " pronounced the lieutenant evenly. "I'm goingto take you back with me, but I've got nothing against these men. Iwant to announce right now, no matter who tells a different story, that I haven't lost any Squaw Creek raiders and I'm not hunting any. "

"You hear? He came into this valley after me. "

"Wrong again, Struve. I didn't know you were here. But I know now, andI serve notice that I'm going to take you back with me, dead or alive. That's what I'm paid for, and that's what I'm going to do. "

It was amazing to hear this man, with a rope round his neck, announcecalmly what he was going to do to the man who had only to pull thatrope to send him into eternity. The very audacity of it had itseffect. 

Slim spoke up. "I don't reckon we better go any farther with thisthing, Yorky. "

"No, I don't reckon you had, " cut in Dick sharply. "I'll not stand forit. "

Again the footsteps of a running man reached them. It was Siegfried. He plunged into the group like a wild bull, shook the hair out of hiseyes, and planted himself beside Fraser. With one backward buffet ofhis great arm he sent Johnson heels over head. He caught Yorky by theshoulders, strong man though the latter was, and shook him till histeeth rattled, after which he flung him reeling a dozen yards to theground. The Norwegian was reaching for Dick when Fraser stopped him. 

"That's enough of a clean-up right now, Sig. Dick butted in like youto help me, " he explained. 

"The durned coyotes!" roared the big Norseman furiously, leaping atLeroy and tossing him over his head as an enraged bull does. He turnedupon the other three, shaking his tangled mane, but they were alreadyin flight. 

"I'll show them. I'll show them, " he kept saying as he came back tothe man he had rescued. 

"You've showed them plenty, Sig. Cut out the rough house before youmaim some of these gents who didn't invite you to their party. "

The ranger felt the earth sway beneath him as he spoke. His wound hadbeen torn loose in the fight, and was bleeding. Limply he leanedagainst the tree for support. 

It was at this moment he caught sight of Arlie and Briscoe as they ranup. Involuntarily he straightened almost jauntily. The girl looked athim with that deep, eager look of fear he had seen before, and metthat unconquerable smile of his. 

The rope was still round his neck and the coat was stripped from hisback. He was white to the lips, and she could see he could scarcestand, even with the support of the pine trunk. His face was bruisedand battered. His hat was gone; and hidden somewhere in his crispshort hair was a cut from which blood dripped to the forehead. Thebound arm had been torn from its bandages in the unequal battle he hadfought. But for all his desperate plight he still carried theinvincible look that nothing less than death can rob some men of. 

The fretted moonlight, shifting with the gentle motion of the foliageabove, fell full upon him now and showed a wet, red stain against thewhite shirt. Simultaneously outraged nature collapsed, and he began tosink to the ground. 

Arlie gave a little cry and ran forward. Before he reached the groundhe had fainted; yet scarcely before she was on her knees beside himwith his head in her arms. 

"Bring water, Dick, and tell Doc Lee to come at once. He'll be in theback room smoking. Hurry!" She looked fiercely round upon the menassembled. "I think they have killed him. Who did this? Was it you, Yorky? Was it you that murdered him?"

"I bane t'ink it take von hoondred of them to do it, " said Siegfried. "Dat fallar, Johnson, he bane at the bottom of it. "

"Then why didn't you kill him? Aren't you Steve's friend? Didn't hesave your life?" she panted, passion burning in her beautiful eyes. 

Siegfried nodded. "I bane Steve's friend, yah! And Ay bane killJohnson eef Steve dies. "

Briscoe, furious at this turn of the tide which had swept Arlie'ssympathies back to his enemy, followed Struve as he sneaked deeperinto the shadow of the trees. The convict was nursing a sprained wristwhen Jed reached him. 

"What do you think you've been trying to do, you sap-headed idiot?"Jed demanded. "Haven't you sense enough to choose a better time thanone when the whole settlement is gathered to help him? And can't youever make a clean job of it, you chuckle-minded son of a greaser?"

Struve turned, snarling, on him. "That'll be enough from you, Briscoe. I've stood about all I'm going to stand just now. "

"You'll stand for whatever I say, " retorted Jed. "You've cooked yourgoose in this valley by to-night's fool play. I'm the only man thatcan pull you through. Bite on that fact, Mr. Struve, before you unloadyour bile on me. "

The convict's heart sank. He felt it to be the truth. The last thinghe had heard was Siegfried's threat to kill him. 

Whether Fraser lived or died he was in a precarious position and heknew it. 

"I know you're my friend, Jed, " he whined. "I'll do what you say. Stand by me and I'll sure work with you. "

"Then if you take my advice you'll sneak down to the corral, get yourhorse, and light out for the run. Lie there till I see you. "

"And Siegfried?"

"The Swede won't trouble you unless this Texan dies. I'll send youword in time if he does. "

Later a skulking shadow sneaked into the corral and out again. Onceout of hearing, it leaped to the back of the horse and galloped wildlyinto the night. 

 CHAPTER XIV

 HOWARD EXPLAINS

Two horsemen rode into Millikan's Draw and drew up in front of the bigranch house. To the girl who stepped to the porch to meet them theygave friendly greeting. One of them asked:

"How're things coming, Arlie?"

"Better and better every day, Dick. Yesterday the doctor said he wasout of danger. "

"It's been a tough fight for Steve, " the other broke in. "Propernursing is what pulled him through. Doc says so. "

"Did he say that, Alec? I'll always think it was doc. He fought forthat life mighty hard, boys. "

Alec Howard nodded: "Doc Lee's the stuff. Here he comes now, talkingof angels. "

Doctor Lee dismounted and grinned. "Which of you lads is she makinglove to now?"

Arlie laughed. "He can't understand that I don't make love to anybodybut him, " she explained to the younger men. 

"She never did to me, doc, " Dick said regretfully. 

"No, we were just talking about you, doc. "

"Fire ahead, young woman, " said the doctor, with assumed severity. "I'm here to defend myself now. "

"Alec was calling you an angel, and I was laughing at him, " said thegirl demurely. 

"An angel-- huh!" he snorted. 

"I never knew an angel that chewed tobacco, or one that could swearthe way you do when you're mad, " continued Arlie. 

"I don't reckon your acquaintance with angels is much greater thanmine, Miss Arlie Dillon. How's the patient?"

"He's always wanting something to eat, and he's cross as a bear. "

"Good for him! Give him two weeks now and he'll be ready to whip hisweight in wild cats. "

The doctor disappeared within, and presently they could hear his loud, cheerful voice pretending to berate the patient. 

Arlie sat down on the top step of the porch. 

"Boys, I don't know what I would have done if he had died. It wouldhave been all my fault. I had no business to tell him the names of youboys that rode in the raid, and afterward to tell you that I toldhim, " she accused herself. 

"No, you had no business to tell him, though it happens he's safe as abank vault, " Howard commented. 

"I don't know how I came to do it, " the girl continued. "Jed had mademe suspicious of him, and then I found out something fine he had donefor me. I wanted him to know I trusted him. That was the first thing Ithought of, and I told it. He tried to stop me, but I'm such animpulsive little fool. "

"We all make breaks, Arlie. You'll not do it again, anyhow, " Francecomforted. 

Doctor Lee presently came out and pronounced that the wounded man wasdoing well. "Wants to see you boys. Don't stay more than half an hour. If they get in your way, sweep 'em out, Arlie. "

The cowpunchers entered the sick room with the subdued, gingerly treadof professional undertakers. 

"I ain't so had as that yet, boys, " the patient laughed. "You'reallowed to speak above a whisper. Doc thinks I'll last till night, mebbe, if I'm careful. "

They told him all the gossip of the range-- how young Ford had run offwith Sallie Laundon and got married to her down at the Butte; howSiegfried had gone up and down the valley swearing he would clean outJack Rabbit Run if Steve died; how Johnson had had another row withJed and had chosen to take water rather than draw. Both of hisvisitors, however, had something on their minds they found somedifficulty in expressing. 

Alec Howard finally broached it. 

"Arlie told you the names of some of the boys that were in the SquawCreek sheep raid. She made a mistake in telling you anything, butwe'll let that go in the discard. It ain't necessary that you shouldknow the names of the others, but I'm going to tell you one of them, Steve. "

"No, I don't want to know. "

"This is my say-so. His name is Alec Howard. "

"I'm sorry to hear that, Alec. I don't know why you have told me. "

"Because I want you to know the facts of that raid, Steve. No killingwas on the program. That came about in a way none of us couldforesee. "

"This is how it was, Steve, " explained Dick. "Word came that Campeauwas going to move his sheep into the Squaw Creek district. Sheep neverhad run there. It was understood the range there was for our cattle. We had set a dead line, and warned them not to cross it. Naturally, itmade us sore when we heard about Campeau. 

"So some of us gathered together hastily and rode over. Our intentionswere declared. We meant to drive the sheep back and patrol the deadline. It was solemnly agreed that there was to be no shooting, noteven of sheep. "

The story halted here for a moment before Howard took it up again. "Things don't always come out the way you figure them. We didn'tanticipate any trouble. We outnumbered them two to one. We had theadvantage of the surprise. You couldn't guess that for anything but acinch, could you?"

"And it turned out different?"

"One of us stumbled over a rock as we were creeping forward. Campeauheard us and drew. The first shot came from them. Now, I'm going totell you something you're to keep under your own hat. It will surpriseyou a heap when I tell you that one man on our side did all thedamage. He was at the haid of the line, and it happens he is a deadshot. He is liable to rages, when he acts like a crazy man. He got onenow. Before we could put a stopper on him, he had killed Campeau andJennings, and wounded the herders. The whole thing was done before youcould wink an eye six times. For just about that long we stood therelike roped calves. Then we downed the man in his tracks, slammed himwith the butt of a revolver. "

Howard stopped and looked at the ranger before he spoke again. Hisvoice was rough and hoarse. 

"Steve, I've seen men killed before, but I never saw anything so awfulas that. It was just like they had been struck by lightning forsuddenness. There was that devil scattering death among them and thepoor fellows crumpling up like rabbits. I tell you every time I thinkof it the thing makes me sick. "

The ranger nodded. He understood. The picture rose before him of a manin a Berserk rage, stark mad for the moment, playing Destiny on thatlonely, moonlit hill. The face his instinct fitted to theirresponsible murderer was that of Jed Briscoe. Somehow he was sure ofthat, beyond the shadow of a doubt. His imagination conceived thatlong ride back across the hills, the deep agonies of silence, thefierce moments of vindictive accusation. No doubt for long the tug ofconscience was with them in all their waking hours, for these men weremostly simple-minded cattlemen caught in the web of evil chance. 

"That's how it was, Steve. In as long as it takes to empty aWinchester, we were every one of us guilty of a murder we'd each havegiven a laig to have stopped. We were all in it, all tied together, because we had broke the law to go raiding in the first place. Technically, the man that emptied that rifle wasn't any more guiltythan us poor wretches that stood frozen there while he did it. Put itthat we might shave the gallows, even then the penitentiary would buryus. There was only one thing to do. We agreed to stand together, andkeep mum. "

"Is that why you're telling me, Alec?" Fraser smiled. 

"We ain't telling you, not legally, " the cow-puncher answered coolly. "If you was ever to say we had, Dick and me would deny it. But weain't worrying any about you telling it. You're a clam, and we knowit. No, we're telling you, son, because we want you to know about howit was. The boys didn't ride out to do murder. They rode out simply todrive the sheep off their range. "

The Texan nodded. "That's about how I figured it. I'm glad you toldme, boys. I reckon I don't need to tell you I'm padlocked in regard tothis. "

Arlie came to the door and looked in. "It's time you boys were going. Doc said a half hour"

"All right, Arlie, " responded Dick. "So-long, Steve. Be good, you oldpie eater. "

After they had gone, the Texan lay silent for a long time. Heunderstood perfectly their motive in telling him the story. They hadnot compromised themselves legally, since a denial would have giventhem two to one in the matter of witnesses. But they wished him to seethat, morally, every man but one who rode on that raid was guiltlessof the Squaw Creek murders. 

Arlie came in presently, and sat down near the window with someembroidery. 

"Did the boys tire you?" she asked, noting his unusual silence. 

"No. I was thinking about what they told me. They were giving me theinside facts of the Squaw Creek raid. "

She looked up in surprise. "They were?" A little smile began to dimplethe corners of her mouth. "That's funny, because they had just gotthrough forgiving me for what I told you. "

"What they told me was how the shooting occurred. "

"I don't know anything about that. When I told you their names I wasonly telling what I had heard people whisper. That's all I knew. "

"You've been troubled because your friends were in this, haven't you?You hated to think it of them, didn't you?" he asked. 

"Yes. It has troubled me a lot. "

"Don't let it trouble you any more. One man was responsible for allthe bloodshed. He went mad and saw red for half a minute. Before therest could stop him, the slaughter was done. The other boys aren'tguilty of that, any more than you or I. "

"Oh, I'm glad-- I'm glad, " she cried softly. Then, looking up quicklyto him: "Who was the man?" she asked. 

"I don't know. It is better that neither of us should know that. "

"I'm glad the boys told you. It shows they trust you. "

"They figure me out a white man, " he answered carelessly. 

"Ah! That's where I made my mistake. " She looked at him bravely, though the color began to beat into her cheeks beneath the dusky tan. "Yet I knew it all the time-- in my heart. At least, after I had givenmyself time to think it over. I knew you couldn't be that. If I hadgiven you time to explain-- but I always think too late. "

His eyes, usually so clear and steely, softened at her words. "I'msatisfied if you knew-- in your heart. "

"I meant----" she began, with a flush. 

"Now, don't spoil it, please, " he begged. 

Under his steady, half-smiling gaze, her eyes fell. Two weeks ago shehad been a splendid young creature, as untaught of life as one of thewild forest animals and as unconsciously eager for it. But there hadcome a change over her, a birth of womanhood from that night when shehad stood between Stephen Fraser and death. No doubt she would oftenregret it, but she had begun to live more deeply. She could never goback to the care-free days when she could look all men in the facewith candid, girlish eyes. The time had come to her, as it must to allsensitive of life, when she must drink of it, whether she would or no. 

"Because I'd rather you would know it in your heart than in yourmind, " he said. 

Something sweet and terrifying, with the tingle and warmth of rarewine in it, began to glow in her veins. Eyes shy, eager, frightened, met his for an instant. Then she remembered the other girl. Somethinghard as steel ran through her. She turned on her heel and left theroom. 

 CHAPTER XV

 THE TEXAN PAYS A VISIT

From that day Fraser had a new nurse. Arlie disappeared, and her auntreplaced her a few hours later and took charge of the patient. Stevetook her desertion as an irritable convalescent does, but he did notlet his disappointment make him unpleasant to Miss Ruth Dillon. 

"I'm a chump, " he told himself, with deep disgust. "Hadn't any moresense than to go scaring off the little girl by handing out a line oftalk she ain't used to. I reckon now she's done with me proper. "

He continued to improve so rapidly that within the prescribed twoweeks he was on horseback again, though still a little weak and washedout. His first ride of any length was to the Dillon ranch. Siegfriedaccompanied him, and across the Norwegian's saddle lay a verybusiness-like rifle. 

As they were passing the mouth of a cañon, the ranger put a casualquestion: "This Jack Rabbit Run, Sig?"

"Yah. More men wanted bane lost in that gulch than any place Ay knowsof. "

"That so? I'm going in there to-morrow to find that man Struve, " hisfriend announced carelessly. 

The big blonde giant looked at him. "Yuh bain't, Steve? Why, yuhbain't fit to tackle a den uh wild cats. " An admiring grin lit theNorwegian's face. "Durn my hide, yuh've got 'em all skinned for grit, Steve. Uh course, Ay bane goin' with yuh. "

"If it won't get you in bad with your friends I'll be glad to haveyou, Sig. "

"They bain't my friends. Ay bane shook them, an' served notice to thateffect. "

"Glad of it. "

"Yuh bane goin' in after Struve only?"

"Yes. He's the only man I want. "

"Then Ay bane go in, and bring heem out to yuh. "

Fraser shook his head. "No, old man, I've got to play my own hand. "

"Ay t'ink it be a lot safer f'r me to happen in an' get heem, "remonstrated Siegfried. 

"Safer for me, " corrected the lieutenant, smiling. "No, I can't workthat way. I've got to take my own chances. You can go along, though, on one condition. You're not to interfere between me and Struve. Ifsome one else butts in, you may ask him why, if you like. 

"Ay bane t'ink yuh von fool, Steve. But Ay bane no boss. Vat yuh saysgoes. "

They found Arlie watering geraniums in front of the house. Siegfriedmerely nodded to her and passed on to the stables with the horses. Fraser dismounted, offering her his hand and his warm smile. 

He had caught her without warning, and she was a little shy of him. Not only was she embarrassed, but she saw that he knew it. He sat downon the step, while she continued to water her flowers. 

"You see your bad penny turned up again, Miss Arlie, " he said. 

"I didn't know you were able to ride yet, Lieutenant Fraser. "

"This is my first try at it. Thought I'd run over and say 'Thank you'to my nurse. "

"I'll call auntie, " she said quickly. 

He shook his head. "Not necessary, Miss Arlie. I settled up with her. I was thinking of the nurse that ran off and left me. "

She was beginning to recover herself. "You want to thank her forleaving while there was still hope, " she said, with a quick littlesmile. 

"Why did you do it? I've been mighty lonesome the past two weeks, " hesaid quietly. 

"You would be, of course. You are used to an active outdoor life, andI suppose the boys couldn't get round to see you very often. "

"I wasn't thinking of the boys, " he meditated aloud. 

Arlie blushed; and to hide her embarrassment she called to Jimmie, whowas passing: "Bring up Lieutenant Fraser's Teddy. I want him to seehow well we're caring for his horse. "

As a diversion, Teddy served very well. Horse and owner were bothmightily pleased to see each other. While the animal rubbed its noseagainst his coat, the ranger teased and petted it. 

"Hello, you old Teddy hawss. How air things a-comin', pardner?" hedrawled, with a reversion to his Texas speech. "Plumb tickled to deathto meet up with yore old master, ain't you? How come it you ain'tfallen in love with this young lady and forgot Steve?"

"He thinks a lot of me, too, " Arlie claimed promptly. 

"Don't blame you a bit, Teddy. I'll ce'tainly shake hands with you onthat. But life's jest meetin' and partin', old hawss. I got to takeyou away for good, day after to-morrow. "

"Where are you going?" the girl asked quickly. Then, to cover theswift interest of her question: "But, of course, it is time you weregoing back to your business. "

"No, ma'am, that is just it. Seems to me either too soon or too lateto be going. "

She had her face turned from him, and was busy over her plants, tohide the tremulous dismay that had shaken her at his news. 

She did not ask him what he meant, nor did she ask again where he wasgoing. For the moment, she could not trust her voice to say more. 

"Too late, because I've seen in this valley some one I'll neverforget, and too soon because that some one will forget me, sure as agun, " he told her. 

"Not if you write to him. "

"It isn't a him. It's my little nurse. "

"I'll tell auntie how you feel about it, and I'm sure she won't forgetyou. "

"You know mighty well I ain't talking about auntie. "

"Then I suppose you must mean me. "

"That's who I'm meaning. "

"I think I'll be able to remember you if I try-- by Teddy, " sheanswered, without looking at him, and devoted herself to petting thehorse. 

"Is it-- would it be any use to say any more, Arlie?" he asked, in alow voice, as he stood beside her, with Teddy's nose in his hands. 

"I-- I don't know what you mean, sir. Please don't say anything moreabout it. " Then again memory of the other girl flamed through her. "No, it wouldn't-- not a bit of use, not a bit, " she broke outfiercely. 

"You mean you couldn't----"

The flame in her face, the eyes that met his, as if drawn by a magnet, still held their anger, but mingled with it was a piteous plea formercy. "I-- I'm only a girl. Why don't you let me alone?" she criedbitterly, and hard upon her own words turned and ran from the room. 

Steve looked after her in amazed surprise. "Now don't it beat the bandthe way a woman takes a thing. "

Dubiously he took himself to the stable and said good-by to Dillon. 

An hour later she went down to dinner still flushed and excited. Before she had been in the room two minutes her father gave her apiece of startling news. 

"I been talking to Steve. Gracious, gyurl, what do you reckon thatboy's a-goin' to do?"

Arlie felt the color leap into her cheeks. 

"What, dad?"

"He's a'goin' back to Gimlet Butte, to give himself up to Brandt, dayafter to-morrow. "

"But-- what for?" she gasped. 

"Durned if I know! He's got some fool notion about playin' fair. Seemshe came into the Cedar Mountain country to catch the Squaw Creekraiders. Brandt let him escape on that pledge. Well, he's give up thatnotion, and now he thinks, dad gum it, that it's up to him tosurrender to Brandt again. "

The girl's eyes were like stars. "And he's going to go back there andgive himself up, to be tried for killing Faulkner. "

Dillon scratched his head. "By gum, gyurl, I didn't think of that. Wecayn't let him go. "

"Yes, we can. "

"Why, honey, he didn't kill Faulkner, looks like. We cayn't let him goback there and take our medicine for us. Mebbe he would be lynched. It's a sure thing he'd be convicted. "

"Never mind. Let him go. I've got a plan, dad. " Her vivid face wasalive with the emotion which spoke in it. "When did he say he wasgoing?" she asked buoyantly. 

"Day after to-morrow. Seems he's got business that keeps him hyerto-morrow. What's yore idee, honey?"

She got up, and whispered it in his ear. His jaw dropped, and hestared at her in amazement. 

 CHAPTER XVI

 THE WOLF BITES

Steve came drowsily to consciousness from confused dreams of a cattlestampede and the click of rifles in the hands of enemies who had thedrop on him. The rare, untempered sunshine of the Rockies poured intohis window from a world outside, wonderful as the early morning ofcreation. The hillside opposite was bathed miraculously in a flood oflight, in which grasshoppers fiddled triumphantly their joy in life. The sources of his dreams discovered themselves in the bawl of thirstycattle and the regular clicking of a windmill. 

A glance at his watch told him that it was six o'clock. 

"Time to get up, Steve, " he told himself, and forthwith did. 

He chose a rough crash towel, slipped on a pair of Howard's moccasins, and went down to the river through an ambient that had the sparkle andexhilaration of champagne. The mountain air was still finely crispwith the frost, in spite of the sun warmth that was beginning tomellow it. Flinging aside the Indian blanket he had caught up beforeleaving the cabin, he stood for an instant on the bank, a human beingwith the physical poise, compactness, and lithe-muscled smoothness ofa tiger. 

Even as he plunged a rifle cracked. While he dived through the air, before the shock of the icy water tingled through him, he was planninghis escape. The opposite bank rose ten feet above the stream. He keptunder the water until he came close to this, then swam swiftly alongit with only his head showing, so as to keep him out of sight as muchas possible. 

Half a stone's throw farther the bank fell again to the water's edge, the river having broadened and grown shallow, as mountain creeks do. The ranger ran, stooping, along the bank, till it afforded him no moreprotection, then dashed across the stony-bottomed stream to theshelter of the thick aspens beyond. 

Just as he expected, a shot rang from far up the mountainside. Inanother instant he was safe in the foliage of the young aspens. 

In the sheer exhilaration of his escape he laughed aloud. 

"Last show to score gone, Mr. Struve. I figured it just right. Hewaited too long for his first shot. Then the bank hid me. He wasn'texpecting to see me away down the stream, so he hadn't time to sighthis second one. "

Steve wound his way in and out among the aspens, working toward thetail of them, which ran up the hill a little way and dropped downalmost to the back door of the cabin. Upon this he was presentlypounding. 

Howard let him in. He had a revolver in his hand, the first weapon hecould snatch up. 

"You durned old idiot! It's a wonder you ain't dead three ways forSunday, " he shouted joyfully at sight of him. "Ain't I told you 'steentimes to do what bathin' you got to do, right here in the shack?"

The Texan laughed again. Naked as that of Father Adam, his splendidbody was glowing with the bath and the exercise. 

"He's ce'tainly the worst chump ever, Alec. Had me in sight all theway down to the creek, but waited till I wasn't moving. Reckon he wasnervous. Anyhow, he waited just one-tenth of a second too late. Shotjust as I leaned forward for my dive. He gave me a free hair-cutthough. "

A swath showed where the bullet had mowed a furrow of hair so closethat in one place it had slightly torn the scalp. 

"He shot again, didn't he?"

"Yep. I swam along the far bank, so that he couldn't get at me, andcrossed into the aspens. He got another chance as I was crossing, buthe had to take it on the fly, and missed. "

The cattleman surveyed the hillside cautiously through the frontwindow. "I reckon he's pulled his freight, most likely. But we'll staycooped for a while, on the chance. You're the luckiest cuss I ever didsee. More lives than a cat. "

Howard laid his revolver down within reach, and proceeded to light afire in the stove, from which rose presently the pleasant odors ofaromatic coffee and fried ham and eggs. 

"Come and get it, Steve, " said Howard, by way of announcing breakfast. "No, you don't. I'll take the window seat, and at that we'll have thecurtain drawn. "

They were just finishing breakfast when Siegfried cantered up. 

"You bane ready, Steve?" he called in. 

Howard appeared in the doorway. "Say, Sig, go down to the corral andsaddle up Teddy for Steve, will you? Some of his friends have beenpotshotting at him again. No damage done, except to my feelings, butthere's nothing like being careful. "

Siegfried's face darkened. "Ay bane like for know who it vas?"

Howard laughed. "Now, if you'll tell Steve that he'll give you as muchas six bits, Sig. He's got notions, but they ain't worth any more thanyours or mine. Say, where you boys going to-day? I've a notion to goalong. "

"Oh, just out for a little pasear, " Steve answered casually. "Thoughtyou were going to work on your south fence to-day. "

"Well, I reckon I better. It sure needs fixing. You lads take goodcare of yourselves. I don't need to tell you not to pass anywhere nearthe run, Sig, " he grinned, with the manner of one giving a superfluouswarning. 

Fraser looked at Siegfried, with a smile in his eyes. "No, we'll notpass the run to-day, Alec. "

A quarter of an hour later they were in the saddle and away. Siegfrieddid not lead his friend directly up the cañon that opened into JackRabbit Run, but across the hills to a pass, which had to be taken onfoot. They left the horses picketed on a grassy slope, and climbed thefaint trail that went steeply up the bowlder-strewn mountain. 

The ascent was so steep that the last bit had to be done on all fours. It was a rock face, though by no means an impossible one, sinceprojecting ledges and knobs offered a foothold all the way. From thesummit, the trail edged its way down so precipitously that twicefallen pines had to be used as ladders for the descent. 

As soon as they were off the rocks, the big blonde gave the signal forsilence. "Ay bane t'ink we might meet up weeth some one, " hewhispered, and urged Steve to follow him as closely as possible. 

It was half an hour later that Sig pointed out a small clearing aheadof them. "Cabin's right oop on the edge of the aspens. See it?"

The ranger nodded assent. 

"Ay bane go down first an' see how t'ings look. "

When the Norwegian entered the cabin, he saw two men seated at atable, playing seven up. The one facing him was Tommie, the cook; theother was an awkward heavy-set fellow, whom he knew for the man hewanted, even before the scarred, villainous face was twisted towardhim. 

Struve leaped instantly to his feet, overturning his chair in hishaste. He had not met the big Norseman since the night he hadattempted to hang Fraser. 

"Ay bane not shoot yuh now, " Siegfried told him. 

"Right sure of that, are you?" the convict snarled, his hand on hisweapon. "If you've got any doubts, now's the time to air them, andwe'll settle this thing right now. "

"Ay bane not shoot, Ay tell you. "

Tommie, who had ducked beneath the table at the prospect of trouble, now cautiously emerged. 

"I ain't lost any pills from either of your guns, gents, " heexplained, with a face so laughably and frankly frightened that bothof the others smiled. 

"Have a drink, Siegfried, " suggested Struve, by way of sealing thetreaty. "Tommie, get out that bottle. "

"Ay bane t'ink Ay look to my horse first, " the Norwegian answered, andimmediately left by way of the back door not three minutes before JedBriscoe entered by the front one. 

Jed shut the door behind him and looked at the convict. 

"Well?" he demanded. 

Struve faced him sullenly, without answering. 

"Tommie, vamos, " hinted Briscoe gently, and as soon as the cook haddisappeared, he repeated his monosyllable: "Well?"

"It didn't come off, " muttered the other sulkily. 

"Just what I expected. Why not?"

Struve broke into a string of furious oaths. "Because I missed him--missed him twice, when he was standing there naked before me. He wascoming down to the creek to take a bath, and I waited till he wasclose. I had a sure bead on him, and he dived just as I fired. I gotanother chance, when he was running across, farther down, and, bythunder, I missed again. "

Jed laughed, and the sound of it was sinister. 

"Couldn't hit the side of a house, could you? You're nothing but acheap skate, a tin-horn gambler, run down at the heels. All right. I'mthrough with you. Lieutenant Fraser, from Texas, can come along andcollect whenever he likes. I'll not protect a false alarm like you anylonger. "

Struve looked at him, as a cornered wolf might have done. "What willyou do?"

"I'll give you up to him. I'll tell him to come in and get you. I'llshow him the way in, you white-livered cur!" bullied the cattleman, giving way to one of his rages. 

"You'd better not, " snarled the convict. "Not if you want to live. "

As they stood facing each other in a panting fury the door opened, tolet in Siegfried and the ranger. 

Jed's rage against Struve died on the spot. He saw his enemy, theranger, before him, and leaped to the conclusion that he had come tothis hidden retreat to run him down for the Squaw Creek murders. Instantly, his hand swept to the hilt of his revolver. 

That motion sealed his doom. For Struve knew that Siegfried hadbrought the ranger to capture him, and suspected in the same flashthat Briscoe was in on the betrayal. Had not the man as good as toldhim so, not thirty seconds before? He supposed that Jed was drawing tokill or cover him, and, like a flash of lightning, unscabbarded andfired. 

"You infernal Judas, I'll get you anyhow, " he cried. 

Jed dropped his weapon, and reeled back against the wall, where hehung for a moment, while the convict pumped a second and a thirdbullet into his body. Briscoe was dead before Fraser could leapforward and throw his arms round the man who had killed him. 

Between them, they flung Struve to the ground, and disarmed him. Theconvict's head had struck as he went down, and it was not for somelittle time that he recovered fully from his daze. When he did hishands were tied behind him. 

"I didn't go for to kill him, " he whimpered, now thoroughly frightenedat what he had done. "You both saw it, gentlemen. You did, lieutenant. So did you, Sig. It was self-defense. He drew on me. I didn't go to doit. "

Fraser was examining the dead man's wounds. He looked up, and said tohis friend: "Nothing to do for him, Sig. He's gone. "

"I tell you, I didn't mean to do it, " pleaded Struve. "Why, lieutenant, that man has been trying to get me to ambush you forweeks. I'll swear it. " The convict was in a panic of terror, ready tocurry favor with the man whom he held his deadliest enemy. "Yes, lieutenant, ever since you came here. He's been egging me on to killyou. "

"And you tried it three times?"

"No, sir. " He pointed vindictively at the dead man, lying face up onthe floor. "It was him that ambushed you this morning. I hadn't athing to do with it. "

"Don't lie, you coward. "

They carried the body to the next room and put it on a bed. Tommie wasdispatched on a fast horse for help. 

Late in the afternoon he brought back with him Doctor Lee, and half anhour after sunset Yorky and Slim galloped up. They were for settlingthe matter out of hand by stringing the convict Struve up to thenearest pine, but they found the ranger so very much on the spot thatthey reconsidered. 

"He's my prisoner, gentlemen. I came in here and took him-- that is, with the help of my friend Siegfried. I reckon if you mill it over aspell, you'll find you don't want him half as bad as we do, " he saidmildly. 

"What's the matter with all of us going in on this thing, lieutenant?"proposed Yorky. 

"I never did see such a fellow for necktie parties as you are, Yorky. Not three weeks ago, you was invitin' me to be chief mourner at one ofyour little affairs, and your friend Johnson was to be master ofceremonies. Now you've got the parts reversed. No, I reckon we'll haveto disappoint you this trip. "

"What are you going to do with him?" asked Yorky, with plaindissatisfaction. 

"I'm going to take him down to Gimlet Butte. Arizona and Wyoming andTexas will have to scrap it out for him there. " "When, you get himthere, " Yorky said significantly. 

"Yes, when I get him there, " answered the Texan blandly, carefullyoblivious of the other's implication. 

The moon was beginning to show itself over a hill before the Texan andSiegfried took the road with their captive. Fraser had carelessly letdrop a remark to the effect that they would spend the night at theDillon ranch. 

His watch showed eleven o'clock before they reached the ranch, but hepushed on without turning in and did not stop until they came to theHoward place. 

They roused Alec from sleep, and he cooked them a post-midnightsupper, after which he saddled his cow pony, buckled on his belt, andtook down his old rifle from the rack. 

"I'll jog along with you lads and see the fun, " he said. 

Their prisoner had not eaten. The best he could do was to gulp downsome coffee, for he was in a nervous chill of apprehension. Every gustof wind seemed to carry to him the patter of pursuit. The hooting ofan owl sent a tremor through him. 

"Don't you reckon we had better hurry?" he had asked with dry lipsmore than once, while the others were eating. 

He asked it again as they were setting off. 

Howard looked him over with rising disgust, without answering. Presently, he remarked, apropos of nothing: "Are all your Texas wolvescoyotes, Steve?"

He would have liked to know at least that it was a man whose life hewas protecting, even though the fellow was also a villain. But thiscrumb of satisfaction was denied him. 

 CHAPTER XVII

 ON THE ROAD TO GIMLET BUTTE

"We'll go out by the river way, " said Howard tentatively. "Eh, whatthink, Sig? It's longer, but Yorky will be expecting us to take theshort cut over the pass. "

The Norwegian agreed. "It bane von chance, anyhow. "

By unfrequented trails they traversed the valley till they reached thecañon down which poured Squaw Creek on its way to the outside world. Aroad ran alongside this for a mile or two, but disappeared into thestream when the gulch narrowed. The first faint streaks of gray dawnwere lightening the sky enough for Fraser to see this. He was ridingin advance, and commented upon it to Siegfried, who rode with him. 

The Norwegian laughed. "Ay bane t'ink we do some wadin'. "

They swung off to the right, and a little later splashed through thewater for a few minutes and came out into a spreading valley beyondthe sheer walls of the retreat they had left. Taking the road again, they traveled faster than they had been able to do before. 

"Who left the valley yesterday for Gimlet Butte, Sig?" Howard asked, after it was light enough to see. "I notice tracks of two horses. "

"Ay bane vondering. Ay t'ink mebbe West over----"

"I reckon not. This ain't the track of his big bay. Must 'a' beenyesterday, too, because it rained the night before. "

For some hours they could see occasionally the tracks of the twohorses, but eventually lost them where two trails forked. 

"Taking the Sweetwater cutout to the Butte, I reckon, " Howardsurmised. 

They traveled all day, except for a stop about ten o'clock forbreakfast, and another late in the afternoon, to rest the horses. Atnight, they put up at a ranch house, and were in the saddle againearly in the morning. Before noon, they struck a telephone line, andFraser called up Brandt at a ranch. 

"Hello! This Sheriff Brandt? Lieutenant Fraser, of the Texas Rangers, is talking. I'm on my way to town with a prisoner. We're at Christy's, now. There will, perhaps, be an attempt to take him from us. I'llexplain the circumstances later. . .. Yes. .. . Yes. .. . We can hold him, I think, but there may be trouble. .. . Yes, that's it. We have no legalright to detain him, I suppose. .. . That's what I was going to suggest. Better send about four men to meet us. We'll come in on the BlastedPine road. About nine to-night, I should think. "

As they rode easily along the dusty road, the Texan explained his planto his friends. 

"We don't want any trouble with Yorky's crowd. We ain't any of usdeputies, and my commission doesn't run in Wyoming, of course. Mynotion is to lie low in the hills two or three hours this afternoon, and give Brandt a chance to send his men out to meet us. Theresponsibility will be on them, and we can be sworn in as deputies, too, "

They rested in a grassy draw, about fifteen miles from town, and tookthe trail again shortly after dark. It was an hour later that Fraser, who had an extraordinary quick ear, heard the sound of men ridingtoward them. He drew his party quickly into the shadows of the hills, a little distance from the road. 

They could hear voices of the advancing party, and presently couldmake out words. 

"I tell you, they've got to come in on this road, Slim, " one of themen was saying dogmatically. "We're bound to meet up with them. That'sall there is to it. "

"Yorky, " whispered Howard, in the ranger's ear. 

They rode past in pairs, six of them in all. As chance would have it, Siegfried's pony, perhaps recognizing a friend among those passing, nickered shrilly its greeting. Instantly, the riders drew up. 

"Where did that come from?" Yorky asked, in a low voice. 

"From over to the right. I see men there now See! Up against thathill. " Slim pointed toward the group in the shadow. 

Yorky hailed them. "That you, Sig?"

"Yuh bane von good guesser, " answered the Norwegian. 

"How many of you are there?"

"Four, Yorky, " Fraser replied. 

"There are six of us. We've got you outnumbered, boys. "

Very faintly there came to the lieutenant the beat of horses' feet. Hesparred for time. 

"What do you want, Yorky?"

"You know what we want. That murderer you've got there-- that's whatwe want. "

"We're taking him in to be tried, Yorky. Justice will be done to him. "

"Not at Gimlet Butte it won't. No jury will convict him for killingJed Briscoe, from Lost Valley. We're going to hang him, right now. "

"You'll have to fight for him, my friend, and before you do that Iwant you to understand the facts. "

"We understand all the facts we need to, right now. "

The lieutenant rode forward alone. He knew that soon they too wouldhear the rhythmic beat of the advancing posse. 

"We've got all night to settle this, boys. Let's do what is fair andsquare. That's all I ask. "

"Now you're shouting, lieutenant. That's all we ask. "

"It depends on what you mean by fair and square, " another one spokeup. 

The ranger nodded amiably at him. "That you, Harris? Well, let's lookat the facts right. Here's Lost Valley, that's had a bad name eversince it was inhabited. Far as I can make out its settlers are honestmen, regarded outside as miscreants. Just as folks were beginning toforget it, comes the Squaw Creek raid. Now, I'm not going into that, and I'm not going to say a word against the man that lies dead up inthe hills. But I'll say this: His death solves a problem for a goodmany of the boys up there. I'm going to make it my business to seethat the facts are known right down in Gimlet Butte. I'm going to liftthe blame from the boys that were present, and couldn't help whathappened. "

Yorky was impressed, but suspicion was not yet banished from his mind. "You seem to know a lot about it, lieutenant. "

"No use discussing that, Yorky. I know what I know. Here's the greatbig point: If you lynch the man that shot Jed, the word will go outthat the valley is still a nest of lawless outlaws. The story will bethat the Squaw Creek raiders and their friends did it. Just as thesituation is clearing up nicely, you'll make it a hundred times worseby seeming to indorse what Jed did on Squaw Creek. "

"By thunder, that's right, " Harris blurted. 

Fraser spoke again. "Listen, boys. Do you hear horses galloping? Thatis Sheriff Brandt's deputies, coming to our assistance. You've lostthe game, but you can save your faces yet. Join us, and kelp escortthe prisoner to town. Nobody need know why you came out. We'll put itthat it was to guard against a lynching. "

The men looked at each other sheepishly. They had been outwitted, andin their hearts were glad of it. Harris turned to the ranger with alaugh. "You're a good one, Fraser. Kept us here talking, while yourreënforcements came up. Well, boys, I reckon we better join theSunday-school class. "

So it happened that when Sheriff Brandt and his men came up they foundthe mountain folk united. He was surprised at the size of the forcewith the Texan. 

"You're certainly of a cautious disposition, lieutenant. With eightmen to help you, I shouldn't have figured you needed my posse, " heremarked. 

"It gives you the credit of bringing in the prisoner, sheriff, " Stevetold him unblushingly, voicing the first explanation that came to hismind. 

 CHAPTER XVIII

 A WITNESS IN REBUTTAL

Two hours later, Lieutenant Fraser was closeted with Brandt andHilliard. He told them his story-- or as much of it as he deemednecessary. The prosecuting attorney heard him to an end before he gavea short, skeptical laugh. 

"It doesn't seem to me you've quite lived up to your reputation, lieutenant, " he commented. 

"I wasn't trying to, " retorted Steve. 

"What do you mean by that?"

"I have told you how I got into the valley. I couldn't go in there andbetray my friends. "

Hilliard wagged his fat forefinger. "How about betraying our trust?How about throwing us down? We let you escape, after you had given usyour word to do this job, didn't we?"

"Yes. I had to throw you down. There wasn't any other way. "

"You tell a pretty fishy story, lieutenant. It doesn't stand to reasonthat one man did all the mischief on that Squaw Creek raid. "

"It is true. Not a shadow of a doubt of it. I'll bring you threewitnesses, if you'll agree to hold them guiltless. "

"And I suppose I'm to agree to hold you guiltless of Faulkner's death, too?" the lawyer demanded. 

"I didn't say that. I'm here, Mr. Hilliard, to deliver my person, because I can't stand by the terms of our agreement. I think I've beenfair with you. "

Hilliard looked at Brandt, with twinkling eyes. It struck Fraser thatthey had between them some joke in which he was not a sharer. 

"You're willing to assume full responsibility for the death ofFaulkner, are you? Ready to plead guilty, eh?"

Fraser laughed. "Just a moment. I didn't say that. What I said wasthat I'm here to stand my trial. It's up to you to prove me guilty. "

"But, in point of fact, you practically admit it. "

"In point of fact, I would prefer not to say so. Prove it, if youcan. "

"I have witnesses here, ready to swear to the truth, lieutenant. "

"Aren't your witnesses prejudiced a little?"

"Maybe. " The smile on Hilliard's fat face broadened. "Two of them areright here. Suppose we find out. "

He stepped to the door of the inner office, and opened it. From theroom emerged Dillon and his daughter. The Texan looked at Arlie inblank amazement. 

"This young lady says she was present, lieutenant, and knows who firedthe shot that killed Faulkner. "

The ranger saw only Arlie. His gaze was full of deep reproach. "Youcame down here to save me, " he said, in the manner of one stating afact. 

"Why shouldn't I? Ought I to have let you suffer for me? Did you thinkI was so base?"

"You oughtn't to have done it. You have brought trouble on yourself. "

Her eyes glowed with deep fires. "I don't care. I have done what wasright. Did you think dad and I would sit still and let you pay forfeitfor us?"

The lieutenant's spirits rejoiced at the thing she had done, but hismind could not forget what she must go through. 

"I'm glad and I'm sorry, " he said simply. 

Hilliard came, smiling, to relieve the situation. "I've got a piece ofgood news for both of you. Two of the boys that were in that shootingscrap three miles from town came to my office the other day andadmitted that they attacked you. It got noised around that there was agirl in it, and they were anxious to have the thing dropped. I don'tthink either of you need worry about it any more. "

Dillon gave a shout. "Glory, hallelujah!" He had been much troubled, and his relief shone on his face. "I say, gentlemen, that's the bestnews I've heard in twenty years. Let's go celebrate it with just one. "

Brandt and Hilliard joined him, but the Texan lingered. 

"I reckon I'll join you later, gentlemen, " he said. 

While their footsteps died away he looked steadily at Arlie. Her eyesmet his and held fast. Beneath the olive of her cheeks, a color beganto glow. 

He held out both his hands. The light in his eyes softened, transfigured his hard face. "You can't help it, honey. It may not bewhat you would have chosen, but it has got to be. You're mine. "

Almost beneath her breath she spoke. "You forgot-- the other girl. "

"What other girl? There is none-- never was one. "

"The girl in the picture. "

His eyes opened wide. "Good gracious! She's been married three monthsto a friend of mine. Larry Neill his name is. "

"And she isn't your sweetheart at all? Never was?"

"I don't reckon she ever was. Neill took that picture himself. We werelaughing, because I had just been guying them about how quick they gotengaged. She was saying I'd be engaged myself before six months. And Iam. Ain't I?"

She came to him slowly-- first, the little outstretched hands, andthen the soft, supple, resilient body. Slowly, too, her sweetreluctant lips came round to meet his. 

"Yes, Steve, I'm yours. I think I always have been, even before I knewyou. "

"Even when you hated me?" he asked presently. 

"Most of all, when I hated you, " She laughed happily. "That was justanother way of love. "

"We'll have fifty years to find out all the different ways, " the manpromised. 

"Fifty years. Oh, Steve!"

She gave a happy little sigh, and nestled closer.