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diff --git a/25779.txt b/25779.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3cb641e --- /dev/null +++ b/25779.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8643 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, 'Drag' Harlan, by Charles Alden Seltzer, +Illustrated by P. V. E. Ivory + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: 'Drag' Harlan + + +Author: Charles Alden Seltzer + + + +Release Date: June 13, 2008 [eBook #25779] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'DRAG' HARLAN*** + + +E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 25779-h.htm or 25779-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/7/7/25779/25779-h/25779-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/7/7/25779/25779-h.zip) + + + + + +"DRAG" HARLAN + +by + +CHARLES ALDEN SELTZER + +Author of +The Boss of the Lazy Y, +"Firebrand" Trevison, +The Trail Horde, +The Ranchman, Etc. + +Frontispiece by P. V. E. Ivory + + + + + + + +[Illustration: She laid her head on his shoulder, sobbing, and talking +incoherently. (Page 65)] + + + +Grosset & Dunlap +Publishers :: New York + +Made in the United States of America + +Copyright +A. C. McClurg & Co. +1921 + +Published May, 1921 + +Copyrighted in Great Britain + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I A Desert Rider 1 + II A Man's Reputation 9 + III A Girl Waits 31 + IV His Shadow Before 38 + V A Prison 48 + VI Chain-Lightning 58 + VII Single-Handed 66 + VIII Barbara Is Puzzled 78 + IX An Unwelcome Guest 88 + X On Guard 96 + XI The Intruder 107 + XII Barbara Sees a Light 114 + XIII Harlan Takes Charge 119 + XIV Shadows 129 + XV Linked 142 + XVI Deep Water 153 + XVII Forging a Letter 159 + XVIII Harlan Rides Alone 169 + XIX Harlan Joins the Gang 174 + XX Left-Handed 191 + XXI The Black-Bearded Man 206 + XXII A Dead Man Walks 219 + XXIII Deveny Secedes 225 + XXIV Kidnapped 229 + XXV Ambushed 238 + XXVI Rogers Takes a Hand 242 + XXVII A Dual Tragedy 248 + XXVIII Converging Trails 252 + XXIX World's End 258 + XXX The Ultimate Treachery 263 + XXXI Peace--and a Sunset 274 + + + + + + +"DRAG" HARLAN + +CHAPTER I + +A DESERT RIDER + + +From out of the shimmering haze that veiled the mystic eastern space came +a big black horse bearing a rider. Swinging wide, to avoid the feathery +dust that lay at the base of a huge sand dune, the black horse loped, +making no sound, and seeming to glide forward without effort. Like a +somber, gigantic ghost the animal moved, heroic of mold, embodying the +spirit of the country, seeming to bear the sinister message of the +desert, the whispered promise of death, the lingering threat, the grim +mockery of life, and the conviction of futility. + +The black horse had come far. The glossy coat of him was thickly +sprinkled with alkali dust, sifted upon him by the wind of his passage +through the desert; his black muzzle was gray with it; ropes of it matted +his mane, his forelock had become a gray-tinged wisp which he fretfully +tossed; the dust had rimmed his eyes, causing them to loom large and +wild; and as his rider pulled him to a halt on the western side of the +sand dune--where both horse and rider would not be visible on the sky +line--he drew a deep breath, shook his head vigorously, and blew a thin +stream of dust from his nostrils. + +With head and ears erect, his eyes flaming his undying courage and his +contempt for distance and the burning heat that the midday sun poured +upon him, he gazed westward, snorting long breaths into his eager lungs. + +The rider sat motionless upon him--rigid and alert. His gaze also went +into the west; and he blinked against the white glare of sun and +distance, squinting his eyes and scanning the featureless waste with +appraising glances. + +In the breathless, dead calm of the desert there was no sound or +movement. On all sides the vast gray waste stretched, a yawning inferno +of dead, dry sand overhung with a brassy, cloudless sky in which swam the +huge ball of molten silver that for ages had ruled that baked and +shriveled land. + +A score of miles westward--twoscore, perhaps--the shadowy peaks of some +mountains loomed upward into the mystic haze, with purple bases melting +into the horizon; southward were other mountains, equally distant and +mysterious; northward--so far away that they blurred in the vision--were +still other mountains. Intervening on all sides was the stretching, +soundless, aching void of desolation, carrying to the rider its lurking +threat of death, the promise of evil to come. + +The man, however, seemed unperturbed. In his narrowed, squinting eyes as +he watched the desert was a gleam of comprehension, of knowledge intimate +and sympathetic. They glowed with the serene calm of confidence; and far +back in them lurked a glint of grim mockery. It was as though they +visualized the threatened dangers upon which they looked, answering the +threat with contempt. + +The man was tall. His slim waist was girded by a cartridge belt which was +studded with leaden missiles for the rifle that reposed in the saddle +holster, and for the two heavy pistols that sagged at his hips. A gray +woolen shirt adorned his broad shoulders; a scarlet neckerchief at his +throat which had covered his mouth as he rode was now drooping on his +chest; and the big, wide-brimmed felt hat he wore was jammed far down +over his forehead. The well-worn leather chaps that covered his legs +could not conceal their sinewy strength, nor could the gauntleted leather +gloves on his hands hide the capable size of them. + +He was a fixture of this great waste of world in whose center he sat. He +belonged to the country; he was as much a part of it as the somber +mountains, the sun-baked sand, the dead lava, and the hardy, evil-looking +cacti growth that raised its spined and mocking green above the arid +stretch. He symbolized the spirit of the country--from the slicker that +bulged at the cantle of the saddle behind him, to the capable gloved +hands that were now resting on the pommel of the saddle--he represented +the force which was destined to conquer the waste places. + +For two days he had been fighting the desert; and in the serene calm of +his eyes was the identical indomitability that had been in them when he +had set forth. As he peered westward the strong lines around his mouth +relaxed, his lips opened a trifle, and a mirthless smile wreathed them. +He patted the shoulder of the black horse, and the dead dust ballooned +from the animal's coat and floated heavily downward. + +"We're about halfway, Purgatory," he said aloud, his voice coming flat +and expressionless in the dead, vacuum-like silence. He did not cease to +peer westward nor to throw sharp glances north and south. He drew off a +glove and pushed his hat back, using a pocket handkerchief to brush the +dust from his face and running the fingers of the hand through his +hair--thereby producing another ballooning dust cloud which splayed +heavily downward. + +"What's botherin' me is that shootin'," he went on, still speaking to the +black horse. "We sure enough heard it--didn't we?" He laughed, again +patting the black's shoulder. "An' you heard it first--as usual--with me +trailin' along about half a second behind. But we sure heard 'em, eh?" + +The black horse whinnied lowly, whereupon the rider dismounted, and +stretched himself. + +From a water-bag at the cantle of the saddle he poured water into his big +hat, watching sympathetically while the big horse drank. Some few drops +that still remained in the hat after the horse had finished he playfully +shook on the animal's head, smiling widely at the whinny of delight that +greeted the action. He merely wet his own lips from the water-bag. Then +for an instant, after replacing the bag, he stood at the black's +shoulder, his face serious. + +"We'll hit the Kelso water-hole about sundown, I reckon, Purgatory," he +said. "That's certain. There's only one thing can stop us--that shootin'. +If it's Apaches, why, I reckon there's a long dry spell ahead of us; but +if it's only Greasers----" + +He grinned with grim eloquence, patted the black again, and climbed into +the saddle. Again, as before, he sat silent upon his mount, scanning the +sun-scorched waste; and then he rode forward. + +An hour later, during which he loped the black horse slowly, he again +drew the animal to a halt and gazed around him, frowning, his eyes +gleaming with a savage intolerance. + +The shooting he had heard some time previous to his appearance at the +base of the big sand dune had not been done by Indians. He was almost +convinced of that now. Or, if Indians had done the shooting, they had not +yet observed him. The fact that he had seen no smoke signals proved that. + +Still, there was the deep silence on every hand to bring doubt into his +mind; and he knew that Indians--especially Apaches--were tricky, +sometimes foregoing the smoke signals to lie in ambush. And very +likely--if they had seen him coming--they were doing that very thing: +waiting for him to ride into the trap they had prepared. He had not been +able to locate the point from which the reports had come. It had seemed +to him that they had come from a point directly westward; but he could +not be sure, for he had seen no smoke. + +He talked no more to the horse, sitting rigidly in the saddle, erect, his +head bent a little forward, his chin thrusting, his lips curving with a +bitterly savage snarl. He felt the presence of living things with him in +the desert; a presentiment had gripped him--a conviction that living men +were close and hostile. + +Reaching downward, he drew the rifle from the saddle holster and examined +its mechanism. Placing it across his knee, he drew out his heavy pistols, +one after another, slowly twirling the cylinders. He replaced the +pistols, making sure that the holster flaps were out of the way so that +they would not catch or drag at the weapons when he wanted to use +them--and with the rifle resting across his legs near the saddle horn, he +rode slowly forward. + +He swung wide of even the small sand dunes as he passed them, and he kept +a vigilant eye upon the dead rocks that dotted the level at infrequent +intervals. Even the cactus clumps received flattering attention; and the +little stretches of greasewood that came within range of his vision were +examined closely. + +At the end of half an hour he had seen nothing unusual. Here and there he +had noticed a rattler lurking in the shade of a rock or partly concealed +under the thorny blade of a sprawling cactus; and he had seen a sage hen +nestling in the hot sand. But these were fixtures--as was also the +Mexican eagle that winged its slow way in mile-wide circles in the +glaring, heat-pulsing sky. + +The rider again halted the black horse. The presentiment of evil had +grown upon him, and he twisted around in the saddle, sweeping the +desolate vast level with cold, alert, puzzled eyes. + +There was no object near him behind which an enemy might lie concealed; +the gray floor of the desert within many hundred miles of him was smooth +and flat and obstructionless. Far away, half a mile, perhaps, he saw a +thrusting knob of rock, with some cactus fringing it. From where he sat +in the saddle it seemed that the rock might be the peak of a mountain +reaching upward out of the sea of sand and desert waste--but it was +barren on sides and top, and would afford no concealment for an enemy, +except at its base. And even the base was not large enough to conceal +more than a few men. + +The rider gazed long at the rock, but could detect no sign of movement +near it. He had turned from it, to look again into the western distance, +when Purgatory whinnied lowly. + +Flashing around in the saddle, the rider again faced the rock. And he saw +movement there now. The distance was great, but the clarity of the +atmosphere brought a moving object distinctly into his vision. The object +was a man, and, like a huge fly, he was crawling rapidly up the sloping +side of the rock, toward its peak, which flattened abruptly at the +summit. + +The man bore a rifle. The rider could see it dragging from the man's +hand; and in a flash the rider was out of the saddle, throwing himself +flat behind a low ridge of sand, his own rifle coming to a rest on a +small boulder as he trained its muzzle upon the man, who by this time had +reached the summit of the rocks in the distance. The rider waited, +nursing the stock of the rifle, his eyes blazing, while Purgatory, +seemingly aware of an impending tragedy, moved slowly away as though +understanding that he must not expose himself. + +The rider waited, anticipating the bullet that would presently whine +toward him. And then he heard the report of the man's rifle, saw that the +smoke streak had been directed downward, as though the man on the summit +of the rock were shooting at something below him. + +The rider had been pressing the trigger of his own weapon when he saw the +smoke streak. He withheld his fire when he divined that the man was not +shooting at him; and when he saw the man on the rock shoot again--downward +once more--the rider frowned with embarrassment. + +"Don't even know I'm here!" he mused. "An' me gettin' ready to salivate +him!" + +He got to his knees and watched, curiosity gleaming in his eyes. He saw +the man on the rock fire again--downward--and he noted a smoke spurt +answer the shot, coming upward from the base of the rock. The rider got +to his feet and peered intently at the rock. And now he saw another man +crouching near its base. This man, however, was not the one the man on +the summit of the rock was shooting at, for smoke streaks were issuing +from a weapon in that man's hand also, but they were horizontal streaks. + +Therefore the rider divined that the two men must be shooting at another +who was on the far side of the rock; and he ran to Purgatory, speaking no +word until he had vaulted into the saddle. Then he spoke shortly. + +"They're white men, Purgatory, an' they're havin' a private rukus, looks +like. But we're doin' some investigatin' just to see if the game's on the +level." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A MAN'S REPUTATION + + +Purgatory moved fast, but warily. The black horse seemed to have caught +something of his rider's caution. For part of the distance toward the +rock the animal traveled straight, loping rapidly, but as he neared the +little stretch of broken country that surrounded the rock he began to +sheer off, advancing with mincing steps, his ears erect, his eyes wide +and alert, snorting suspiciously. + +Knowing his horse, the rider made no attempt to guide him; he knew +Purgatory was alert to any hostile movement on the part of the men who +were shooting, and that at the first sign of danger to himself or to his +rider he would do what was required of him. + +The man on the summit of the rock was still shooting, though +intermittently. It seemed to the rider that the man's target must be +elusive or concealed, for the shooter's actions showed that he was +irritated. The other man, too, was still shooting. The rider noted that +he, too, seemed to be meeting with failure, for as the rider drew nearer +he heard the man curse. + +Neither of the two men who were visible to the rider had seen +him--neither of them had heard the big black horse gliding over the deep +sand of the desert. The rider grinned with grim mirthlessness, edging +Purgatory around so that the two men, their backs toward him, were not +more than twenty or thirty feet away and entirely exposed to his view. + +So intent were they upon their work that they did not even hear the +rider's low laugh as he brought the big black horse to a halt and sat +quietly in the saddle, a heavy pistol in each hand, watching them. + +The rock, the rider noted, was a huge granite block, rotted from long +exposure to the elements, seamed and scarred and cracked. The action of +the eternally moving sand had worn an irregular-shaped concave into its +southern wall, so that the summit overhung the side. The man on the +summit was lying flat on his stomach, leaning far over, still shooting +downward. The other man, who was standing at the base, was flattened +against it, facing the concave side, shooting occasionally, and cursing +volubly. + +The rider was curious. Glancing sidelong, southward, he saw two horses +not more than a hundred yards away. They were in a depression, behind a +sand ridge, which accounted for the fact that the rider had not seen them +before. + +Sight of the horses brought a widening grin to the rider's face. He had +thought, at first, that the two men were shooting at another man, +concealed behind the rock; but the fact that there were only two horses +indicated that he had been in error. No man would be foolhardy enough to +attempt to cross the desert on foot, and unless a man were a friend he +would not be carried upon another man's horse. Therefore, it seemed to be +evident that the target at which the men were shooting was not another +man. + +And now, convinced that the men had cornered an animal of some kind, and +that they feared it too greatly to face it openly, the rider laughed +loudly and called to the men, his voice freighted with sarcasm. + +"Scared?" he said. "Oh, don't be. If you'll back off a little an' give +him room, he'll just naturally slope, an' give you a chance to get to +your cayuses." + +Both men wheeled almost at the same instant. The man at the base of the +rock snarled--after the first gasp of astonishment, baring his teeth in +hideous mirth and embarrassment; the other man, startled and caught off +balance at the sound of the rider's voice, slipped, tried to catch +himself, failed, and tumbled awkwardly down, scrambling and cursing, to +the sand within a few feet of the rider. + +Sitting in the sand at the base of the rock, the man who had fallen also +snarled as he sat, looking at the rider. + +Neither of the two men moved after the involuntary muscular action that +had resulted from their astonishment. The man at the base of the rock +stood in the position in which he had found himself when he had wheeled. + +The pistol in his right hand was held close to his side, the muzzle +directed at the rider. + +But a change was coming over the man's face. The color was slowly going +out of it, the lips were loosening as his jaws dropped, his body began to +sag, and his eyes began to widen with fear, stark and naked. At length, +the rider now watching him with a gaze in which there began to glow +recognition and contempt, the man dropped his hands to his sides and +leaned against the rock. + +"'Drag' Harlan!" he muttered hoarsely. + +The rider watched, his eyes glittering coldly, his lips twisting in a +crooked sneer. Amusement was his dominating emotion, but there was hate +in his gaze, mingling with a malignant joy and triumph. The pistols in +his hands became steady as his wrist muscles stiffened; and he watched +the two men warily, apparently looking straight at the standing man, but +seeing the sitting man also. + +And now a silence fell--a strained, premonitory silence that had in it a +hint of imminent tragedy. The sitting man stiffened, divining the promise +of violence; the standing man shrank back a little and looked downward at +the pistol in his right hand. + +The rider saw the glance and laughed lowly. + +"Keep her right where she is, Dolver," he warned. "You lift her one +little wee lift, an' I bore you plumb in the brain-box. Sort of +flabbergasted, eh? Didn't expect to run into me again so soon?" + +He laughed as the other cringed, his face dead white, his eyes fixed on +the rider with a sort of dread fascination. + +"Dolver, didn't you know when you got my little partner, Davey Langan, +that I'd be comin' for you?" said the rider in a slow, drawling whisper. +"In the back you got him, not givin' him a chance. You're gettin' yours +now. I'm givin' you a chance to take it like a man--standin', with your +face to me. Lift her now--damn you!" + +There was no change in his expression as he watched the man he had called +Dolver. There came no change in the cold, steady gleam of his eyes as he +saw the man stiffen and swing the muzzle of his pistol upward with a +quick, jerky motion. But he sneered as with the movement he sent a bullet +into the man's chest; his lips curving with slight irony when Dolver's +gun went off, the bullet throwing up sand at Purgatory's forehoofs. + +His eyes grew hard as he saw Dolver stagger, drop his pistol, and clutch +at his chest; and he watched with seeming indifference as the man slowly +sank to his knees and stretched out, face down, in the dust at the base +of the rock. + +His lips were stiff with bitter rage, however, as he faced the other man, +who had not moved. + +"Get up on your hind legs, you yellow coyote!" he commanded. + +For an instant it seemed that the other man was to share the fate of the +first. The man seemed to think so, too, for he got up trembling, his +hands outstretched along the rock, the fingers outspread and twitching +from the paralysis of fear that had seized him. + +"Shoot your gab off quick!" commanded the rider. "Who are you?" + +"I'm Laskar," the man muttered. + +"Where you from?" + +"Lamo." + +The rider's eyes quickened. "Where did you meet up with that scum?" He +indicated Dolver. + +"In town." + +"Lamo?" + +The man nodded. + +"How long ago?" asked the rider. + +"'Bout a week." + +The man's voice was hoarse; he seemed reluctant to talk more, and he cast +furtive, dreading glances toward the base of the rock where Dolver had +stood before the rider had surprised the men. + +Watching the man narrowly, the rider noted his nervous glance, and his +shrinking, dreading manner. Harlan's eyes gleamed with suspicion, and in +a flash he was off the black and standing before Laskar, forbidding and +menacing. + +"Take off your gun-belt an' chuck it under my horse!" he directed +sharply. "There's somethin' goin' on here that ain't been mentioned. I'm +findin' out what it is." + +He watched while the man unbuckled his cartridge belt and threw it--the +pistol still in the holster--into the sand at Purgatory's hoofs. Then he +stepped to the man, sheathed one of his pistols, and ran the free hand +over the other's clothing in search of other weapons. Finding none, he +stooped and took up Dolver's pistol and rifle that had fallen from the +man's hands when he had tumbled off the rock, throwing them near where +the cartridge belt had fallen. + +"You freeze there while I take a look around this rock!" he commanded, +with a cold look at the man. + +Half a dozen steps took him around the base of the rock. He went boldly, +though his muscles were tensed and his eyes alert for surprises. But he +had not taken a dozen steps in all when he halted and stiffened, his lips +setting into straight, hard lines. + +For, stretched out on his left side in the sand close to the base of the +rock--under the flattened summit which had afforded him protection from +the bullets the man with the rifle had been sending at him--was a man. + +The man was apparently about fifty, with a seamed, pain-lined face. His +beard was stained with dust, his hair was gray with it; his clothing +looked as though he had been dragged through it. He was hatless, and one +of his boots was off. The foot had been bandaged with a handkerchief, and +through the handkerchief the dark stains of a wound appeared. + +The man's shirt was open in front; and the rider saw that another wound +gaped in his chest, near the heart. The man had evidently made some +attempt to care for that wound, too, for a piece of cloth from his shirt +had been cut away, to permit him to get at the wound easily. + +The man's left side seemed to be helpless, for the arm was twisted +queerly, the palm of the hand turned limply upward; but when the rider +came upon him the man was trying to tuck a folded paper into one of the +cylinders of a pistol. + +He had laid the weapon in the sand, and with his right hand was working +with the cylinder and the paper. When he saw the rider he sneered and +ceased working with the pistol, looking up into the rider's face, his +eyes glowing with defiance. + +"No chance for that even, eh?" he said, glancing at the paper and the +pistol. "Things is goin' plumb wrong!" + +He sagged back, resting his weight on the right elbow, and looked +steadily at the rider--the look of a wounded animal defying his pursuers. + +"Get goin'!" he jeered. "Do your damnedest! I heard that sneak, Dolver, +yappin' to you. You're 'Drag' Harlan--gun-fighter, outlaw, killer! I've +heard of you," he went on as he saw Harlan scowl and stiffen. "Your +reputation has got all over. I reckon you're in the game to salivate me." + +Harlan sheathed his gun. + +"You're talkin' extravagant, mister man." And now he permitted a cold +smile to wreathe his lips. "If it'll do you any good to know," he added, +"I've just put Dolver out of business." + +"I heard that, too," declared the man, laughing bitterly. "I heard you +tellin' Dolver. He killed your partner--or somethin'. That's personal, +an' I ain't interested. Get goin'--the sooner the better. If you'd hand +it to me right now, I'd be much obliged to you; for I'm goin' fast. This +hole in my chest--which I got last night while I was sleepin'--will do +the business without any help from you." + +After a pause for breath, the man began to speak again, railing at his +would-be murderers. He was talking ramblingly when there came a sound +from the opposite side of the rock--a grunt, a curse, and, almost +instantly, a shriek. + +The wounded man raised himself and threw a glance of startled inquiry at +Harlan: "What's that?" + +Harlan watched the man steadily. + +"I reckon that'll be that man Laskar," he said slowly. "I lifted his gun +an' his rifle, an' Dolver's gun, an' throwed them under Purgatory--my +horse. Laskar has tried to get them, an' Purgatory's raised some +objection." + +He stepped back and peered around the rock. Laskar was lying in the sand +near the base of the rock, doubled up and groaning loudly, while +Purgatory, his nostrils distended, his eyes ablaze, was standing over the +weapons that lay in the sand, watching the groaning man malignantly. + +Harlan returned to the wounded man, to find that he had collapsed and was +breathing heavily. + +For some minutes Harlan stood, looking down at him; then he knelt in the +sand beside him and lifted his head. The man's eyes were closed, and +Harlan laid his head down again and examined the wound in his chest. + +He shook his head as he got up, went to Purgatory, and got some water, +which he used to wipe away the dust and blood which had become matted +over the wound. He shook his head again after bathing the wound. The +wound meant death for the man within a short time. Yet Harlan forced some +water into the half-open mouth and bathed the man's face with it. + +For a long time after Harlan ceased to work with him the man lay in a +stupor-like silence, limp and motionless, though his eyes opened +occasionally, and by the light in them Harlan knew the man was aware of +what he had been doing. + +The sun was going now; it had become a golden, blazing ball which was +sinking over the peaks of some distant mountains, its fiery rays stabbing +the pale azure of the sky with brilliantly glowing shafts that threw off +ever-changing seas of color that blended together in perfect harmony. + +Harlan alternately watched the wounded man and Laskar. + +Laskar was still groaning, and finally Harlan walked to him and pushed +him with a contemptuous foot. + +"Get up, you sneak!" he ordered. And Laskar, groaning, holding his +chest--where Purgatory's hoofs had struck him--staggered to his feet and +looked with piteously pleading eyes at the big man who stood near him, +unmoved by the spectacle of suffering he presented. + +And when he found that Harlan gave him no sympathy, he cursed horribly. +This drew a cold threat from Harlan. + +"Shut your rank mouth or I'll turn Purgatory loose on you--again. Lookin' +for sympathy, eh? How much sympathy did you give that hombre who's +cashin' in behind the rocks? None--damn you!" + +It was the first flash of feeling Harlan had exhibited, and Laskar shrank +from him in terror. + +But Harlan followed him, grasping him by a shoulder and gripping it with +iron fingers, so that Laskar screamed with pain. + +"Who is that man?" Harlan motioned toward the rock. + +"Lane Morgan. He owns the Rancho Seco--about forty miles south of Lamo," +returned Laskar after a long look into Harlan's eyes. + +"Who set you guys onto him--what you wantin' him for?" + +"I don't know," whined Laskar. "Day before yesterday Dolver an' me meets +up in Lamo, an' Dolver asks me to help him give Morgan his pass-out +checks on the ride over to Pardo--which Morgan's intendin' to make. I +ain't got any love for Morgan, an' so I took Dolver up." + +"You're a liar!" + +Harlan's fingers were sinking into Laskar's shoulder again, and once more +the man screamed with pain and impotent fury. + +"I swear--" began Laskar. + +Harlan's grin was bitterly contemptuous. He placed the other hand on +Laskar's shoulder and forced the man to look into his eyes. + +"You're a liar, but I'm lettin' you off. You're a sneak with Greaser +blood in you. I don't ever want to see you again. I'm goin' to Lamo--soon +as this man Morgan cashes in. I'll be there some time tomorrow. Lamo +wouldn't please me none if I was to find you there when I ride in. You +slope, now--an' keep on hittin' the breeze until there ain't no more of +it. I'd blow you apart if this man Morgan was anything to me. But it +ain't my game unless I see you again." + +He watched until Laskar, still holding his chest, walked to where the two +horses were concealed, and mounted one of them. When Laskar, leaning over +the pommel of the saddle, had grown dim in the haze that was settling +over the desert, Harlan scowled and returned to the wounded man. + +To his astonishment, Morgan was conscious--and a cold calmness seemed to +have come over him. His eyes were filled with a light that told of +complete knowledge and resignation. He half smiled as Harlan knelt beside +him. + +"I'm about due, I reckon," he said. "I heard you talkin' to the man you +just let get away. It don't make any difference--about _him_. I reckon he +was just a tool, anyway. There's someone behind this bigger than Dolver +an' that man Laskar. He didn't tell you?" + +Harlan shook his head negatively, watching the other intently. + +"I didn't reckon he would," said Morgan. "But there's _somebody_." He +gazed long into Harlan's face, and the latter gazed steadily back at him. +He seemed to be searching Harlan's face for signs of character. + +Harlan stood the probing glance well--so that at last Morgan smiled, +saying slowly: "It's funny--damned funny. About faces, I mean. Your +reputation--it's bad. I've been hearin' about you for a couple of years +now. An' I've been lookin' at you an' tryin' to make myself say, 'Yes, +he's the kind of a guy which would do the things they say he's done.' + +"I can't make myself say it; I can't even make myself think it. Either +you're a mighty good actor, or you're the worst-judged man I ever met. +Which is it?" + +"Mostly all of us get reputations we don't deserve," said Harlan lowly. + +Morgan's eyes gleamed with satisfaction. "Meanin' that you don't deserve +yours?" he said. + +"I reckon there's been a heap of lyin' goin' on about me." + +For a long time Morgan watched the other, studying him. The long twilight +of the desert descended and found them--Morgan staring at Harlan; the +latter enduring the gaze--for he knew that the end would not long be +delayed. + +At last Morgan sighed. + +"Well," he said, "I've got to take a chance on you. An', somehow, it +seems to me that I ain't takin' much of a chance, either. For a man +that's supposed to be the hell-raisin' outlaw that folks say you are, +you've got the straightest eyes I ever seen. I've seen killers--an' +outlaws, an' gun-fighters, an' I never seen one that could look at a man +like you've looked at me. Harlan," he went on slowly, "I'm goin' to tell +you about some gold I've hid--a hundred thousand dollars!" + +Keenly, suspicion lurking deep in his eyes, his mouth half open, +seemingly ready to snap shut the instant he detected greed or cupidity in +Harlan's eyes, he watched the latter. + +It seemed that he expected Harlan to betray a lust for the gold he had +mentioned; and he was ready to close his lips and to die with his secret. +And when he saw that apparently Harlan was unmoved, that he betrayed, +seemingly, not the slightest interest, that even his eyelids did not +flicker at his words, nor his face change color--Morgan drew a tremulous +sigh. + +"You've got me guessin'," he confessed weakly. "I don't know whether +you're a devil or a saint." + +"I ain't claimin' nothin'," said Harlan. "An' I ain't carin' a damn about +your gold. I'd a heap rather you wouldn't mention it. More than one man +has busted his character chasin' that rainbow." + +"You ain't interested?" demanded Morgan. + +"Not none." + +Morgan's eyes glowed with an eager light. For now that Harlan betrayed +lack of interest, Morgan was convinced--almost--that the man's reputation +for committing evil deeds had been exaggerated. + +"You've got to be interested," he declared, lifting himself on his good +arm and leaning toward Harlan. "It ain't the gold that is botherin' me so +much, anyway--it's my daughter. + +"It's all my own fault, too," he went on when he saw Harlan's eyes +quicken. "I've felt all along that somethin' was wrong, but I didn't have +sense enough to look into it. An' now, trustin' folks so much, an' not +payin' strict attention to what was goin' on around me, I've got to the +point where I've got to put everything into the hands of a man I never +saw before--an outlaw." + +"There ain't nobody crowdin' you to put anything into his hands," sneered +Harlan. "I ain't a heap anxious to go around buttin' into trouble for +you. Keep your yap shut, an' die like a man!" + +Morgan laughed, almost triumphantly. "I'll do my dyin' like a man, all +right--don't be afraid of that. You want to hear what I've got to tell +you?" + +"I've got to listen. Shoot!" + +"There's a gang of outlaws operatin' in the Lamo country. Luke Deveny is +the chief. It's generally known that Deveny's the boss, but he keeps his +tracks pretty well covered, an' Sheriff Gage ain't been able to get +anything on him. Likely Gage is scared of him, anyway. + +"Anyway, Gage don't do nothin'. Deveny's a bad man with a gun; there +ain't his equal in the Territory. He's got a fellow that runs with +him--Strom Rogers--who's almost as good as he is with a gun. They're holy +terrors; they've got the cattlemen for two hundred miles around eatin' +out of their hands. They're roarin', rippin' devils! + +"There ain't no man knows how big their gang is--seems like half the +people in the Lamo country must belong to it. There's spies all around; +there ain't a thing done that the outlaws don't seem to know of it. They +drive stock off right in front of the eyes of the owners; they rob the +banks in the country; they drink an' kill an' riot without anyone +interferin'. + +"There ain't anyone knows where their hang-out is--no one seems to know +anything about them, except that they're on hand when there's any +devilment to be done. + +"I've got to talk fast, for I ain't got long. I've never had any trouble +with Deveny or Rogers, or any of the rest of them, because I've always +tended to my own business. I've seen the thing gettin' worse an' worse, +though; an' I ought to have got out of there when I had a chance. Lately +there ain't been no chance. They watch me like a hawk. I can't trust my +men. The Rancho Seco is a mighty big place, an' I've got thirty men +workin' for me. But I can't trust a damned one of them. + +"About a year ago I found some gold in the Cisco Mountains near the +ranch. It was nugget gold--only a pocket. I packed it home, lettin' +nobody see me doin' it; an' I got it all hid in the house, except the +last batch, before anybody knowed anything about it. Then, comin' home +with the last of it, the damned bottom had to bust out of the bag right +near the corral gate, where Meeder Lawson, my foreman, was standin' +watchin' me. + +"It turned out that he'd been watchin' me for a long time. I never liked +the cuss, but he's a good cowman, an' I had to hold onto him. When he saw +the gold droppin' out an' hittin' the ground like big hailstones, he +grinned that chessie-cat grin he's got, an' wanted to know if I was +through totin' it home. + +"I wanted to know how he knowed there was more of it, an' he said he'd +been keepin' an eye on me, an' knowed there was a heap more of it +somewhere around. + +"I fired him on the spot. There'd have been gunplay, but I got the drop +on him an' he had to slope. Well, the next mornin' Luke Deveny rode up to +where I was saddlin', an' told me I'd have to take Lawson back. + +"I done so, for I knowed there'd be trouble with the outlaws if I didn't. +I ain't never been able to get any of that gold to the assayer. They've +been watchin' me like buzzards on a limb over some carrion. I don't get +out of their sight. + +"An' now they've finally got me. I've got a little of the gold in my +pocket now--here it is." He drew out a small buckskin bag and passed it +to Harlan, who took it and held it loosely in his hands, not taking his +gaze from Morgan. + +"Keep a-goin'," suggested Harlan. + +"Interested, eh?" grinned Morgan; "I knowed you'd be. Well, here I am--I +didn't get to the assay office at Pardo; an' I'll never get there now." +He paused and then went on: + +"Now they're after Barbara, my daughter. Deveny--an' Strom Rogers, an' +some more--all of them, I reckon. I ought to have got out long ago. But +it's too late now, I reckon. + +"That damned Deveny--he's a wolf with women. Handsome as hell, with ways +that take with most any woman that meets him. An' he's as smooth an' cold +an' heartless as the devil himself. He ain't got no pity for nobody or +nothin'. An' Strom Rogers runs him a close second. An' there's more of +them almost as bad. + +"They watch every trail that runs from the Rancho Seco to--to anywhere. +If I ride north there's someone watchin' me. If I ride south there's a +man on my trail. If I go east or west I run into a man or two who's +takin' interest in me. When I go to Lamo, there'll be half a dozen men +strike town about the same time. + +"I can't prove they are Deveny's men--but I know it, for they're always +around. An' it's the same way with Barbara--she can't go anywhere without +Deveny, or Rogers--or some of them--ain't trailin' her. + +"As I said, the sheriff can't do anything--or he won't. He looks worried +when I meet him, an' gets out of my way, for fear I'll ask him to do +somethin'. + +"That's the way it stands. An' now Barbara will have to play it a lone +hand against them. Bill Morgan--that's my son--ain't home. He's +gallivantin' around the country, doin' some secret work for the governor. +Somethin' about rustlers an' outlaws. He ought to be home now, to protect +Barbara. But instead he's wastin' his time somewheres else when he ought +to be here--in Lamo--where's there's plenty of the kind of guys he's +lookin' for. + +"There's only one man in the country I trust. He's John Haydon, of the +Star ranch--about fifteen miles west of the Rancho Seco. Seems to me that +Haydon's square. He's an upstandin' man of about thirty, an' he's dead +stuck on Barbara. Seems to me that if it wasn't for Haydon, Deveny, or +Lawson, or Rogers, or some of them scum would have run off with Barbara +long ago. + +"You see how she shapes up?" he queried as he watched Harlan's face. + +"Looks bad for Barbara," said Harlan slowly. + +Morgan writhed and was silent for a time. + +"Look here, Harlan," he finally said; "you're considered to be a +hell-raiser yourself, but I can see in your eyes that you ain't takin' +advantage of women. An' Harlan"--Morgan's voice quavered--"there's my +little Barbara all alone to take care of herself with that gang of wolves +around. I'm wantin' you to go to the Rancho Seco an' look around. My wife +died last year. There's mebbe two or three guys around the ranch would +stick to Barbara, but that's all. Take a look at John Haydon, an' if you +think he's on the level--an' you want to drift on--turn things over to +him." + +Morgan shuddered, and was silent for a time, his lips tight-shut, his +face whitening in the dusk as he fought the pain that racked him. When he +at last spoke again his voice was so weak that Harlan had to kneel and +lean close to him to hear the low-spoken words that issued from between +his quavering lips: + +"Harlan--you're white; you've got to be white--to Barbara! That paper I +was tryin' to stuff into my gun--when you come around the rock. You take +it. It'll tell you where the gold is. You'll find my will--in my desk in +my office--off the _patio_. Everything goes to Barbara. Everybody knows +that. Haydon knows it--Deveny's found it out. You can't get me back--it's +too far. Plant me here--an' tell Barbara." He laughed hollowly. "I reckon +that's all." He felt for one of Harlan's hands, found it, and gripped it +with all his remaining strength. His voice was hoarse, quavering: + +"You won't refuse, Harlan? You can't refuse! Why, my little Barbara will +be all alone, man! What a damned fool I've been not to look out for her!" + +Night had come, and Morgan could not see Harlan's face. But he was +conscious of the firm grip of Harlan's hands, and he laughed lowly and +thankfully. + +"You'll do it--for Barbara--won't you? Say you will, man! Let me hear you +say it--now!" + +"I'm givin' you my word," returned Harlan slowly. And now he leaned still +closer to the dying man and whispered long to him. + +When he concluded Morgan fought hard to raise himself to a sitting +posture; he strained, dragging himself in the sand in an effort to see +Harlan's face. But the black desert night had settled over them, and all +Morgan could see of Harlan was the dim outlines of his head. + +"Say it again, man! Say it again, an' light a match so's I can see you +while you're sayin' it!" + +There was a pause. Then a match flared its light revealing Harlan's face, +set in serious lines. + +"I wouldn't lie to you--now--Morgan," he said; "I'm goin' to the Lamo +country to bust up Deveny's gang." + +Morgan stared hard at the other while the flickering light lasted with a +strained intensity that transfigured his face, suffusing it with a glow +that could not have been more eloquent with happiness had the supreme +Master of the universe drawn back the mysterious veil of life to permit +him to look upon the great secret. + +When the match flickered and went out, and the darkness of the desert +reigned again, Morgan sank back with a tremulous, satisfied sigh. + +"I'm goin' now," he said; "I'm goin'--knowin' God has been good to me." +He breathed fast, gaspingly. And for a moment he spoke hurriedly, as +though fearful he would not be given time to say what he wanted to say: + +"Someone plugged me--last night while I was sleepin'. Shot me in the +chest--here. Didn't give me no chance. There was three of them. My fire +had gone out an' I couldn't see their faces. Likely Laskar an' Dolver was +two. The other one must have sloped. It was him shot me. Tried to knife +me, too; but I fought him, an' he broke away. It happened behind a +rock--off to the left--a red boulder. + +"I grabbed at him an' caught somethin'. What it was busted. I couldn't +wait to find out what it was. I'm hopin' it's somethin' that'll help you +to find out who the man was. I ain't goin' to be mean--just when I'm +dyin'; but if you was to look for that thing, find it, an' could tell who +the man is, mebbe some day you'd find it agreeable to pay him for what he +done to me." + +He became silent; no sound except his fast, labored breathing broke the +dead calm of the desert night. + +"Somethin' more than the gold an' Barbara back of it all," he muttered +thickly, seeming to lapse into a state of semiconsciousness in which the +burden that was upon his mind took the form of involuntary speech: +"Somethin' big back of it--somethin' they ain't sayin' nothin' about. But +Harlan--he'll take care of--" He paused; then his voice leaped. "Why, +there's Barbara now! Why, honey, I thought--I--why----" + +His voice broke, trailing off into incoherence. + +After a while Harlan rose to his feet. An hour later he found the red +rock Morgan had spoken of--and with a flaming bunch of mesquite in hand +he searched the vicinity. + +In a little depression caused by the heel of a boot he came upon a +glittering object, which he examined in the light of the flaming +mesquite, which he had thrown into the sand after picking up the +glittering object. Kneeling beside the dying flame he discovered that the +glittering trifle he had found was a two- or three-inch section of gold +watch chain of peculiar pattern. He tucked it into a pocket of his +trousers. + +Later, he mounted Purgatory and fled into the appalling blackness, +heading westward--the big black horse loping easily. + +The first streaks of dawn found Purgatory drinking deeply from the +green-streaked moisture of Kelso's water-hole. And when the sun stuck a +glowing rim over the desert's horizon, to resume his rule over the baked +and blighted land, the big black horse and his rider were traveling +steadily, the only life visible in the wide area of desolation--a moving +blot, an atom behind which was death and the eternal, whispered promise +of death. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A GIRL WAITS + + +Lamo, sprawling on a sun-baked plain perhaps a mile from the edge of the +desert, was one of those towns which owed its existence to the instinct +of men to foregather. It also was indebted for its existence to the greed +of a certain swarthy-faced saloon-keeper named Joel Ladron, who, +anticipating the edict of a certain town marshal of another town that +shall not be mentioned, had piled his effects into a prairie +schooner--building and goods--and had taken the south trail--which would +lead him wherever he wanted to stop. + +It had chanced that he had stopped at the present site of Lamo. Ladron +saw a trail winding over the desert, vanishing into the eastern distance; +and he knew that where trails led there were sure to be thirsty men who +would be eager to look upon his wares. + +Ladron's history is not interesting. As time fled to the monotonous clink +of coins over the bar he set up in the frame shack that faced the desert +trail, Ladron's importance in Lamo was divided by six. + +The other dispensers had not come together; they had appeared as the +needs of the population seemed to demand--and all had flourished. + +Lamo's other buildings had appeared without ostentation. There were +twenty of them. A dozen of the twenty, for one reason or another, need +receive no further mention. Of the remaining few, one was occupied by +Sheriff Gage; two others by stores; one answered as an office and +storage-room for the stage company; and still another was distinguished +by a crude sign which ran across its weather-beaten front, bearing the +legend: "Lamo Eating-House." The others were private residences. + +Lamo's buildings made some pretense of aping the architecture of +buildings in other towns. The eating-house was a two-story structure, +with an outside stairway leading to its upper floor. It had a flat roof +and an adobe chimney. Its second floor had been subdivided into +lodging-rooms. Its windows were small, grimy. + +Not one of Lamo's buildings knew paint. The structures, garish husks of +squalor, befouled the calm, pure atmosphere, and mocked the serene +majesty of nature. + +For, beginning at the edge of "town," a contrast to the desert was +presented by nature. It was a mere step, figuratively, from that land +from which came the whisper of death, to a wild, virgin section where the +hills, the green-brown ridges, the wide sweeps of plain, and the cool +shadows of timber clumps breathed of the promise, the existence, of life. + +To Barbara Morgan, seated at one of the east windows of the Lamo +Eating-House--in the second story, where she could look far out into the +desert--the contrast between the vivid color westward and the dun and +dead flatness eastward, was startling. For she knew her father had +entered the desert on his way to Pardo, on some business he had not +mentioned; and the whispered threat that the desert carried was borne to +her ears as she watched. + +On a morning, two days before, Morgan had left the Rancho Seco for Pardo. +The girl had watched him go with a feeling--almost a conviction--that she +should have kept him at home. She had not mentioned to him that she had a +presentiment of evil, for she assured herself that she should have +outgrown those puerile impulses of the senses. And yet, having watched +him depart, she passed a sleepless night, and early the next morning had +saddled her horse to ride to Lamo, there to await her father's return. + +It was late in the afternoon when she reached Lamo; and she had gone +directly to the Eating-House, where she had passed another restless +night--spending most of her time sitting at the window, where she was at +this minute. + +Of course it was a three-day trip to Pardo, and she had no reason to +expect Morgan to return until the end of the sixth day, at the very +earliest. And yet some force sent her to the window at frequent +intervals, where she would sit, as now, her chin resting in her hands, +her eyes searching the vast waste land with an anxious light. + +An attache of the Eating-House had put her horse away--where, she did +not know; and her meals had been brought to her by a middle-aged +slattern, whose probing, suspicion-laden glances had been full of mocking +significance. She had heard the woman speak of her to other female +employees of the place--and once she had overheard the woman refer to her +as "that stuck-up Morgan heifer." + +Their coarse laughter and coarser language had disgusted the girl, and +she had avoided them all as much as possible. + +It was the first time she had remained overnight in the Eating-House +lodging-rooms, though she had seen the building many times during her +visits to Lamo. It wasn't what she was accustomed to at the Rancho Seco, +nor was it all that a lodging-house might be--but it provided shelter for +her while she waited. + +The girl felt--as she looked--decidedly out of place in the shabby room. +Many times during her vigil she had shuddered when looking at the dirty, +threadbare ingrain carpet on the floor of the room; oftener, when her +gaze went to the one picture that adorned the unpapered walls, she shrank +back, her soul filled with repugnance. + +Art, as here represented, was a cheap lithograph in vivid colors, of an +Indian--an Apache, judging from his trappings--scalping a white man. In +the foreground, beside the man, was a woman, her hair disheveled, wild +appeal in her eyes, gazing at the Indian, who was grinning at her. + +A cheap bureau, unadorned, with a broken mirror swinging in a rickety +frame; one chair, and the bed in which she had tried to sleep, were the +only articles of furniture in the room. + +The girl, arrayed in a neat riding habit; her hair arranged in graceful +coils; her slender, lissom figure denoting youth and vigor; the clear, +smooth skin of her face--slightly tanned--indicating health--was as +foreign to her present surroundings as life is foreign to the desert. In +her direct eyes was the glow of sturdy honesty that had instantly +antagonized the slattern who had attended her. + +That glow was not so pronounced now--it was dulled by anxiety as she +looked out of the window, watching the desert light fade as twilight +came, blotting the hot sand from her sight, erasing the straight, +unfeatured horizon, and creating a black void which pulsed with mystery. + +She sighed when at last she could no longer penetrate the wall of +darkness; got up and moved her chair to one of the front windows, from +where she could look down into Lamo's one street. + +Lamo's lights began to flicker; from the town's buildings sounds began to +issue--multisonous, carrying the message of ribaldry unrestrained. + +From a point not very far away came the hideous screeching of a fiddle, +accompanied by a discordant, monotonous wail, as of someone singing a +song unfamiliar to him; from across the street floated a medley of other +noises, above which could be heard the jangling music of a heavily +drummed piano. There came to her ears coarse oaths and the maudlin +laughter of women. + +She had heard it all the night before; but tonight it seemed that +something had been added to the volume of it. And as on the night before, +she sat at the window, watching--for it was all new and strange to +her--even if unattractive. But at last the horror of it again seized her, +and she closed the window, determined to endure the increased heat. + +Half an hour later, lying, fully dressed, on the bed, she heard a voice +in the hallway beyond the closed door of her room--a man's voice. + +"It isn't what one might call elegant," said the voice; "but if it's the +best you've got--why, of course, it will have to do." + +The girl sat straight up in bed, breathless, her face paling. + +"It's Luke Deveny!" she gasped in a suffocating whisper. + +The man's voice was answered by a woman's--low, mirthful. The girl in the +room could not distinguish the words. But the man spoke again--in a +whisper which carried through the thin board partition to the girl: + +"Barbara Morgan is in there--eh?" he said and the girl could almost see +him nodding toward her room. + +This time the girl heard the woman's voice--and her words: + +"Yes she's there, the stuck-up hussy!" + +The voice was that of the slattern. + +The man laughed jeeringly. + +"Jealous, eh?" he said. "Well, she _is_ a mighty good-looking girl, for a +fact!" + +That was all. The girl heard Deveny step into a room--the room adjoining +hers; she could hear his heavy boots striking the floor as he removed +them. + +For a long time the girl rested on her elbow, listening; but no further +sounds came from the room into which Deveny had gone. At last, trembling, +her face white with fear, the girl got up and stole noiselessly to the +door. + +A light bolt was the door's only fastening; and the girl stood long, with +a hand upon it, considering its frailty. How easy it would be for a big +man like Deveny to force the door. One shove of his giant shoulder and +the bolt would give. + +Stealthily, noiselessly, straining with every ounce of her strength, she +managed to lift the cheap bureau and carry it to the door, placing it +against the latter, barricading it. Not satisfied, she dragged the bed +over against the bureau. + +Even when that had been accomplished, she was not satisfied and during +the greater part of the night she sat on the edge of the bed, listening +and watching the door. For in the days that had fled Deveny had said +certain things to her that she had not repeated to her father; he had +looked at her with a significance that no man could have understood; and +there had been a gleam in his eyes at these times which had convinced her +that behind the bland smoothness of him--back of the suave politeness of +his manner--was a primitive animalism. His suave politeness was a velvet +veil of character behind which he masked the slavering fangs of the beast +he really was. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +HIS SHADOW BEFORE + + +At ten o'clock the following morning, in a rear room of "Balleau's First +Chance" saloon--which was directly across the street from the Lamo +Eating-House--Luke Deveny and two other men were sitting at a card-table +with bottle and glasses between them. A window in the eastern side of the +room gave the men an unobstructed view of the desert, and for half an +hour, as they talked and drank, they looked out through the window. + +A tall, muscular man with a slightly hooked nose, keen blue eyes with a +cold glint in them, black hair, and an equally black mustache which +revealed a firm-lipped mouth with curves at the corners that hinted of +cynicism, and, perhaps cruelty, was sitting at the table so that he faced +the window. His smile, as he again glanced out of the window, roved to +Deveny--who sat at his right. + +"One man--an' a led horse," he said shortly. "Looks like Laskar." + +Deveny--big, smooth-shaven--with black, glowing, attractive eyes that +held a glint quite as hard as that which shone in the eyes of the +speaker, looked long out of the window at a moving dot on the desert, +which seemed to be traveling toward them. Deveny had looked before; but +now he saw two dots where at other times he had seen only one. His lips +held a slight pout as he glanced at the speaker. + +"You're right, Rogers," he said; "there's only one. The old fool must +have put up a fight." + +Deveny filled a glass from the bottle and drank slowly. His features were +large. His nose was well shaped, with wide nostrils that hinted of a +fiery, passionate nature; his thrusting chin and the heavy neck muscles +told of strength, both mental and physical--of mental strength that was +of a tenacious character, of physical strength that would respond to any +demand of the will. + +He was handsome, and yet the suggestion of ruthlessness in the atmosphere +of him--lurking behind the genial, easy-going exterior that he wore for +appearances--or because it was his nature to conceal his passions until +he desired to unleash them--was felt by those who knew him intimately. It +had been felt by Barbara Morgan. + +Deveny was king of the lawless element in the Lamo section. The magnetism +of him; the arrogance, glossed over with the calm and cold politeness of +his manner; his unvarying immaculateness; the air of large and complete +confidence which marked his every action; the swiftness with which he +struck when he was aroused, or when his authority was questioned, placed +him without dissent at the head of the element that ruled the Lamo +country. + +Deveny ruled, but Deveny's rule was irksome to Strom Rogers--the man to +whom Deveny had just spoken. For while Deveny drank, Rogers watched him +with covert vigilance, with a jeering gleam far back in his eyes, with a +secret envy and jealousy, with hatred and contempt and mockery. + +Yet there was fear in Rogers' eyes, too--a mere glimmer of it. Yet it was +there; and when Deveny set his glass down and looked straight at Rogers, +it was that fear which brought the fawning, insincere smirk to Rogers' +lips. + +"See the girl?" questioned Rogers. + +Deveny laughed lowly. Apparently he did not notice the glow in Rogers' +eyes; but had Rogers looked closely he might have seen Deveny's lips +straighten as he shot a glance at the other. + +"Had the room next to her last night. Heard her drag the bed in front of +the door of her room. She knew I was there, all right!" Deveny laughed +deeply. "She's wised up by this time. Lolly Kaye hates her--because +Barbara's a good-looking girl, I suppose. That's like some women. Lolly +would see Barbara roasting in hell and not give her a hand!" + +"Lolly's been disappointed in love--I reckon." Rogers' laugh was hollow, +mirthless. And again Deveny shot a glance at him. + +"But you didn't bother her--Barbara?" questioned Rogers in a dry, light +voice. + +"No," grinned Deveny; "that time hasn't come--yet. It's coming soon. I +told Lolly to keep an eye on her; I've got Engle and Barthman and Kelmer +watching at the doors so Barbara can't light out for the Rancho Seco. She +don't get away until tomorrow. Then she goes with me to the end of Sunset +Trail. I've sent Shorty Mallo to Willow's Wells for the parson." + +"Barbara know what's up?" Rogers' voice was low and throaty. + +Again Deveny glanced at him--sharply. + +"Hell, no!" he snapped. "It's none of her damned business--nor +anybody's!" He grinned maliciously when he saw Rogers' face whiten. + +"Barbara will need a husband now," Deveny went on. "With old Morgan gone +and her brother sloped from the home ranch, she'll be kind of lonesome. I +aim to cure her of that." + +He laughed, and Rogers writhed inwardly. For Rogers had long nursed a +secret hope that one day the fates might take a notion to give him the +chance that Deveny intended to seize. + +But Rogers was forced to conceal his jealousy and disappointment. He +laughed mirthlessly. + +"So she can't get away, eh?--she's corralled!" + +"Bah!" declared Deveny; "she won't want to get away--once she knows what +I mean--that it's going to be a regular wedding. She'll raise a fuss, +most likely, to make folks believe she's unwilling, but in the end she'll +get over it." + +Deveny glanced out of the window at the blot that was now closer. + +"It's Laskar, all regular," he said. "He's leading a sorrel horse--Dolver's +horse. Old Morgan got Dolver--looks like, the damned old gopher! Men as +willing as Dolver are not found every day." He looked at the third man, who +had not spoken. + +"Lawson," he said, "you mosey down the trail a little piece and meet +Laskar. Bring him here!" + +Lawson, a thin-faced, medium-sized man with narrow shoulders, whose +distinguishing mark was a set of projecting upper teeth that kept his +mouth in a continual smirking smile, got up quickly and went out. Deveny +and Rogers, their thoughts centered upon the same person--Barbara +Morgan--sat silent, watching Lawson as he rode down the street toward the +point where the trail, crossing the broken stretch of country that +intervened, merged into the desert. + +Half an hour later Laskar, holding his chest, where Purgatory had kicked +him, was sitting at the table in the rear room of the First Chance, +cursing with a fluency that he had not yielded to in many years. + +"Dolver's wiped out!" he gasped hoarsely; "plugged so quick he didn't +know he was hit. A center shot--plumb in the heart; his own gun goin' off +while he was fallin'. I looked him over--after. He was croaked complete. +Then that sober-faced hyena lifts my gun--an' the rifle--an' says things +to me, which I don't try to cross him. Then he goes behind the +rock--where we was havin' it out--an' while he's gone I tries to git my +guns from under that devil-eyed cayuse of his'n. + +"An' I don't succeed--noways. That black devil turns on a half-dollar an' +plants his hoofs plumb in my breast-bone. If I'd been an inch nearer, or +if he'd have kicked me a foot lower, or a foot higher, I'd be layin' out +there where Dolver is now, the coyotes an' the buzzards gnawin' at me." + +Unmoved by Laskar's incoherence, Deveny calmly watched him. And now, when +Laskar paused for breath, Deveny spoke slowly: + +"A _black_ horse, you said. How did a black horse get there? Old Morgan +rode a bay when he left Lamo--Balleau says." + +"Did I say Morgan rode a black horse?" queried Laskar, knowledge in his +eyes that he had a thing to tell that would blanch their faces. He +grinned, still holding his chest, his glance malicious. + +"Did I say a _black_ horse?" he repeated. "Did I say Morgan rode a black +horse? Morgan didn't. Morgan rode a bay--an' the Chief run it off after +he shot Morgan. But Morgan didn't die right away, an' the Chief he had to +slope, he said--an' he did--leavin' me an' Dolver to finish old Morgan. + +"We was tryin' our damnedest when this guy on the black horse pops up out +of nowhere an' salivates Dolver." + +"Who was it?" + +This was Deveny. He was now leaning forward, a pout on his lips, watching +Laskar with an intent, glowering gaze. + +"'Drag' Harlan!" shouted Laskar. His face lighted with a hideous joy as +he watched the effect of his news. + +"'Drag' Harlan! Do you hear?" he went on. "'Drag' Harlan, the Pardo +'two-gun' man! He's headed toward Lamo. He bored Dolver, an' he said that +soon as Morgan cashed in he was hittin' the breeze for here!" + +Lawson, the man who had gone to meet Laskar, ejaculated hoarsely, and +stood rigid, his mouth open, his eyes bulging. It was the involuntary +expression of the astonishment and fear that had seized him. Laskar +forgot the pain in his chest long enough to straighten and grin at +Lawson. + +Rogers' face had changed color. He, too, had become rigid. He had been in +the act of reaching for the bottle on the table, and the hand that had +been extended had been suddenly drawn back, so that the hand was now +midway between his body and the bottle--and the fingers were clenched. +The other hand, under the table, was likewise clenched, and the muscles +of his jaws were corded. Into his eyes had come a furtive, restless +gleam, and his face had paled. + +Deveny gave no visible sign of perturbation. He coolly reached out, +grasped the bottle that Rogers had been reaching for, and poured some of +the amber fluid into one of the glasses. The other men watched him +silently--all of them intent to note the tremor they expected to see. + +Deveny's hand did not tremble. He noted the glances of the men--the +admiration that came into their eyes as with steady muscles he raised the +glass and drank--and he smiled with slight contempt. + +"Coming here, eh?" he said evenly. "So he said that. Did he mention what +he was coming for?" + +"He didn't mention," replied Laskar. + +"So he downed Dolver. Did he say what for?" + +"Said Dolver had shot up his partner, Davey Langan--back in Pardo. Harlan +was evenin' up." + +"What do you know about Harlan?" + +The question was addressed to all of them. + +Rogers answered. + +"He's a bad guy--all bad. He's an iceberg, an' he's got the snakiest +gun-hand of any man in the country. Draws hesitatin'-like. A man don't +know when he's goin' to uncork his smoke-wagons. I seen him put Lefty +Blandin' out. He starts for his guns, an' then kind of stops, trickin' +the other guy into goin' for his. Then, before the other guy can get his +gun to workin', Harlan's stickin' his away, an' the guy's ready for the +mourners. + +"Harlan got his handle that way. He goes for his guns so slow an' +hesitatin' that he seems to drag 'em out. But some way he's always +shootin' first. An' they always let him off because it's mighty plain +that the other guy tried to draw first." + +"I've heard that," said Deveny slowly. "What's his record?" + +"Plays her a lone hand," returned Rogers. He watched the other steadily. + +Deveny toyed with a glass as he gazed out of the window. There was a +cold, sullen gleam in his eyes when he finally looked at Laskar. + +"You said Harlan told you he was coming here as soon as Morgan cashed in. +According to that, Morgan must have been hit bad." + +"The Chief said he bored him plenty. An' me an' Dolver must have got him +some." + +"You didn't get a chance to search Morgan?" + +"No chance--he fit like a hyena; an' when he got behind that damned rock +there was no way of gettin' at him." + +"Then," said Deveny, "according to what you say, Harlan will come here as +soon as Morgan dies. And when you left there Morgan was in a bad way. +Harlan is due most any time, then." + +"That's the way I figger," agreed Laskar. + +And now Laskar fidgeted. "I aim to be hittin' the breeze now--before +Harlan hits town. This climate is gettin' unhealthy for me. Harlan give +me notice." + +"To leave town?" + +It was Deveny who spoke. There was a snarl in his voice; he leaned +forward and scowled at Laskar. + +Laskar nodded. + +Rogers cleared his throat, and Lawson moved his feet uneasily. + +Deveny's scowl faded; he grinned coldly. + +"Giving orders--is he?" he snapped. "Well, we'll see." He laughed. "When +Harlan hits town it will be a sign that old Morgan's crossed the Divide. +Well, there was no witnesses to Morgan's cashing in, and one man's word +is as good as another's in this country." + +"Meanin'?" questioned Rogers, noting the light in Deveny's eyes. + +"Meaning that Laskar is going--right now--to whisper into Sheriff Gage's +ear that he saw our friend, 'Drag' Harlan, killing old Morgan." + +Rogers got to his feet, grinning. The gleam in his eyes indicated that he +felt some relief over the prospect presented by Deveny's suggestion. + +"Of course we ain't sure Harlan means to make trouble here," he told +Deveny; "but it's just as well to shove him off onto the sheriff." + +The four men walked to the front door of the First Chance, after pausing +for a few minutes at the bar. + +Outside, halting for an instant on the board platform in front of the +saloon, Rogers, who had been the first to emerge, started as he glanced +toward the desert, and then stood rigid, shading his hands with his eyes +against the sun that poured into his face. + +"He's comin' now!" he said. + +Deveny and the others also looked into the blinding glare of the +sun--likewise shading their eyes. And they saw, far out upon the vast sea +of sand--yet not so far that they could not distinguish objects--a black +horse coming steadily toward them. + +Deveny was strangely silent, glowering toward the desert; Rogers folded +his arms and faced the oncoming rider and the somber-coated animal he +bestrode; Lawson scowled; and Laskar nervously estimated the distance +that stretched between himself and the steady-eyed man who had told him +certain things in a voice that had been entirely convincing. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A PRISON + + +Barbara Morgan had not been able to sleep except by fits and starts. A +dozen times during the night she had caught herself on the verge of +sinking into deep slumber, and each time she had got up and washed her +eyes with some water from a pitcher on the bureau, determined that she +would not take any chances of permitting Deveny to surprise her. + +When the dawn came she was haggard and tired; and she got up listlessly, +combed her hair, and washed her face, and dragged away the pieces of +furniture that had formed the barricade at the door. + +She felt more secure with the dawn, and when the sunlight began to stream +into the east windows she opened the door of the room, descended the +stairs, and took a short walk to the edge of town. + +Returning, she saw a man arrayed in overalls, boots, a blue woolen shirt, +and broad felt hat, standing in the doorway of the stable that, she felt, +belonged to the Eating-House. Sight of the stable brought to her thoughts +of her horse--Billy--and she decided to determine if the man who had +taken charge of him had put him into the stable. + +She paused before the door, directly in front of the man, who did not +move aside to permit her to enter. + +She thought at first that he was not aware of her desire--until she +observed an amused light in his eyes; and then she knew that he was +purposely barring her way. + +"This is the Eating-House stable, I suppose?" she inquired quietly. + +"You're supposin' is a heap correct, ma'am," grinned the man. + +"Well," she said, "if you will kindly step aside I shall see if my horse +is all right." + +"Your horse is all right, ma'am," returned the man. "I've just fed him." + +Irritated by his attitude, she spoke sharply: + +"Step aside, please; I am going into the stable!" + +The man grinned widely. "It's ag'in' orders, ma'am; you'll have to stay +out." + +"Whose orders?" + +"Deveny's. You ain't to go into the stable." + +She hesitated, afflicted with a queer sensation of weakness and +indecision. + +It was her fear of Deveny, she supposed, that made her feel that way, +together with the conviction that Deveny must have known that she had +been in the room next to the one he had taken, even before he had +ascended the stairs. It seemed to her that this deliberate interference +with her must be inspired by evil intentions, and for an instant panic +overtook her. + +Then, yielding to the flash of anger that surged over her, she drew the +small revolver she always carried with her on her rides, and presented +it. She stepped back a little, so that the man might not strike the +weapon from her hand, and spoke shortly, commandingly to him. + +"Get away from that door!" + +"Shootin', ma'am?" he drawled. "Oh, don't!" + +He grinned at her and calmly began to roll a cigarette, at which action +she gulped with dismay, wheeled swiftly, and walked to the stairs. She +went up proudly enough, her head held high, for she divined that the man +would be watching her. But when she entered her room her pride forsook +her, and she sank into a chair by the east window, dismayed and +frightened. + +While she sat there the slatternly woman slowly opened the door and stuck +her head in. She grinned widely at Barbara. + +"Goin' ridin' this mawnin', deary?" + +Barbara looked at her, saw the mockery in the jealous eyes, and turned +her head again, making no reply. + +"Too stuck up to talk, eh?" jibed the slattern. "Well, before you get out +of here you'll be tickled enough to shoot off your gab. Bah! You an' your +airs! If you want any grub this mawnin' you'll come down an' grab it +yourself, I'm tellin' you that." + +She slammed the door, her jeering laugh penetrating the partition with +hideous resonance. + +After the woman had gone Barbara got up, her lips set in resolute lines. + +Once in the hall she started to walk toward the stairs, when she saw the +cowboy of the stable lounging against the rail on the platform. He saw +her at the instant she looked at him, and he grinned hugely. + +"I reckon you've noticed I've sort of shifted," he said. "I keep goin' +up--gettin' higher in the world." + +"What are you doing here?" she demanded. + +"Just loafin', I reckon," grinned the other. "An' obeyin' orders," he +added instantly. "Much as I hate to disconvenience a lady, I ain't takin' +no chances on rilin' Deveny." + +"Do you mean that Deveny placed you here to watch me?" + +"He didn't issue no particular orders as to where I was to do my +standin'. But he was sure earnest about sayin' that you wasn't to leave +your room." + +"I left it once this morning." + +"My fault," he grinned. "I was sneakin' a drink in the Antler, an' you +slipped me. I'm bettin' it don't happen ag'in!" + +Overcome with a cold terror that suddenly seized her, Barbara wheeled and +re-entered her room, standing for an instant at the door as she locked +it, and then walking to the chair and sinking nervelessly into it. + +Somehow, she sensed the futility of further effort at escape. She was +aware of Deveny's power in the country; she knew that he ruled Lamo as he +ruled every foot of land in the section; and she was convinced that it +would be wasted effort to call for help. Even her own sex--represented by +the slattern, and most of the women in Lamo were of that type, in +character--seemed to be antagonistic toward her. It seemed to her that +they would mock her as the slattern had mocked her, should she appeal to +them. + +And as for the men of Lamo, they were not to be considered. She was +certain she could not induce one of them to act contrary to Deveny's +wishes. For her father had told her about Lamo's men--how they were +slaves to the will of the man whose deeds of outlawry had made him feared +wherever men congregated; and she knew Lamo itself was a sink-hole of +iniquity where women were swallowed by the evil passions of men. + +She might have appealed to Gage, the sheriff, and she thought of Gage +while she sat at the window. But Gage, her father had told her, with +disgust in his eyes, was a man of colorless personality and of little +courage--a negligible character upon whom the good people of the section, +who were pitifully few, could not depend. Her father had told her that it +was his opinion that Gage, too, was a slave to Deveny's will. + +She wished now that she had not yielded to the impulse which had brought +her to Lamo; but her lips grew firm and her eyes defiant as she at last +got up and walked to one of the front windows. + +Now, more vividly than ever, could she understand the significance of +Deveny's glances at her in the past; the light in his eyes had been an +expression of premeditated evil, awaiting an opportunity. + +She was pale, and her hands were trembling as she placed them on the sill +of the front window and glanced down into the street, hoping that she +might see a friendly face; praying that one of the Rancho Seco men might +have come to town during the night. + +But she saw no one she knew. Indeed, except for a pony standing in front +of a saloon down the street a little distance, and several others hitched +to a rail across the street, in front of the First Chance saloon, Lamo +seemed to be deserted. And a silence, deep and portentous of evil, seemed +to have settled over the town. + +But as she leaned upon the sill a sound floated to her through the open +window--a man's voice, so close to her that it made her start and +stiffen. It was Deveny's voice, and it seemed to come from a point in the +street directly beneath the window. + +"Did you find Gage?" it said. + +Barbara leaned forward a little and looked downward. Below her, on the +narrow board-walk that ran in front of the Eating-House, were four men. +She recognized three of them--Deveny, Strom Rogers, and Meeder Lawson, +the Rancho Seco foreman. + +The other man was a stranger. Evidently it was the stranger to whom +Deveny had spoken, for it was the stranger who answered. + +"He's in his office now." + +Deveny turned to Lawson and Rogers. "You two wait here, Laskar and myself +will do the talking to Gage." He started away with the man who had +answered him; then called back over his shoulder: "Hang around; if +there's trouble, you'll want to get in on it." + +Deveny and Laskar walked down the street; the girl saw them enter the +building occupied by the sheriff. + +Wondering, intensely curious--for that word "trouble" meant shooting in +the vocabulary of men of the Deveny type--Barbara drew back until she was +certain the men in the street could not see her. + +When Deveny and Laskar disappeared, Strom Rogers laughed sneeringly: + +"Deveny's scared of 'Drag' Harlan, I reckon. It's a cheap frame-up." + +"Aw, hell," jibed the other; "you're jealous, that's all. You'd like to +see Harlan plug Deveny, eh; so's you'd have a chance with Barbara Morgan. +I'd be a heap careful, if I was you, Rogers. Deveny knows you took a +shine to Barbara Morgan. I seen him lookin' hostile at you when you was +quizzin' him in Balleau's. He's next." + +"This is a free country," returned Rogers. The girl caught the malignant +note in his voice, and she leaned outward a little, trying to see his +face, while she shivered with dread. + +"Yes," laughed Lawson; "a man can cash in without any excuse, usual; all +he's got to do is to cross Deveny. You're a damned fool, Strom, to go to +takin' a shine to Barbara Morgan, when Deveny wants her. He's been +waitin' for her, an' meanin' to have her, all along. He's only been +waitin' until ol' Morgan cashed in, so's he'd have a chance to take her. +Now that Morgan's dead his chance has come." + +Silently, her face dead white, her eyes closed, Barbara slipped backward +and crumpled into a heap on the dirty carpet of the room. + +When she again opened her eyes it was to look wildly at the open window +through which the terrible news had come. Then she dragged herself to it, +and making no sound leaned her arms on the sill and listened again, her +heart seeming to be in the clutch of icy fingers, her brain atrophied, +reeling in a chaos of incoherent, agonized impulses. + +She did not know how long she had been unconscious. She saw that Rogers +and Lawson were still below, and still talking. So keen was her sense of +hearing--every nerve straining in the effort to learn more--that the +voices of the men came in through the window with a resonance that, she +felt, must be audible to every person in Lamo. + +"It ain't my style, that's all. I'd meet Harlan on the level, man to man, +if he was lookin' for me. It's likely he ain't at that. I've heard, bad +as he is, that he plays square. An' if I was runnin' things I'd take a +look at him before chargin' him with killin' Lane Morgan, when the +killin' had been done by the Chief, an' Dolver, an' Laskar." + +It was Strom Rogers' voice. It bore conviction with it, even though there +was passionate feeling behind it, mingled strangely with personal hatred +and jealousy. + +Dumbly, Barbara clutched the window-sill. One dry, agonized sob racked +her; and then she sat on the floor, to stare vacantly at the dingy walls +of the room. + +Once more she heard Rogers' voice; this time there was a note of savage +glee in it: + +"There's Harlan now, just slippin' off his cayuse in front of Gage's +place. 'Drag,' eh? Well, there don't seem to be nothin' impedin' his +actions anywhere." + +Prompted by the urge of a curiosity that she could not resist, Barbara +reeled to her feet, and with her hands resting on the window-sill leaned +out and looked up the street. + +In front of the sheriff's office, not more than thirty or forty feet +distant, she saw a tall, well-built man standing beside the hitching rail +that fringed the board sidewalk. He had evidently just dismounted, and he +was standing at the head of a big, coal-black horse. He was in the act of +hitching the animal, and his back was toward her. + +She watched breathlessly until he turned. And then she stared hard at +him, noting the steady, cold, alert eyes; the firm lips; the bigness of +him, the atmosphere of capableness that seemed to surround him; the +low-swung guns at his hips, with no flaps on the holster-tops, and the +bottoms of the holsters tied to his leather chaps with rawhide thongs. + +Never had she seen a man like him. For some reason, as yet inexplicable +to her, he brought into her troubled consciousness a feeling of cold +calm, a refreshing influence that might be compared to the sweep of a +cool and unexpected breeze in the middle of a hot day. + +He dominated the group of men that instantly surrounded him; and the +dominance was not of attire, for he was arrayed like the others. She saw +Deveny standing near him, and the man Laskar behind Deveny and Sheriff +Gage and several other men. And she saw Rogers and Lawson as they walked +slowly toward him. + +And then a realization of her loss, of the tragedy that had descended +upon her, again assailed her; and a fury of intolerance against inaction +seized her. She could not stay in this room and suffer the hideous +uncertainty; she could not take Rogers' word that her father had been +killed. There must be some mistake. Perhaps Rogers knew she was at the +window, listening, and he had said that just to spite her. For she had +discouraged Rogers' advances as she had discouraged Deveny's. + +Breathing fast, she unlocked the door and went out into the hall. + +The man whom Deveny had placed to guard her was still lounging on the +stair platform, and he grinned when he saw her. + +"Comin' to try ag'in?" he grinned. + +She smiled--a disarming smile that brought a fatuous gleam into the man's +eyes, so that he permitted her to come close to him. + +"Deveny's got damn' good judgment," he said as she halted near him. "He +knows a thoroughbred when he sees--Hell!" + +The ejaculation came from his lips as Barbara leaped swiftly past him. He +threw out a futile arm, and stood for an instant, shocked into inaction +as Barbara ran down the stairs toward the street. Then the man leaped +after her, cursing. She could hear him saying: "Damn your hide! Damn your +hide!" as he came after her, his spurs jangling on the steps. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAIN-LIGHTNING + + +Turning from Purgatory, after he had dismounted in front of the sheriff's +office, Harlan faced three men who stood just outside of the building, +watching him. + +The slightly humorous smile that curved Harlan's lips might have betrayed +his reason for dismounting in front of the sheriff's office, for he had +seen Laskar standing with the two other men. But no man could have told +that he looked at Laskar directly, except Laskar himself, who would have +sworn that Harlan did not remove his gaze from him, once he had slipped +from Purgatory's back. + +For Harlan's eyes told nothing. They seemed to be gazing at nothing, and +at everything. For Gage, watching the man, was certain Harlan was looking +directly at him as he grinned, and Deveny, like Laskar, was sure Harlan's +gaze was upon him. And all of them, noting one another's embarrassment, +stood silent, marveling. + +And now Deveny discovered that Harlan was watching the three of them +together--a trick which is accomplished by fixing the gaze upon some +object straight in front of one; in this case it was Deveny's collar--and +then including other objects on each side of the center object. + +Steady nerves and an inflexible will are required to keep the gaze +unwavering, and a complete absence of self-consciousness. Thus Deveny +knew he was standing in the presence of a man whose poise and +self-control were marvelous; and he knew, too, that Harlan would be aware +of the slightest move made by either of the three; more, he could detect +any sign of concerted action. + +And concerted action was what Deveny and Laskar and the sheriff had +planned. And they had purposely dragged Laskar outside, expecting Harlan +would do just as he had done, and as his eyes warned he intended to do. + +"I'm after you, Laskar," he said softly. + +Laskar stiffened. He made no move, keeping his hands at his sides, where +they had been all the time that had elapsed since Harlan had dismounted. + +Laskar's eyes moved quickly, with an inquiring flash in them, toward +Deveny and the sheriff. It was time for Deveny and the sheriff to +precipitate the action they had agreed upon. + +But the sheriff did not move. Nor did Deveny change his position. A +queer, cold chill had come over Deveny--a vague dread, a dragging +reluctance--an indecision that startled him and made of his thoughts an +odd jumble of half-formed impulses that seemed to die before they could +become definite. + +He had faced gun-fighters before, and had felt no fear of them. But +something kept drumming into his ears at this instant with irritating +insistence that this was not an ordinary man; that standing before him, +within three paces, his eyes swimming in an unfixed vacuity which +indicated preparation for violent action, was Harlan--"Drag" Harlan, the +Pardo two-gun man; Harlan, who had never been beaten in a gunfight. + +Could he--Deveny--beat him? Could he, now, with "Drag" Harlan watching +the three of them, could he draw with any hope of success, with the hope +of beating the other's lightning hand on the downward flash to life or +death? + +Deveny paled; he was afraid to take the chance. His eyes wavered from +Harlan's; he cast a furtive glance at the sheriff. + +Harlan caught the glance, smiled mirthlessly and spoke shortly to Laskar: + +"I told you to keep hittin' the breeze till there wasn't any more +breeze," he said. "I ought to have bored you out there by the red rock. I +gave you your chance. Flash your gun!" + +"Harlan!" + +This was Gage. His voice sounded as though it had been forced out: it was +hoarse and hollow. + +Harlan did not move, nor did his eyes waver. There was feeling in them +now: intense, savage, cold. And his voice snapped. + +"You're the sheriff, eh? You want to gas, I reckon. Do it quick before +this coyote goes for his gun." + +The sheriff cleared his throat. "You're under arrest, Harlan, for killin' +Lane Morgan out there in the desert yesterday." + +Harlan's eyes narrowed, his lips wreathed into a feline smile. But he did +not change his position. + +"Who's the witness against me?" + +"Laskar." + +"Has he testified?" + +"He's goin' to." + +Harlan backed away a little. His grin was tiger-like, a yellow flame +seemed to leap in his eyes. Laskar, realizing at last that he could hope +for no assistance from Gage or Deveny, grew rigid with desperation. + +Death was in front of him; he knew it. Death or a deathless fame. The +fates had willed one or the other, and he chose to take the gambler's +chance, the chance he and Dolver and the Chief had refused Lane Morgan. + +Deathless fame, the respect and the admiration of every man in the +section was his if he beat "Drag" Harlan to the draw. Forever afterward, +if he beat Harlan, he would be pointed at as the man who had met the +Pardo gunman on even terms and had downed him. + +He stepped out a little, away from the front of the building, edging off +from Deveny and Gage so that Harlan would have to watch in two +directions. + +Lawson and Rogers, having advanced to a position within a dozen paces of +the group in front of the sheriff's office, now backed away, silent, +watchful. Other men who had been standing near were on the move +instantly. Some dove into convenient doorways, others withdrew to a +little distance down the street. But all intently watched as Laskar +showed by his actions that he intended to accept his chance. + +Deveny, too, watched intently. He kept his gaze fixed upon Harlan, not +even glancing toward Laskar. For Deveny's fear had gone, now that the +dread presence had centered its attention elsewhere, and he was +determined to discover the secret of Harlan's hesitating "draw," the +curious movement that had given the man his sobriquet, "Drag." The +discovery of that secret might mean much to him in the future; it might +even mean life to him if Harlan decided to remain in the section. + +Harlan had made no hostile movement as yet. He still stood where he had +stood all along, except for the slight backward step he had taken before +Laskar began to move. But he watched Laskar as the latter edged away from +the other men, and when he saw Laskar's eyes widen with the thought that +precedes action, with the gleam that reflects the command the brain +transmutes to the muscles, his right hand flashed downward toward the +hip. + +With a grunt, for Harlan had almost anticipated his thoughts, Laskar's +right hand swept toward the butt of his pistol. + +But Harlan's hand had come to a poise, just above the stock of his +weapon--a pause so infinitesimal that it was merely a suggestion of a +pause. + +It was enough, however, to throw Laskar off his mental balance, and as he +drew his weapon he glanced at Harlan's holster. + +A dozen men who watched swore afterward that Laskar drew his gun first; +that it was in his hand when Harlan's bullet struck him. But Deveny knew +better; he knew that Laskar was dead on his feet before the muzzle of his +weapon had cleared the holster, and that the shot he had fired had been +the result of involuntary muscular action; that he had pulled the trigger +after Harlan's bullet struck him, and while his gun had been loosening in +his hand. + +For Deveny had seen the bullet from Laskar's gun throw up sand at +Harlan's feet after Harlan's weapon had sent its death to meet Laskar. +And Deveny had discovered the secret of Harlan's "draw." The pause was a +trick, of course, to disconcert an adversary. But the lightning flash of +Harlan's hand to his gun-butt was no trick. It was sheer rapidity, his +hand moving so fast that the eye could not follow. + +And Deveny could get no pleasure from his discovery. Harlan had waited +until Laskar's fingers were wrapped around the stock of his pistol before +he had drawn his own, and therefore in the minds of those who had +witnessed the shooting, Harlan had been justified. + +Sheriff Gage thought so, too. For, after Laskar's body had been carried +away, Harlan stepped to where the sheriff stood and spoke shortly: + +"You wantin' me for this?" + +Sheriff Gage shook his head. "I reckon everybody saw Laskar go for his +gun. There was no _call_ for him to go for his gun. If you'd have shot +him without him reachin' for it things would have been different." + +Harlan said coldly, "I'm ready for that trial, now." + +The sheriff's eyes glowed with some secret significance as they met +Harlan's. He was standing at a little distance from Deveny, and he +deliberately closed an eye at Harlan. + +"Trial--hell!" he declared, "you've destroyed the evidence." + +Harlan wheeled, to see Deveny standing near. And for an instant as their +eyes met--Harlan's level and cold, Deveny's aflame with a hostility +unmistakable--the crowd which had witnessed the shooting of Laskar again +became motionless, while a silence, portending further violence, +descended over the street. + +Then Deveny abruptly wheeled and began to walk across to the First +Chance. + +He had not taken many steps, however, when there were sounds of commotion +farther down the street toward the Eating-House--a man cursing and a girl +screaming. + +Deveny halted and faced the point from which the sounds came, and a scowl +appeared on his face. + +Harlan wheeled, also. And he saw, at a little distance down the street, a +girl running, her hair tossing in a mass around her, her eyes wild with +fright and terror. Behind her came a man, cursing as he ran. + +Harlan heard Sheriff Gage curse, too--heard him say: + +"That's Lane Morgan's daughter--Barbara! What in hell is she doin' here?" + +The girl, not more than a dozen feet ahead of her pursuer, ran straight +toward Harlan. And when--as she drew closer and he saw that she was, +indeed, actually coming toward him--her eyes on him as though she had +singled him out as a protector--he advanced toward her, drawing one of +his guns as he went. + +And, grinning as she neared him, he opened his arms wide and she ran +straight into them, and laid her head on his shoulder, sobbing, and +talking incoherently. While Harlan, his grin fading as he looked at her +pursuer--who had halted within half a dozen paces of the girl--commanded +lowly: + +"You're runnin' plumb into a heap of trouble, mister man. Throw your rope +around the snubbin' post. Then get on your hind legs an' do some +explainin'. What you chasin' this girl for?" + +The man reddened, looked downward, then up at Deveny. The latter, a pout +on his lips, his eyes glowing savagely, walked to where Harlan stood with +one arm around the girl, while Lawson, Rogers, Gage, and several other +men advanced slowly and stood near him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SINGLE-HANDED + + +Noting the concerted movement toward him, Harlan grinned at Barbara, +gently disengaged himself from her grasp, and urged her toward the door +of the sheriff's office. She made no objection, for she felt that further +trouble impended, and she knew she must not impede any action her rescuer +planned. + +Reaching the street a few minutes before, she had noted the preparations +for the swift tragedy that had followed; and despite her wild desire to +escape Deveny's man, she had halted, fascinated by the spectacle +presented by the two men, gambling with death. + +She had halted at a little distance, crouching against the front of a +building. And while she had been crouching there, trembling with a new +apprehension, her pursuer had caught her. + +She had hardly been aware of him, and his grasp on her arm she had not +resisted, so intense was her interest in what was transpiring. But the +sudden ending of the affair brought again into her consciousness the +recollection of her own peril, and when she saw Deveny cross the street +she broke from the man's restraining grasp and ran to Harlan, convinced +that he--because he seemed to be antagonistic toward the forces arrayed +against her--would protect her. + +And now, shrinking into the open doorway of the sheriff's office, she +watched breathlessly, with straining senses, the moving figures in the +drama. + +Harlan had backed a little way toward the doorway in which Barbara stood. +The movement was strategic, and had been accomplished with deliberation. +He was facing Lamo's population--at least that proportion of it which was +at home--with the comforting assurance that no part of it could get +behind him. + +The gun he had drawn upon the approach of Barbara's pursuer was still in +his right hand. It menaced no one, and yet it seemed to menace everyone +within range of it. + +For though the gun was held loosely in Harlan's hand, the muzzle +downward, there was a glow in the man's eyes that conveyed a warning. + +The smile on his face, too, was pregnant with the promise of violence. It +was a surface smile, penetrating no deeper than his lips, and behind it, +partially masked by the smile, the men in the group in the street could +detect the destroying passion that ruled the man at this instant. + +Deveny, who had approached to a point within a dozen feet of Harlan, came +to a slow, reluctant halt when he caught a glimpse of the strange glow in +Harlan's eyes. All the others, Sheriff Gage included, likewise +halted--most of them at a considerable distance, as their conceptions of +prudence suggested. + +Harlan's grin grew ironic as he noted the pause--the concerted rigidity +of Lamo's population. + +"Seems there's a heap of folks wantin' to palaver," he said lowly. "An' +no one is crowdin' me. That's polite an' proper. Seems you all sort of +guessed there's plenty of room, an' crowdin' ain't necessary. I'd thank +every specimen to hook his thumbs in the armholes of his vest--same as +though he's a member of the pussy-cafe outfit which I've seen in +Chicago, makin' moon-eyes at girls. If there's any of you ain't got on +vests, why, you can fasten your sky-hooks on your shoulders any way to +suit your idee of safety. Get them up!" + +It seemed ludicrous to Barbara, despite the shadow of tragedy that lurked +over it all--the embarrassed manner in which Lamo's citizens complied +with the command, and the spectacle they presented afterward. + +Deveny's hands were the last to go up. There was a coldly malignant glare +in his eyes as under Harlan's unwavering gaze he finally raised his hands +and held them, palms outward, as for inspection. + +Rogers had complied instantly. There was a smile on his face, faint and +suggestive of grim amusement, for he had been mentally tortured over the +contemplation of Barbara's predicament, and had been unable to think of +any plan by which he might assist her. + +Meeder Lawson's face was sullen and full of impotent rage, and he watched +Deveny with a gaze of bitter accusation when he saw that the big man +intended to obey Harlan's order. Barbara's pursuer, having felt Deveny's +angry gaze upon him, and being uncomfortably conscious that Harlan had +not forgotten him, was red of face and self-conscious. He started, and +the red in his face deepened, when Harlan, in the silence which followed +the concerted raising of hands, spoke sharply to him: + +"What was you tryin' to corral that girl for? Talk fast or I'll bust you +wide open!" + +The man grinned foolishly, shooting a furtive glance at Deveny. + +"Why," he said, noting Deveny's scowl, "I reckon it was because I'd took +a shine to her. I was tryin' to cotton up to her on the landin' about the +Eatin'-House, an' she----" + +"You lie!" + +This was Barbara. Pale, her eyes flashing with indignation, she stepped +down into the street, standing near Harlan. + +"That man," Barbara went on, pointing to the red-faced pursuer, "told me +early this morning that Luke Deveny had told him to watch me, that I was +not to leave my room until Deveny came for me. I was a prisoner. He +didn't try to make love to me. I should have killed him." + +Speech had broken the tension under which Barbara had been laboring; the +flow of words through her lips stimulated her thoughts and sent them +skittering back to the salient incidents of her enforced confinement; +they brought into her consciousness a recollection of the conversation +she had heard between Meeder Lawson and Strom Rogers, regarding her +father. She forgot Harlan, Deveny, and the others, and ran to Sheriff +Gage. + +Gage, a tall, slender man of forty, was pale and uncomfortable as he +looked down at the girl's white, upturned face. He shrank from the +frenzied appeal of her eyes, and he endured the pain of her tightly +gripping fingers on the flesh of his arms without flinching. + +"Did--is father _dead_!" + +She waited, frantically shaking Gage. And Gage did not answer until his +gaze had roamed the crowd. + +Then he said slowly and reluctantly: + +"I reckon he's dead. Deveny was tellin' me--he was chargin' this man, +Harlan, with killin' your father." + +Barbara wheeled and faced Deveny. Rage, furious and passionate, had +overwhelmed the grief she felt over the death of her father. The shock +had been tremendous, but it had come while she had been leaning out of +the window listening to Rogers and Lawson--when she had lain for many +minutes unconscious on the floor of the room. Therefore the emotion she +experienced now was not entirely grief, it was rather a frantic yearning +to punish the men who had killed her father. + +"You charged this man with murdering my father?" she demanded of Deveny +as she walked to him and stood, her hands clenched, her face dead white +and her eyes blazing hate. "You know better. I heard Strom Rogers tell +Meeder Lawson that it was Dolver and Laskar and somebody he called the +'Chief,' who did it. I want to know who those men are; I want to know +where I can find them! I want you to tell me!" + +"You're unstrung, Barbara," said Deveny slowly, coolly, a faint smile on +his face. "I know nothing about it. I merely repeated to Gage the word +Laskar brought. Laskar said this man Harlan shot your father. It happened +about a day's ride out--near Sentinel Rock. If Laskar lied, he was paid +for his lying. For Harlan has----" + +Deveny paused, the sentence unfinished, for the girl turned abruptly from +him and walked to Harlan. + +"That was Laskar--the man you killed just now?" + +"Laskar an' Dolver," relied Harlan. "There was three of them your father +said. One got away in the night, leavin' Dolver an' Laskar to finish the +job. I run plumb into them, crossin' here from Pardo. I bored Dolver, but +I let Laskar off, not havin' the heart to muss up the desert with scum +like him." + +The girl's eyes gleamed for an instant with venomous satisfaction. Then +she said, tremulously: + +"And father?" + +"I buried him near the rock," returned Harlan, lowly. + +Soundlessly, closing her eyes, Barbara sank into the dust of the street. + +Harlan broke the force of her fall with his left hand, supporting her +partially until she collapsed; then, his eyes alight with a cold flame, +he called, sharply, his gaze still on the group of men: + +"Get her, Gage! Take her into your place!" + +He waited until Gage carried the slack form inside. Then, his shoulders +sagging, the heavy pistol in his right hand coming to a poise, the +fingers of the left hand brushing the butt of the weapon in the holster +at his left hip, the vacuous gleam in his eyes telling them all that his +senses were alert to catch the slightest movement, he spoke, to Deveny: + +"I seen that desert deal. It wasn't on the level. I ain't no angel, but +when I down a man I do it fair an' square--givin' him his chance. I sent +that sneak Dolver out--an' that coyote Laskar. It was a dirty, rotten +deal, the way they framed up on Morgan. It's irritated me--I reckon you +can hear my rattles right now. I'm stayin' in Lamo, an' I'm stickin' by +this Barbara girl until you guys learn to walk straight up, like men!" + +He paused, and a heavy silence descended. No man moved. A sneer began to +wreathe Harlan's lips--a twisting, mocking, sardonic sneer that expressed +his contempt for the men who faced him. + +"Not havin' any thoughts, eh?" he jeered. "There's some guys that would +rather do their fightin' with women, an' their thoughts wouldn't sound +right if they put words around them. I ain't detainin' you no longer. Any +man who thinks it's time to call for a show-down can do his yappin' right +now. Them that's dead certain they're through can mosey along, takin' +care not to try any monkey business!" + +He stood, watching, his wide gaze including them all, until, one after +another the men in the group silently moved away. They did not go far. +Some of them merely stepped into near-by doorways, others sauntered +slowly down the street and halted at a little distance to look back. + +But no man made a hostile move, for they had seen the tragedy in which +Laskar had figured, and they had no desire to provoke Harlan to express +again the cold wrath that slumbered in his eyes. + +Meeder Lawson was the first of Deveny's intimates to leave the group. His +face sullen, his eyes venomous, he walked across the street to the First +Chance, and stood in the doorway, beside Balleau, who had been an +interested onlooker. + +Then Strom Rogers moved. He wheeled slowly, flashing an inquiring glance +at Deveny--who still stood motionless. Deveny had lowered his hands--they +were hanging at his sides, the right hand having the palm toward Harlan, +giving eloquent testimony of its owner's peaceable intentions. + +Rogers' glance included the out-turned palm, and his lips curved in a +faint smile. The smile held as his glance went to Harlan's face, and for +an instant as the eyes of the two men met, appraisal was the emotion that +ruled in them. Harlan detected in Rogers' eyes a grim scorn of Deveny, +and a malignant satisfaction; Rogers saw in Harlan's eyes a thing that +not one of the men who had faced the man had seen--cold humor. + +Then Rogers was walking away, leaving Deveny to face the man who had +disrupted his plans. + +Deveny had not changed his position, and for an instant following the +departure of Rogers, there was no word spoken. Then for the first time +since he had dismounted from Purgatory, Harlan's eyes lost their wide, +inclusive vacuity. They met Deveny's fairly, with a steady, direct, +boring intensity; a light in them that resembled the yellow flame that +Deveny had once seen in the eyes of a Mexican jaguar some year before at +a camp on the Neuces. + +Deveny knew what the light in Harlan's eyes meant. It meant the presence +of a wild, rending passion, of elemental impulses; it meant that the man +who faced him was eager to kill him, was awaiting his slightest hostile +movement. It meant more. The gleam in Harlan's eyes indicated that the +man possessed that strange and almost uncanny instinct of thought +reading, that he could detect in another's eyes a mental impulse before +the other's muscles could answer it. Also, it meant certain death to +Deveny should he obey the half-formed determination to draw and shoot, +that was in his mind at this instant. + +He dropped his lids, attempting to veil the thought from Harlan. But when +he again looked up it was to see Harlan's lips twisting into a cold +smile--to see Harlan slowly sheathing the gun he had held in his right +hand. + +And now Harlan was standing before him, both weapons in their holsters. +He and Deveny were facing each other upon a basis of equality. Harlan had +disdained taking advantage. + +Apparently, if Deveny now elected to draw and shoot, his chances were as +good as Harlan's. + +And yet Deveny knew they were not as good. For Harlan's action in +sheathing his gun convinced Deveny that the man had divined his thoughts +from the expression of his eyes before he had veiled them with the lids, +and he was convinced that Harlan had sensed the chill of dread that had +swept over him at that instant. He was sure of it when he heard Harlan's +voice, low and taunting: + +"You waitin' for a show-down?" + +Deveny smiled, pallidly. "I don't mind telling you that I _did_ have a +notion that way a moment ago. But I was afraid I might be a little slow. +When you downed Laskar I watched you, trying to learn the secret of your +draw. I didn't learn it, because there is no secret--you're just a +natural gunslinger without a flaw. You're the fastest man with a gun I +ever saw--and I'm taking my hat off to you." + +Harlan smiled faintly, but his eyes did not lose their alertness, nor did +the flame in them cool visibly. Only his lips betrayed whatever emotion +he felt. He distrusted Deveny, for he had seen the half-formed +determination in the man's eyes, and his muscles were tensed in +anticipation of a trick. + +"You didn't stay here to tell me that. Get goin' with the real talk." + +"That's right--I didn't," said Deveny. He was cool, now, and bland, +having recovered his poise. + +"Higgins _was_ watching Barbara Morgan at my orders. But I meant no harm +to the girl. I knew she was in town, and I heard there were a few of the +boys that were making plans about her. So I set Higgins to guard her. +Naturally, she thought I meant harm to her." + +"Naturally," said Harlan. + +Deveny said coolly: "I'll admit I have a bad reputation. But it doesn't +run to women. It's more in your line." He looked significantly at the +other. + +"Meanin'?" + +"Oh, hell--you know well enough what I mean. You're not such a +law-abiding citizen, yourself. I've heard of you--often. And I've admired +you. To get right down to the point--I could find a place where you'd fit +in just right. We're needing another man--a man of your general size and +character." + +Harlan grinned. "I'm thankin' you. An' I sure appreciate what you've +said. You've been likin' me so much that you tried to frame up on me +about sendin' Lane Morgan out." + +"That's business," laughed Deveny. "You were an unknown quantity, then." + +"But not now--eh?" returned Harlan, his eyes gleaming with a cold humor. +"You've got me sized up right. The yappin' I done about stickin' to +Barbara Morgan wasn't the real goods, eh?" + +"Certainly not!" laughed Deveny, "there must be some selfish motive +behind that." + +"An' you sure didn't believe me?" + +"Of course not," chuckled Deveny, for he thought he saw a gleam of +insincerity in Harlan's eyes. + +"Then I've got to do my yappin' all over again," said Harlan. "Now get +this straight. I'm stickin' to Barbara Morgan. I'm runnin' the Rancho +Seco from now on. I'm runnin' it _my_ way. Nobody is botherin' Barbara +Morgan except them guys she wants to have bother her. That lets you out. +You're a rank coyote, an' I don't have no truck with you except at the +business end of a gun. Now take your damned, sneakin' grin over an' wet +it down, or I'll blow you apart!" + +Deveny's face changed color. It became bloated with a poisonous wrath, +his eyes gleamed evilly and his muscles tensed. He stood, straining +against the murder lust that had seized him, almost persuaded to take the +slender chance of beating Harlan to his weapon. + +"You got notions, eh?" he heard Harlan say, jeeringly. "Well, don't spoil +'em. I'd admire to make you feel like you'd ought to have got started a +week ago." + +Deveny smiled with hideous mirthlessness. But he again caught the flame +in Harlan's eyes. He wheeled, saying nothing more, and walked across the +street without looking back. + +Smiles followed him; several men commented humorously, and almost +immediately, knowing that this last crisis had passed, Lamo's citizens +resumed their interrupted pleasures. + +Harlan stood motionless until Deveny vanished into the First Chance, then +he turned quickly and entered the sheriff's office. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +BARBARA IS PUZZLED + + +Half an hour later, with Barbara Morgan, on "Billy"--a piebald +pinto--riding beside him, Harlan loped Purgatory out of Lamo. They took a +trail--faint and narrow--that led southward, for Barbara had said that +the Rancho Seco lay in that direction. + +Harlan had not seen Deveny or Rogers or Lawson after the scene in front +of the sheriff's office. He had talked for some time with Gage, waiting +until Barbara Morgan recovered slightly from the shock she had suffered. +Then when he had told her that he intended to accompany her to the Rancho +Seco--and she had offered no objection--he had gone on a quest for her +pony, finding him in the stable in the rear of the Eating-House. + +So far as Harlan knew, no one in Lamo besides Sheriff Gage had watched +the departure of himself and Barbara. And there had been no word spoken +between the two as they rode away--Lamo becoming at last an almost +invisible dot in the great yawning space they left behind them. + +Barbara felt a curious unconcern for what was happening; her brain was in +a state of dull apathy, resulting from shock and the period of dread +under which she had lived for more than a day and a night. + +She did not seem to care what happened to her. She knew, to be sure, that +she was riding toward the Rancho Seco with a man whom she had heard +called an outlaw by other men; she was aware that she must be risking +something by accepting his escort--and yet she could not bring herself to +feel that dread fear that she knew any young woman in her position should +feel. + +It seemed to her that nothing mattered now--very much. Her father was +dead--murdered by some men--two of whom had been punished by death, and +another--a mysterious person called the "Chief"--who would be killed as +soon as she could find him. That resolution was deeply fixed in her mind. + +Her gaze though, after a while, went to Harlan, and for many miles she +studied him without his suspecting. And gradually she began to think +about him, to wonder why he had protected her from the man, Higgins, and +why he was going with her to the Rancho Seco. + +She provided--after a while--an answer to her first question: He had +protected her because she had run into his arms in her effort to escape +the clutches of the man who had pursued her--Higgins. She remembered that +while she had been at the window, watching Harlan when he had dismounted +in front of the sheriff's office, he had seemed to make a favorable +impression upon her. + +That was the reason, when she had seen him before her in the street, after +he had shot Laskar, she had selected him as a protector. That had seemed +to be the logical thing to do, for he had arrayed himself against her +enemies in killing Laskar, and it was reasonable to suppose--conceding +Laskar and Higgins were leagued with Deveny--that Harlan would protect +her. + +It all seemed exceedingly natural, that far. It was when she began to +wonder why Harlan was with her now that an element of mystery seemed to +rule. And she was puzzled. + +She began to speculate over Harlan, and her mental efforts in that +direction banished the somber thoughts that had almost overwhelmed her +after the discovery of her father's death. Yet they had ridden more than +ten miles before she spoke. + +"What made you decide to ride with me to the Rancho Seco?" she demanded +sharply. + +Harlan flashed a grin at her. He was riding a little in advance of her, +and he had to turn in the saddle to see her face. + +"I was headin' that way, an' wanted company. It sure gets lonesome ridin' +alone." + +She caught her breath at this answer, for it seemed that he had not +revealed the real reason. And she had got her first good look at his +face. It was lean and strong. His eyes were deep-set and rimmed by heavy +lashes and brows, and there was a glow in them as he looked at her--a +compelling fixity that held her. Her own drooped, and were lifted to his +again in sheer curiosity, she thought at first. + +It was only when she found herself, later, trying to catch his glance +again that she realized they were magnetic eyes, and that the glow in +them was of a subtle quality that could not be analyzed at a glance. + +The girl was alert to detect a certain expression in his eyes--a gleam +that would tell her what she half feared--that the motive that had +brought him with her was like that which had caused Deveny to hold her +captive. But she could detect no such expression in Harlan's eyes, she +could see a quizzical humor in his glances at times, or frank interest, +and there were times when she saw a grim pity. + +And the pity affected her strangely. It brought him close to +her--figuratively; it convinced her that he was a man of warm sympathies +in spite of the reputation he held in the Territory. + +She had heard her father speak of him--always with a sort of awe in his +voice; and tales of his reckless daring, his Satanic cleverness with a +six-shooter, of his ruthlessness, had reached her ears from other +sources. He had seemed, then, like some evil character of mythology, +remote and far, and not likely to appear in the flesh in her section of +the country. + +It seemed impossible that she had fled to such a man for protection--and +that he had protected her; and that she was now riding beside him--or +slightly behind him--and that, to all appearances, he was quite as +respectful toward her as other men. That, she surmised, was what made it +all seem so strange. + +Harlan did not seem disposed to talk; and he kept Purgatory slightly in +the lead--except when the trail grew dim or disappeared altogether. Then +he would pull the black horse up, look inquiringly at Barbara, and urge +Purgatory after her when she took the lead. + +But there were many things that Barbara wanted to inquire about; and it +was when they were crossing a big level between some rimming hills, where +the trail was broad, that she urged her pony beside the black. + +"Won't you tell me about father--how he died?" she asked. + +He looked sharply at her, saw that she was now quite composed, and +drawing Purgatory to a walk, began to relate to her the incident of the +fight at Sentinel Rock. His story was brief--brutally brief, she might +have thought, had she not been watching his face during the telling, +noting the rage that flamed in his eyes when he spoke of Dolver and +Laskar and the mysterious "Chief." + +It was plain to the girl that he had sympathized with her father; and it +was quite as plain that he now sympathized with her. And thus she +mentally recorded another point in his favor: + +He might be a gunman, a ruthless killer, an outlaw of such evil +reputation that men mentioned his name with awe in their voices--but she +_knew_, now, that he had a keen sense of justice, and that the murder of +her father had aroused the retributive instinct in him. + +Also, she was convinced that compared to Deveny, Rogers, and Lawson, he +was a gentleman. At least, so far he had not looked at her as those men +had looked at her. He had been with her now for several hours, in a +lonely country where there was no law except his own desires, and he had +been as gravely courteous and considerate as it was possible for any man +to be. + +When he finished his story, having neglected to mention the paper he had +removed from one of the cylinders of Morgan's pistol--upon which was +written instructions regarding the location of the gold Morgan had +secreted--Barbara rode for a long time in silence, her head bowed, her +eyes moist. + +At last she looked up. Harlan's gaze was straight ahead; he was watching +the trail, where it vanished over the crest of a high ridge, and he did +not seem to be aware of Barbara's presence. + +"And father told you to tell me--wanted you to bring the news to me?" + +Harlan nodded. + +"Then," she went on "your obligation--if you were under any--seems to +have been completed. You need not have come out of your way." + +"I was headed this way." + +"To the Rancho Seco?" she questioned, astonished. + +Again he nodded. But this time there was a slight smile on his lips. + +Her own straightened, and her eyes glowed with a sudden suspicion. + +"That's odd," she said; "very odd." + +"What is?" + +"That you should be on your way to the Rancho Seco--and that you should +encounter father--that you should happen to reach Sentinel Rock about the +time he was murdered." + +He looked straight at her, noting the suspicion in her eyes. His low +laugh had a hint of irony in it. + +"I've heard of such things," he said. + +"What?" + +"About guys happenin' to run plumb into a murder when they was innocent +of it--an' of them bein' accused of the murder." + +It was the mocking light in his eyes that angered her, she believed--and +the knowledge that he had been aware of her suspicion before it had +become half formed in her mind. + +"I'm not accusing you!" she declared. + +"You said it was odd that I'd be headed this way--after I'd told you all +there was to tell." + +"It is!" she maintained. + +"Well," he conceded; "mebbe it's odd. But I'm still headin' for the +Rancho Seco. Mebbe I forgot to tell you that your father said I was to +go--that he made me promise to go." + +He had not mentioned that before; and the girl glanced sharply at him. He +met the glance with a slow grin which had in it a quality of that +subtleness she had noticed in him before. A shiver of trepidation ran +over her. But she sat rigid in the saddle, determined she would not be +afraid of him. For the exchange of talk between them, and his considerate +manner--everything about him--had convinced her that he was much like +other men--men who respect women. + +"There is no evidence that father made you promise to go to the Rancho +Seco." + +"There wasn't no evidence that I made any promise to keep that man Deveny +from herd-ridin' you," he said shortly, with a grin. "I'm sure goin' to +the Rancho Seco." + +"Suppose I should not wish it--what then?" + +"I'd keep right on headin' for there--keepin' my promise." + +"Do you always keep your promises?" she asked, mockery in her voice. + +"When I make 'em. Usually, I don't do any promisin'. But when I do--that +promise is goin' to be kept. If you ain't likin' my company, ma'am, why, +I reckon there's a heap of trail ahead. An' I ain't afraid of gettin' +lost." + +"Isn't that remarkable!" she jeered. + +He looked at her with sober eyes. "If we're figurin' on hittin' the +Rancho Seco before night we'll have to quit our gassin' an' do some +travelin'," he advised. "Accordin' to the figures we've got about forty +miles to ride, altogether. We've come about fifteen--an'," he looked at a +silver watch which he drew from a pocket, "it's pretty near two now." + +Without further words--for it seemed useless to argue the point upon +which he was so obviously determined--Barbara urged Billy on, taking the +lead. + +For more than an hour she maintained the lead, riding a short distance in +advance, and seemingly paying no attention to Harlan. Yet she noted that +he kept about the same distance from her always--though she never +permitted him to observe that she watched him, for her backward glances +were taken out of the corners of her eyes, when she pretended to be +looking at the country on one side or the other. + +Harlan, however, noted the glances. And his lips curved into a faint grin +as he rode. Once when he had dropped behind a little farther than usual, +he leaned over and whispered into Purgatory's ear: + +"She's sure ignorin' us, ain't she, you black son-of-a-gun! She ain't +looked back here more'n three times in the last five minutes!" + +And yet Harlan's jocular mood did not endure long. During those intervals +in which Barbara kept her gaze straight ahead on the trail, Harlan +regarded her with a grave intentness that betrayed the soberness of his +thoughts. + +In all his days he had seen no woman like her; and when she had come +toward him in Lamo, with Higgins close behind her, he had been so +astonished that he had momentarily forgotten Deveny and all the rest of +them. + +Women of the kind he had met had never affected him as Barbara had +affected him. He had still a mental picture of her as she had come toward +him, with her hair flying in a golden-brown mass over her shoulders; her +wide, fear-lighted eyes seeking his with an expression of appeal so +eloquent that it had sent a queer, thrilling, protective sensation over +him. + +And as she rode ahead of him it was the picture she had made _then_ that +he saw; and the emotions that assailed him were the identical emotions +that had beset him when for a brief instant, in Lamo, he had held her in +his arms, with her head resting on his shoulder. + +That, he felt, had been the real Barbara Morgan. Her manner now--the +constrained and distant pose she had adopted, her suspicions, her +indignation--all those were outward manifestations of the reaction that +had seized her. The real Barbara Morgan was she who had run to him for +protection and she would always be to him as she had appeared then--a +soft, yielding, trembling girl who, at a glance had trusted him enough to +run straight into his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AN UNWELCOME GUEST + + +It was late afternoon when Barbara and Harlan--the girl still riding a +little in advance of the man--rode their horses out of a stretch of +broken country featured by low, barren hills and ragged draws, and came +to the edge of a vast level of sage and mesquite that stretched southward +an interminable distance. + +The sun was low--a flaming red disk that swam in a sea of ever-changing +color between the towering peaks of two mighty mountains miles +westward--and the sky above the big level upon which Barbara and Harlan +rode was a pale amethyst set in the dull gray frame of the dusk that was +rising from the southern and eastern horizons. + +Eastward the gray was pierced by the burning, flaming prismatic streaks +that stretched straight from the cleft in the mountains where the sun was +sinking--the sun seemed to be sending floods of new color into the +streaks as he went, deepening those that remained; tinging it all with +harmonious tones--rose and pearl and violet and saffron blending them +with a giant, magic brush--recreating them, making the whole background +of amethyst sky glow like a huge jewel touched by the myriad colors of a +mighty rainbow. + +The trail taken by Barbara Morgan ran now, in a southeasterly direction, +and it seemed to Harlan that they were riding straight into the folds of +a curtain of gauze. For a haze was rising into the effulgent expanse of +color, and the sun's rays, striking it, wrought their magic upon it. + +Harlan, accustomed to sunsets--with a matter-of-fact attitude toward all +of nature's phenomena--caught himself admiring this one. So intent was he +that he looked around with a start when Purgatory halted, to find that +Barbara had drawn Billy down and was sitting in the saddle close to him, +watching him, her eyes luminous with an emotion that thrilled Harlan +strangely. + +"This is the most beautiful place in the world," she declared in a voice +that seemed to quaver with awe. + +"It's sure a beauty," agreed Harlan. "I've been in a heap of places where +they had sunsets, but dump 'em all together an' they wouldn't make an +edge on this display. She's sure a hummer!" + +The girl's eyes seemed to leap at his praise. + +"I never want to leave this place," she said. "There is nothing like it. +Those two mountains that you see far out into the west--where the sun is +going down--are about forty miles distant. If you will notice, you can +see that there are other mountains--much smaller--connected with them. +They are two small ranges, and they melt into the plains there--and +there." + +She pointed to the south and to the north, where the two ranges, +seemingly extending straight westward, merged into the edge of the big +level where Barbara and Harlan sat on their horses. + +The two ranges were perhaps a dozen miles apart, separated by a low level +valley through which ran a narrow river, its surface glowing like +burnished gold in the rays of the sinking sun. + +Gazing westward--straight into the glow--Harlan noted the virgin wildness +of the immense valley. It lay, serene, slumberous; its salient +features--ridges, low hills, rocky promontories and wooded slopes--touched +by the rose tints that descended upon them; while in the depressions +reigned purple shadows, soft-toned, blending perfectly with the brighter +colors. + +With the sunset glow upon it; with the bastioned hills--barren at their +peaks, ridged and seamed--looming clear and definite above the vast +expanse of green, the colossal valley stretched, with no movement in it +or above it--in a vacuum-like stillness that might have reigned over the +world on the dawn of creation's first morning. + +Harlan looked covertly at Barbara. The girl's face was pale, and her eyes +were glowing with a light that made him draw a long breath of sympathy +and understanding. But it had been many years since he had felt the +thrill of awe that she was experiencing at this minute. + +He knew that presently the spell would pass, and that material things +would exact their due. And the resulting contrast between the beauty of +the picture upon which she was gazing, and the solemn realization of loss +that memory would bring, instantly, would almost crush her. + +Therefore he spoke seriously when he caught her looking at him. + +"There's sunsets _an'_ sunsets," he said. "They tell me that they're a +heap common in some parts of the world. Wyoming, now--Wyoming prides +herself on sunsets. An' I've heard they have 'em in Italy, an' +France--an' some more of them foreign places--where guys go to look at +'em. But it's always seemed to me that there ain't a heap of sense in +gettin' fussed up over a sunset. The sun has got his work to do; an' he +does it without any fussin'. An' they tell me that it's the same sun that +sets in all them places I've been tellin' you about. + +"Well, it's always been my idee that the sun ain't got no compliments due +him--he'll set mighty beautiful--sometimes; an' folks will get awed an' +thrilly over him. But the next day--if a man happens to be ridin' in the +desert, where there ain't any water, he'll cuss the sun pretty +thorough--forgettin' the nice things he said about it once." + +Barbara scowled at him. + +"You haven't a bit of poetry in your soul!" she charged. "I'm sorry we +stopped to look at the valley or the sun--or anything. You don't--you +can't appreciate the beautiful!" + +He was silent as she urged Billy onward. And as they fled southwestward, +with Purgatory far behind, Harlan swept his hat from his head and bowed +toward the mighty valley, saying lowly: + +"You're sure a hummer--an' no mistake. But if a man had any poetry in his +soul--why----" + +He rode on, gulping his delight over having accomplished what he had +intended to accomplish. + +"She'll be givin' it to me pretty regular; an' she won't have time for no +solemn thoughts. They'll come later, though, when she gets to the Rancho +Seco." + +It was the lowing of cattle that at last brought to Harlan the conviction +that they were near the Rancho Seco--that and the sight of the roofs of +some buildings that presently came into view. + +But they had been riding for half an hour before they came upon the +cattle and buildings, and the flaming colors had faded into somber gray +tones. The filmy dusk that precedes darkness was beginning to settle over +the land; and into the atmosphere had come that solemn hush with which +the wide, open places greet the night. + +Barbara had no further word to say to Harlan until they reached a group +of buildings that were scattered on a big level near a river. They had +passed a long stretch of wire fence, which Harlan suspected, enclosed a +section of land reserved for a pasture; and the girl brought her pony to +a halt in front of an adobe building near a high rail fence. + +"This is the Rancho Seco," she said shortly. "This is the stable. Over +there is the ranchhouse. Evidently the men are all away somewhere." + +She got off the pony, removed the saddle and bridle, carried them into +the stable, came out again, and opened a gate in the fence, through which +she sent "Billy." Then she closed the gate and turned to Harlan, who had +dismounted and was standing at Purgatory's head. + +"I thank you for what you have done for me," she said, coldly. "And now, +I should like to know just what you purpose to do--and why you have +come." + +Harlan's eyes narrowed as he returned her gaze. He remembered Lane +Morgan's words: "John Haydon is dead stuck on Barbara;" and he had +wondered ever since the meeting in Lamo if Barbara returned Haydon's +affection, or if she trusted Haydon enough to confide in him. + +Barbara's attitude toward Haydon would affect Harlan's attitude toward +the girl. For if she loved Haydon, or trusted him enough to confide in +him--or even to communicate with him concerning ordinary details, Harlan +could not apprise her of the significance of his presence at the Rancho +Seco. + +For Haydon was unknown to Harlan and Harlan was not inclined to accept +Morgan's praise of him as conclusive evidence of the man's worthiness. +Besides, Morgan had qualified his instructions with: "Take a look at John +Haydon, an' if you think he's on the level--an' you want to drift +on--turn things over to him." + +Harlan did not want to "drift on." Into his heart since his meeting in +Lamo with Barbara--and during the ride to the Rancho Seco--had grown a +decided reluctance toward "drifting." And not even the girl's scorn could +have forced him to leave her at the ranch, unprotected. + +But he could not tell her why he could not go. Despite her protests he +must remain--at least until he was able to determine the character of +John Haydon. + +A gleam of faint mockery came into his eyes as he looked at Barbara. + +"I'm keepin' my promise to your dad--I'm stayin' at the Rancho Seco +because he told me to stay. He wanted me to sort of look out that nothin' +happened to you. I reckon we'll get along." + +The girl caught her breath sharply. In the growing darkness Harlan's +smile seemed to hold an evil significance; it seemed to express a thought +that took into consideration the loneliness of the surroundings, the fact +that she was alone, and that she was helpless. More--it seemed to be a +presumptuous smile, insinuating, full of dire promise. + +For Harlan was an outlaw--she could not forget that! He bore a reputation +for evil that had made him feared wherever men congregated; and as she +watched him it seemed to her that his face betrayed signs of his +ruthlessness, his recklessness, and his readiness for violence of every +kind. + +He might not have killed her father--Rogers and Lawson had acquitted him +of that. But he might be lying about the promise to her father merely for +the purpose of providing an excuse to come to the Rancho Seco. It seemed +to her that if her father had really exacted a promise from him he would +have written to her, or sent her some token to prove the genuineness of +it. There was no visible evidence of Harlan's truthfulness. + +"Do you mean to say you are going to stay here--indefinitely?" she +demanded, her voice a little hoarse from the fright that was stealing +over her. + +He smiled at her. "You've hit it about right, ma'am." + +"I don't want you to stay here!" she declared, angrily. + +"I'm stayin', ma'am." His smile faded, and his eyes became +serious--earnest. + +"Later on--when things shape themselves up--I'll tell you why I'm +stayin'. But just now----" + +She shrank from him, incredulous, a growing fear plain in her eyes. And +before he could finish what he intended to say she had wheeled, and was +running toward the ranchhouse. + +He watched until she vanished through an open doorway; he heard the door +slam, and caught the sound of bars being hurriedly dropped into place. +And after that he stood for a time watching the house. No light came from +within, and no other sound. + +He frowned slightly, drawing a mental picture of the girl inside, +yielding to the terror that had seized her. Then after a while he walked +down along the corral fence until he came to another building--a +bunkhouse. And for a long time he stood in the doorway of the building, +watching the ranchhouse, afflicted with grim sympathy. + +"It ain't so damn' cheerful, at that," he mused. "I reckon she thinks +she's landed into trouble with both feet--with her dad cashin' in like he +did, an' Deveny after her. It sure must be pretty hard to consider all +them things. An' on top of that I mosey along, with a reputation as a +no-good son-of-a-gun, an' scare the wits out of her with my homely mug. +An' I can't tell her why she hadn't ought to be scared. I call that +mighty mean." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ON GUARD + + +The man whose soul held no love of the poetic sat for two or three hours +on the threshold of the bunkhouse door, his gaze on the ranchhouse. He +was considering his "reputation," and he had reached the conclusion that +Barbara Morgan had reason to fear him--if rumor's tongues had related to +her all of the crimes that had been attributed to him. And he knew she +must have heard a great many tales about him, for rumor is a tireless +worker. + +And for the first time in his life Harlan regretted that he had permitted +rumor to weave her fabric of lies. For not one of the stories that +luridly portrayed him in the role of a ruthless killer and outlaw was +true. + +It was easy enough for him to understand how he had gained that +reputation. He grinned mirthlessly now, as he mentally reviewed a past +which _had_ been rather like the record of a professional man-killer. And +yet, reviewing his past--from the day about five years ago, when he had +shot a Taos bully who had drawn a gun on him with murderous intent, until +today, when he had sent Laskar to his death--he could not remember one +shooting affray for which he could be blamed. As a matter of fact, he +had--by the courts in some instances, and by witnesses in others, where +there were no courts--been held blameless. + +There had been men who had seen Harlan draw his weapons with deadly +intent--men who insisted that the man's purpose was plain, to goad an +enemy to draw a weapon, permitting him partially to draw it, and then to +depend upon his superior swiftness and unerring aim. And this theory of +Harlan's character had gone abroad. + +And because the theory had been accepted, Harlan's name became associated +with certain crimes which are inseparable from the type of character +which the popular imagination had given him. Strangers--criminals--in +certain towns in the Territory and out of it must have heard with +considerable satisfaction that their depredations had been charged to +Harlan. Only once had Harlan been able to refute the charge of rumor. +That was when, having passed a night in the company of Dave Hallowell, +the marshal of Pardo, word was brought by a stage-driver that "Drag" +Harlan had killed a man in Dry Bottom--a town two hundred miles +north--and that Harlan had escaped, though a posse had been on his trail. + +Even when the driver was confronted by Harlan in the flesh he was +doubtful, surrendering grudgingly, as though half convinced that Harlan +had been able to transport himself over the distance from Dry Bottom to +Pardo by some magic not mentioned. + +So it had gone. But the terrible record of evil deeds attributed to +Harlan had not affected him greatly. In the beginning--when he had killed +the Taos bully--he had been reluctant to take life; and he had avoided, +as much as possible, company in which he would be forced to kill to +protect himself. + +And through it all he had been able to maintain his poise, his +self-control. The reputation he had achieved would have ruined some +men--would have filled them with an ambition to fulfil the specifications +of the mythical terror men thought him. There was a danger there; Harlan +had felt it. There was a certain satisfaction in being pointed out as a +man with whom other men dared not trifle; respect of a fearsome equality +was granted him--he had seen it in the eyes of men, as he had seen an +awed adulation in the eyes of women. + +He had felt them all--all the emotions that a real desperado could feel. +He had experienced the impulse to swagger, to pose--really to live the +part that his ill-fame had given him. + +But he had resisted those impulses; and the glow in his eyes when in the +presence of men who feared him was not the passion to kill, but a +humorous contempt of all men who abased themselves before him. + +On the night he had been with Dave Hallowell, the marshal of Pardo, he +had listened with steady interest to a story told him by the latter. It +concerned the Lamo region and the great basin at which he and Barbara +Morgan had been looking when the girl had accused him of a lack of poetic +feeling. + +"I've heard reports about Sunset Valley," Hallowell had said, squinting +his eyes at Harlan. "I've met Sheriff Gage two or three times, an' he's +had somethin' to say about it. Accordin' to Gage, everything ain't on the +surface over there; there's somethin' behind all that robbin' an' +stealin' that's goin' on. There's somethin' big, but it's hid--an' no man +ain't ever been able to find out what it is. But it's somethin'. + +"In the first place, Deveny's gang ain't never been heard of as pullin' +off anything anywheres else but in Sunset Valley. As for that, there's +plenty of room in the valley for them without gettin' out of it. But it +seems they'd get out once in a while. They don't--they stay right in the +valley, or close around it. Seems to me they've got a grudge ag'in' them +Sunset Valley ranchers, an' are workin' it off. + +"Why? That question has got Gage guessin'. It's got everybody guessin'. +Stock is bein' run off in big bunches; men is bein' murdered without no +cause; no man is able to get any money in or out of the valley--an' +they're doin' other things that is makin' the cattlemen feel nervous an' +flighty. + +"They've scared one man out--a Pole named Launski--from the far end. He +pulled stakes an' hit the breeze runnin' sellin' out for a song to a guy +named Haydon. I seen Launski when he clumb on the Lamo stage, headin' +this way, an' he sure was a heap relieved to get out with a whole skin." + +Hallowell talked long, and the mystery that seemed to surround Sunset +Valley appealed to Harlan's imagination. Yet he did not reveal his +interest to Hallowell until the latter mentioned Barbara Morgan. Then his +eyes glowed, and he leaned closer to the marshal. + +And when Hallowell remarked that Lane Morgan, of the Rancho Seco had +declared he would give half his ranch to a trustworthy man who could be +depended upon to "work his guns" in the interest of the Morgan family, +the slow tensing of Harlan's muscles might have betrayed the man's +emotions--for Hallowell grinned faintly. + +Hallowell had said more. But he did not say that word had come to him +from Sheriff Gage--an appeal, rather--to the effect that Morgan had sent +to him for such a man, and that Gage had transmitted the appeal to +Hallowell. Hallowell thought he knew Harlan, and he was convinced that if +he told Harlan flatly that Morgan wanted to employ him for that definite +purpose, Harlan would refuse. + +And so Hallowell had gone about his work obliquely. He knew Harlan more +intimately than he knew any other man in the country; and he was aware +that the chivalric impulse was stronger in Harlan than in any man he +knew. + +And he was aware, too, that Harlan was scrupulously honest and square, +despite the evil structure which had been built around him by rumor. He +had watched Harlan for years, and knew him for exactly what he was--an +imaginative, reckless, impulsive spirit who faced danger with the steady, +unwavering eye of complete unconcern. + +As Hallowell had talked of the Rancho Seco he had seen Harlan's eyes +gleam; seen his lips curve with a faint smile in which there was a hint +of waywardness. And so Hallowell knew he had scattered his words on +fertile mental soil. + +And yet Harlan would not have taken the trail that led to the Rancho Seco +had not the killing of his friend, Davey Langan, followed closely upon +the story related to him by the marshal. + +Harlan had ridden eastward, to Lazette--a matter of two hundred +miles--trailing a herd of cattle from the T Down--the ranch where he and +Langan were employed. + +When he returned he heard the story of the killing of his friend by +Dolver and another man, not identified, but who rode a horse branded with +the L Bar M--which was the Rancho Seco brand. + +It was Hallowell who broke the news of the murder to Harlan, together +with the story of his pursuit of Dolver and the other man, and of his +failure to capture them. + +There was no thought of romance in Harlan's mind when he mounted +Purgatory to take up Dolver's trail; and when he came upon Dolver at +Sentinel Rock--and later, until he had talked with Lane Morgan--he had no +thought of offering himself to Morgan, to become that trustworthy man who +would "work his guns" for the Rancho Seco owner. + +But after he had questioned Laskar--and had felt that Laskar was not the +accomplice of Dolver in the murder of Langan--he had determined to go to +the ranch, and had told Morgan of his determination. + +Now, sitting on the threshold of the Rancho Seco bunkhouse, he realized +that his talk with Morgan had brought him here in a different role than +he had anticipated. + +From where he sat he had a good view of all the buildings--low, +flat-roofed adobe structures, scattered on the big level with no regard +for system, apparently--erected as the needs of a growing ranch required. +Yet all were well kept and substantial, indicating that Lane Morgan had +been a man who believed in neatness and permanency. + +The ranchhouse was the largest of the buildings. It was two stories high +on the side fronting the slope that led to the river, and another +section--in what appeared to be the rear, facing the bunkhouse, also had +a second story--a narrow, boxlike, frowning section which had the +appearance of a blockhouse on the parapet wall of a fort. + +And that, Harlan divined, was just what it had been built for--for +defensive purposes. For the entire structure bore the appearance of age, +and the style of its architecture was an imitation of the Spanish type. +It was evident that Lane Morgan had considered the warlike instincts of +wandering bands of Apache Indians when he had built his house. + +The walls connecting the fortlike section in the rear with the two-story +front were about ten feet in height, with few windows; and the entire +structure was built in a huge square, with an inner court, or _patio_, +reached by an entrance that penetrated the lower center of the two-story +section in front. + +Harlan's interest centered heavily upon the ranchhouse, for it was there +that Barbara Morgan had hidden herself, fearing him. + +She had entered a door that opened in the wall directly beneath the +fortlike second story, and it was upon this door that Harlan's gaze was +fixed. He smiled wryly, for sight of the door brought Barbara into his +thoughts--though he was not sure she had been out of them since the first +instant of his meeting with her in Lamo. + +"They've been tellin' her them damn stories about me bein' a +hell-raiser--an' she believes 'em," he mused. And then his smile faded. +"An she ain't none reassured by my mug." + +But it was upon the incident of his meeting with Barbara, and the odd +coincidence of his coming upon her father at Sentinel Rock, that his +thoughts dwelt longest. + +It was odd--that meeting at Sentinel Rock. And yet not so odd, either, +considering everything. + +For he had been coming to the Rancho Seco. Before he had reached Sentinel +Rock he had been determined to begin his campaign against the outlaws at +the Rancho Seco. It was his plan to ask Morgan for a job, and to spend as +much of his time as possible in getting information about Deveny and his +men, in the hope of learning the identity of the man who had assisted in +the murder of Langan. + +What was odd about the incident was that Morgan should attempt to cross +to Pardo to have his gold assayed at just about the time Harlan had +decided to begin his trip to the Rancho Seco. + +Harlan smiled as his gaze rested on the ranchhouse. He was glad he had +met Lane Morgan; he was glad he had headed straight for Lamo after +leaving Morgan. For by going straight to Lamo he had been able to balk +Deveny's evil intentions toward the girl who, in the house now, was so +terribly afraid of him. + +He had told Morgan why he was headed toward the Rancho Seco section, but +he had communicated to Morgan that information only because he had wanted +to cheer the man in his last moments. That was what had made Morgan's +face light up as his life had ebbed away. And Harlan's eyes glowed now +with the recollection. + +"The damned cuss--how he did brighten up!" he mused. "He sure was a heap +tickled to know that the deck wasn't all filled with dirty deuces." + +And then Harlan's thoughts went again to Lamo, and to the picture Barbara +had made running toward him. It seemed to him that he could still feel +her in his arms, and a great regret that she distrusted him assailed him. + +He had sat for a long time on the threshold of the bunkhouse door, and +after a time he noted that the moon was swimming high, almost overhead. +He got up, unhurriedly, and again walked to the stable door, looking in +at Purgatory. For Harlan did not intend to sleep tonight; he had +resolved, since the Rancho Seco seemed to be deserted except for his and +Barbara's presence, to guard the ranchhouse. + +For he knew that the passions of Deveny for the girl were thoroughly +aroused. He had seen in Deveny's eyes there in Lamo a flame--when Deveny +looked at Barbara--that told him more about the man's passions than +Deveny himself suspected. He grinned coldly as he leaned easily against +the stable door; for men of the Deveny type always aroused him--their +personality had always seemed to strike discord into his soul; had always +fanned into flame the smoldering hatred he had of such men; had always +brought into his heart those savage impulses which he had sometimes felt +when he was on the verge of yielding to the urge to become what men had +thought him--and what they still thought him--a conscienceless killer. + +His smile now was bitter with the hatred that was in his heart for +Deveny--for Deveny had cast longing, lustful eyes upon Barbara +Morgan--and the smile grew into a sneer as he drew out paper and tobacco +and began to roll a cigarette. + +But as he rolled the cigarette his fingers stiffened; the paper and the +tobacco in it dropped into the dust at his feet; and he stiffened, his +lips straightening, his eyes flaming with rage, his muscles tensing. + +For a horseman had appeared from out of the moonlit haze beyond the +river. Rigid in the doorway--standing back a little so that he might not +be seen--Harlan watched the man. + +The latter brought his horse to a halt when he reached the far corner of +the ranchhouse, dismounted, and stole stealthily along the wall of the +building. + +Harlan was not more than a hundred feet distant, and the glare of the +moonlight shining full on the man as he paused before the door into which +Barbara Morgan had gone, revealed him plainly to Harlan. + +The man was Meeder Lawson. Harlan's lips wreathed into a grin of cold +contempt. He stepped quickly to Purgatory, drew his rifle from its saddle +sheath and returned to the doorway. And there, standing in the shadows, +he watched Lawson as the latter tried the door and, failing to open it, +left it and crept along the wall of the building, going toward a window. + +The window also was fastened, it seemed, for Lawson stole away from it +after a time and continued along the wall of the house until he reached +the southeast corner. Around that, after a fleeting glance about him, +Lawson vanished. + +Still grinning--though there was now a quality in the grin that might +have warned Lawson, had he seen it--Harlan stepped down from the doorway, +slipped into the shadow of the corral fence, and made his way toward the +corner where Lawson had disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE INTRUDER + + +After closing the door through which she had entered, Barbara Morgan +slipped the fastenings into place and stood, an ear pressed against the +door, listening for sounds that would tell her Harlan had followed her. +But beyond the door all was silence. + +Breathing fast, yielding to the panic of fear that had seized her, over +the odd light she had seen in Harlan's eyes--a gleam, that to her, seemed +to have been a reflection of some evil passion in the man's heart--she +ran through the dark room she had entered, opened a door that led to the +_patio_, and peered fearfully outward, as though she half expected to see +Harlan there. + +But the court was deserted, apparently, though there were somber shadows +ranging the enclosing walls that would afford concealment for Harlan, had +he succeeded in gaining entrance. As she stepped out of the doorway she +peered intently around. + +Then, further frightened by the brooding silence that seemed to envelop +the place, and tortured by tragic thoughts in which her father occupied a +prominent position--almost crazed by the memory of what had happened +during the preceding twenty-four hours--she fled across the _patio_ +swiftly, her terror growing with each step. + +She knew the house thoroughly; she could have found her way in complete +darkness; and when she reached the opposite side of the court she almost +threw herself at a door which, she knew, opened into the big room in +which she and her father had usually passed their leisure. + +Entering, she closed the door, and barred it. Then, feeling more secure, +she stood for an instant in the center of the room, gazing about, +afflicted with an appalling sense of loss, of loneliness, and of +helplessness. + +For this was the first time she had entered the house since the news of +her father's death had reached her; and she missed him, feeling more +keenly than ever the grief she had endured thus far with a certain stoic +calm; yielding to the tears that had been very close for hours. + +She did not light the kerosene lamp that stood on a big center table in +the room. For there was light enough for her to see objects around her; +and she went at last to an arm-chair which had been her father's +favorite, knelt beside it, and sobbed convulsively. + +Later, yielding to a dull apathy which had stolen over her, she made her +way upstairs, to her room--which was directly over the front entrance to +the _patio_--and sank into a chair beside one of the windows. + +She had locked her door after entering; and for the first time since +arriving at the Rancho Seco she felt comparatively safe. + +Her thoughts were incoherent--a queer jumble of mental impulses which +seemed to lead her always back to the harrowing realization that she had +lost her father. That was the gigantic axis around which her whole mental +structure revolved. It was staggering, stupefying, and her brain reeled +under it. + +Other thoughts came, flickered like feeble lights, and went out--thoughts +of what had happened to her at Lamo; a dull wonder over Meeder Lawson's +presence in town when he should have been with the men on the range; +speculation as to the whereabouts of the men--why none of them had +remained at the ranchhouse; and a sort of dumb, vague wonder over what +her future would be. + +She thought, too, of John Haydon of the Star ranch--the big, smiling, +serene-eyed man who seemed to bring a breath of romance with him each +time he visited the Rancho Seco. Haydon would help her, she knew, and she +would go to him in the morning. + +Her father had trusted Haydon, and she would trust him. Haydon was the +one man in the section who seemed to have no fear of Deveny and his +men--many times he had told her that most of the stories told of Deveny's +crimes were untrue--that he had not committed all those that were +attributed to him. + +Not that Haydon condoned those offenses upon which Deveny stood convicted +by circumstantial evidence. Nor had Haydon ever sought to defend Deveny. +On the other hand, Haydon's condemnation of the outlaw and his men had +been vigorous--almost too vigorous for Haydon's safety, she had heard her +father say. + +It was when her thoughts dwelt upon Harlan that she was most puzzled--and +impressed. For though she was acquainted with the man's reputation--knowing +him to be an outlaw of the reckless, dare-devil type--she felt the force of +him, the compelling originality of him--as he differed from the outlaw of +popular conception--his odd personality, which seemed to be a mingling of +the elements of character embracing both good and evil. + +For though an outlaw himself, he had protected her from outlaws. And she +had seen in his eyes certain expressions that told her that he felt +impulses of sympathy and of tenderness. And his words to Deveny and +others had seemed to hint of a fairly high honorableness. + +And though she had seen in his eyes a cold gleam that was convincing +evidence of the presence of those ruthless passions which had made him an +enemy of the law, she had also detected expressions in his eyes that told +plainly of genial humor, of gentleness, and of consideration for other +humans. + +But whatever she had seen in him, she felt his force--the terrible power +of him when aroused. It was in the atmosphere that surrounded him; it was +in the steady gleam of his eyes, in the poise of his head, and in the +thrust of his jaw, all around him. She feared him, yet he fascinated +her--compelled her--seemed to insist that she consider him in her scheme +of life. + +In fact, he had made it plain to her that he intended to be considered. +"I'm stayin' here," he had told her in his slow, deliberate way. + +And that seemed to end it--she knew he _would_ stay; that he was +determined, and that nothing short of force would dissuade him. And what +force could she bring against him? A man whose name, mentioned in the +presence of other men, made their faces blanch. + +Deep in her heart, though, lurked a conviction that Harlan had not told +her everything that had happened at Sentinel Rock. She was afflicted with +a suspicion that he was holding something back. She had seen that in his +eyes, too, she thought. It seemed to her that her father _might_ have +told him to come to the Rancho Seco, and to stay there. And for that +reason--because she suspected that Harlan had not told all he knew--she +felt that she ought not order him away. If only he had not looked at her +with that queer, insinuating smile! + +She had sat at the window for, it seemed to her, many hours before she +became aware that the moon had risen and was directly overhead, flooding +the ground in the vicinity of the ranchhouse with a soft, silver +radiance. + +She got up with a start, remembering that she had left Harlan standing +outside the door in the rear. She had almost forgotten that! + +She went to a window that opened into the _patio_, and looked downward. +Every nook and corner of the _patio_ was visible now; the dark, somber +shadows had been driven away, and in the silvery flood that poured down +from above the enclosure was brilliant, clearly defined--and deserted. + +And yet as the girl looked, a presentiment of evil assailed her, +whitening her cheeks and widening her eyes. The quiet peace and +tranquillity of the _patio_ seemed to mock her; she felt that it held a +sinister promise, a threat of dire things to come. + +The feeling was so strong that it drove her back from the window to the +center of the room, where she stood, holding her breath, her hands +clasped in front of her, the fingers twining stiffly. It seemed to her +that she was waiting--waiting for something to happen--something that +threatened. + +And when she heard a slight sound, seeming to arise from the room below +her, she caught her breath with a gasp of horror. + +But she did not move. She stood there, with no breath issuing from +between her lips, for many minutes, it seemed--waiting, dreading, a cold +paralysis stealing over her. + +And then again it came--an odd sound--slow, creaking, seeming to come +always nearer. It was not until she heard the sound directly outside her +door that she realized that what she heard was a step on the stairs. And +then, convinced that Harlan had gained entrance, she slipped noiselessly +across the room to the front wall, where she took down a heavy pistol +that hung from a wooden peg. + +With the huge weapon in hand she returned to a point near the center of +the room, and with bated breath and glowing, determined eyes, faced the +door. + +And when, after a time, she heard the door creak with a weight that +seemed to be against it--after she saw it give; heard the lock break, and +saw a man's form darken the opening as the door was flung wide--she +pressed the trigger of the weapon once--twice--three times--in rapid +succession. + +She heard the man curse, saw him catch at his chest, and tumble headlong +toward her. And she fired again, thinking he was trying to grasp her. + +She laughed hysterically when she saw him sink to the floor and stretch +out with a queer inertness. Then, swaying, her brain reeling with the +horror of the thing, she managed to get to the bed at the other side of +the room. When she reached it she collapsed gently, a long, convulsive +shudder running over her. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BARBARA SEES A LIGHT + + +When Barbara regained consciousness it was with a gasp of horror over the +realization of what had happened. She stiffened immediately, however, and +lay, straining at the dread paralysis that had gripped her; for she saw +Harlan standing at her side, looking down into her face, his own set in a +grim smile. + +She must have fainted again, for it seemed to her that a long period of +time elapsed until she again became conscious of her surroundings. Harlan +had moved off a little, though he was still watching her with the grimly +humorous expression. + +She sat up, staring wildly at him; then shrank back, getting as far away +from him as she could. + +"You!" she gasped, "You! Didn't I----" + +He interrupted her, drawling his words a little: + +"The guy you shot was Lawson. You bored him a heap. I've toted him +downstairs. He's plenty dead. It was plumb good shootin'--for a woman." + +His words shocked her to action, and she got up and walked around the +foot of the bed, from where she could see the spot where the intruder +must have fallen after she had shot him. A dark stain showed on the floor +where the man had lain, and the sight of it sent her a step backward, so +that she struck the foot of the bed. She caught at the bed and grasped +one of the posts, holding tightly to it while she looked Harlan over with +dreading, incredulous eyes. + +"It--it wasn't _you_!" she demanded. "Are you sure?" + +He smiled and said, slowly and consolingly: "I reckon if you'd shot _me_ +I'd be knowin' it. Don't take it so hard, ma'am. Why, if a man goes to +breakin' into a woman's room that way he sure ain't fit to go on livin' +in a world where there _is_ a woman." + +"It was Lawson--you say? Meeder Lawson--the Rancho Seco foreman? I +thought--why, I thought it was you!" + +"I'm thankin' you, ma'am," he said, ironically. "But if you'll just stick +your head out of that window, you'll see it was Lawson, right enough. +He's layin' right below the window." + +She did as bidden, and she saw Lawson lying on the ground beneath the +window, flat on his back, his face turned upward with the radiant +moonlight shining full upon his wide-open, staring eyes. + +Barbara glanced swiftly, and then drew back into the room, shuddering. + +Harlan stood, silently regarding her, while she walked again to the bed +and sat upon it, staring out into the flood of moonlight, her face +ghastly, her hands hanging limply at her sides. + +She had killed a man. And though there was justification for the deed, +she could not fight down the shivering horror that had seized her, the +overpowering and terrible knowledge that she had taken human life. + +She sat on the edge of the bed for a long time, and Harlan said no word +to her, standing motionless, his arms folded, one hand slowly caressing +his chin, as he watched her. + +After a time, drawing a long, shuddering breath, she looked up at him. + +"How did you know--what made you come--here?" she asked. + +"I wasn't reckonin' to sleep tonight--havin' thoughts--about things," he +said. "I was puttin' in a heap of my time settin' in the doorway of the +bunkhouse, wonderin' what had made you so scared of me. While I was +tryin' to figure it out I saw Lawson comin'. There was somethin' in his +actions which didn't jibe with my ideas of square dealin', an' so I kept +lookin' at him. An' when I saw him prowlin' around, tryin' to open doors +an' windows, why, I just naturally trailed him. An' I found the window he +opened. I reckon that's all." + +She got up, swaying a little, a wan smile on her face that reflected her +astonishment and wonder over the way she had jumbled things. For this +man--the man she had feared when she had left him standing outside the +door some hours before--had been eager to protect her from the other, who +had attacked her. He had been waiting, watching. + +Moreover, there was in Harlan's eyes as he stood in the room a +considerate, deferential gleam that told her more than words could have +conveyed to her--a something that convinced her that he was not the type +of man she had thought him. + +The knowledge filled her with a strange delight. There was relief in her +eyes, and her voice was almost steady when she again spoke to him: + +"Harlan," she said, "did father really send you here? Did he make you +promise to come?" + +"I reckon he did, ma'am," he said. + +For an instant she looked fairly at him, intently searching his eyes for +indications of untruthfulness. Then she drew a long breath of conviction. + +"I believe you," she said. + +Harlan swept his hat from his head. He bowed, and there was an odd leap +in his voice: + +"That tickles me a heap, ma'am. I don't know when I've heard anything +that pleased me more." + +He backed away from her until he reached the doorway. And she saw his +eyes--wide and eloquent--even in the subdued light of the doorway. + +"I'd go to sleep now, ma'am, if I was you. You need it a heap. It's been +a long day for you--an' things ain't gone just right. I don't reckon +there'll be anybody botherin' you any more tonight." + +"And you?" she asked, "won't you try to get some sleep, too?" + +He laughed, telling her that he would "ketch a wink or two." Then he +turned and went down the stairs--she could hear him as he opened a lower +door and went out. + +Looking out of the window an instant later, she saw him taking Lawson's +body away. And still later, hearing a sound outside, she stole to the +window again. + +Below, seated on the threshold of the door that led into the room she had +entered when she had crossed the _patio_, she saw Harlan. He was smoking +a cigarette, leaning against the door jamb in an attitude of complete +relaxation. + +There was something in his manner that comforted her--a calm confidence, +a slow ease of movement as he fingered his cigarette that indicated +perfect tranquility--an atmosphere of peace that could not have +surrounded him had he meditated any evil whatever. + +She knew, now, that she had misjudged him. For he had made no attempt to +take advantage of her loneliness and helplessness. And whatever his +reputation--whatever the crimes he had committed against the laws--he had +been a gentleman in his attitude toward her. That feature of his conduct +dominated her thoughts as she stretched out on the bed; it was her last +coherent thought as she went to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +HARLAN TAKES CHARGE + + +Barbara could not have told why she had not acted upon her determination +to ride westward to the Star ranch to acquaint John Haydon with the +predicament into which the events of the past few hours had plunged her. +She could not have explained why she permitted the first day--after +Harlan's coming--to pass without going to see Haydon, any more than she +could have explained why she permitted many other days to pass in the +same manner. + +She was almost convinced, though, that it was because of the manner in +which Harlan took charge of the ranch--the capable and business-like way +he had of treating the men. + +For the outfit came in late in the afternoon following the night which +had marked the death of Lawson--the straw-boss explaining that he had +received explicit orders from Lawson to "work" a grass level several +miles down the river. + +One other reason for Barbara's failure to ride to the Star--a reason that +she did not permit to dwell prominently in her thoughts--was resentment. + +She had permitted the first day to pass without going to see Haydon. But +when it had gone and another day dawned without Haydon coming to see +_her_, she felt that he was deliberately absenting himself. For certainly +he must have heard what had happened, and if he thought as much of her as +he had led her to believe he would have come to her instantly. + +Had Haydon seen the defiant gleam of her eyes when she gazed westward--in +the direction of the Star--he might have realized that each day he stayed +away from the Rancho Seco would make it that much more difficult for him +to explain. + +Barbara stayed indoors much of the time during the first days of Harlan's +control of the ranch, but from the windows she saw him--noted that the +men obeyed him promptly and without question. + +A sense of loss, of emptiness, still afflicted the girl, and yet through +it all there ran a thrill of satisfaction, of assurance that the +steady-eyed man who had saved her from Deveny, and who had treated her +like a courtier of old on the night she had killed Lawson, seemed to have +her welfare in mind, seemed--despite the reputation the people of the +country had given him--to have constituted himself her guardian, without +expectation of reward of the kind she had feared he sought. + +Harlan's method of assuming control of the Rancho Seco had been direct +and simple. When the twenty-seven men of the outfit had straggled into +the yard surrounding the big corral--the chuck-wagon, bearing the cook +and his assistant, trailing a little behind, and followed by the horses +of the _remuda_ with the wrangler hurling vitriolic language in the +rear--Harlan was standing beside Purgatory near the corral fence in front +of one of the bunkhouses. + +He had paid--apparently--no attention to the men as they dismounted, +unsaddled, and turned their horses into the corral, and he did not even +look at the belligerent-eyed cook whose sardonic glance roved over him. + +But the men of the outfit watched him out of the corners of their eyes; +as they passed him to go to the bunkhouses, they shot inquiring, +speculating glances at one another, full of curiosity, not unmixed with +astonishment over his continued silence. + +It was when, drawn by the wonder that consumed them, they gathered in a +group near the door of one of the bunkhouses, that Harlan moved toward +them. + +For he had noted that they had become grouped, and that into the +atmosphere had come a tension. + +Harlan's actions had been governed by design. His continued silence had +been strategy of a subtle order. It had attracted the attention of the +men, it had intrigued their interest. + +If he had spoken to them while they had been moving about on their +different errands, telling them that henceforth he was to manage the +Rancho Seco, they would have given him scant attention. Also, he would +not have been able to study their faces as he had studied them while they +had been watching him, and he would not have gained the knowledge of +their characters that he now possessed. + +Besides, a humorous malice possessed Harlan--he wanted to view them +collectively when he gave them his news, to note the various ways in +which they would receive it. + +Absolute silence greeted Harlan's forward movement. He could hear the +labored breathing of some of the men--men of violent temper who sensed +trouble--and his grin grew broad as he halted within a dozen feet of the +group. + +"Boys," he said, slowly, "you've got a new boss. It's me. A day or so +ago, crossin' from Pardo, I run into a ruckus at Sentinel Rock. Lane +Morgan was the center of the ruckus--an' he got perforated--plenty. But +before he cashed in he got a gleam of downright sense an' told me he'd +been lookin' for me, to make me manager of the Rancho Seco. + +"I'm reckonin' to be manager--beginnin' now. If there's any of you men +that ain't admirin' to do the jumpin' when I yap orders to you, you're +doin' your gassin' right now. Them that's pinin' to work under me is sure +of a square deal, beginnin' now, and continuin' henceforth. I reckon +that's all." + +Into Harlan's eyes as he talked had come that vacuous light that had been +in them when he had faced Deveny's men in Lamo--the light that was always +in his eyes whenever he faced more than one man, with trouble imminent. + +He saw the face of every man in the group--while seeming not to be +looking at any of them. He noted the various shades of expression that +came into their faces as they digested his words, he saw how some of them +watched him with sober interest and how others permitted themselves a +sneer of incredulity or dislike. + +He noted that a tall, slender, swarthy man on the extreme left of the +group watched him with a malevolent gaze, his eyes flaming hate; he saw a +black-haired, hook-nosed fellow near the center of the group watching him +with a grin of cold contempt. + +It seemed to Harlan that a fair proportion of the men were willing to +acknowledge his authority--for they were frankly studying him, ready to +greet him as their employer. Many others, however, were as frankly +hostile. + +After Harlan ceased speaking there came a short silence, during which +many of the men looked at one another inquiringly. + +It was a moment during which, had a leader appeared to take the +initiative for those who intended to dissent from Harlan's rule, the +outfit might have been divided. + +Evidently the tall, swarthy man divined that the time to dissent had +come, for he cleared his throat, and grinned felinely. + +Before he could speak, however, a short man with keen eyes that, since +the instant they had rested upon Harlan, had been glowing with something +that might have been defined as mingled astonishment and delight thinly +concealed by a veneer of humor--said distinctly: + +"You crossed over from Pardo--you say?" + +Harlan nodded, and a pin-point of recognition glowed in his eyes as he +looked at the man. + +The other laughed, lowly. "Seems I know you," he said. "You're 'Drag' +Harlan!" + +A tremor ran through the group. There was a concerted stiffening of +bodies, a general sigh from lungs in process of deflation. And then the +group stood silent, every man watching Harlan with that intent curiosity +that comes with one's first glimpse of a noted character, introduced +without expectation. + +Harlan noted that a change had come over the men. Those whose faces had +betrayed their inclination to accept his authority had taken--without +exception--a glum, disappointed expression. On the other hand, those who +had formerly betrayed hostility, were now grinning with satisfaction. + +A tremor of malicious amusement, expressed visibly by a flicker of his +eyelids, was Harlan's only emotion over the change that had come in the +men of the group. He could now have selected those of the men who--as +Lane Morgan had said--could not be trusted, and he could have pointed out +those who had been loyal to Morgan, and who would be loyal to Barbara and +himself. + +Among the former were the tall, swarthy man on the extreme left, and the +hook-nosed fellow near the center. There were perhaps ten of the latter, +and it was plain to Harlan that the short man who had spoken was their +leader. + +"'Drag' Harlan--eh?" + +This was the tall, swarthy man. The malevolence had gone from his eyes, +he was grinning broadly, though there was respect of a fawning character +in his manner as he stepped out from the group and halted within a few +feet of Harlan. + +"Me an' my friends wasn't none tickled to find that we was goin' to have +a new manager. We was sort of expectin' Miss Barbara to do the runnin' +herself. But if _you_ say you're runnin' things, that makes it a whole +lot different. We ain't buckin' 'Drag' Harlan's game." + +"Thank you," grinned Harlan. "I saw you reportin' to Miss Morgan. You're +straw-boss, I reckon." + +"You've hit it. I'm Stroud--Lafe Stroud." + +"You'll keep on bein' straw-boss," said Harlan, shortly. "I'm appointin' +a foreman." + +"Where's Lawson?" + +It was Stroud who spoke. There was a shadow of disappointment in his +eyes. + +"Lawson won't be needin' a title any more," said Harlan, narrowing his +eyes at the other. "He needs plantin'. Soon as we get set some of you +boys can go over an' take care of him. You'll find him in the harness +shop. He busted down the door of Miss Barbara's room last night, an' she +made a colander out of him." + +Harlan ignored the effect of his news on the men, fixing his gaze on the +short man who had spoken first, and who was now standing silent, in an +attitude that hinted of dejection. + +"You'll be foreman, Linton," he stated shortly. + +Linton, who had been glumly listening, was so startled by the sudden +descent upon his shoulders of the mantle of authority that he +straightened with a snap and grabbed wildly at his hat--which dropped +from his head despite his effort to clutch it, revealing a mop of fiery +red hair. When he straightened, after recovering the hat, his freckled +face was crimson with embarrassment and astonishment. + +"I'm obliged to you," he mumbled. + +That had ended it. The following morning Linton came to Harlan for +orders, and a little later the entire outfit, headed by Stroud, and +trailed by the chuck-wagon and the horses of the _remuda_, started +southward to a distant section of the big level, leaving Linton and +Harlan at the ranchhouse. + +And as the outfit faded into the southern distance, Harlan, walking near +the larger of the two bunkhouses, came upon Linton. + +Harlan grinned when he saw the other. + +"You didn't go with the outfit, Red?" he said. "Seems a foreman ought to +be mighty eager to be with his men on their first trip after he's +appointed." + +Linton's face was pale, his gaze was direct. + +"Look here, Harlan," he said, steadily. "I've knowed you a long time, an' +I know that you're a damn' sight straighter than a lot of men which has +got reputations better than yourn. But there's some things want +explainin'. I've sort of took a shine to that little girl in there. +There's things brewin' which is goin' to make it mighty bad for her. It +wasn't so bad while old Morgan was here, but now he's gone, an' she's got +to play it a lone hand. + +"You git riled an' sling your gun on me if you want to. I know I wouldn't +have a chance. But just the same, I'm tellin' you. You know that more'n +half that outfit you've put me at the head of is Deveny's men--sneakin', +thievin', murderin' outlaws?" + +"You wantin' to quit, Red?" said Harlan, smoothly. + +"Quit! Hell's fire! I'm hangin' on to the finish. But I'm findin' out +where you stand. What you meanin' to do with Barbara Morgan?" + +Harlan grinned. "I answered that question when I appointed you foreman, +Red. But I reckon I made a mistake--I ought to have appointed a man who +knows what his think-box is for." + +Linton flushed, and peered intently at the other. + +"Meanin' that you're backin' Barbara in this here deal?" he demanded. + +"A real thoughtful man would have tumbled to it quicker," was Harlan's +soft, ironical reply. + +For an instant Linton's gaze was intense with searching, probing inquiry. +And Harlan's steady eyes were agleam with a light that was so quietly +honest that it made Linton gasp: + +"Damn me! You mean it! You're playin' 'em straight, face up. That talk of +yourn about Lane Morgan makin' you manager was straight goods. I know +Dolver an' Laskar an' the guy they call 'Chief' plugged Morgan--for I +heard Stroud an' some more of them talkin' about it. An' I heard that you +got Dolver an' Laskar, an' kept Deveny from grabbin' off Barbara Morgan, +over in Lamo. But I thought you was playin' for Barbara, too--an' I +wasn't figurin' on lettin' you." + +Harlan laughed lowly. + +"Things don't always shape up the way a man thinks they will, Red. I +started for Lamo, figurin' to salivate Dolver an' the other guy who +killed Davey Langan. I got Dolver at Sentinel Rock, an' I figured I'd be +likely to run into the other guy somewheres--mebbe findin' him in +Deveny's gang. But runnin' into Lane Morgan sort of changed the deal. An' +now I'm postponin' a lot of things until Barbara Morgan is runnin' free, +with no coyotes from the Deveny crowd tryin' to rope her." + +Linton's eyes were glowing, he crowded close to Harlan, so close that his +body touched Harlan's, and he stood thus for an instant, breathing fast. +Then, noting the unwavering, genial gleam in Harlan's eyes--a visible +sign of Harlan's knowledge of his deep emotion--Linton seized one of the +other's hands and gripped it tightly. + +"Damn your hide," he said, lowly, "you had me goin'. I'm dead set on +seein' that girl git a square deal, an' when I saw you makin' a play for +them damned outlaws that are in the outfit, I sure figured there'd be +hell a-poppin' around the Rancho Seco. You sure had me flabbergasted when +you named me foreman, for I couldn't anticipate your trail none. + +"But I reckon I'm wised up, now. You're goin' to run a whizzer in on +'em--playin' 'em for suckers. An' I'm your right-hand man--stickin' with +you until hell runs long on icebergs!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SHADOWS + + +A desire to ride once more in the peaceful sunshine of the land she loved +was one of the first indications that Barbara was recovering from the +shock occasioned by her father's death. For two or three days she had not +stirred from her room, except to go downstairs to cook her meals. She had +spent much of her time sitting at a window nursing her sorrow. + +But on this morning she got out of bed feeling more composed than usual, +with several new emotions struggling for the mastery. One of those +emotions was that of intolerance. + +Harlan's assumption of authority enraged her. He had come to the Rancho +Seco with no credentials other than his mere word that her father had +forced him to promise to "take hold" of "things." And she intended, this +very morning, to send Harlan away, and to assume control of the ranch +herself. + +This determination held until after she had breakfasted, and then she +stood for a long time in the kitchen door, looking out into the brilliant +sunshine, afflicted with a strange indecision. + +Harlan _had_ helped to fill the void created by her father's death--that +was certain. There had been something satisfying in his presence at the +ranch; it had seemed to mean an assurance for her safety; she had felt +almost as fully protected as when her father had been with her. It +angered her to see him moving about the place as though he had a perfect +right to be there, but at the same time she felt comfortably certain that +as long as he was around no harm could come to her. + +Her emotions were so contradictory that she could not reach a decision +regarding the action she should take and she bit her lips with vexation +as she stood in the doorway. + +Later, her cheeks a little flushed with the realization that she was +surrendering to an emotion that she could not understand--but which, she +decided guiltily, her face crimson, had its inception in a conviction +that she would regret seeing Harlan ride away, to return no more--she +went to the corral, roped her pony, threw saddle and bridle on it, +mounted the animal, and rode away--westward. + +She had not traveled more than half a mile when she heard the rapid +beating of hoofs behind her. Glancing swiftly backward, she saw Purgatory +coming, Harlan in the saddle, smoking a cigarette. + +Her pulses leaped, unaccountably, and the crimson flush again stained her +cheeks; but she sat rigid in the saddle, and looked straight ahead, +pretending she had not discovered the presence of horse and rider behind +her. + +She rode another half mile before the flush died out of her cheeks. And +then, responding to a swift indignation, she brought Billy to a halt, +wheeled him, and sat motionless in the saddle, her face pale, her eyes +flashing. + +With apparent unconcern Harlan rode toward her. The big black horse did +not change his pace, nor did Harlan change expression. It seemed to the +girl that in both horse and rider were a steadfastness of purpose that +nothing could change. And despite her indignation, she felt a thrill of +admiration for both man and horse. + +Yet her eyes were still flashing ominously when Harlan rode to within a +dozen paces of her and brought the big black to a halt. + +There was an expression of grave respect on Harlan's face; but she saw a +lurking devil in his eyes--a gleam of steady, quizzical humor--that made +her yearn to use her quirt on him. For by that gleam she knew he had +purposely followed her; that he expected her to be angry with him for +doing so. And the gleam also told her that he had determined to bear with +her anger. + +"Well?" she inquired, icily. + +"Good mornin', ma'am." He bowed to her, sweeping his broad-brimmed hat +from his head with, it seemed to her, an ironical flourish. + +"Is there something you want to speak to me about?" she asked, her chin +elevated, disdain in her eyes. She assured herself that when he glanced +at her as he was doing at this instant, she positively hated him. She +wondered why she had tolerated his presence. + +"I wasn't havin' any thoughts about speakin' to you, ma'am. Kind of a +nice mornin' for a ride, ain't it?" + +"If one rides alone," she returned, significantly. + +"I enjoy ridin' a whole lot better when I've got company," he stated, +gravely, with equal significance. + +"Meaning that you have made up your mind to ride with me, I suppose?" she +said coldly. + +"You've hit it, ma'am." + +"Well," she declared, her voice quivering with passion; "I don't want you +to ride with me. You came here and usurped whatever power and authority +there is; and you are running the Rancho Seco as though it belongs to +you. But you shan't ride with me--I don't want you to!" + +Had she been standing she must have stamped one foot on the ground, so +vehement was her manner. And the flashing scorn of her eyes should have +been enough to discourage most men. + +But not Harlan. His eyelids flickered with some emotion; and his +eyes--she noted now, even though she could have killed him for his +maddening insistence--were blue, and rimmed by heavy lashes that sun and +sand had bleached until the natural brown of them threatened to become a +light tan. + +She studied him, even while hating him for she saw the force of him--felt +it. And though she was thinking spiteful things of him, she found that +she was forming a new impression of him--of his character, his +appearance, and of the motives that controlled him. + +And she thought she knew why men avoided having trouble with him. She +told herself that if she were a man and she were facing him with violence +in her heart, she would consider seriously before she betrayed it to him. +For in his eyes, in the lips, in the thrust of his chin--even in the +atmosphere that surrounded him at this instant, was a threat, an unspoken +promise, lingering and dormant, of complete readiness--almost eagerness, +she was convinced--for violence. + +She drew a sharp breath as she watched him. And when she saw his lips +curving into a slight smile--wholesome, though grave; with a hint of +boyish amusement in them--she got another quick impression of his +character, new and startling and illuminating. + +For behind the hard, unyielding exterior that he presented to men; back +of the promise and the threat of violence, was the impulsiveness and the +gentleness that would have ruled him had not the stern necessity of +self-preservation forced him to conceal them. + +The smile disarmed her. It _did_ seem ludicrous--that she should try to +force this man to do anything he did not want to do. And she had known +that he would not obey her, and ride back to the ranchhouse; she was +convinced that she must either go back or suffer him to follow her as he +pleased. + +And she was determined not to give up her ride. She was determined to be +very haughty about it, though; but when she wheeled Billy, to head him +again into the western distance, her eyes twinkled her surrender, and her +lips trembled on the verge of a defiant smile. + +Then Billy felt the quirt on his flank; he snorted with astonishment and +disgust, and charged forward, tossing his head intolerantly. + +Looking sidelong, after Billy had traveled two or three hundred yards, +Barbara observed that the big black horse was not more than half a dozen +steps behind. And curiously, Barbara again experienced that comfortable +assurance of protection, and of satisfaction over the nearness of Harlan. + +Moved by an entirely unaccountable impulse, she drew the reins slightly +on Billy, slowing him, almost imperceptibly, so that both horses had +traveled more than a quarter of a mile before the distance between them +lessened noticeably. + +And then, with an impatience that caused her cheeks to glow, Barbara +noted that Purgatory had slowed also, Harlan seemingly accommodating the +animal's pace to her own. It was plain to see that Harlan did not intend +to assume that she had relented. + +For another quarter of a mile the distance remained the same, and the +silence was unbroken except by the rhythmical beating of hoofs through +the rustling, matted mesquite. + +Then Barbara, yielding to an impulse of righteous anger, brought on by +Harlan's obvious intention to remain at a respectful distance, +deliberately brought Billy to a walk and waited until Harlan rode beside +her. + +"You don't need to be a brute--even if I did tell you to go back to the +ranchhouse!" + +"Meanin' what, ma'am? Why, I don't remember to have done anything. I was +doin' a heap of thinkin' just now--if that's what you mean." + +"Thinking mean things of me--I suppose--for what I said to you." + +He had been thinking of her--seriously. And his thoughts were far from +fickle as he watched her now, riding within a few feet of him, her +profile toward him, her head having a rigid set, her chin held high, her +lips tight-pressed, and her hair drooping in graceful coils over her +ears, and bulging in alluring disorder at the nape of her neck. + +He was thinking that he had braved, to answer a mere whim, greater +dangers than he would be likely to meet in defending her from the +wolf-pack which circumstances had set upon her. He was thinking that +heretofore his life had been lived without regard to order or +system--that he had led a will-o'-the-wisp existence, never knowing that +such women as she graced the world. He was thinking of what might have +happened to her had not Davey Langan been killed, and if he had not +started out to avenge him. + +Into his thoughts at this minute flashed a mental picture that paled his +face and brought his lips into straight, hard lines--a picture of Barbara +at the mercy of Deveny. + +With a quick turn he brought Purgatory around in front of Billy, blocking +the animal's further progress westward. The girl started at the rapid +movement, and watched him fearfully, dreading--she knew not what. + +But his smile--grim and mirthless though it was--partially reassured her, +and she sat silent, looking at him as he spoke, rapidly, earnestly. + +"I was thinkin' of you; an' I wasn't thinkin' mean things--about you. I +was thinkin' of Deveny--an' of what your dad told me over there by +Sentinel Rock. + +"Your dad told me that you was in danger--that Deveny an' Strom Rogers +an' some more of them had their eyes turned on you. Your dad made me +promise that I'd come here an' look out for you--an' I mean to do it. +That's why I went to Lamo when I had no call to go there an' that's why I +brought Deveny to a show-down in front of you. + +"There's somethin' goin' on around here that ain't showin' on the +surface--somethin' that's hidden an' sneakin'. You heard some of them +guys in Lamo gassin' about the 'Chief' bein' one of the three that sent +your dad over the Divide. + +"Well, your dad told me that, too--that there was three of them pitched +onto him. It was the fellow they call Chief that shot your dad while he +was sleepin'--when it was too dark for your dad to see his face. Your dad +made me promise to hunt that guy up an' square things for him. That's +what I'm here for. Anyway, it's one reason I'm here. The other reason is +that I'm goin' to see that you get a square deal from them guys. + +"An' you won't get a square deal ridin' out alone, like this--especially +when you head toward Sunset Trail, where Deveny an' his gang hang out. +An' I'm settin' down hard on you ridin' that way. I'm keepin' you from +runnin' any chances." + +Silently Barbara had watched Harlan's face while he had been talking. +There was no doubt that he was in earnest, and there was likewise no +doubt that he was concerned for her safety. But why? It seemed absurd +that Harlan, an outlaw himself, should protect her from other outlaws. +Yet in Lamo he had done just that. + +Behind his actions, his expressed concern for her, must be a motive. What +was it? Was it possible that he was doing this thing unselfishly; that +the promise her father had exacted from him had changed him; that in his +heart at this instant dwelt those finer impulses which must be dormant in +all men, however bad? + +The light of that great inquiry was in her eyes; they searched his face +for subtlety and craft and cunning--for something that would give her a +clue to his thoughts. And when she could find in his expression only a +grave concern she pulled Billy around and started him back toward the +ranchhouse. + +They had not ridden more than a hundred yards before she stole a glance +at Harlan. + +He was now riding beside her, looking straight ahead, his face +expressionless. Had he betrayed the slightest sign of triumph she would +have changed her mind about going back to the ranchhouse with him. + +As it was, she felt a pulse of rage over her readiness in yielding to his +orders. Yet the rage was softened by a lurking, stealthy joy she got out +of his masterfulness. + +"I presume I may ride in another direction--east, for instance--or north, +or south?" + +He apparently took no notice of the mockery in her voice. + +"You'll not be ridin' alone, anywhere," he declared. + +"Oh!" she returned, raising her chin and looking at him with a cold scorn +that, she thought, would embarrass him; "I am to have a guardian." + +He looked straight back to her, steadily, seemingly unaffected by the +hostility of her gaze. + +"It amounts to that. But mebbe I wouldn't put it just that way. +Somebody's got to look out for you--to see that you don't go to rushin' +into trouble. There was trouble over in Lamo--if you'll remember." + +And now he smiled gravely at her, and her face reddened over the memory +of the incident. She had been eager enough, then, to seek his protection; +she had trusted him. + +"That wasn't your fault," he went on gently. "You didn't know then, +mebbe, just what kind of a guy Deveny is. But you know now, an' it +_would_ be your fault if you run into him again." + +He saw how she took it--how her color came and went, and how her eyes +drooped from his. He smiled soberly. + +"Looks to me that you've got to pin your faith to a mighty small chance, +ma'am." + +"What chance?" She looked at him in startled wonderment, for it had not +occurred to her that she faced any real danger, despite the threatening +attitude of Deveny, and her isolation. For the great, peaceful world, and +the swimming sunlight were full of the promise of the triumph of right +and virtue; and the sturdy self-reliance of youth was in her heart. + +"What chance?" she repeated, watching him keenly. + +"The chance that me an' Red Linton will be able to get things into shape +to look out for you." He was gravely serious. + +"It must seem a mighty slim chance to you--me comin' here with a +reputation that ain't any too good, an' Linton, with his red head an' his +freckles. Seems like a woman would go all wrong, pinnin' her faith to red +hair an' freckles an' a hell-raisin' outlaw. But there's been worse +combinations, ma'am--if I do say it myself. An' me an' Red is figurin' to +come through, no matter what you think of us." + +"Red Linton?" she said. "That is the little, short, red-haired man you +put in Lawson's place, isn't it? I have never noticed him--particularly. +It seems that I have always thought him rather unimportant." + +Harlan grinned. "That's a trick Red's got--seemin' unimportant. Red +spends a heap of his time not sayin' anything, an' hangin' around lookin' +like he's been misplaced. But when there's any trouble, you'll find Red +like the banty rooster that's figurin' to rule the roost. + +"I knowed him over in Pardo, ma'am--he rode for the T Down for two or +three seasons." + +"You are anticipating trouble--with Deveny?" she asked, a tremor in her +voice. + +"There ain't any use of tryin' to hide it, ma'am. Mebbe your dad thought +you'd be better off by him not mentionin' it to you. But I've got a +different idea. Anyone--man or woman--knows a heap more about how to go +about things if they're sort of able to anticipate trouble. Your dad told +me things was in a mixup over here with Deveny an' some more of his kind; +an' I ain't aimin' to let you go ramblin' around in the dark. + +"About half the Rancho Seco men belong to Deveny's gang, Linton says. +That's why I put Linton in Lawson's place; an' that's why I'm askin' you +to stick pretty close to the Rancho Seco, an' requestin' you not to go +rummagin' around the country." + +She rode on silently, her face pale, digesting this disquieting news. She +remembered now that her father _had_ seemed rather worried at times, and +that upon several occasions he had hinted that he was distrustful of some +of the Rancho Seco men. But as Harlan had said, he had never taken her +completely into his confidence--no doubt because he had not wanted her to +worry. That was very like her father--always making life easy for her. + +However, covertly watching Harlan, she was conscious of an emotion that +the latter did not suspect. The emotion was confidence--not in Harlan, +for, though she had seen that he, apparently, was eager to become her +champion, she could not forget that he, too, was an outlaw, with no proof +that he had been sent to the Rancho Seco by her father; with nothing but +his actions to convince her that his motives were founded upon +consideration for her welfare. + +She thought of John Haydon as she rode beside Harlan; and it was +confidence in him that was expressed in her glances at Harlan; she was +convinced that she did not have to depend entirely upon Harlan. And when, +as they neared the ranchhouse, and she saw a big gray horse standing near +the entrance to the _patio_, her face reddened and her eyes grew +brilliant with a light that drew a cold smile to Harlan's face. + +"That will be John Haydon's horse, I reckon," he said slowly. + +"Why," she returned, startled; "how did you know?" + +He rode on, not replying. When they reached the ranchhouse, Harlan loped +Purgatory toward one of the bunkhouses, in front of which he saw Red +Linton standing. Barbara directed Billy to the _patio_ entrance, and +dismounted, her face flushed, to meet a man who came out of the open +gateway to greet her, his face wreathed in a delighted smile. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LINKED + + +"So you came at last?" + +Barbara had some difficulty in keeping resentment prominent in her voice +as she faced John Haydon, for other emotions were clamoring within +her--joy because Haydon _had_ come, even though tardily; self-reproach +because she saw in Haydon's eyes a glowing anxiety and sympathy that +looked as though they were of recent birth. + +There was repressed excitement in Haydon's manner; it was as though he +had only just heard of the girl's affliction and had ridden hard to come +to her. + +She was sure of the sincerity in his voice when he grasped her hands +tightly and said: + +"At last, Barbara! I heard it only this morning, and I have nearly killed +my horse getting over here! Look at him!" + +The gray horse certainly did have the appearance of having been ridden +hard. He stood, his legs braced, his head drooping, his muzzle and chest +flecked with foam. Barbara murmured pityingly as she stroked the beast's +neck; and there was quick forgiveness in her eyes when she again looked +at Haydon. + +Haydon was big--fully as tall as Harlan, and broader. His shoulders +bulged the blue flannel shirt he wore; and it was drawn into folds at his +slim waist, where a cartridge-studded belt encircled him, sagging at the +right hip with the weight of a heavy pistol. + +He wore a plain gray silk handkerchief at his throat; it sagged at the +front, revealing a muscular development that had excited the envious +admiration of men. His hair was coal-black, wavy and abundant--though he +wore it short--with design, it seemed, for he must have known that it +gave him an alert, virile appearance. + +His face, despite the tan upon it, and the little wrinkles brought by the +sun and wind, had a clear, healthy color, and his eyes black as his hair, +had a keen glint behind which lurked humor of a quality not to be +determined at a glance--it was changeable, fleeting, mysterious. + +Barbara was silent. The steady courage that had sustained her until this +instant threatened to fail her in the presence of this big, sympathetic +man who seemed, to her, to embody that romance for which she had always +longed. She looked at him, her lips trembling with emotion. + +Until now she had had no confidant--no one she could be sure of. And so, +with Haydon standing close to her, though not too close--for he had never +been able to achieve that intimacy for which he had yearned--she told him +what had happened, including details of her father's death, as related to +her by Harlan; finishing by describing the incident with Deveny in Lamo +(at which Haydon muttered a threat) and the subsequent coming of Harlan +to the Rancho Seco, together with the story of his assumption of +authority. + +When she concluded Haydon laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. + +"It's too bad, Barbara. And on top of it all, Lawson had to play the +beast, too, eh? Why didn't you send someone to me?" + +"There was no one to send." Her voice threatened to break, despite the +brave gleam that flashed through the moisture in her eyes. "Lawson had +sent the men away; and when they came in Harlan took charge of them. +And--besides," she admitted, dropping her gaze, "I--I thought you ought +to--I thought you would----" + +He shook her, reprovingly, laughing deeply as he led her through the +gateway into the _patio_, where they sat on a bench for a long time, +talking, while the aspect of the _patio_ began to change, becoming again +a place of cheerfulness flooded with the soft, radiant light of returning +happiness--reflected in her eyes; while the sunlight streaming down into +the enclosure took on a brightness that made the girl's eyes glisten; +while the drab and empty days since her father's death began to slip back +into the limbo of memory--the sting and the sorrow of them removed. So +does the heart of youth respond to the nearness of romance. + +They had been talking for half an hour when Barbara remembered that +Haydon had not expressed a desire to meet Harlan. + +Haydon's face lost a little of its color as he replied to her suggestion +that they find the man. + +But he laughed, rather mirthlessly, she thought. + +"I intend to see him, Barbara--but alone. There are several things of +importance that I want to say to him--chiefly concerning his conduct +toward you." + +He got up. Barbara rose also, and walked with him, outside the gate, +where he got on his horse, smiling down at her. + +"Harlan was right about your riding out alone. I'd stay as close to the +ranchhouse as possible. There's no telling what Deveny might try to do. +But don't worry. If it wasn't so soon after--after what has happened--I +would--" He smiled, and Barbara knew he meant what he had said to her +many times--about there being a parson in Lazette, a hundred miles or so +northeastward--and of his eagerness to be present with her while the +parson "tied the knot." His manner had always been jocose, and yet she +knew of the earnestness behind it. + +Still, she had not yielded to his importunities, because she had not been +quite sure that she wanted him. Nor was she certain now, though she liked +him better at this moment than she had ever liked him before. + +She shook her head negatively, answering his smile; and watched him as he +rode around a corner of the ranchhouse toward the corral where, no doubt, +he would find Harlan. + + * * * * * + +Harlan had ridden directly to the bunkhouse door and dismounted. Red +Linton said nothing until Harlan seated himself on a bench just outside +the bunkhouse door. Then Linton grinned at him. + +"There's a geezer come a-wooin'," he said. + +Harlan glared at the red-haired man--a truculent, savage glare that made +Linton stretch his lips until the corners threatened to retreat to his +ears. Then Linton assumed a deprecatory manner. + +"They ain't no chance for _him_, I reckon. He's been burnin' up the +breeze between here an' the Star for more'n a year--an' she ain't as much +as kissed him, I'd swear!" + +Harlan did not answer. + +"You saw him?" questioned Linton. + +"Shut your rank mouth." + +Linton chuckled. "I didn't know you'd been hit that bad. Howsomever, if +you _have_ been, why, there's no sense of me wastin' time gassin' to you. +They ain't nothin' will cure that complaint but petticoats an' +smiles--the which is mighty dangerous an' uncertain. I knowed a man +once----" + +Harlan got up and walked to the bunkhouse. And Linton, grinning, called +loudly after him, pretending astonishment. + +"Why, he's gone. Disappeared complete. An' me tryin' to jam some sense +into his head." + +Grinning, Linton sauntered away, vanishing within the blacksmith-shop. + +He had hardly disappeared when Haydon appeared from around a corner of +the ranchhouse, at about the instant Harlan, sensing the departure of +Linton, came to the door, frowning. + +The frown still narrowed Harlan's eyes when they rested upon the +horseman; and his brows were drawn together with unmistakable truculence +when Haydon dismounted near the corral fence. + +Haydon's manner had undergone a change. When in the presence of Barbara +he had been confident, nonchalant. When he dismounted from his horse and +walked toward Harlan there was about him an atmosphere that suggested +carefulness. Before Haydon had taken half a dozen steps Harlan was aware +that the man knew him--knew of his reputation--and feared him. + +Respect was in Haydon's eyes, in the droop of his shoulders, in his +hesitating step. And into Harlan's eyes came a gleam of that contempt +which had always seized him when in the presence of men who feared him. + +And yet, had not Harlan possessed the faculty of reading character at a +glance; had he not had that uncanny instinct of divining the thoughts of +men who meditated violence, he could not have known that Haydon feared +him. + +For Haydon's fear was not abject. It was that emotion which counsels +caution, which warns of a worthy antagonist, which respects force that is +elemental and destroying. + +Haydon smiled as he halted within a few paces of Harlan and turned the +palms of his hands outward. + +"You're 'Drag' Harlan, of Pardo," he said. + +Harlan nodded. + +"My name's Haydon. I own the Star--about fifteen miles west--on Sunset +Trail. I happen to be a friend of Miss Morgan's, and I'd like to talk +with you about the Rancho Seco." + +"Get goin'." + +Haydon's smile grew less expansive. + +"It's a rather difficult subject to discuss. It rather seems to be none +of my affair. But you will understand, being interested in Barbara's +future, and in the welfare of the ranch, why I am presuming to question +you. What do you intend to do with the ranch?" + +"Run it." + +"Of course," smiled Haydon. "I mean, of course, to refer to the financial +end of it. Miss Morgan will handle the money, I suppose." + +"You got orders from Miss Barbara to gas to me about the ranch?" + +"Well, no, I can't say that I have. But I have a natural desire to know." + +"I'll be tellin' her what I'm goin' to do." + +Haydon smiled faintly. Twice, during the silence that followed Harlan's +reply, Haydon shifted his gaze from Harlan's face to the ground between +himself and the other, and then back again. It was plain to Haydon that +he could proceed no farther in that direction without incurring the wrath +that slumbered in Harlan's heart, revealed by his narrowing eyes. + +In Harlan's heart was a bitter, savage passion. Hatred for this man, +which had been aroused by Barbara's reference to him, and intensified by +his visit to the girl, had been made malignant by his appearance now in +the role of inquisitor. + +Jealousy, Harlan would not have admitted; yet the conviction that Haydon +was handsome, and that women would like him--that no doubt Barbara +already liked him--brought a cold rage to Harlan. He stood, during the +momentary silence, his lips curving with contempt, his eyes glinting with +a passion that was unmistakable to Haydon. + +He stepped down from the doorway and walked slowly to Haydon, coming to a +halt within a yard of him. His hands were hanging at his sides, his chin +had gone a little forward; and in his manner was the threat that had +brought a paralysis of fear to more than one man. + +Yet, except for a slow stiffening of his muscles, Haydon betrayed no +fear. There was a slight smile on his lips; his eyes met Harlan's +steadily and unblinkingly. In them was a glint of that mysterious humor +which other men had seen in them. + +"I know you're lightning on the draw, Harlan," he said, his faint smile +fading a trifle. "I wouldn't have a chance with you; I'm not a +gun-fighter. For that reason I don't want any disagreement with you. And +I've heard enough about you to know that you don't shoot unless the other +fellow is out to 'get' you. + +"We won't have any trouble. Be fair. As the man who will ultimately take +charge of the Rancho Seco--since Miss Barbara has been good enough to +encourage me--I would like to know some things. I've heard that Lane +Morgan was killed at Sentinel Rock, and that you were with him when he +died--and just before. Did he give you authority to take charge of the +Rancho Seco?" + +"He told me to take hold." + +"A written order?" + +"His word." + +"He said nothing else; there were no papers on him--nothing of value?" + +Neither man had permitted his eyes to waver from the other's since Harlan +had advanced; and they now stood, with only the few feet of space between +them, looking steadily at each other. + +Harlan saw in Haydon's eyes a furtive, stealthy gleam as of cupidity +glossed over with a pretense of frank curiosity. He sensed greed in +Haydon's gaze, and knowledge of a mysterious quality. + +Haydon knew something about Lane Morgan's errand to Pardo; he knew why +the man had started for Pardo, and what had been on his person at the +time of his death. + +Harlan was convinced of that; and the light in his eyes as he looked into +Haydon's reflected the distrust and the contempt he had for the man. + +"What do you think Morgan had in his clothes?" he questioned suddenly. + +A slow flush of color stole into Haydon's cheeks, then receded, leaving +him a trifle pale. He laughed, with a pretense of mockery. + +"You ought to know," he said, a snarl in his voice. "You must have +searched him." + +Harlan grinned with feline mirthlessness. And he stepped back a little, +knowledge and satisfaction in his eyes. + +For he had "looked Haydon over," following Morgan's instructions. He had +purposely permitted Haydon to question him, expecting that during the +exchange of talk the man would say something that would corroborate the +opinion that Harlan had instantly formed, that Haydon was not to be +trusted. + +And Haydon's snarl; the cupidity in his eyes, and his ill-veiled +eagerness had convinced Harlan. + +Harlan did not resent Haydon's manner; he was too pleased over his +discovery that Haydon possessed traits of character that unfitted him for +an alliance with Barbara. And it would be his business to bring those +traits out, so that Barbara could see them unmistakably. + +He laughed lowly, dropping his gaze to Haydon's belt; to his right hand, +which hung limply near his pistol holster; and to the woolen shirt, with +the silk handkerchief at the throat sagging picturesquely. + +His gaze roved over Haydon--insolently, contemptuously; his lips +twitching with the grim humor that had seized him. And Haydon stood, not +moving a muscle, undergoing the scrutiny with rigid body, with eyes that +had become wide with a queer sensation of dread wonder that was stealing +over him; and with a pallor that was slowly becoming ghastly. + +For he had no doubt that at last he had unwittingly aroused the demon in +Harlan, and that violence, which he had wished to avoid, was imminent. + +But Harlan's roving gaze, as he backed slightly away from Haydon, came to +the breast-pocket of the man's shirt. His gaze centered there definitely, +his eyes narrowing, his muscles leaping a little. + +For out of the pocket stretched a gold chain, broken, its upper +end--where it entered the buttonhole of the shirt--fastened to the +buttonhole with a rawhide thong, as though the gold section were not long +enough to reach. + +And the gold section of the chain was of the peculiar pattern of the +section that Harlan had picked up on the desert near Sentinel Rock. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DEEP WATER + + +Despite his conviction that he stood in the presence of the mysterious +"Chief" of whom he had heard much, Harlan's expression did not change. +There was a new interest added to it, and a deeper glow in his eyes. But +he gave no outward evidence of surprise. + +"I reckon I searched him," he said, answering Haydon's charge. "If I +found anything on him I'm turnin' it over to Barbara Morgan--or hangin' +onto it. That's my business." + +Haydon laughed, for Harlan's voice had broken the tension that had come +with the interval of threatening silence. + +Since he could not induce Harlan to divulge anything of interest there +was nothing to do but to withdraw as gracefully as possible. And he +backed away, smiling, saying placatively: + +"No offense intended, Harlan. I was merely curious on Barbara's account." +He mounted his horse, urged it along the corral fence, and sent back a +smiling: + +"So-long." + +Motionless, still standing where he had stood when Haydon climbed on his +horse, Harlan watched while the man rode the short distance to the house. +At the corner around which he had appeared some minutes before, Haydon +brought his horse to a halt, waved a hand--at Barbara, Harlan +supposed--and then rode on, heading westward toward Sunset Trail. + +Harlan watched him until he had penetrated far into the big valley; then +he turned, slowly, and sought Red Linton--finding him in the +blacksmith-shop. + +Later in the day--after Harlan and Linton had talked long, standing in +the door of the blacksmith-shop--Linton mounted his horse and rode to +where Harlan stood. + +Linton was prepared for a long ride. Folded in the slicker that was +strapped to the cantle of his saddle was food; he carried his rifle in +the saddle sheath, and a water-bag bulged above the horse's withers. + +"You won't find all the T Down boys yearnin' to bust into this ruckus," +Harlan said as he stood near Linton's horse as Linton grinned down at +him; "but there'll be some. Put it right up to them that it ain't goin' +to be no pussy-kitten job, an' that it's likely some of them won't ever +see the T Down again. But to offset that, you can tell 'em that if we +make good, the Rancho Seco will owe them a heap--an' they'll get what's +comin' to them." + +He watched while Linton rode eastward over the big level; then he grinned +and walked to the ranchhouse, going around the front and standing in the +wide gateway where he saw Barbara sitting on a bench in the _patio_, +staring straight ahead, meditatively, unaware that he was standing in the +gateway, watching her. + +Harlan watched the girl for a long time--until she turned and saw him. +Then she blushed and stood up, looking at him in slight wonderment as he +came toward her and stood within a few feet of her. + +On Harlan's face was a slow, genial grin. + +"Sunnin' yourself, eh?" he said. "Well, it's a mighty nice day--not too +hot. Have you knowed him long?" + +The startling irrelevance of the question caused Barbara to gaze sharply +at Harlan, and when their eyes met she noted that his were twinkling with +a light that she could not fathom. She hated him when she could not +understand him. + +"Mr. Haydon, do you mean?" she questioned, a sudden coldness in her +voice. + +Harlan nodded. + +"A little more than a year, I think. It was just after I returned from +school, at Denver." + +He watched her, saying lowly: + +"So it was Denver. I'd been wonderin'. I knowed it must have been some +place. Schoolin' is a thing that I never had time to monkey with--I +reckon my folks didn't believe a heap in 'em." + +"You've lived in the West all your life--you were born in the West, I +suppose?" + +He looked keenly at her. "I expect you knowed that without askin'. I've +been wonderin' if it would have made any difference." + +"How?" + +"In me. Do you think an education makes a man act different--gives him +different ideas about his actions--in his dealin's with women, for +instance?" + +"I expect it does. Education should make a man more considerate of +women--it is refining." + +"Then you reckon a man that ain't had any education is coarse, an' don't +know how to treat a woman?" + +"I didn't say that; I said education _should_ make a man treat women that +way." + +"But it don't always?" + +"I think not. I have known men--well educated men--who failed to treat +women as they should be treated." + +"Then that ain't what you might call a hard-an'-fast rule--it don't +always work. An' there's hope for any man who ain't had schoolin'--if +he's wantin' to be a man." + +"Certainly." + +"But an educated man can't claim ignorance when he aims to mistreat a +woman. That's how it figures up, ain't it?" + +She laughed. "It would seem to point to that conclusion." + +"So you've knowed Haydon about a year? I reckon he's educated?" + +"Yes." She watched him closely, wondering at his meaning--why he had +brought Haydon's name into the discussion. She was marveling at the +subtle light in his eyes. + +"Your father liked Haydon--he told me Haydon was the only square man in +the country--besides himself an' Sheriff Gage." + +"Father liked Haydon. I'm beginning to believe you really _did_ have a +talk with father before he died!" + +He smiled. "Goin' back to Haydon. I had a talk with him a little while +ago. I sort of took a shine to him." He drew from a pocket the section of +gold chain he had found on the desert, holding it out to her. + +"Here's a piece of Haydon's watch chain," he said slowly, watching her +face. "The next time Haydon comes to see you, give it to him, tellin' him +I found it. It's likely he'll ask you where I found it. But you can say I +wasn't mentionin'." + +He turned, looking back over his shoulder at her as he walked toward the +gate. + +She stood, holding the glittering links in the palm of one hand, doubt +and suspicion in her eyes. + +"Why," she called after him; "he was just here, and you say you talked +with him! Why didn't you give it to him?" + +"Forgot it, ma'am. An' I reckon you'll be seein' him before I do." + +Then he strode out through the gate, leaving her to speculate upon the +mystery of his words and his odd action in leaving the chain with her +when he could have personally returned it to Haydon. + +Harlan, however, was grinning as he returned to the bunkhouse. For he +wanted Barbara to see Haydon's face when the section of chain was +returned to him, to gain whatever illumination she could from the +incident. He did not care to tell her--yet--that Haydon had killed her +father; but he did desire to create in her mind a doubt of Haydon, so +that she would hesitate to confide to him everything that happened at the +Rancho Seco. + +For himself, he wanted to intimate delicately to Haydon his knowledge of +what had really occurred at Sentinel Rock; it was a message to the man +conveying a significance that Haydon could not mistake. It meant that for +some reason, known only to himself, Harlan did not intend to tell what he +knew. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +FORGING A LETTER + + +The impulse which had moved Harlan to send Red Linton to the T Down ranch +to enlist the services of some of his old friends had resulted from a +conviction that he could not depend upon those men of the Rancho Seco +outfit who had seemed to him, to be unfriendly to Stroud, the straw-boss. +He knew nothing about them, and their loyalty to Barbara Morgan might be +of a quality that would not endure through the sort of trouble that +seemed to be imminent. + +The T Down men--those who would come--would stand with him no matter what +happened--they would do his will without question. + +There was no doubt in Harlan's mind that John Haydon was the mysterious +"Chief"--the man who had sent into Lane Morgan's breast the bullet that +had ultimately killed him; and there was no doubt that some powerful, +secret force was at work in the country, and that the force was directing +its attention to the Rancho Seco and the defenseless girl who was at the +nominal head of it. For some reason the secret force had killed her +father, had isolated the ranch, had encompassed it with enemies, and was +working slowly and surely to enmesh the girl herself. + +Harlan was convinced that one of the motives behind the subtle +aggressions of the men was a yearning for the gold that Morgan had +left--in fact the presence of Dolver and Laskar at Sentinel Rock--and +Morgan's word to him about the gold--provided sufficient evidence on that +score. + +They had watched Morgan; they suspected he was taking gold to Pardo to +have it assayed, and they had killed him in the hope of finding something +on his person which would reveal to them where he had hidden the rest of +it. + +One other motive was that of the eternal, ages-old passion of a man for +woman. Evidence of that passion had been revealed to Harlan at Lamo, by +the attack on Barbara by Deveny's hireling--Higgins; by the subtle +advances of John Haydon. It seemed to Harlan that all of these men had +been--and were--equally determined to possess the girl. + +And yet back of it all--behind that which had been rendered visible by +the actions of the man and by Harlan's own deductions--was something +else--something stealthy and hidden; a secret threat of dire things to +come--a lingering promise of trickery. + +Standing at one of the gates of the corral upon the third morning +following Linton's departure, Harlan considered this phase of the +situation. He felt the hidden threat of something sinister that lurked in +the atmosphere. + +It was all around him. It seemed to lie secreted in the yawning space +that engulfed the Rancho Seco--south, north, and east. From the haze that +stretched into the unending distance westward it seemed to come, bearing +its whispered promise. The solemn hills that flanked the wide stretches +of Sunset Valley seemed to hint of it--somberly. + +Mystery was in the serene calm that seemed to encompass the big basin; +from the far reaches westward, in the misty veil that seemed to hang from +the far-flung shafts of sunlight that penetrated the fleecy clouds, came +the sinister threat--the whole section seemed to pulse with it. + +And yet Harlan knew there could be no mystery except the mysteries of +men. Nature was the same here as in any other section of the world, and +her secrets were not more profound than usual. + +He grinned mirthlessly at the wonderful basin, noting that the Rancho +Seco buildings seemed to lie on a direct line with its center; that the +faint trail that ran through the basin--the trail men traveled--came on +in its undulating way straight toward the Rancho Seco ranchhouse, seemed +to bring the mystery of the big basin with it; seemed to be a link that +connected the Rancho Seco with the promise of trouble. + +That impression might have engaged the serious thoughts of some men. It +widened the smile on Harlan's face. For he knew there was no threat in +the beauty of the valley; that it did not hide its secrets from the +prying eyes of men. Whatever secret the valley held was in the minds of +men--the minds of Deveny and the mysterious "Chief," and their followers. + +Harlan had not absented himself from the ranchhouse since the departure +of Linton. He had lounged in the vicinity of the buildings during the +day--and Barbara had seen him many times from the windows; and he had +spent his nights watching the ranchhouse, half expecting another attack +on Barbara. + +The girl had seen him at night, too; and she had smiled at the picture he +made with the moonlight shining upon him--or standing in some +shadow--somber, motionless, undoubtedly guarding her. + +She saw him this morning, too, as he stood beside the corral gate, and +there was a glow in her eyes that, had he seen it, might have thrilled +him with its gratitude. + +She came out of a rear door after a while, and Harlan was still standing +at the gate. + +He watched her as she came toward him--it was the first time she had +ventured in that direction since the return from Lamo with him--noting +that she seemed to be in better spirits--that she was smiling. + +"You looked lonesome," she said, as she halted near him. "Did Linton join +the outfit?" + +"It's likely; he went three days ago." + +"I knew he had gone; I saw you several times, and you were always alone. +And," she added, looking keenly at him; "I saw you several times, at +night. Don't you ever sleep?" + +"I reckon I'm a sort of restless cuss." + +Her face took on serious lines. + +"Look here, Harlan," she said, reprovingly, "you are keeping something +back. You have been watching the ranchhouse at night--and during the day. +You are guarding me. Why is it? Do you think I am going to run away?" + +"From me?" he queried; "I was hopin' you wouldn't." + +She stiffened with exasperation, for she felt the insincerity in his +manner--caught the humorous note in his voice. + +"You are treating me as you would treat a child," she declared; "and I +won't have it. Are you watching me because you fear there might be +another--Lawson?" + +"There might be." + +"Nonsense! There isn't another man in the section would dare what Lawson +dared!" + +"Gentlemen--eh?" he said, tauntingly. "Well, I've nosed around quite +considerable, an' I don't remember to have ever run into a place where +there was fewer _men_ than in this neck of the woods." + +"There are plenty of gentlemen. Do you think John Haydon----" + +Harlan grinned faintly. "He's been fannin' it right along for half an +hour," he said, with seeming irrelevance. + +"Who?" she asked, with a swift, uncomprehending glance at him. + +"Your gentleman," he said slowly. + +She followed the direction of his gaze, and saw, on the trail that led +downward from a little table-land to the level that stretched toward the +ranchhouse, a horseman, coming rapidly toward them. + +"It's Mr. Haydon!" she ejaculated, her voice leaping. + +"So it is," said Harlan, dryly. He looked keenly at her, noting the flush +on her face, the brightness of her eyes. "You ain't forgettin' to give +him that piece of chain." + +"Why," she said, drawing the glittering links from a pocket of her skirt; +"I have it here. You may return it to him." + +"Me an' Haydon ain't on speakin' terms," he smiled. "He wouldn't +appreciate it none, if I give it to him." + +"Why--" she began, only to pause and look at him with a sudden +comprehension in her eyes. For into Harlan's face had come an expression +that, she thought, she could analyze. It was jealousy. That was why he +was reluctant to return the chain to Haydon. + +The situation was so positively puerile, she thought, that she almost +felt like laughing. She would have laughed had it not been that she knew +of Harlan's unfailing vigilance--and that she felt differently toward him +now than she had felt during the first days of their acquaintance. His +steadfast vigilance, she decided, must have been responsible for the +change, together with the steady consideration he revealed for her. + +At any rate, something about him had affected her. She felt more gentle +toward him; more inclined to believe in him; and there had been times +during the past few days when she had been astonished at the subtle, warm +sensation that had stolen over her whenever she saw him or whenever she +thought of him. + +Something of that warmth toward him was in her eyes now as she watched +him and she decided that she should humor his whim; that she should +perform the action that he was reluctant to perform. + +She smiled, with the wisdom of a woman to whom a secret had been +unwittingly revealed. + +"You don't like Haydon?" + +"Him an' me ain't goin' to be bosom friends." + +"Why don't you like him?" she asked banteringly. + +She thought his grin was brazen. "Why don't you like me?" + +"I don't know," she said coldly. But her face reddened a little. + +"Well," he laughed; "that's why I don't like Haydon." + +Haydon had crossed the big level, and was close to the ranchhouse. + +The girl had determined to remain where she was, to return the piece of +chain to Haydon in the presence of Harlan--in order to learn what she +could of the depth of Harlan's dislike for Haydon when in the presence of +the latter. And so a silence came between them as they watched Haydon +ride toward them. + +When Haydon rode close to them he halted his horse and sat in the saddle, +an expression of cold inquiry on his face. His smile at Miss Barbara was +a trifle forced; his glance at Harlan had a fair measure of frank dislike +and suspicion in it. + +Harlan deliberately turned his back toward Barbara and Haydon when the +latter dismounted; walked a little distance, and pretended to be +interested in a snubbing post in the corral. + +Yet he cast furtive glances toward the two, and when he saw the girl +reaching into a pocket for the section of chain he had given her, he +slowly sauntered forward, and was within hearing distance when Barbara +spoke to Haydon. + +"I was to give you this," she said--and she extended a hand toward +Haydon, the chain dangling from her fingers. + +Harlan saw Haydon's muscles leap and become tense. He saw the man's color +go, saw his cheeks whiten; observed that his eyes widened and gleamed +with mingled astonishment and alarm. + +He regained control of himself instantly, however, but Harlan had seen +enough to strengthen his convictions, and he grinned as Haydon flashed a +sharp glance at him. + +Barbara, too, had noted the strange light in Haydon's eyes; she had seen +that Haydon had seemed about to shrink from the chain when she held it +out to him. She looked from Haydon to Harlan inquiringly and when her +glance again returned to Haydon he was smiling. + +However, he had not taken the chain from her hand. + +"Is it yours?" she asked. + +"Yes--mine," he answered, hesitatingly. "Where did you find it?" + +"Mr. Harlan found it." Barbara noted Haydon's quick start, the searching +glance he gave Harlan--who was now leaning on a rail of the corral fence, +seemingly uninterested. + +Haydon laughed, a little hoarsely, it seemed to Barbara, and more loudly +than the occasion seemed to demand. She thought, though, that the laugh +might have been a jeer for Harlan's action in turning the chain over to +her instead of returning it directly to the owner. + +She did not catch the searching inquiry of Haydon's glance at Harlan, nor +did she see Harlan's odd smile at Haydon, and the slow wink that +accompanied it. + +But the wink and the smile conveyed to Haydon the intelligence that +Harlan knew the story connected with the loss of the chain, and that he +had not communicated it to the girl. They also expressed to Haydon the +message that Harlan and Haydon were kindred souls--the smile and the wink +told Haydon that this man who knew his secret was secretly applauding +him, even while inwardly laughing at him for his fear that the secret +would be betrayed. + +Harlan's voice broke a short silence. + +"Found it right about here--the other day. It must have laid there a long +time, for it took a heap of polishin' to brighten it up." Again he closed +an eye at Haydon, and the latter grinned broadly. + +Barbara silently endured a pang of disappointment. She had caught +Harlan's wink. The man had betrayed jealousy only a few minutes ago, and +he had refused personally to return the chain to Haydon. And yet he stood +there now, smiling and winking at the other, evidently with the desire to +ingratiate himself. Sycophant, weakling, or fool--which was he? She +shuddered with disgust, deliberately turned her back to Harlan, and began +to walk toward the ranchhouse, Haydon following. + +And Harlan, standing at the fence, leaned an elbow on one of the rails +and watched the two, an enigmatic smile on his face. + +For he had succeeded in opening a gate which disclosed a trail that would +lead him straight to the mystery, a breath of which had been borne to him +that morning upon the slight breeze that had swept down to him from the +mighty valley out of which Haydon had ridden. + +Between him and Haydon a bond had been established, fashioned from the +links of the section of chain. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +HARLAN RIDES ALONE + + +Upon the morning of the fourth day following Haydon's visit to the Rancho +Seco, a dust cloud developed on the northwestern horizon. Harlan observed +the cloud; he had been watching for it since dawn, when he had emerged +from the stable door, where he had been looking after Purgatory. + +From the ranchhouse Barbara also saw the cloud, and she ran upstairs to +one of the north windows. There, with her face pressed against the glass, +she watched the cloud grow in size, observed that it was dotted with the +forms of horsemen; saw at last that the horsemen were headed straight for +the Rancho Seco. Then, wondering, anxious, eager, she descended the +stairs and ran out to where Harlan was standing, speaking breathlessly: + +"What does it mean? Who are they?" + +"It'll be Red Linton an' some T Down boys." + +"'T Down'?" + +"Pardo men. From where I used to work. I sent Linton for them. If I'm +going to run a ranch I aim to run it with men I can depend on." + +She had hardly spoken to him in the four days that had elapsed since +Haydon's last visit, for the disgust she had felt that day had endured. +But there was something new in his manner now--a briskness, a +business-like air that made her look sharply at him. + +He smiled at her, and in the smile was a snapping humor that puzzled her. + +She stood, watching for a while--until the group of horsemen became +clearly defined--and then, with a sudden fear that the men might be +outlaws of the same type as Harlan--possibly he had sent for them because +they were--she returned to the ranchhouse and watched from one of the +windows. + +When the T Down men rode up to the corral gate they dismounted and +surrounded Harlan. There were ten of them--rugged-looking fellows of +various ages, bepistoled, begrimed with dust, and articulate with profane +expressions of delight. + +"Hell's a-poppin', Red says!" yelled one. "He says there's geezers here +which is pinin' for yore gore. Turn me loose on 'em--oh, turn me loose!" + +The men, tired, dusty, and hungry, swarmed into one of the bunkhouses +immediately after they had turned their horses into the corral and cared +for their saddles. + +The men were in good spirits, despite their long ride; and for half an +hour after they descended upon the bunkhouse the air pulsed with their +talk and their laughter, as they washed their dust-stained faces from the +tin washbasin on the bench outside the door, and combed their hair with a +comb attached to a rawhide thong that swung from the wall above the +basin. + +They had been informed by Red Linton regarding the situation that had +developed at the Rancho Seco--fully informed before they had begun their +trip westward--Linton scrupulously and faithfully presenting to them the +dangers that confronted them. And though some of them were still curious, +and sought a word with Harlan in confirmation, they seemed to be +satisfied to trust to Harlan's judgment. Their faith was of the kind that +needs but little verbal reassurance. + +That they admired the man who had sent for them there was little doubt; +for they watched him with glowing eyes as he talked with them, revealing +their pride that they had been selected. Hardy, clear-eyed, serenely +unafraid, they instantly adapted themselves to the new "job," and before +their first meal was finished they were thoroughly at home. + +Shortly afterward--while the men were lounging about inside--Harlan drew +Linton outside. + +"That's the bunch I would have picked if I had gone myself," complimented +Harlan. "I'm thankin' you a heap." + +He whispered to Linton the story of Haydon's last visit and for the first +time Linton heard about the section of chain which convicted Haydon of +the murder of Lane Morgan. Linton's eyes gleamed. + +"I've always sort of suspected the son-of-a-gun!" he declared. "An' him +makin' love to Barbara! The sneakin' coyote! An' so you're goin' to see +him? I'd be a whole lot careful." + +Harlan's smile was grave. "I'm reckonin' to be. I'd have gone before +this, but I was waitin' for you boys. Nobody is sayin' anything to +anybody. You're stickin' close to the Rancho Seco, not lettin' Barbara +out of your sight. That's what I wanted you an' the other guys for. I'm +playin' the rest of it a lone hand." + +Leaving Linton standing near the bunkhouse, he went to the stable, where +he threw saddle and bridle on Purgatory. Then he mounted, waved a hand at +Linton, who was watching him, and rode to the ranchhouse. At the +northwest corner--around which Haydon had ridden on the occasion of his +last visit--he brought Purgatory to a halt, for he saw Barbara just +emerging from the _patio_ gate. + +She halted in the opening when she observed him; making a picture that +was vivid in his memory for many days afterward--for her eyes were alight +with wonder, her cheeks were flushed, and she was breathing fast. + +For she had watched from a window the coming of the T Down men; she had +noted the conference between Harlan and Linton; and she had seen Harlan +waving a hand at the red-haired man, seemingly in farewell. She stood +now, afflicted with a strange regret, suddenly aware that she would feel +the absence of the man who sat on his horse before her--for she divined +that he was going. + +"I'm sayin' so-long to you, ma'am," smiled Harlan. + +"Oh!" she said, aware of the flatness of her tone. "Are you going away?" + +"I'm figurin' to go. I ain't used to hangin' around one place very long. +But I'm comin' back some day. Red Linton an' the boys will be seein' that +things go smooth with you. You can depend on Red, and all the boys. +They're Simon-pure, dyed-in-the-wool, eighteen-carat men." And now he +grinned, gravely. "Remember this, Barbara: A man will do things when he's +handlin' a gold chain--things that he wouldn't do if there didn't happen +to be any chain." + +He doffed his hat and slapped Purgatory sharply, heading the animal +westward, toward the yawning mouth of the big basin that stretched its +mighty length into the mystery of distance. + +But his words left her with a conviction that she had again misjudged +him, and that when he had appeared to fawn on Haydon he had been merely +acting, merely pretending. She watched him, regretfully, longingly, +assailed by emotions that she could not understand--until he and +Purgatory grew small in the gulf of distance; until horse and rider were +swallowed in the glowing haze. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HARLAN JOINS THE GANG + + +At the edge of the big level, where it merged into the floor of the +basin, Harlan drew Purgatory to a halt. For an instant he sat in the +saddle scrutinizing a section of buffalo grass that fringed a clump of +willows near the almost dry bed of the river that doubled slightly as it +came from the basin. Something in the appearance of the grass had +attracted his attention--it was matted, as though something had lain or +rolled in it. + +He rode closer, cautiously, for the little trees formed a covert behind +which any one of several dangers might lie concealed--and looked down at +the grass. As he examined the place his lips twisted into a grim smile, +and his eyes grew bright with comprehension. + +He rode around the clump of trees, making sure it was not occupied; then +he dismounted. + +Someone had been concealed in the covert for many days--a man. For he saw +the imprints of heels, and indentations where spurs had gashed the earth. +The marks were all fresh--recently made. While he watched he saw some +blades of the long grass slowly rise--as though, relieved from some +pressure that had been upon them, they were eager to regain an upright +position. He also saw scraps of food--jerked beef and biscuit--scattered +here and there. + +He frowned, convinced that for days a man had occupied the covert, +watching the Rancho Seco; convinced also, that the mystery he had sensed +some days ago had been man-made, as he had felt. The man who had been +there had been a sentinel, a spy, sent by Deveny or Haydon to observe his +movements, and to report them, of course, to one or the other of the two +outlaws. + +Harlan remounted Purgatory. His caution had not been wasted, and his +vigilance in guarding the ranchhouse must have been irritating to the man +who had been watching. + +He urged Purgatory on again--heading him westward, as before. And when he +reached the crest of a slight rise in the valley--from where he could see +the trail as it twisted and undulated around hills and into depressions--he +saw, far up the valley--and yet not so far, either--not more than two +miles--a horseman, riding slowly--away from him. + +The horseman was the spy, of course. Harlan had no doubt that if he +lingered in the vicinity of the covert long enough he would discover the +place where the horse had been concealed. But that was not important, now +that he had discovered enough to satisfy himself that there had been a +spy--and so he rode on, smiling faintly, knowing that the rider was +headed into the valley--possibly to the outlaw rendezvous to appraise +Deveny and the others of his coming. + +The trail was clearly defined, and there were places where it ran over +broad levels of grass where he presented a good target to men who might +be eager to send a shot at him. There were other spots where the trail +led into timber clumps and through tangles of brush where an ambuscade +might be planned in perfect safety by an enemy; and there were the +bastioned cliffs that towered above the trail at intervals, offering +admirable hinding-places for any man with hostile intentions. + +Harlan, however, rode steadily, outwardly unconcerned; inwardly convinced +that no attempt would be made to ambush him. For Haydon has passed that +way on his return to the Star, and Harlan had no doubt that since the +incident of the smile and the wink, Haydon had passed word that he was +not to be molested. + +Haydon would be curious--as he had been curious at the Rancho Seco--to +learn the significance of the smile and the wink. Haydon would want to +discover just how much Harlan knew about the murder of Lane Morgan; and +he would want to know what Harlan knew of the gold that Morgan had +secreted. And so Harlan rode on, watching the country through which he +passed, but feeling assured there would be no shot to greet him from one +of the many natural vantage-points he encountered. + +He rode for an hour, not making very good time, for it was a new trail, +and he was examining the country intently as he passed, fixing it in his +memory for future convenience, perhaps--no one ever knew just when it +might be necessary to use one's knowledge--when he reached a low ridge +which crossed the valley. + +Here he halted Purgatory and gazed about him. + +Before him stretched a green grass level, about two miles long, running +the entire width of the valley. It was dotted with mesquite, sage, and +here and there the thorny blade of a cactus rose. Some cattle were +grazing on the level; they were several miles south, and he could see +some horsemen near them. + +He decided he must be close to the Star; and he urged Purgatory on again, +down upon the level, toward some timber that grew at the farther edge of +the level. Just as he slipped down the slope of the ridge, he saw, far +ahead of him, the horseman he had seen when he had entered the valley. +The horseman was on the crest of a bald hill--low, and small--but Harlan +caught a glimpse of him as he crossed it, riding fast. + +Harlan smiled again, and rode on his way, resuming his scrutiny of the +country. + +The valley was mighty, magnificent; it deserved all the praise Barbara +Morgan had heaped upon it. From the low mountain range on the north to +the taller mountains southward, it was a virgin paradise in which reigned +a peace so profound that it brought a reverent awe into the soul of the +beholder. + +It thrilled Harlan despite the certain blase, matter-of-fact attitude he +had for all of nature's phenomena; he found himself admiring the majestic +buttes that fringed it; there was a glint of appreciation in his eyes for +the colossal bigness of it--for the gigantic, sweeping curves which +seemed to make of it an oblong bowl, a cosmic hollow, boundless, hinting +of the infinite power of its builder. + +The trail that ran through it, drawled to threadlike proportions by the +mightiness of the space through which it ran, was, for the greater part +of the distance traveled by Harlan, a mere scratch upon a low rock ridge. +And as he rode he could look down upon the floor of the valley, green and +inviting. + +When he entered the timber at the edge of the grass level, he was +conscious of a stealthy sound behind him. He turned quickly in the +saddle, to see a man standing at the edge of some brush that fringed the +trail. + +The man was big, a heavy black beard covered his chin and portions of his +cheeks; his hat was drawn well down over his forehead, partially +shielding his eyes. + +A rifle in his hands was held loosely, and though it appeared that the +man did not intend to use the weapon immediately, Harlan could see that +his right forefinger was touching the trigger, and that the muzzle of the +weapon was suggestively toward him. + +For the past few miles of his ride Harlan had been expecting an +apparition of this sort to appear, and so he now gave no sign of +surprise. Instead, he slowly raised both hands until they were on a level +with his shoulders--and, still twisted about in the saddle, he grinned +faintly at the man. + +"From now on I'm to have company, eh?" he said. + +The man smirked grimly at him. + +"You've hit it," he answered. "You're Harlan, ain't you? 'Drag' Harlan, +the Pardo two-gun man?" + +The man's eyes were glowing with interest--critical, almost cynical, and +they roved over Harlan with a probing intensity that left no doubt in +Harlan's mind that the man had heard of him and was examining him with +intent to discover what sort of a character he was. + +Apparently satisfied--and also plainly impressed with what he saw, the +man grinned--this time almost genially--and answered Harlan's affirmative +nod with: + +"Well, Haydon is expectin' you. You c'n let your paws down--takin' a heap +of care not to go to foolin' with your guns. I ain't takin' them; Haydon +didn't say anything about it. You're ridin' that trail that forks off to +the left." + +Harlan lowered his hands, resting them on the pommel of his saddle, and +rode on, taking, as advised, a narrow trail that diverged from the other +a short distance from where he had met the man. As he struck the other +trail he heard the man coming behind him--on a horse. + +There were no further words. Harlan kept to the trail, riding slowly; the +man behind him following at a short distance. + +In this manner they rode for perhaps a mile. Then the timber grew sparse, +and Purgatory and his rider at last emerged upon a level that extended +about a hundred feet and then sloped down abruptly to another level, +through which flowed a narrow stream of water, shallow and clear. + +Close to the bank of the stream was an adobe ranchhouse, and surrounding +it were several other buildings. At a slight distance from the house was +a corral in which were several horses. In front of a bunkhouse were +several men who, when they saw Harlan and the other man coming, faced +toward them and stood, motionless, watching. + +The men maintained silence as Harlan rode to the ranchhouse and sat in +the saddle, awaiting the pleasure of his escort. He saw the latter grin +at the other men as he passed them; and he grinned at Harlan as he +brought his horse to a halt near Purgatory and dismounted. + +"I reckon you're to git off an' visit," he said; "Haydon is inside." As +he dismounted and trailed the reins over the head of his beast he cast a +sharp, critical eye over Purgatory. + +"There's a heap of hoss in that black, eh?" + +"Plenty." Harlan got down and ran a hand over Purgatory's neck, while +trailing the reins over his head. "Man-killer," he warned. "Don't touch +him. He ain't been rode by nobody but me, an' he won't stand for nobody +foolin' around him." + +Harlan had raised his voice until he was sure the men in front of the +bunkhouse heard him; then he grinned genially at them all and followed +the black-bearded man into the ranchhouse. + +An instant later, in a big room which had the appearance of an office, +Harlan was confronting Haydon. + +The latter was sitting in a chair at a desk, and when Harlan entered +Haydon got up and grinned at him, shallowly, without mirth. + +"So you got here," he said; "I've been expecting you." + +"I've been notin' that. That guy you left at the edge of the level to +keep an eye on the Rancho Seco didn't cover his tracks. I run onto +them--an' I saw him hittin' the breeze--comin' here. I reckon nobody is +surprised." Harlan grinned widely. + +"So you noticed that," said Haydon, answering Harlan's grin. "Well, I +don't mind admitting that we've kept an eye on you. You've had me +guessing." + +Haydon's manner was that of the man who is careful not to say too much, +his constraint was of the quality that hints of a desire to become +confidential--a smooth, bland courtesy; a flattering voice--encouraging, +suggesting frankness. + +Harlan's manner was that of a certain reckless carelessness. He seemed to +be perfectly at ease, confident, deliberate, and unwatchful. He knew +Haydon was an outlaw; that the men who had been grouped in front of the +bunkhouse were members of Haydon's band; he knew the man who had escorted +him to the Star had been deliberately stationed in the timber to watch +for him. And he had no doubt that other outlaws had lain concealed along +the trail to observe his movements. + +He knew, too, that he had placed himself in a precarious predicament--that +his life was in danger, and that he must be exceedingly careful. + +Yet outwardly he was cool, composed. With Haydon's eyes upon him he drew +a chair to a point near the desk, seated himself in it, drew out paper +and tobacco, and rolled a cigarette. Lighting it, he puffed slowly, +watching while Haydon dropped into the chair he had vacated at Harlan's +appearance. + +When Haydon dropped into his chair he grinned admiringly at Harlan. + +"You're a cool one, Harlan," he said; "I've got to say that for you. But +there's no use in four-flushing. You've come here to tell me something +about the chain. Where did you find it?" + +"At Sentinel Rock--not far from where you plugged Lane Morgan." + +"You're assuming that I shot Morgan?" charged Haydon. + +"Morgan was assumin', too, I reckon," grinned Harlan. "He told me it was +you who shot him--he saw your face by the flash of your gun. An' he told +me where to look for the chain--him not knowin' it was a chain--but +somethin'." + +Haydon's eyes gleamed with a cold rage--which he concealed by passing a +hand over his forehead, veiling his eyes from Harlan. His lips were +wreathed in a smile. + +"Why didn't you tell me that the other day--the first time I met you?" + +Harlan laughed. "I was havin' notions then--notions that I'd be playin' +her a lone hand." + +"And now?" Haydon's eyes were steady with cold inquiry. + +"I've got other notions. I'm acceptin' Deveny's invitation to throw in +with you." + +Haydon was silent for an instant, and during the silence his gaze met +Harlan's fairly. By the humorous gleam in Harlan's eyes Haydon divined +that the man could not be misled--that he knew something of the situation +in the valley, and that he had come here with the deliberate intention of +joining the outlaw band. + +There was, as Haydon had intimated, little use for an attempt at +equivocation or pretense. It was a situation that must be faced squarely +by both himself and Harlan. Harlan's reputation, and his action in +keeping secret from Barbara Morgan the identity of her father's murderer, +indicated sincerity on the man's part. And since Harlan knew him to be +the murderer of Morgan it would be absurd for Haydon to pretend that he +had no connection with Deveny's band. He could not fool this man. + +Yet a jealous hatred of Harlan was thinly concealed by the steady smile +with which he regarded his visitor. He had felt the antagonism of Harlan +that day when he had talked with him at the bunkhouse door; Harlan's +manner that day had convinced him that Harlan was jealous of his +attentions to Barbara Morgan. Also, there was in his heart a professional +jealousy--jealousy of Harlan's reputation. + +For this man who sat in his chair so calmly, with danger encompassing +him, was greater than he. Haydon knew it. Had there been any doubt in his +mind on that score it must have been removed by a memory of the manner in +which his men had received the news that Harlan had left the Rancho Seco +and was on his way up the valley. + +The rider Harlan had seen had come in with that news--and Haydon had been +standing with the group at the bunkhouse when the man arrived. And he had +not failed to note the nervous glances of some of the men, and the +restless eagerness, not unmixed with anxiety, with which they watched the +trail. + +And now, facing Harlan, he felt the man's greatness--his especial fitness +for the career he had adopted. Harlan was the ideal outlaw. He was cool, +deep, subtle. He was indomitable; he felt no fear; his will was +inflexible, adamant. Haydon felt it. The fear he had experienced at his +first meeting with Harlan had endured until this minute--it was strong as +ever. + +Yet he admired the man; and knew that since he had come to the valley he +must be considered an important factor. Haydon could not flatly tell him +to get out of the valley; he could not order him away from the Rancho +Seco. Harlan was in control there--for the rider who had come in with the +news that Harlan had set out for the valley had also apprised Haydon of +the coming, to the Rancho Seco, of the men of the T Down outfit. + +The rider had not been able to tell Haydon who the men were, of course; +but it made little difference. They were friends of Harlan's, for they +had come from the direction of the desert--from Pardo. + +It was plain to Haydon that Harlan had come to the valley to stay. It was +equally plain that he must be either propitiated or antagonized. He felt +that Harlan was giving him his choice. + +"What do you want--if you throw in with us?" Haydon asked, following the +trend of his own thoughts. + +"That's straight talk," said Harlan. "I'm givin' you a straight answer. +If I join your bunch I join on the same footing with you an' +Deveny--nothin' less. We split everything three ways--the other boys +takin' their regular share after we take ours. I bring my boys in under +the rules you've got that govern the others. I run the Rancho Seco--no +one interferin'. When I rustle up that gold old Morgan hid, we split it +three ways. Barbara Morgan goes with the ranch--no one interferin'." + +Color surged into Haydon's face. + +"You don't want much, do you?" he sneered. + +"I want what's comin' to me--what I'm goin' to take, if I come in. That's +my proposition. You can take it or leave it." + +Haydon was silent for an instant, studying Harlan's face. What he saw +there brought a frown to his own. + +"Harlan," he said softly, "some of the boys feel a little resentful over +the way you sent Dolver and Laskar out. There are several friends of +those two men outside now. Suppose I should call them in and tell them +that the bars are down on you--eh?" + +If Haydon expected his threat to intimidate Harlan, he was mistaken. +Harlan sat, motionless, watching the outlaw chief steadily. And into his +eyes came a glitter of that cold contempt which Haydon had seen in them +on the day he had faced Harlan near the bunkhouse at the Rancho Seco. + +"You're doin' the honors, Haydon," he said. "If you're that kind of a +coyote I don't want to deal with you. If you think you want to pass up a +share of that hundred thousand, start yappin' to them boys. It's likely +there's some of them hangin' around, close. Mebbe you've got some of them +peekin' around corners at me now. I ain't runnin' from no trouble that +comes my way. Get goin' if you're yearnin' to requisition the mourners." + +Rage over the threat was now plain in his eyes, for they were aflame with +a cold fire as he got up from his chair and stood, crouching a little, +his hands lingering near the butts of his guns. + +Haydon did not move, but his face grew pallid and he smiled nervously, +with shallow mirth. + +"You are not in a joking mood today, Harlan?" he said. + +"There's jokes, _an'_ jokes, Haydon. I've come here in good faith. I've +been in camps like this before--in Kelso's, Dave Rance's, Blondy +Larkin's, an' some others. Them men are outlaws--like you an' me; an' +they've done things that make them greater than you an' me--in our line. +But I've visited them, free an' easy--goin' an' comin' whenever I +pleased. An' no man threatenin' me. + +"Your manners is irritatin' to me--I'm tellin' you so. I'm through! +You're takin' me out, now--back to the Rancho Seco. You're ridin' behind +me--minus your guns, your mouth shut tighter than you ever shut it +before. An' if there's any shootin' you'll know it--plenty!" + +Harlan had brought matters to a crisis--suddenly, in a flash. The time +for pretense had gone. Haydon could accept Harlan upon the terms he had +mentioned, or he could take up the man's challenge with all it +implied--bitter warfare between the two factions, which would be +unprofitable to both, and especially to Haydon. + +It was for Haydon to decide; and he sat for some seconds motionless in +the chair, before he spoke. + +Then he got up--taking care to keep his right hand at a respectable +distance from the butt of his pistol, and smilingly held out his hand. + +"It goes your way, Harlan--we take you in on your terms. I beg your +pardon for saying what I did. That was just to try you out. I've heard a +lot about you, and I wanted to see if you were in earnest--if you really +wanted to come in. I'm satisfied." + +They shook hands; their gaze meeting as they stood close together. The +gaze endured for an instant; and then Haydon's fell. The handshake lasted +for several seconds, and it was curious to see how Haydon's eyes, after +they had become veiled from Harlan's by the drooping lids, glowed with a +malignant triumph and cunning. + +It was also curious to note that something of the same passion was +revealed in Harlan's eyes as they rested on the partially closed lids of +the other--for there was triumph there, too--and comprehension, and craft +of a kind that might have disturbed Haydon, had he seen it. + +Then their hands parted, mutually, and Haydon grinned smoothly and with +apparent cordiality at Harlan. He grasped Harlan by an elbow and urged +him toward the door through which the latter had entered. + +"I'll give you a knockdown to the boys, now--those that are here," he +said. + +An hour later--after Haydon and the dozen men to whom he had introduced +Harlan had watched Harlan ride eastward through the valley toward the +Rancho Seco--Haydon rode westward, accompanied by several of the men. + +They rode for many miles into the heart of the big basin, coming at last +to a gorge that wound a serpentine way southward, through some concealing +hills, into a smaller basin. A heavy timber clump grew at the mouth of +the gorge, hiding it from view from the trail that ran through the +valley. Some rank underbrush that fringed the timber gave the mouth of +the gorge the appearance of a shallow cave, and a wall of rock, forming a +ragged arch over the entrance, heightened the impression. At first glance +the place seemed to be impenetrable. + +But the horsemen filed through easily enough, and the underbrush closed +behind them, so that, had they been seen, the watcher might have been +startled by their sudden disappearance. + +Near the center of the little basin stood a huge cabin, built of adobe, +with a flat roof. In a small corral were a number of cattle. Grazing upon +the grass, with which the place was carpeted, were many horses; and +lounging in the grass near the cabin, and upon some benches that ranged +its walls, were perhaps a dozen men, heavily armed. + +Several of the men grinned as the newcomers rode in and dismounted, and +one or two spoke a short greeting to Haydon, calling him "Chief." + +Haydon did not linger to talk with the men, though; he dismounted and +entered the cabin, where, an instant later, he was talking with Deveny. + +Haydon's eyes were still triumphant--glowing with a malignant +satisfaction. + +"He's wise--and dead tickled to join," he told Deveny, referring to +Harlan. "And I took him in on his own terms. We'll play him along, making +him believe he's regular and right, until we get what we want. Then we'll +down him!" + + * * * * * + +At about the time Haydon was talking with Deveny, Harlan was dismounting +at the Rancho Seco corral. + +The T Down men were variously engaged--some of them in the corral; others +in the stable, and still others in the blacksmith-shop--all attending to +their new duties--and only Red Linton was at the corral gate to greet +Harlan. + +Triumph was in Harlan's eyes as he grinned at Linton. + +"I'm a Simon-pure outlaw now, Red," he stated. "Haydon didn't hesitate +none. He's a sneakin', schemin' devil, an' he hates me like poison. But +he took me in, reckonin' to play me for a sucker. Looks like things might +be interestin'." He grinned. "I'm yearnin' for grub, Red." + +Later, while Harlan was seated at a table in the cook shanty, he became +aware of a shadow at the door; and he wheeled, to see Barbara Morgan +looking in at him, her face flushed, a glow in her eyes that was entirely +comprehensible to Harlan. + +She was glad he had returned--any man with half Harlan's wisdom could +have told that! And color of a kind not caused by the wind and sun +suffused Harlan's face. + +She had seen him from one of the kitchen windows, and curiosity--and an +impatience that would not permit of delay--had brought her to search for +him. + +"Why," she said, "I--I thought--didn't you say that you were going away?" + +"Didn't I go?" he grinned. + +"For a day," she taunted, her voice leaping. + +"A day," he said gravely; "why, it was longer than that, wasn't it? Seems +that I ain't seen you for years an' years!" + +He got up, his hunger forgotten. But when he reached the door he saw her +running toward the ranchhouse, not even looking back. He stood watching +her until she opened a door and vanished. Then he grinned and returned to +his neglected food, saying aloud, after the manner of men who spend much +time in open places: "I'll sure take care of her, Morgan." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +LEFT-HANDED + + +Harlan's statement to Haydon, to the effect that he had visited the camps +of Kelso, Rance, Larkin, and other outlaws had been strictly accurate. At +one time or another each of those outlaw leaders had sent for Harlan, to +endeavor to prevail upon him to cast his lot with them--so common was the +report that Harlan was of their type. + +And he had been able--as he had told Haydon--to go among them with +impunity--unmolested, respected. And even after he had refused to join +they had extended him the courtesy of faith--not even swearing him to +secrecy. And he had vindicated their faith by keeping silent regarding +them. + +Knowing, however, that the ethics of men of the type of Kelso, Rance, +Larkin, and others provided a safe conduct for any man of their kind that +came among them, Harlan had felt contempt for Haydon for his threat. And +yet Harlan's rage on that occasion had been largely surface; it had been +displayed for effect--to force an instant decision from Haydon. + +Harlan was aware that his only hope of protecting Barbara Morgan from +Haydon and Deveny was in an offensive war. He could not expect to wage +such a war by remaining idly at the Rancho Seco, to await the inevitable +aggressions of the outlaws, for he did not know when they would strike, +nor how. It was certain they would strike, and it was as certain they +would strike when he least expected them to. + +Therefore he had determined to join them, depending upon his reputation +to allay any suspicion they might have regarding his motives. Haydon had +taken him into the band, but Harlan had been convinced that Haydon +distrusted him. He had seen distrust in Haydon's eyes; and he had known, +when Haydon dropped his gaze at the instant they had shaken hands, that +the man meditated duplicity. + +Yet Harlan was determined to appear ignorant that Haydon meditated +trickery. He intended to go among the men and deliberately to ignore the +threatened dangers--more, to conduct himself in such a manner that Haydon +would not suspect that he knew of any danger. + +It had been a slight incident that had suggested the plan to him--merely +a glance at Strom Rogers, while the latter, in Lamo, had been watching +Deveny. + +Harlan had seen hatred in Rogers' face, and contempt and jealousy; and he +knew that where such passion existed it could be made to grow and +flourish by suggestion and by example. + +And he was determined to furnish the example. + +He knew something of the passions of men of the type which constituted the +band headed by Deveny and Haydon; he knew how their passions might be +played upon; he was aware of their respect and admiration for men of +notorious reputation, with records for evil deeds and rapid "gunslinging." + +He had seen how Strom Rogers had watched him--with awed respect; he had +seen approval in Rogers' eyes when they had exchanged glances in Lamo; +and he had heard men in the group in front of the sheriff's office +speaking of him in awed whispers. + +He had never been affected by that sort of adulation--in Lamo or in the +days that preceded his visit to the town. But he was not unmindful of the +advantage such adulation would give him in his campaign for control of +the outlaw camp. And that was what he had determined to achieve. + +Three times in as many days he rode up the valley to the Star, each time +talking with Haydon--then leaving the latter to go out and lounge around +among the men, listening to their talk, but taking little part in it. He +did not speak until he was spoken to, and thus he challenged their +interest, and they began to make advances to him. + +Their social structure was flimsy and thin, their fellowship as +spontaneous as it was insincere; and within a few days the edge had worn +off the strangeness that had surrounded Harlan, and he had been accepted +with hardly a ripple of excitement. + +And yet no man among them had achieved intimacy with Harlan. There was a +cold constraint in his manner that held them off, figuratively, barring +them from becoming familiar with him. Several of them tried familiarity, +and were astonished to discover that they had somehow failed--though they +had been repelled so cleverly that they could not resent it. + +Harlan had established a barrier without them being aware of how he had +done it--the barrier of authority and respect, behind which he stood, an +engaging, saturnine, interesting, awe-compelling figure. + +At the end of a week the men of the Star outfit were addressing him as +"boss;" listening to him with respect when he spoke, striving for his +attention, and trying to win from him one of those rare smiles with which +he honored those among them whose personalities interested him. + +At the end of two weeks half of the Star outfit was eager to obey any order +he issued, while the remainder betrayed some slight hesitation--which, +however, vanished when Harlan turned his steady gaze upon them. + +Behind their acceptance of him, though--back of their seeming willingness +to admit him to their peculiar fellowship--was a reservation. Harlan felt +it, saw it in their eyes, and noted it in their manner toward him. They +had heard about him; they knew something of his record; reports of his +cleverness with a weapon had come to them. And they were curious. + +There was speculation in the glances they threw at him; there was some +suspicion, cynicism, skepticism, and not a little doubt. It seemed to +Harlan that though they had accepted him they were impatiently awaiting a +practical demonstration of those qualities that had made him famous in +the country. They wanted to be "shown." + +Their wild, unruly passions and lurid imaginations were the urges that +drove them--that shaped their conduct toward their fellows. Some of them +were rapid gunslingers--in the picturesque idioms of their speech--and +there was not a man among them who did not take pride in his ability to +"work" his gun. They had accepted Harlan, but it was obvious that among +them were some that doubted the veracity of rumor--some who felt that +Harlan had been overrated. + +It did not take Harlan long to discover who those doubting spirits were. +He saw them watching him--always with curling lip and truculent eye; he +heard references to his ability from them--scraps of conversation in +which such terms and phrases as "a false alarm, mebbe," "he don't look +it," "wears 'em for show, I reckon," were used. He had learned the names +of the men; there were three of them, known merely as "Lanky," "Poggs," +and "Latimer." + +Their raids upon the cattle in the basin took place at night; and their +other depredations occurred at that time also. Harlan did not fail to +hear of them, for their successes figured prominently in their daytime +conversations; and he had watched the herd of cattle in the Star corrals +grow in size until the enclosure grew too small to hold them comfortably. +He had noted, too, the cleverness with which the men obliterated the +brands on the stolen cattle--or refashioned them until proof of their +identity was obscure. + +He had taken no part in any of the raids, though he had passed a few +nights at the Star, directing, with the help of Strom Rogers, the +altering of the brands and the other work attending the disguising of the +cattle. + +Haydon he had seen but a few times, and Deveny not at all. He learned +from Rogers that Haydon spent most of his time upon mysterious missions +which took him to Lamo, to Lazette, and to Las Vegas; and that Deveny +operated from a place that Rogers referred to as the "Cache," several +miles up the valley. + +Latimer, a tawny giant of a man with a long, hooked nose, and thin, cruel +lips, interested Harlan. He watched the man when the other was not +conscious of his glances, noting the bigness of him, his slow, +panther-like movements; the glowing, savage truculence of his eyes; the +hard, bitter droop of his lips under the yellow mustache he wore. He felt +the threat of the man when the latter looked at him--it was personal, +intense--seeming to have motive behind it. It aroused in Harlan a +responsive passion. + +One day, seated on a bench in front of the long bunkhouse near the Star +ranchhouse, Harlan was watching some of the men who were playing cards +near him. They were lounging in the grass, laughingly pitting their skill +against one another, while another group, in front of the stable, was +diligently repairing saddles. + +Apart from the two groups were Lanky, Poggs, and Latimer. They were +standing near the corral fence, about a hundred feet from where Harlan +sat. The subject of their talk was unpleasant, for their faces reflected +the venomous passions that inspired it. + +Latimer had been watching Harlan--his gaze boldly hostile and full of a +hate that was unmistakable. + +And Harlan had not been unaware of Latimer's gaze; he had noted the +wolfish gleam in the other's eyes--and because he was interested in +Latimer, he watched him covertly. + +But Harlan had betrayed no sign that he knew Latimer was watching him; +and when he saw Strom Rogers coming toward him from the stable, he +grinned at him and made room for him when the latter headed for the bench +upon which Harlan was sitting. + +"Lazy day," offered Rogers as he dropped on the bench beside Harlan; "not +a heap doin'." He did not look at Harlan, but leaned forward, took up a +cinch buckle that had been lying in the sand at his feet, and turned it +idly over and over in his hands, apparently intent on its construction. + +With his head down, so that even the card-players could not see his lips +move, he whispered to Harlan: + +"Don't let 'em see you know I'm talkin'! They're framin' up on you!" + +Harlan grinned, shielding his lips with a hand that he passed casually +over them. + +"Meanin' Latimer--an' his friends?" he said. + +"Yep. Latimer's jealous of you. Been jealous. Thinks he can match your +gunplay--itchin' for trouble--bound to have it out with you. We was at +the Cache last night, an' I heard him an' Deveny yappin' about it. +Deveny's back of him--he's sore about the way you handed it to him in +Lamo. Keep your eyes peeled; they're pullin' it off pretty soon. +Latimer's doin' the shootin'--he's tryin' to work himself up to it. Be +careful." + +"I'm thankin' you." Harlan leaned back, crossed his legs, and stared off +into space, the light in his eyes becoming vacuous. He seemed not to be +interested in Latimer and the other two, but in reality he saw them +distinctly. But they had their backs to him now, and were slowly +sauntering toward the stable door. + +"So Deveny ain't admirin' me none?" he said to Rogers. + +"Not scarcely. No more than a gopher is admirin' a side-winder." + +"Latimer," said Harlan, "don't like my style of beauty either. I've been +noticin' it. He's a mighty interestin' man. If I wasn't dead sure he +ain't the kind of a guy which goes around shootin' folks in the back, I'd +say he pretty near fits the description I got of the man who helped +Dolver salivate my side-kicker, Davey Langan, over in Pardo--a couple of +months ago." + +Rogers' side glance was pregnant with a grim, unsmiling humor. + +"So you've picked him out? I've been wonderin' how long it would take +you." + +The emotion that passed over Harlan was not visible. It might have been +detected, however, by the slight leap in his voice. + +"You an' Latimer is bosom friends, I reckon?" + +"Shucks!" + +Rogers' glance met Harlan's for a fleeting instant. + +"This gang needs cleanin' up," said Rogers. He got up, and stood in front +of Harlan, holding out the cinch buckle, as though offering it to the +other. For both men had seen that Latimer had left his friends at the +stable door and was coming slowly toward the bunkhouse. + +"You'll have to be slick," warned Rogers. "He's comin'. I'll be moseyin' +out of the way." + +He moved slowly from the bench, passed the group of card-players, and +walked to the ranchhouse, where he hung the cinch buckle on a nail driven +into the wall of the building. Then he slowly turned, facing the bench +upon which Harlan still sat, and toward which Latimer was walking. + +It was evident that all of the men in the vicinity were aware of the +threatened clash, for their manner, upon the approach of Latimer, +indicated as much. + +For weeks they had been eager to test the traditional quickness of Harlan +with the weapons that swung at his hips--those weapons had been a +constant irritation to some of them, and an object of speculation to all. +And when the night before some of them had heard the whispered word that +Latimer--with Deveny's sanction--indeed with Deveny's encouragement--was +determined to clash with Harlan, they had realized that the moment for +which they had yearned was at hand. + +For they had seen in Harlan's eyes--and had felt in the atmosphere that +surrounded the man--the certainty that he would not refuse the clash with +Latimer. The only question in their minds concerning Harlan was that of +his speed and accuracy. And so when they saw Latimer coming they ceased +playing cards and sat, interestedly watching--alert to note how Latimer +would bring about the clash, and how Harlan would meet it. + +Latimer had nerved himself for the ordeal by talking with his friends. +The will to kill Harlan had been in his heart for a long time, but he +needed to reinforce it with an artificial rage. And, dwelling, with his +friends, upon the irritating fact that Harlan had come among them to +usurp authority to which he had no visible claim, he had succeeded in +working his rage to a frenzy that took little account of consequences. + +Yet Latimer would not have been able to reach that frenzy had he not been +convinced that he was Harlan's master with the six-shooter. He really +believed that Harlan had been overrated. He believed that because he +wanted to believe it, and because his contempt for the man had bred that +conviction in his heart. + +Also, he thought he knew why Harlan had come to the Star--why he had +joined the outlaw camp. And the night before, he had communicated that +suspicion to Deveny. It was because Harlan knew he had been with Dolver +when Davey Langan had been killed. Latimer thought he had seen a slight +relief in Deveny's eyes when he had told the latter that, but he could +not be sure, and it was not important. + +The important thing was that he must kill Harlan--and he meant to do it. +He would kill him fairly, if possible, thereby enhancing his +reputation--but he was certain to kill him, no matter what the method. + +That conviction blazed in his eyes as he came to a halt within a dozen +paces of where Harlan was sitting. He had worked himself to such a pitch +of rage that it gripped him like some strong fever--bloating his face, +tensing his muscles, bulging his eyes. + +Harlan had watched him; and his gaze was on the other now with a steady, +unwavering alertness that advertised his knowledge of what was impending. +But he sat, motionless, rigid, waiting Latimer's first hostile movement. + +Harlan had turned a very little when Latimer had begun his walk toward +the bench; his right side was slightly toward the man, the leg partially +extended; while the left leg was doubled under the bench--seemingly to +give him leverage should he decide to rise. + +But he gave no indication of meditating such a move. It was plain to the +watchers that if he attempted it Latimer would draw his gun and begin to +shoot. + +Latimer was convinced also that Harlan would not attempt to rise. He had +Harlan at a disadvantage, and he laughed loudly, sardonically, +contemptuously as he stood, his right hand hovering close to his pistol +holster, his eyes aflame with hate and passion. + +"Keep a-settin', you buzzard's whelp!" he sneered; "keep a-settin'! +Latimer's out to git you. You know it--eh? You've knowed it right +along--pretendin' not to. 'Drag' Harlan--bah! Gunslinger with a +record--an' caught a-settin'. Caught with the goods on, sneakin' in here, +tryin' to ketch a man unawares. + +"Bah! Don't I know what you're here for? It's me! You blowed Dolver apart +for killin' that damned, slick-eyed pardner of yourn--Davey Langan. Do +you want to know who sent Langan out? I'm tellin' you--it was me! +Me--me!" + +He fairly yelled the last words, and stiffened, holding the fingers of +his right hand clawlike, above the butt of the holstered pistol. + +And when he saw that Harlan did not move; that he sat there rigid, his +eyes unblinking and expressionless; his right hand hanging limply at his +side, near the partially extended leg; his left hand resting upon the +thigh of the doubled leg--he stepped closer, watching Harlan's right +hand. + +For a space--while one might have counted ten--neither man moved a +muscle. Something in Harlan's manner sent into Latimer's frenzied brain +the message that all was not what it seemed--that Harlan was meditating +some astonishing action. Ten seconds is not long, as times goes, but +during that slight interval the taut nerves of Latimer's were twanged +with a torturing doubt that began to creep over him. + +Would Harlan never make that move? That question was dinned insistently +into Latimer's ears. He began to believe that Harlan did not intend to +draw. + +And then---- + +"Ah!" + +It was Latimer's lungs that breathed the ejaculation. + +For Harlan's right hand had moved slightly upward, toward the pistol at +his right hip. It went only a few inches; it was still far below the +holster when Latimer's clawlike fingers descended to the butt of his own +weapon. The thought that he would beat Harlan in a fair draw was in his +mind--that he would beat him despite the confusion of the hesitating +motion with which Harlan got his gun out. + +Something was happening, though--something odd and unexplainable. For +though Latimer had seemed to have plenty of time, he was conscious that +Harlan's gun was belching fire and death at him. He saw the smoke +streaks, felt the bullets striking him, searing their way through him, +choking him, weakening his knees. + +He went down, his eyes wide with incredulity, filling with hideous +self-derision when he saw that the pistol which had sent his death to him +was not in Harlan's right hand at all, but in his left. + +Harlan got up slowly as Latimer stretched out in the dust at his +feet--casting one swift glance at the fallen man to satisfy himself that +for _him_ the incident was ended. Then, with the gaze of every man in the +outfit upon him, he strode toward the stable, where Lanky and Poggs were +standing, having witnessed the death of their confederate. + +They stiffened to immobility as they watched Harlan's approach, knowing +that for them the incident was not closed--their guilt plain in their +faces. + +And when Harlan halted in front of them they stood, not moving a muscle, +their eyes searching Harlan's face for signs that they too, were to +receive a demonstration of the man's uncanny cleverness. + +"You was backin' Latimer's play," said Harlan, shortly. "I'm aimin' to +play the string out. Pull--or I'll blow you apart!" + +Poggs and Lanky did not "pull." They stood there, ghastly color stealing +into their faces, their eyes wide with the knowledge that death would be +the penalty of a hostile movement. + +Harlan's pistol was again in its holster, and yet they had no desire to +provoke the man to draw it. The furtive gleam in the eyes of both +revealed the hope that gripped them--that some of the watchers would +interfere. + +But not a man moved. Most of them had been stunned by the rapidity of +Harlan's action--by the deftness with which he had brought his left hand +into use. They had received the practical demonstration for which they +all had longed, and each man's manner plainly revealed his decision to +take no part in what was transpiring. + +They remained in their places while Harlan--understanding that Poggs and +Lanky would not accept his invitation--spoke gruffly to them: + +"This camp ain't got any room for skunks that go to framin' up on any of +the boys. Today you done it to me--tomorrow you'd try to pull it off on +some other guy. + +"You're travelin'--pronto. You're gettin' your cayuses. Then you're +hittin' the breeze away from here--an' not comin' back. That lets you +out. Mosey!" + +He stood watchful, alert, while the men roped their horses, got their +"war-bags," from the bunkhouse, mounted, and rode away without looking +back. Then he walked over to the bench where he had been sitting when +Rogers had warned him of the plan to kill him; ordered several of the men +to take Latimer's body away, and then resumed his place on the bench, +where he rolled a cigarette. + +Later, when the men who had gone with Latimer's body returned to the +vicinity of the ranchhouse, Harlan was still sitting on the bench. + +No man said a word to him, but he saw a new respect in the eyes of all of +them--even in Rogers' gaze--which had not strayed from him for an instant +during the trouble. + +And a little later, when Rogers walked to the bench and sat beside him, +the other men had resumed their various pastimes as though nothing had +happened. + +Again Rogers whispered to him, lowly, admiringly: + +"This camp is yours, man, whenever you say the word!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE BLACK-BEARDED MAN + + +It was Strom Rogers who indicated to the outlaws at the Star that +henceforth Harlan was to exercise authority of a kind that had formerly +been vested in Haydon and Deveny. + +The corral was packed to suffocation with cattle, threatening the health +of the animals; Deveny had sent no word from the Cache regarding the +disposal of the stock, and Haydon's whereabouts were unknown. + +Rogers had moved stock on his own initiative in former days--for he had +been an able assistant to both leaders. And Rogers could have moved the +stock out of the corral and to the point far south where the outlaws had +always sold them. + +But there was malice in Rogers' heart toward the two outlaw leaders, and +a perverse devil lurked in him. For many months he had worshiped Barbara +Morgan from a distance, vaguely aware that his passion for her could +never be realized. But there was a spark of honesty and justice in Rogers +despite his profession, and a sincere admiration for the girl that +admitted of no thought of evil toward her. + +He had almost betrayed his resentment to Deveny when in Lamo, on the day +of the coming of Harlan, Deveny had boldly announced his intentions +toward the girl; and it had been a dread of clashing with Deveny that had +kept him from interfering. The will to protect the girl had been in +Rogers' mind, but he lacked the physical courage to risk his life for +her. + +This man who had boldly entered the outlaw camp, after first defying +Deveny in Lamo, had made a stirring appeal to the good in Rogers; and he +foresaw that trouble, in which Harlan had a chance to emerge victorious, +was certain. And he had decided to align himself with the Pardo gunman. + +Therefore, on this morning, when it was certain that the cattle in the +corral must be moved, he deliberately refused to exercise his +prerogative. Instead, he waited until after breakfast--when the men were +congregated outside the bunkhouse door--when he was certain they would +all hear him. + +Harlan had come out, too. He had not visited the Rancho Seco for more +than a week, fearing that his absence might jeopardize the advantage he +had gained over the men through the killing of Latimer. + +With the attention of all the men centered upon him, Rogers walked close +to Harlan, speaking loudly: + +"Them cattle ought to hit the trail, Harlan. It's up to you--you're the +boss. Do we move 'em--an' where?" + +A comprehensive light gleamed in Harlan's eyes. + +"They move," he said shortly. "Drive them where you've been drivin' +them." + +As though he had been giving orders to the outlaws all his life, he +briskly mentioned the names of the men who were to form the trail herd. + +Not a man dissented. Those whose names were called quickly detached +themselves from the group, and sought the horse corral; where they roped +their horses and began to make preparations to obey Harlan's order. And +later, when the cattle were driven out of the corral, and the trail herd +crew straggled behind them over the level that led southward, the men +were grinning. + +For Harlan had told them that their share of the spoils resulting from +the sale of the cattle was to be materially increased. He had likewise +told them that they might spend an extra day in "town" before their +return. + +Only one man besides Harlan remained at the Star after the herd vanished +into the southern distance. That man was the black-bearded fellow who had +escorted Harlan to the ranchhouse on the occasion of his first +visit--Lafe Woodward. + +This man's admiration for Harlan had never been concealed. He had stayed +as close to Harlan as possible; and from his manner Harlan had divined +that the man was eager to ingratiate himself. + +Woodward stood near Harlan as the herd and the men vanished. He had +grinned widely when, just before the outfit had departed, he had heard +Rogers whisper to Harlan: + +"You've made yourself solid with the bunch, for sure, by offerin' 'em a +bigger divvy. They've been grumblin' about it for a long time. They're +all sore at Haydon an' Deveny for bein' greedy. But you're sure cookin' +up a heap of trouble with Haydon an' Deveny!" + +Harlan grinned with grim mirthlessness. It had been his first opportunity +to stir up dissension and strife in the outlaw camp, and he had taken +instant advantage of it. He had created factional feeling, and he was +prepared to accept the consequences. + +And, later in the day, when he saw Haydon ride in, dismount and cast a +surprised glance at the empty corral, he knew that the moment for which +he had planned, had come. + +Woodward was nowhere in sight; and Harlan, who had been in the +blacksmith-shop, made himself visible to Haydon by stepping outside. + +Haydon called to him, sharply; and Harlan walked slowly to where the +outlaw chief stood, a saturnine grin on his face, his eyes alight with a +cold humor that might have been illuminating to Haydon had he taken the +trouble to look into them. + +Haydon was laboring under some strong passion. He was suppressing it with +an effort, but it showed in his tensed muscles and in his flushed face. + +"Where are the cattle?" he demanded, his voice a trifle hoarse. + +"They're headed for Willow Wells--where you've been sellin' them." + +"By whose orders?" Haydon's voice was choked with passion. + +"Mine," drawled Harlan. Harlan might have explained that the stock had +been suffering in the crowded enclosure, thus assuaging Haydon's wrath. +But he gave no explanation--that would have been a revelation of +eagerness to escape blame and the possible consequences of his act. +Instead of explaining he looked steadily into Haydon's eyes, his own cold +and unblinking. + +He saw Haydon's wrath flare up--it was in the heightened color that +spread upward above the collar of his shirt; he saw the man's terrific +effort at self-control; and his look grew bitter with insolence. + +"What's botherin' you?" he said. + +"The cattle--damn it!" shouted Haydon. "What in hell do you mean by +sending them away without orders?" + +"I'm havin' my say, Haydon. We agreed to split everything three ways. +Authority to give orders goes with that. That was the agreement. A man's +got to be either a captain or a private, an' I've never played second to +any man. I ain't beginnin' now." + +"Why, damn you!" gasped Haydon. His eyes were aglare with a terrible rage +and hate; he stepped backward a little, bending his right arm, spreading +the fingers. + +Harlan had made no move, but the light in his eyes betrayed his complete +readiness for the trouble that Haydon plainly meditated. + +"Yes," he said, slowly, drawling his words, a little! "It's come to that, +I reckon. You've got to flash your gun now, or take it back. No man +cusses me an' gets away with it. Get goin'!" + +Haydon stood, swaying from side to side, in the grip of a mighty +indecision. The fingers of his right hand spread wider; the hand +descended to a point nearer to his pistol holster. + +There it poised, the fingers hooked, like the talons of some giant bird +about to clutch a victim. + +Had Haydon faced a man with less courage; had Harlan's iron control +lacked that quality which permitted him to give an enemy that small +chance for life which he always gave them, death might have reigned at +the Star again. Haydon owed his life to that hesitation which had made +Harlan famous. + +And as the strained, tense seconds passed with both men holding the +positions they had assumed, it seemed Haydon was slowly beginning to +realize that Harlan was reluctant, was deliberately giving him a chance. + +A change came over Haydon. The clawlike fingers began to straighten; +imperceptibly at first, and then with a spasmodic motion that flexed the +muscles in little jerks. The hand became limp; it dropped slowly to his +side--down beyond the pistol holster. Then it came up, and the man swept +it over his eyes, as though to brush away a vision that frightened him. + +His face grew pale, he shuddered; and at last he stood, swaying a little, +his mouth open with wonder for the phenomenal thing that had happened to +him. + +Harlan's voice, cold and expressionless, startled him: + +"You wasn't meanin' to cuss me?" + +"No!" The denial was blurted forth. Haydon grinned, faintly, with hideous +embarrassment; the knowledge that he had been beaten, and that he owed +his life to Harlan, was plain in his eyes. + +He laughed, uncertainly, as he made an effort to stiffen his lagging +muscles. + +"I was a bit flustered, Harlan; I talked rather recklessly, I admit. You +see, I've been used to giving orders myself. I was riled for a minute." + +"That goes!" said Harlan, shortly. His voice had changed. The slow drawl +had gone, and a snapping, authoritative sharpness had replaced it. + +Haydon gazed at him with a new wonder. He sensed in Harlan's manner the +consciousness of power, the determination to command. At a stroke, it +seemed, Harlan had wrenched from him the right to rule. He felt himself +being relegated to a subordinate position; he felt at this minute the +ruthless force of the man who stood before him; he felt oddly impotent +and helpless, and he listened to Harlan with a queer feeling of wonder +for the absence of the rage that should have gripped him. + +"I'm runnin' things from now on," Harlan said. "I ain't interferin' with +the Star. But I'm runnin' things for the boys. I told Rogers to drive the +cattle to Willow's Wells--an' to sell them. I've promised the boys a +bigger divvy. They get it. I've told them to take a day off, in town, +after they turn the cattle over. + +"There's got to be a new deal. The boys are fussed up--claimin' they +ain't gettin' their share. I'm seein' that they do. You can't run a camp +like this an' not treat the boys right." + +The wonder that had been aroused in Haydon grew as Harlan talked; it +increased in intensity until, when Harlan's voice died away, it developed +into suspicion. + +That was what Harlan had come to the Star for! He wanted to run the camp, +to direct the activities of the outlaws in the valley. Power! Authority! +Those were the things Harlan craved for. + +Haydon saw it all, now. He saw that Harlan wanted to dominate--everything. +He wanted to rule the outlaw camp; he wanted to run the Rancho Seco; he +intended to get possession of the gold that Morgan had left, and he wanted +Barbara Morgan. + +The rage that had held Haydon in its clutch when he had called Harlan to +him was reviving. Haydon's face was still white, but the fury in his +eyes--slowly growing--was not to be mistaken. + +Harlan saw it, and his lips straightened. He had expected Haydon would +rage over what he had determined to tell him; and he was not surprised. +He had deliberately goaded the man into his present fury. He had +determined to kill him, and he had been disappointed when he had seen +Haydon lose his courage when the crisis arrived. And now his deliberate +and premeditated plan was to bear fruit. + +Harlan was reluctant to kill, but there seemed to be no other way. Haydon +was a murderer. He had killed Lane Morgan; he was an outlaw whose rule +had oppressed the valley for many months. If Harlan could have devised +some plan that would make it possible for him to attain his end without +killing anybody, he would have eagerly adopted it. + +But in this country force must be fought with force. It was a grim game, +and the rules were inflexible--kill or be killed. + +His own life would be safe in this section so long as he guarded it. +Eternal vigilance and the will to take life when his own was threatened +was a principle which custom had established. If he expected to save the +girl at the Rancho Seco he could not temper his actions with mercy. And +he knew that if he was to succeed in his design to disrupt the outlaw +gang he would have to remove the man who stood before him, working +himself into a new frenzy. There seemed to be no other way. + +But Haydon seemed to have control of himself, now, despite the frenzied +glare of his eyes. He was outwardly cool; his movements were +deliberate--he had conquered his fear of Harlan, it seemed. + +He laughed, harshly. + +"Harlan," he said; "you had me going--talking that way. By Heaven! you +almost convinced me that I'd _let_ you run things here. I was beginning +to believe I'd lost my nerve. But see here!" + +He held out his right hand toward Harlan--it was steady, rigid, not a +nerve in it quivered. + +"You're fast with your guns, but you can't run any whizzer in on me--you +can't intimidate me. You killed Latimer the other day; and you've got the +boys with you. But you can't run things here. Have all the boys gone?" + +"Woodward's here." + +Harlan spoke lowly; his eyes were keenly watchful. This flare-up on +Haydon's part was merely a phase of his confused mental condition. He saw +that Haydon did not mean to use his gun--that he intended to ignore it, +no doubt planning to regain his authority when the men of the outfit +returned--when he might enlist the support of some of them. + +"Woodward's here--eh?" laughed Haydon. He raised his voice, shouting for +the man. And Harlan saw Woodward come from behind an outbuilding, look +toward the ranchhouse, and then walk slowly toward them. + +Woodward halted when within several paces of the two, and looked from one +to the other curiously, his eyes narrowed with speculation. + +"Woodward," directed Haydon; "hit the breeze after the outfit and tell +them to drive those cattle back here!" + +Harlan grinned. "Woodward," he said, gently; "you climb on your cayuse +an' do as Haydon tells you. Haydon is figurin' on cashin' in when you +do." + +Haydon blustered. "What do you mean?" + +"I mean that if Woodward goes after the boys I'm goin' to blow you apart. +I'm givin' the orders around here!" + +Watching Haydon, Harlan saw that he was not exhibiting rage, but intense +interest. He was not looking at Harlan, but at Woodward. And, turning +swiftly, his guns both leaping into his hands with the movement--for he +had a swift suspicion that Woodward might be standing with Haydon against +him--he saw that Woodward had fallen into a crouch; that the man's right +hand was hovering over his pistol holster, and that his eyes were +gleaming with a light that could mean only the one thing--murder. + +Backing slowly away from both Haydon and Woodward, Harlan watched them, +his guns ready for instant action should he catch any sign that would +indicate trickery toward himself. + +He saw no such signs. It became plain to him that Woodward had no eyes +for anyone but Haydon, and that Haydon's attention was fixed upon +Woodward with an intentness that meant he had divined that Woodward's +peculiar manner had a definite, personal meaning. + +Woodward continued to advance on Haydon. He was waving his left hand as +though giving Harlan a silent order to get out of his way, while his gaze +was centered upon Haydon with an unspoken promise of violence, +fascinating to behold. + +It seemed to have fascinated Haydon. Harlan saw him shrink back, the +bluster gone out of him, his face the color of ashes. He kept stepping +back, until he brought up against the rear wall of the ranchhouse; and +there he stood, watching Woodward, his eyes bulging with dread wonder. + +Harlan saw his lips move; heard his voice, hoarse and throaty: + +"It's a frame-up--a frame-up. Both of you are out to get me!" + +"Frame-up!" + +This was Woodward. He was a sinister figure, with his black beard seeming +to bristle with passion, his eyes flaming with it; all his muscles tensed +and quivering, and his right hand, with clawlike fingers, poised above +the butt of his pistol. + +"Frame-up!" he repeated, laughing hoarsely between his teeth. "Hell's +fire! Do you think it takes two men to 'get' you--you miserable whelp? + +"I've been waitin' for this day--waitin' for it, waitin' to get you +alone--waitin' for the boys to go so's I could tell you somethin'. + +"You know what it is. You ain't guessin', eh? Listen while I tell you +somethin'. The day 'Drag' Harlan got in Lamo he brought news that Lane +Morgan had been killed out in the desert. I heard the boys sayin' you had +a hand in it. But I thought that was just talk. I didn't believe you was +that kind of a skunk. I waited. + +"Then you sent me over to the edge of the level, near the Rancho +Seco--where Harlan found that flattened grass when he rode over here. You +told me to watch Harlan and Barbara Morgan. You said you thought Harlan +would try some sneak game with her. + +"You can gamble I watched. I saw Harlan standin' guard over her; I saw +him follow that sneak Lawson. I heard the shot that killed Lawson, an' I +saw Harlan tote him downstairs, an' then set on the door-sill all night, +guardin' Barbara Morgan. + +"The sneakin' game was played by you, Haydon. When I saw Harlan headin' +toward the valley the day he come here, I lit out ahead of him. And when +he got to the timber over there I brought him in. + +"An' I heard you talk that day. I heard him sayin' that you killed Lane +Morgan. He said my dad told him you fired the shot that killed him." + +Harlan started and leaned forward, amazed. But Haydon swayed, and then +steadied himself with an effort, and stared at Woodward with bulging, +incredulous eyes. + +"Your _dad_?" he almost shrieked; "Lane Morgan was your father?" + +Woodward's grin was wolfish. He took two or three steps toward +Haydon--panther-like steps that betrayed the lust that was upon him. + +"I'm Billy Morgan," he said, his teeth showing in a merciless grin; +"Barbara's brother. Flash your gun, Haydon; I'm goin' to kill you!" + +Haydon clawed for his pistol, missing the butt in his eagerness, and +striving wildly to draw it. It snagged on a rawhide thong that supported +the holster and his fingers were loosening in the partial grip when Billy +Morgan shot him. + +He flattened against the wall of the ranchhouse for an instant, staring +wildly around him; then his head sagged forward and he slid down the wall +of the ranchhouse into the deep dust that was mounded near it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A DEAD MAN WALKS + + +Harlan had paid strict attention to Lane Morgan's words at Sentinel Rock, +and he remembered that Morgan had told him that his son, whom he had +called "Bill," had left the Rancho Seco on some mission for the governor. +Evidently it had not occurred to Morgan that his son's mission had taken +him only to the valley in which reigned those outlaws Morgan had reviled. + +But it was plain to Harlan that "Billy" was here--he had said so himself, +and he had given proof that he had been watchful and alert to Barbara's +interests. And now was explained young Morgan's interest in himself. The +thought that during all the days he had spent at the Rancho Seco, his +movements had been watched by the man who had just killed Haydon, brought +a glow of ironic humor to Harlan's eyes. + +During a long interval, through which Billy Morgan stood over Haydon, +watching him with a cold savagery, Harlan kept at a respectable distance, +also watching. + +He saw that for Haydon the incident had been fatal. The man's body did +not move after it slipped to the ground beside the ranchhouse wall. Yet +Morgan watched until he was certain; then he slowly wheeled and looked at +Harlan. + +"That settles him--damn him!" he said, with a breathlessness that told of +the intense strain he had been laboring under. + +Still Harlan did not speak; and his guns were in their holsters when +Morgan walked close to him, grinning wanly. + +"I had to do it. There's no use tryin' to depend on the law in this +country. You've seen that, yourself." + +"I've noticed it," grinned Harlan. "You're feelin' bad over it. I +wouldn't. If it had been my dad he killed I couldn't have done any +different. I reckon any man with blood in him would feel that way about a +coyote like that killin' his father. If men don't feel that way, why do +they drag murderers to courts--where they have courts--an' ask the law to +kill them. That's just shovin' the responsibility onto some other guy. + +"I've handed several guys their pass-out checks, an' I ain't regrettin' +one of them. There wasn't one of them that didn't have it comin' to him. +They was lookin' for it, mostly, an' had to have it. I've heard of guys +that had killed a man feelin' squeamish over it--with ghosts visitin' +them at night; an' sufferin' a lot of mental torture. I reckon any man +would feel that way if he'd killed an inoffensive man--or a good man, or +one that hadn't been tryin' to murder him." He grinned again. "Why, I'm +preachin'!" + +And now into his gaze as he looked at Morgan, came cold reproach. + +"You wasn't figurin' to let Barbara play it a lone hand?" he said. + +"Hell's fire--no!" denied Morgan, his eyes blazing. "I've been watchin' +the Rancho Seco--as I told Haydon. I saw Barbara set out for Lamo. There +was no one followin' her, an' so I thought she'd be all right. That mixup +at Lamo slipped me. But I seen you an' Barbara come back, an' I heard the +boys talkin' about what happened at Lamo. I'd heard of you, too; an' when +I seen you come back with Barbara I watched you. An' I seen you was +square, so I trusted you a heap. + +"An' I had a talk with Sheriff Gage about you, an' he told me my dad had +sent to Pardo for you, through Dave Hallowell, the marshal of Pardo. Gage +said you was out to clean up Deveny an' Haydon, an' so I knowed I could +depend on you." + +"Barbara don't know you're hangin' around here--she ain't known it?" + +"Shucks, I reckon not," grinned Morgan. "I didn't come here for six +months after I left the Rancho Seco--until I growed a beard. Barbara's +been within a dozen feet of me, an' never knowed me. I've been thinkin' +of telling her, but I seen Haydon was sweet on her, an' I didn't dare +tell her. Women ain't reliable. She'd have showed it some way, an' then +there'd have been hell to pay." + +"An' I've been pridin' myself on takin' care of Barbara," said Harlan. "I +feel a heap embarrassed an' useless--just like I'd been fooled." + +"You've done a thing I couldn't do," confessed Morgan; "you've busted +Haydon's gang wide open. If you hadn't showed up there'd have been +nothin' done. There's some of the boys that ain't outlaws--boys that are +with me, havin' sneaked into the gang to help me out. But we wan't makin' +no headway to speak of." + +Harlan looked at Haydon. "That guy was educated," he said. "What was his +game? I've felt all along that there was somethin' big back of him--that +he wasn't here just to steal cattle an' rob folks, an' such." + +"You ain't heard," smiled Morgan. "Of course you wouldn't--unless Gage +had gassed to you. + +"There's a gang of big men in Frisco, an' in the East, figurin' to run a +railroad through the basin. A year or so ago there was secret talk of it +in the capital. It leaked out that the railroad guys was intendin' to run +their road through the basin. They was goin' to build a town right where +the Rancho Seco lays; an' they was plannin' to irrigate a lot of the land +around there. The governor says it was to be big--an' likely it'll be +big, when they get around to it. + +"But them things go slow, an' a gang of cheap crooks got wise to it. They +sent Haydon down here, to scare the folks in the basin into sellin' out +for a song. They've scared one man out--a Pole from the west end. But the +others have stuck. Looks like they was figurin' on grabbin' the Rancho +Seco without payin' _anything_ for it--Haydon intendin', I reckon, to put +dad an' me out of the way an' marry Barbara. Then he could have cut the +ranch up into town lots an' made a mint of coin." + +"An' Deveny?" + +"Deveny's a wolf. Haydon brought him here from Arizona--where he'd +terrorized a whole county, runnin' it regardless. He figured to cash in, +I reckon, but he's been grabbin' up everything he could lay his hands on, +on the way." + +"You'll be tellin' Barbara, now?" suggested Harlan. + +"You're shoutin'!" said Morgan, his eyes glowing. "I'm hittin' the breeze +to the Rancho Seco for fair." He looked at Haydon, and his eyes took on a +new expression. "I was almost forgettin' what the governor sent me here +for," he added. "The governor was wantin' to know who is behind Haydon +an' Deveny, an' I'm rummagin' around in Haydon's office to find out. +Goin'?" he invited. + +Both looked down at Haydon as they passed him, and an instant later they +were entering a door of the ranchhouse. + +They had hardly disappeared when Haydon's head moved slightly. + +His eyes were open; he glanced at the door of the ranchhouse through +which Harlan and Morgan had entered. Then he raised his head, dragged +himself to an elbow--upon which he rested momentarily, his face betraying +the bitter malignance and triumph that had seized him. + +He had realized that Morgan had meant to kill him, even before Morgan had +revealed his identity, and his backward movement, which had brought him +against the wall of the ranchhouse had been made with design. He had felt +that even if he should succeed in beating Morgan, Harlan would have taken +up the quarrel, for he knew that Harlan also had designs on his life. And +with a cupidity aroused over the desperate predicament in which he found +himself, he had decided to take a forlorn chance. + +Morgan's bullet had struck him, but by a convulsive side movement at the +instant Morgan's gun roared Haydon had escaped a fatal wound, and the +bullet had entered his left side above the heart, paralyzing one of the +big muscles of the shoulder. + +His left arm was limp and useless, and dragged in the dust as he squirmed +around and gained his feet. There was no window in the wall of the +ranchhouse on that side; and he backed away, staggering a little, for he +had lost much blood. He kept the blank wall before him as he backed away +from the house; and when he reached his horse he was a long time getting +into the saddle. But he accomplished it at last; and sent the horse +slowly up the slope and into the timber out of which Harlan had ridden +with the black-bearded man on the day of his first visit to the Star. + +Back where the trail converged with the main trail that ran directly up +the valley, Haydon, reeling in the saddle, sent his horse at a faster +pace, heading it toward the Cache where he was certain he would find +Deveny. And as he rode the triumph in his eyes grew. For he had heard +every word of the conversation between Harlan and Morgan, and he hoped to +get to the Cache before the two men discovered the trick he had played +upon them--before they could escape. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +DEVENY SECEDES + + +Since the day he had heard that Harlan had appeared at the Star and had +been taken into the outlaw band by Haydon, Deveny had exhibited fits of a +sullen moroseness that had kept his closest friends from seeking his +companionship. Those friends were few, for Deveny's attitude toward his +men had always been that of the ruthless tyrant; he had treated them with +an aloofness that had in it a contempt which they could not ignore. +More--he was merciless, and had a furious temper which found its outlet +in physical violence. + +Deveny was a fast man with the big Colt that swung at his hip, a deadly +marksman, and he needed but little provocation to exhibit his skill. For +that reason his men kept the distance Deveny had established between +them--never attempting familiarity with him. + +Deveny had heard from a Star man the story of Harlan's coming to the Star +and when a day or so later Haydon rode into the Cache, Deveny was in a +state of furious resentment. + +There had been harsh words between Haydon and Deveny; the men of the +Cache had no difficulty in comprehending that Deveny's rage was bitter. + +Not even when Haydon told him that his acceptance of Harlan had been +forced by circumstances, and that he was tricking Harlan into a state of +fancied security in which he could the more easily bring confusion upon +him did Deveny agree. + +"You're a damned fool, Haydon!" he told the other, his face black with +passion. "That guy is slick as greased lightning--and faster. And he +don't mean any good to the camp. He's out for himself." + +Deveny did not intimate that his dislike of Harlan had been caused by the +latter's interference with his plans the day he had held Barbara Morgan a +prisoner in the room above the Eating-House in Lamo; but Haydon, who had +heard the details of the affair from one of his men, smiled knowingly. + +It was not Haydon's plan to let Deveny know he knew of the affair, or +that he cared about it if he had heard. And so he did not mention it. + +But in his heart was a rage that made his thoughts venomous; though he +concealed his emotions behind the bland, smooth smile of good-natured +tolerance. + +"I'll handle him, Deveny," he said as he took leave of the other. "He'll +get his when he isn't expecting it." + +Deveny, however, had no faith in Haydon's ability to "handle" Harlan. He +had seen in the man's eyes that day in Lamo something that had troubled +him--an indomitability that seemed to indicate that the man would do +whatever he set out to do. + +But Deveny did not ride to the Star to see Harlan; he was reluctant to +stir outside the Cache, and for many days, while Harlan was attaining +supremacy at the Star, and while Haydon was absent on a mysterious +mission, Deveny kept close to the Cache, nursing his resentment against +Haydon, and deepening--with fancied situations--his hatred for Harlan. + +It did not surprise Deveny when a Star man rode into the Cache one day +and told him that Harlan had killed Latimer in a gunfight, and that +Harlan was slowly but surely gaining a following among the men. The +information did not surprise Deveny; but it sent his mind into a chaos of +conjecture and speculation, out of which at last a conviction came--that +Harlan was seeking control of the outlaw band; that Haydon's days as a +leader were almost over, so far as he was concerned. For if Haydon +insisted on taking Harlan into the secret councils of the camp +he--Deveny--was going to operate independently. + +The more his thoughts dwelt upon that feature the more attractive it +seemed to him. Independence of Haydon meant that he could do as he +pleased without the necessity of consulting anybody. He could rustle +whatever cattle he wanted--getting them where he could without following +Haydon's plans--which had always seemed rather nonsensical, embracing as +they did the scheme of railroad building and town sites; and he could do +as he pleased with Barbara Morgan, not having to consider Haydon at all. + +It was that last consideration that finally decided Deveny. He was an +outlaw--not a politician; he robbed for gain, and not for the doubtful +benefits that might be got out of the building of a town. And when he +looked with desire upon a woman he didn't care to share her with another +man--not even Haydon. + +For two or three days after the conviction seized Deveny, he pondered +over his chances, and when he reached a decision he acted with the +volcanic energy that had characterized his depredations in the basin. + +On the morning of the day upon which Haydon returned to the Star to find +the cattle gone and Harlan in control, Deveny appeared to a dozen Cache +men who were variously engaged near the corral, ordering them to saddle +their horses. + +Later, Deveny and his men rode southward across a low plateau that +connected the buttes near the entrance to the Cache with the low hills +that rimmed the basin. They traveled fast, and when they reached the +rimming hills they veered eastward upon a broad sand plain. + +There was a grin on Deveny's face now--a grin which expressed craft, +duplicity, and bestial desire. And as he rode at the head of his men he +drew mental pictures that broadened his grin and brought into his eyes an +abysmal gleam. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +KIDNAPPED + + +Barbara Morgan had yielded to the fever of impatience which had afflicted +her during the latter days of Harlan's absence from the Rancho Seco. She +had been impatient ever since she had been forced to stay close to the +house by Harlan's orders; but she had fought it off until now, for she +had been interested in Harlan, and had felt a deep wonder over his +probable actions regarding her future. + +She had known, of course, that real danger from Deveny existed, for the +incident in Lamo had convinced her of that, but she felt that Harlan's +fears for her were rather extravagant--it was rather improbable that +Deveny would come boldly to the Rancho Seco and attempt to carry her away +by force. + +The clear, brilliant sunshine of the country dispelled so grotesque a +thought; the peaceful hills seemed to smile their denial; and the broad +level near the entrance to the basin sent a calm message of reassurance +to her. + +She had known Red Linton for a long time--for he had been with her father +for nearly two seasons--and she had respected him for what he had seemed +to be, a quiet, rather humorous man who did his work well, though without +flourishes. He had never figured prominently in her thoughts, however, +until the day Harlan had appointed him foreman of the Rancho Seco, and +then her attention had been attracted to him because he had seemed +interested in her. + +And she had noted that Linton's interest in her seemed to grow after +Harlan's departure. He had talked with her several times, and she had +questioned him about Harlan's whereabouts. But Linton had not seemed to +know; at least, if he did know, he kept his knowledge strictly to +himself, not even intimating that he knew where Harlan had gone. + +Another thing she noted was that Linton seemed to have her under +surveillance. Whenever she left the house--even for a short ride +eastward--where Harlan had told her she might ride without danger--she +discovered that Linton immediately mounted his horse, to linger somewhere +in sight. + +The knowledge that she was watched began to irritate her and this morning +she had got up with a determination to ride without company. With that +end in view she had kept Billy all night in the patio; and when rather +late in the morning she saw Linton riding eastward, she hurriedly threw +saddle and bridle on the horse and rode westward, toward the big basin. + +She kept the house between her and the point where she had seen +Linton--until a turn northward became inevitable; and then she urged +Billy to a faster pace, in an endeavor to cross the wide plain that +reached to the entrance to the basin before Linton could see her. + +Many times during the days before the coming of Deveny and Haydon to the +valley she had ridden there; it had been a place in which reigned a +mighty silence which she had loved, which had thrilled her. During those +other days she was in the habit of riding to a point several miles up the +valley--between the little basin where the Star was now and the Rancho +Seco. + +The trail led upward in a slow, gradual slope to that point--a rugged +promontory that jutted out from a mesa that rose above the floor of the +valley. The mesa was fringed at the southern edge with stunt oak and +nondescript brush. But there were breaks in the fringe which permitted +her to ride close to the edge of the mesa; and from there she could look +many miles up the valley--and across it, where the solemn hills rimmed +the southern horizon, to a trail--called the South Trail by cattlemen in +the valley, to distinguish it from the main trail leading through the +mighty hollow in which she rode. + +When she reached the mesa she headed Billy directly for the break on the +promontory. Dismounting, she stretched her legs to disperse the saddle +weariness; then she found a huge rock which had been the seat from which +she had viewed the wondrous landscape in the past. + +The reverent awe with which she had always viewed the valley was as +strong in her today as it had ever been--stronger, in fact, because she +had not seen the place for some time, and because in her heart there now +dwelt a sadness that had not been there in those other days--at least +since her mother had died. + +She was high above the floor of the valley; and she could see the main +trail below her weaving around low mounds and sinking into depressions; +disappearing into timber groves, reappearing farther on, disappearing +again, and again reappearing until it grew blurred and indistinct in her +vision. + +In the marvelous clarity of the atmosphere this morning every beauteous +feature of the valley was disclosed to her inspection. The early morning +haze had lifted, and the few fleecy clouds that floated in the blue bowl +of sky were motionless, their majestic billows glowing in the sun. She +saw a Mexican eagle swoop over the cloud, sailing on slow wing high above +it, and growing so distant in her vision that he became a mere speck +moving in the limitless expanse of space. + +It was a colossal landscape, and its creator had neglected no detail. And +it was harmonious, from the emerald green that carpeted the floor of the +valley near the gleaming river to the gigantic shoulders of the rugged +hills that lifted their huge, bastioned walls into the blue of the sky. +Some tall rock spires that thrust their peaks skyward far over on the +southern side of the valley had always interested her; they seemed to be +sentinels that guarded the place, hinting of an ages-old mystery that +seemed to reign all about them. + +But there was mystery in everything in the valley, she felt; for it lay +before her, spreading, slumbrous, basking in the brilliant +sunlight--seeming to wait, as it seemed to have waited from the dawn of +the first day, for man to wonder over it. + +She saw the Mexican eagle again after a while. It was making a wide +circle beyond the rock spires, floating lazily above them in long, +graceful swoops that were so lacking in effort that she longed to be up +there with him--to ride the air with him, to feel the exhilaration he +must feel. + +As she looked, however, she caught a faint blur on the southern horizon +of the big picture--a yellowish-black cloud that hugged the horizon and +traveled rapidly eastward. It was some time before she realized that what +she saw was a dust cloud, and there were men in it--horsemen. + +She got up from the rock, her face slowly whitening. And into her heart +came a presentiment that those men in the dust cloud were abroad upon an +errand of evil. + +No doubt the presentiment was caused from the dread and fear she had +lived under for days--the consciousness that Deveny was in the valley, +and a recollection of the warnings that Harlan had given her. And she +knew the horsemen could not be Rancho Seco men--for they had gone +southward from the ranch, and there was no grass range where the horsemen +were riding. Also, the men were riding eastward, toward the Rancho Seco. + +Trembling a little with apprehension, she mounted Billy and sent him down +the slope to the floor of the valley. The descent was hazardous, and +Billy did not make good time, but when he reached the level at the foot +of the slope he stretched his neck and fell into a steady, rapid pace +that took him down the valley swiftly. + +As the girl rode, the presentiment of evil increased, and she grew +nervous with a conviction that she would not be able to reach the Rancho +Seco much in advance of the men. For she could see them more clearly now, +because they were in the valley, traveling a shelving trail that sloped +down from the hills toward the level that stretched to the ranchhouse. + +It was several miles from where she rode to the point where the horsemen +were riding, and she was traversing a long ridge which must have revealed +her to the men if they looked toward her. + +She had thought--after she had left the promontory--of concealing herself +somewhere in the valley, to wait until she discovered who the men were +and what their errand was; but she had a fear that if the men were +Deveny's outlaws they might return up the valley and accidentally come +upon her. Also, she had yielded to the homing instinct which is strong in +all living beings, for at home was safety that could not be found +elsewhere. + +The South Trail, she knew, converged with the valley trail at the edge of +the level. If she could reach that point a few minutes before the +horsemen reached it she would rely on Billy to maintain his lead. Billy +would have to maintain it! + +Leaning far over Billy's mane she urged him on, coaxing him, flattering +him, calling to him in terms of endearment. And the loyal little animal +did his best, running as he had never run before. + +Barbara though, watching the horsemen with eyes into which there had come +a glow of doubt, began to realize that Billy was losing the race. Also, +by the time she had gone four or five miles, she discovered that the men +had seen her. For the trails were growing close together now--not more +than half a mile of slightly broken country stretched between them, and +she could see the men waving their hats; could hear their voices above +the whir and clatter of Billy's passing. + +Still, she was determined to win, and Billy's flanks felt the sting of +the quirt that, hitherto, had swung from Barbara's wrist. + +Billy revealed a marvelous burst of speed. But it did not last, and the +horsemen, after hanging for an instant abreast of Billy, began to forge +ahead. + +The courageous little animal had almost reached the covert that Harlan +had discovered the day he had visited the Star the first time, and was +nobly answering the stern urge of the quirt when another horseman +suddenly appeared on the trail directly ahead of the girl, seemingly +having ridden out of the covert. + +The trail was narrow, and Billy could not swerve around the new rider. +So, sensing the danger of a collision he stiffened his legs, making a +sliding halt that carried him a dozen feet, leaving him upon his haunches +with Barbara frantically trying to keep to the saddle. + +Then Billy's forehoofs came down; he grunted, heaved a tremendous sigh +and stood, his legs braced, awaiting orders. + +No order came. For no words escaped Barbara's lips. She sat in the +saddle, her face ashen, terror clutching her. + +For the horseman who had ridden out of the covert was Stroud, the Rancho +Seco straw-boss. He was grinning, and in his eyes was a gloating triumph +that she could not mistake. + +"Lucky I took a notion to come in this mornin'," he said. "I just got +here. I seen you hittin' the breeze for fair while you was quite a piece +up the basin; an' I seen Deveny an' the boys a-fannin' it, too. An' I +says to myself: 'Stroud, here's Deveny racin' to see Miss Barbara, an' +her actin' like she don't want to see him. But I'll fix it so she does.'" + +The girl touched Billy with the quirt, and the little animal lunged +forward, close to Stroud's horse. As the two beasts came close together +Barbara struck at Stroud with the quirt, hoping to disconcert him so that +she could send Billy past him. + +Stroud ducked and shot a hand out, seized the quirt and wrenched it from +her hand. She screamed as the hairloop scraped the flesh of her wrist. +And then she heard a thundering clatter of hoofs and saw Deveny and his +men appear from beyond the covert and race toward her. + +Deveny spoke no word. But as he rode toward her she saw the gleam in his +eyes, and she silently fought Stroud, who had grasped her and was pulling +her toward him. + +It seemed to her that Deveny must have misunderstood Stroud's action, for +it was clear to her--even in the stress and confusion of the moment--that +Deveny thought Stroud had attacked her through motives that were strictly +personal. + +Anyway, before Stroud could speak Deveny's pistol glittered. And +malignantly, his eyes blazing with a jealous, evil light, he shot +Stroud--twice. + +He sat in the saddle, his lips twitching into a sneer as he watched the +straw-boss tumble from his horse and fall limply into the grass. Then +with a smile that was hideous with a triumphant passion, he spurred his +horse to Billy's side, pulled the girl from the saddle, and sent his +horse up the valley, motioning his men to follow. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +AMBUSHED + + +Red Linton had ridden eastward to examine the grass of the range in that +direction, for it had been some days since he had sent Stroud to the +southern range, and since the cattle had been there for some time before +that Linton felt they should be driven to fresh grass. + +And yet, perhaps, Linton's search for good grass should not have taken +him so far from the ranchhouse, for he remembered his promise to Harlan +that he would not let Barbara out of his sight. But Barbara had made no +objection to his guardianship of her, so far, and he had longed for a +ride. + +He worried a little, though, and felt guilty of something very like +treason to Harlan; and at last, not being able to ride farther with the +thoughts that fought with his desires, he wheeled his horse and sent it +scampering back toward the ranchhouse. + +When he reached the ranchhouse he saw none of the men, for he had set +them at tasks inside the buildings; and he rode down to the ranchhouse, +resolved to have a talk with the girl. + +When he rode around the near corner he saw that the _patio_ gate was +open. His horse leaped with the stern word he spoke to it, bringing him +swiftly to the gate, where he dismounted and threw open a door that led +into the house. + +He called to Barbara, and receiving no answer, he ran from room to room, +not hesitating until he had explored them all. + +Emerging from the house, he mounted his horse and sent him westward, +while he scanned the big level around him for sight of the girl. + +She had always ridden into the valley in former days, he remembered--and +during the days of his guardianship she had more than once threatened to +ride there. And he had no doubt she had gone there now, out of +perverseness, just to irritate him. + +He held his horse to a rapid pace as he crossed the level, and he was +still a mile distant from the covert where Barbara had met Stroud when he +saw a group of horsemen traveling rapidly up the valley. + +Linton rode on, his anxiety acute, a grave suspicion afflicting him. And +when, after he had ridden a little farther, he saw Barbara's horse +trotting slowly toward him, the stirrups swinging and flopping emptily +against the saddle skirts, he drew a deep breath and brought his own +horse to a halt, while he sat motionless in the saddle, tortured by +bitter thoughts. + +He had no doubt that what Harlan feared would happen, had happened--that +Deveny had come for Barbara. And Deveny had found her, through _his_ +dereliction. He had relaxed his vigilance for only a short time, and +during that time Deveny had come. + +Linton looked back toward the Rancho Seco. The distance to the ranchhouse +seemed to be interminable. He looked again up the valley, and saw that +the horsemen were growing indistinct. Within a few minutes, so rapid was +their pace, they would vanish altogether. + +Linton thought of going back to the ranchhouse for the other men--that +was why he had looked in that direction. But if he wished to keep the +horsemen in sight he would not have time to get the other men. Before he +could get the men and return to where he now stood Deveny would have +taken the girl to that mysterious and unknown rendezvous in the hills in +which his band had always concealed themselves, and Barbara would be +lost. + +Linton's lips straightened. He was to blame. + +He knew the danger that would attend the action of following Deveny's men +up the valley. Other men had attempted to trail them, and they had been +found murdered, often with warnings upon them. + +But Linton hesitated only momentarily. With a grim smile for his chances +of emerging unscathed from the valley, he urged his horse up the trail, +riding hard. + +Several miles he had traveled, keeping the horsemen in sight, and he was +beginning to believe that he would succeed where others had failed, when, +passing through a clump of timber he detected movement in some brush at a +little distance back. + +Divining that Deveny had seen him and had sent a man into the timber to +ambush him, Linton threw himself flat on the horse's mane. He felt a +bullet sing past him, coming from the right, and he got his pistol out +and was swinging its muzzle toward the point from which the bullet had +come when a gun roared at his left. + +He felt a hot, searing pain in his side, and he reeled in the saddle from +the shock. Instantly another bullet struck him, coming from the right. +His pistol dropped from his weakening fingers, he toppled sidewise and +tumbled limply into the dust. + +Shortly afterward, seemingly while he was in a state of coma, he heard +hoofbeats, rapidly growing distant. + +He knew they were Deveny's men and he yielded to a vague wonder as to why +they had not made sure of their work. + +Doggedly, and with long and bitter effort, Linton began to turn himself +so that he could get up. The pain from his wounds was excruciating, so +that each muscular effort brought a retching groan from him. Yet he kept +moving, twisting himself around until he got on his knees. From that +position he tried a number of times to get to his feet, but he failed +each time. + +At last, though, with the help of a boulder that lay beside the trail, he +got his feet under him and stood for an instant, staggering weakly. Then +he began to move forward to his horse. When he managed at last to clutch +the saddle skirt he was reeling, his knees bending under him. However, he +managed to get one leg over the saddle, taking a long time to do it; and +eventually he was in the seat. + +He spent another long interval lashing himself to the saddle with the +rope that he carried at the pommel; and then headed the horse toward the +Rancho Seco. + +He began to ride, urging the horse to what seemed to him a rapid pace. +But he had not gone very far when he sagged against the pommel, +lifelessly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +ROGERS TAKES A HAND + + +The trail herd had made good progress through the valley, and Rogers, +aided by the Star men, had kept them going. The men feared no +interference with the work, for they had terrorized the ranchers in the +valley until the latter well knew the futility of retaliatory measures. +Still, a certain furtive quickness of movement had always characterized +the operations of the outlaws--the instinct to move secretly, if +possible, and to strike swiftly when they struck was always strong in +them. + +Besides, the drive to Willow's Wells was not a long one, and the cattle +could stand a fast pace. So it was not long after the herd had left the +Star until it straggled up a defile in the hills and out upon the level +where Deveny's men had to ride to take the south trail to the Rancho +Seco. + +The level extended southward for a distance of several miles to a grass +range that the Star men knew well--for there had been times when they had +grazed cattle there, making camp on their frequent trips to the Wells. + +A range of low, flat hills marked the northern limits of the grazing +section; and Rogers and his men trailed the cattle through the hills +while the morning was still young. + +The herd was through the hills, and Rogers, twisting in the saddle, was +taking a last look over the plain to make certain there had been no +prying eyes watching the movements of himself and the men, when he saw, +far to the west, a group of horsemen just coming into view at the edge of +the plain--seemingly having ridden out of the big valley. + +Rogers wheeled his horse and watched the horsemen as they traveled +eastward, making good time. He called to a man, named Colver, who was +riding close to him. + +"Them's Deveny's men--from the Cache. What in blazes are they up to? +Somethin's in the wind, Colver--they're ridin' like the devil was after +them an' burnin' the breeze for fair!" + +Rogers sent his horse scampering to the crest of one of the hills where, +concealed behind some brush, he watched the progress of Deveny's men +eastward. + +When they passed the point on the plain where they would have to veer +northward if they intended to visit the Star, he breathed with relief. +For he had almost yielded to a conviction that Deveny _was_ headed for +the Star. + +But after the horsemen passed the point that led to the Star trail, a new +anxiety seized Rogers--and a passion that sent the blood to his face +swept over him. + +His eyes were glowing with an excitement that he could not repress when +he turned to Colver. + +"Somethin's up!" he snapped. "Deveny's been sullen as hell for a good +many days--ever since Harlan came to the Star. One of the boys was +tellin' me he heard Deveny an' Haydon havin' it out over at the Cache. If +there's goin' to be a ruckus I'm goin' to be in on it!" + +He leaped his horse off the hill, racing him down into the grass plain +after the other men. When he reached them he yelled sharply, and they +spurred quickly to him, anticipating from his manner that danger +threatened. + +"I've got a hunch that hell's a-goin' to pop right sudden, boys," he told +them. "An' we're goin' away from it. If there's any trouble we want to be +in on it. Deveny's up to somethin'. You-all know about the agreement made +between Haydon an' Harlan--that Harlan was to run the Rancho Seco without +interference. Deveny's headed that way, an' Haydon ain't around. It's up +to us boys to keep our eyes open. + +"Harlan's at the Star. He won't be knowin' that Deveny is headin' for the +Rancho Seco. Harlan's white, boys; he's done more for us guys since he's +been at the Star than Haydon or Deveny ever done for us. He's promised us +things that Haydon an' Deveny would never do. He's a white man, an' I'm +for him. An' I'm for takin' orders from him from now on. Who's with me?" + +"You're shoutin'!" declared Colver. + +"It's time for a new deal," muttered another. + +"You're doin' the yappin'," grimly announced a big man who was close to +Rogers; "we're followin' your lead." + +"I'm jumpin' for the Star then!" declared Rogers; "to put Harlan wise to +where Deveny's headed for. We're leavin' the herd here until we find out +what's goin' on. Half of you guys beat it to the Rancho Seco--trailin' +Deveny an' his boys, to find out what they're doin'. You're herd-ridin' +them if they go to monkeyin' with the Rancho Seco. Slope!" + +Rogers had hardly ceased speaking when the outfit was on the move. There +were eleven men, including Rogers; and they sent their horses leaping +over the crest of the hill nearest them--dividing, as they reached the +level on the other side with seemingly no previous arrangement, into two +groups--one group going northeastward, toward the South Trail, and the +other fading into the space that yawned between it and the point where +the trail to the Star led downward into the big basin. + + * * * * * + +Haydon, holding hard to the pommel of the saddle, urging his horse along +the trail that led up the valley, looked back whenever he reached a rise, +his eyes searching the space behind him for the dread apparition that he +expected momentarily. + +He knew that it would not be long before Morgan and Harlan would emerge +from the ranchhouse to discover that he had escaped; and he knew, too, +that they would suspect that he had gone to the Cache. + +He expected they would delay riding after him, however, until they +searched for him in some of the buildings, and that delay, he hoped, +would give him time to reach the Cache. + +He was handicapped by his useless arm--for it made riding awkward, and +the numbness was stealing down his side, toward his leg. He paid little +attention to the pain; indeed, he entirely forgot it in his frenzied +eagerness to reach the Cache. + +More prominent in his brain at this minute than any other emotion was a +dread of Billy Morgan. He had yielded to terror when Morgan had revealed +his identity; but the terror he had felt then had not been nearly so +paralyzing as that which was now upon him. + +His eyes were bulging as he rode; his lips were slavering, and he +shuddered and cringed as he leaned over his horse's mane, urging him to +greater effort--even though there were times when his lurches almost +threw him out of the saddle. + +For his previous terror had been somewhat tempered with a doubt of +Morgan's veracity. Even when he had seen Morgan reaching for his pistol +he had felt the doubt--had felt that Morgan was not Morgan at all, but +Woodward, perpetrating a grotesque joke. To be sure, when he had seen +that Morgan really intended to kill him, he had been convinced that the +man was in deadly earnest. It had been then that he had desperately +twisted himself so that Morgan's bullet had not touched a vital spot. + +But now his terror had grown; it was a thing that had got into his +soul--for he had had time to meditate over what Morgan's vengeance meant +to him. + +It meant that Morgan would kill him, if he caught him; that the life he +treasured would be taken from him; that the magnificent body which he had +always so greatly admired would be shattered and broken. The mental +picture he drew further increased his terror, and he began to mutter +incoherent blasphemies as he raced his horse at a breakneck pace toward +the Cache. + +But when he had ridden several miles and knew from the appearance of the +valley that he was nearing the Cache and that he would reach it in +safety, there came a change in him. + +He grew calmer; he began to feel a rage that sent the blood racing +through his veins again. He looked back over the trail as often as +formerly, but it was with a new expression--malevolent hatred. And when +he finally reached the entrance to the Cache and rode through it, heading +toward the building in which, he expected, he would find Deveny, the +malevolence in his expression was mingled with triumph and cunning. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A DUAL TRAGEDY + + +Harlan and Morgan had made a thorough search of Haydon's desk in the +latter's office in the ranchhouse, and they had found letters addressed +to Haydon--received at various towns in the vicinity and proving Morgan's +charges against him. And upon several of the letters were names that +provided damaging evidence of the connection of influential men with the +scheme to gain unlawful possession of much land in the basin. + +"This cinches it!" declared Morgan as he carefully placed the letters +into a pocket when he and Harlan emerged from the ranchhouse. "I reckon +we've got proof now. An' the governor'll be plumb tickled." + +They stepped down from the doorway and turned the corner of the house. +Instantly they noted the disappearance of Haydon's body. But they did not +search among the other buildings for Haydon--as he had expected them to +do. For they saw that his horse was also missing. + +Morgan ran for the corral, saying no word, his lips set in grim, vengeful +lines. He had been a fool for not making sure that he had killed Haydon, +but he would not make that mistake again. The gleam in his eyes revealed +that. + +Harlan, too, divined what had happened. Purgatory was in the +stable--which was farther from the ranchhouse than the corral. And though +Harlan moved swiftly Morgan was already on his horse and racing toward +the timber when Purgatory emerged from the stable, saddled and bridled. + +Harlan noted that Morgan had not stopped to saddle his horse, and that +omission revealed the man's intense desire for haste. Harlan, however, +headed Purgatory into the timber, but he was more than half a mile behind +Morgan when he reached the main trail. + +He saw Morgan riding the trail that led up the valley, and he set out +after him, giving the big black horse the rein. He divined that Morgan +suspected Haydon had ridden in that direction; and while Harlan had never +seen the Cache, he had heard the Star men speak of it, and he had noticed +that when setting out for it they had always traveled the trail Morgan +was traveling. Therefore, it was evident that Morgan thought Haydon had +gone to the Cache. In that case he depended upon Deveny to assist him--if +Morgan followed; and Harlan was determined to see the incident through. + +He sent Purgatory ahead at a good pace, but he noted soon that Morgan was +increasing the distance between them. He began to urge Purgatory forward, +and gradually the distance between the two riders grew shorter. + +Both were traveling rapidly, however, and it seemed to Harlan that they +had not gone more than three or four miles when--watching Morgan closely, +he saw him ride pell-mell into some timber that--apparently--fringed the +front of a cave. + +It was some time before Harlan reached the timber, and when he did he +could not immediately discover the spot into which Morgan had ridden. +When he did discover it he rode Purgatory through, and found himself in a +narrow gorge. + +He raced Purgatory through the gorge, and out of it to the sloping side +of a little basin. + +He saw a house near the center of the basin--and Morgan riding close to +it. + +The distance to the house was not great--not more than a quarter of a +mile, it seemed; and Harlan felt some wonder that Morgan--who had been +quite a little in advance of him--had not reached the house sooner. That +mystery was explained to him almost instantly, though, when he saw that +Morgan's horse was walking, going forward with a pronounced limp. +Evidently Morgan had met with an accident. + +Harlan was riding across the floor of the little basin, watching Morgan +and wondering at the seeming absence of Deveny's men, when he saw a smoke +streak issue from one of the windows of the house, saw Morgan reel in the +saddle, and slide to the ground. + +But before Harlan could reach the spot where Morgan had fallen, the man +staggered to his feet and was running toward the house, swaying as he +went. + +Harlan heard a muffled report as he sent Purgatory scampering after +Morgan. He saw Morgan reel again, and he knew someone in the house was +using a rifle. + +There was another report as Morgan lurched through an open doorway of the +house. Then Harlan knew Morgan was using his gun, for its roaring crash +mingled with the whiplike crack of a rifle. + +The firing had ceased when Harlan slipped off Purgatory at the open door; +and both his guns were out as he leaped over the threshold. + +He halted, though, standing rigid, his guns slowly swagging in his hands, +their muzzles drooping. + +For on the floor of the room--flat on his back near a corner--was Haydon. +He was dead--there was no doubt of that. + +Nor was there any doubt that the bullets Haydon had sent had finished +Morgan. He was lying on his right side, his right arm under him, +extended; the palm of the hand upward, the fingers limply holding the +pistol he had used, some smoke curling lazily from the muzzle. + +Harlan knelt beside Morgan, examining him for signs of life. He got up a +little later and stood for some time looking down at the man, thinking of +Barbara. Twice had tragedy cast its sinister shadow over her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +CONVERGING TRAILS + + +An hour or so later, Harlan, having finished his labors in a clearing at +the edge of the level near the gorge, climbed slowly on Purgatory and +sent him back down the valley trail toward the Star. + +From the first his sympathies for Barbara had been deep, beginning on the +evening Lane Morgan had mentioned her in his presence--when the man +seemed to see her in that strange, awesome moment before his death--when +he had seemed to hold out his arms to her. Later, at Lamo, when Harlan +had held the girl in his arms, he felt that at that instant he must have +experienced much the same protective impulse that Morgan would have felt, +had the experience occurred to him. Harlan had been slightly cynical +until that minute; but since then he had known that his rage against the +outlaws was deeply personal. + +That rage, though, had centered most heavily upon Deveny. He had hated +Haydon, too--from the first. In the beginning it had been a jealous +hatred, aroused over the conviction that Barbara loved the man. But +later--when he had discovered that Haydon was the mysterious "Chief," +that he was the real murderer of Lane Morgan, and that behind his +professed love for the girl was meditated trickery--his hatred had become +a passion in which Barbara did not figure. + +His hatred for Haydon, though, could not be compared with the passionate +contempt and loathing he felt for Deveny. The man had attempted, in Lamo, +a thing that Harlan had always abhorred, and the memory of that time was +still vivid in Harlan's brain. + +Into Harlan's heart as he rode toward the Star flamed that ancient +loathing, paling his face and bringing a gleam to his eyes that had been +in them often of late--a lust for the lives of the men whose evil deeds +and sinister influence had kept Barbara a virtual prisoner at the Rancho +Seco. + +He rode the valley trail slowly, his thoughts upon Barbara, his lips +straightening when he thought of how he would have to return to the +Rancho Seco, some day, to tell her of her brother's death. Twice had +tragedy visited her, and again he would be the messenger to bring her the +grim news. + +When he reached the Star he rode up to the corral fence and dismounted. +He stood for a long time at the fence, his elbows on one of the rails, +his thoughts dwelling upon Barbara. Pity for her whitened his face, set +his lips in rigid lines. + +She had been in danger, but it seemed to him that it would soon be over. +For Haydon would bother the girl no more, and as soon as he could meet +Deveny he would remove another menace to Barbara's life and happiness. + +He had no regrets for the men he had killed; they deserved what he had +given them. As he had told Morgan, he had considered himself merely an +instrument of the law of right and justice--which law was based upon the +very principle that governed men in civilized communities. + +He was facing south, and he raised his head after a few minutes, for upon +the slight breeze was borne to him the rapid drumming of hoofs. As he +looked up he saw, far out toward the southern edge of the valley, a dust +cloud, moving swiftly toward him. + +At first he suspected that the men in the group belonged to Deveny, and +he drew out his pistols, one after the other, and examined them--for he +decided--if Deveny was among the men--to settle for good the question of +power and authority that Haydon had raised. + +When the men came closer, though, swooping toward the ranchhouse like +feathers before a hurricane, he saw that Rogers was among them. + +Then, as the men came toward him down along the corral fence, Harlan saw +that Rogers' eyes were wide with excitement. And he stood, his face +darkening, as Rogers told him what he had seen, and voiced his +suspicions. + +"We're with you, Harlan," declared Rogers, sweeping a hand toward the +men; "an' them other boys which have trailed Deveny, are with you. We're +out to 'get' Deveny if you say the word; and that thief, Haydon, too." + +Harlan did not answer. He grinned at the men, though, and at +Rogers--acknowledging his gratitude for their decision to be "with" him; +then he turned, leaped on Purgatory, and sent the big beast thundering +toward the timber that led to the main trail. + +Their voices silent, their horses falling quickly into the pace set by +the big black, Rogers and the other men followed. + +The other half of Rogers' men, headed by Colver, were several miles +behind Deveny's horsemen when they reached the South Trail. They gained +very little on the other men, though, for Deveny and his men were just +then racing Barbara to the point where the trails converged, having seen +her. But during Deveny's halt at the covert, where he had shot Stroud, +Colver's men gained, and they were not more than two or three miles from +the covert when Deveny's men left it. + +From the shelving trail, ever sweeping toward the trail in the valley, +Colver had noted the halt at the covert, though he had not seen Barbara, +nor Stroud. He had seen, of course, that Deveny had not gone to the +Rancho Seco, that for some reason or other he had swerved, taking the +trail up the valley. + +Colver was puzzled, but he remembered Rogers' orders, and when he and his +men reached the covert, they halted. They came upon Stroud, lying near +some bushes, and they saw his horse, grazing on the tall grass near by. +They had reached the covert too late to see Barbara's pony; and when they +remounted, after taking a look at Stroud, they caught a glimpse of a lone +horseman racing up the valley in the direction taken by Deveny and his +men. + +The lone horseman was Red Linton, though Colver did not know it, for the +South Trail dipped into the basin miles before it emerged to the level at +the point of convergence with the other trail, and Colver had not seen +Linton when he had passed. + +Colver and his men fled up the valley, following the trail taken by +Deveny and the lone horseman, and when they had gone two or three miles +they saw a rider coming toward them. They raced toward him, for they saw +he was in trouble; that he had lashed himself to the pommel of the +saddle, and that he was leaning far over it, limp and inert. + +Linton was not unconscious, but he was very near it; so near that he +seemed to dream that men were around him and that voices were directed at +him. + +Into his mind as he straightened and looked at the men finally came the +conviction that this was not a dream; and after an instant of intense +effort, during which he fixed his gaze on Colver, he recognized the +other. + +He laughed, grimly, mockingly: + +"Front an' rear--eh?" he said. "You got me, goin' an' comin'. Well, go to +it--I deserve it, for lettin' Barbara out of my sight. If you don't kill +me, Harlan will. But if you guys are _men_, you won't let Deveny----" + +"Deveny's got Barbara Morgan?" + +This was Colver. Something in his voice straightened Linton further, and +he steadied himself in the saddle and looked fairly at the man. + +"Deveny's got her. An' they got me--chasin' 'em. I was headin' back to +the Rancho Seco, to get the T Down boys--all Harlan's friends--to wipe +Deveny out. If you guys are _men_----" + +Sheer will could no longer support Linton's failing muscles--and he again +collapsed over the pommel. + +For an instant only did Colver hesitate. Then he turned to a lean rider +who bestrode a tall, rangy horse. He spoke sharply to the rider: + +"Hit the breeze to the Rancho Seco, an' get them T Down boys. Fan it, +damn you!" + +The rider was off with the word, leaping his horse down the trail with +dizzying speed. Then Colver loosed the rope that held Linton to the +saddle, and with the help of the other men lifted the man down and +stretched him in a plot of grass beside the trail, where they worked over +him until they saw, far out on the level toward the Rancho Seco, a number +of horsemen coming, seemingly abreast, as though they were racing, each +man trying his best to outstrip the others. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +WORLD'S END + + +Barbara Morgan had fought Deveny until she became exhausted. Thereafter +she lay quiet, breathing fast, yielding to the nameless terror that held +her in its icy clutch. + +The appearance of Deveny so soon after the end of the heartbreaking ride +down the trail had brought into her heart a sense of the futility of +resistance--and yet she had resisted, involuntarily, instinctively. Yet +resistance had merely served to increase the exhaustion that had come +upon her. + +She had not known--until she lay passive in Deveny's arms--how taut her +nerves had been, nor how the physical ordeal had drained her strength. + +She felt the strain, now, but consideration for her body was overwhelmed +by what she saw in Deveny's eyes as she lay watching him. + +There were a dozen men with Deveny--she had seen them, counted them when +they had been racing down the shelving trail on the other side of the +valley. And she knew they were following Deveny, for she could hear the +thudding of hoofs behind. + +Deveny's big arms were around her; she could feel the rippling of his +muscles as he swayed from side to side, balancing himself in the saddle. +He was not using the reins; he was giving his attention to her, letting +the horse follow his own inclinations. + +Yet she noted that the animal held to the trail, that he traveled +steadily, requiring no word from his rider. + +Once, after they had ridden some distance up the valley, Barbara heard a +man behind them call Deveny's attention to some horsemen who were riding +the shelving trail that Deveny and his men had taken on their way to the +level; and she heard Deveny laugh. + +"Some of the Star gang, I reckon. Mebbe Haydon, goin' to the Rancho Seco, +to see his girl." He grinned down into Barbara's face, his own alight +with a triumph that made a shiver run over her. + +Later--only a few minutes, it seemed--she heard a man call to Deveny +again, telling him that a lone rider was "fannin' it" up the valley. + +"Looks like that guy, Linton," said the man. + +"Two of you drop back and lay for him!" ordered Deveny. "Make it sure!" +he added, after a short pause. + +Barbara yielded to a quick horror. She fought with Deveny, trying in vain +to free her arms--which he held tightly to her sides with his own. She +gave it up at last, and lay, looking up into his face, her eyes blazing +with impotent rage and repugnance. + +"You mean to kill him?" she charged. + +"Sure," he laughed; "there's no one interfering with what's going on +now." + +Overcome with nausea over the conviction that Deveny's order meant death +to Red Linton, Barbara lay slack in Deveny's arms for a long time. A +premonitory silence had settled over the valley; she heard the dull thud +of hoofs behind her, regular and swift, the creaking of the saddle +leather as the animal under her loped forward. + +There was no other sound. For the men behind her were strangely silent, +and even Deveny seemed to be listening. + +After what seemed to be a long interval, she heard a shot, and then +almost instantly, another. She shuddered, closing her eyes, for she knew +they had killed Linton. And she had blamed Linton for guarding her +from--from the very thing that had happened to her. And Linton had given +his life for her! + +How long she had her eyes closed she did not know. The time could not +have been more than a few minutes though, for she heard a voice behind +her saying to Deveny: + +"They got him." + +Then she looked up, to see Deveny grinning at her. + +"I reckon that's all," he said. "We're headin' for the Cache--my +hang-out. If you'd have been good over in Lamo, the day that damned +Harlan came, this wouldn't have happened. I'd sent for a parson, an' I +intended to give you a square deal. But now it's different. Then I was +scared of running foul of Haydon--I didn't want to make trouble. But I'm +running my own game now--Haydon and me have agreed to call it quits. Me +not liking the idea of Haydon adopting Harlan." + +She stared up at him, her eyes widening. + +"You and Haydon were--what do you mean?" she asked, her heart seeming to +be a dead weight in her breast, heavy with suspicion over the dread +significance in his voice and words. She watched him, breathlessly. + +"I'm meaning that Haydon and me were running things in the valley--that +we were partners, splitting equal. But I'm playing a lone hand now." + +He seemed to enjoy her astonishment--the light in her eyes which showed +that comprehension, freighted with hopelessness, was stealing over her. + +He grinned hugely as he watched her face. + +"Haydon is the guy we called 'Chief,'" he said, enjoying her further +amazement and noting the sudden paleness that swept over her face. "He's +the guy who killed your father at Sentinel Rock. He was after you, +meaning to make a fool of you. Hurts--does it?" he jeered, when he saw +her eyes glow with a rage that he could understand. "I've heard of that +chain deal--Haydon was telling me. When he shot your father he lost a bit +of chain. Harlan found it and gave it back to him, with you looking on. I +reckon that's why him and Harlan hit it off together so well--Harlan +knowing he killed your father and not telling you about it." + +The long shudder that shook the girl betrayed something of the terrible +emotion under which she was laboring; and when she finally opened her +eyes to gaze again into Deveny's, they were filled with a haunting +hopelessness--a complete surrender to the sinister circumstances which +seemed to have surrounded her from the beginning. + +"Harlan," she said weakly, as though upon him she had pinned her last +hope; "Harlan has joined you after all--he is against me--too?" + +"Him and Haydon are after the Rancho Seco. Harlan's been playing with +Haydon right along." + +Barbara said nothing more. She was incapable of coherent thought or of +definite action--or even of knowledge of her surroundings. + +For it seemed to her that Deveny had spoken truthfully. She had seen the +incident of the broken chain; she had seen Harlan's hypocritical grin +upon that occasion--how he had seemed to be eager to ingratiate himself +with Haydon. + +All were against her--everybody. Everybody, it seemed, but Red Linton. +And they had killed Linton. + +She seemed to be drifting off into a place which was peopled with demons +that schemed and planned for her honor and her life; and not one of them +who planned and schemed against her gave the slightest indication of +mercy or manliness. The world became chaotic with swirling objects--then +a blank, aching void into which she drifted, feeling nothing, seeing +nothing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE ULTIMATE TREACHERY + + +When Barbara regained consciousness she was lying in some long, dusty +grass beside the trail where she seemed to have been thrown, or where she +had fallen. For she was lying on her right side, her right arm doubled +under her, and she felt a pain in her shoulder which must have been where +she had struck when she had fallen. + +She twisted around and sat up, bewildered, almost succumbing to the +hideous terror which instantly gripped her when she remembered what had +happened. + +Deveny's horse stood near her, nipping the tips of the grass that grew at +her feet. Beyond the animal--a little to her right, and perhaps fifty +feet from her--were other horses, with riders. + +As she staggered to her feet she recognized the men who had been with +Deveny. They were on their horses--all facing away from her. Facing +Deveny's men were all the T Down boys--she recognized them instantly. +Pistols glittered in their hands; they seemed to be in the grip of some +strong passion, which wreathed their faces into grim, bitter lines. + +Near the T Down men--flanking them--were other men. Among them she saw +faces she knew--Colver, Strom Rogers, and others. + +There must have been twenty-five or thirty men, altogether, and they were +all on a little level beside the trail. It seemed to Barbara that they +all appeared to have forgotten her; seemed not to know that she was in +the vicinity. + +She saw Deveny standing on the little level. His profile was toward her; +there was a wild, savage glare in his eyes. + +Not more than a dozen feet from him was Harlan. + +She saw Harlan's face from the side also. There was a grin on his +lips--bitter, mirthless, terrible. + +She stood for what seemed to her a long time, watching all of them; her +heart throbbing with a dread heaviness that threatened to choke her; her +body in a state of icy paralysis. + +She thought she knew what had happened, for it seemed to her that +everything in the world--all the passions and the desires of +men--centered upon her. She felt that there were two factions--one headed +by Deveny, and the other by Harlan, representing Haydon--and that they +were about to fight for her. The T Down men seemed to be standing with +Harlan--as, of course, they would, since he had sent for them to come to +the Rancho Seco. + +Oddly, though, they apparently seemed to pay no attention to her; not one +of them looked at her. + +If they were to fight it made no difference to her which faction won, for +her fate would be the same, if she stayed. + +She did not know what put the thought into her mind, but as she stood +there watching the men she repeated mentally over and over the words: "If +I stay." + +Why should she stay? She answered the question by stealing toward +Deveny's horse. When she reached the animal she paused, glancing +apprehensively at the men, her breathing suspended--hoping, dreading, her +nerves and muscles taut. It seemed they must see her. + +Not a man moved as she climbed upon the back of the horse; it seemed to +her as she urged the animal gently and slowly away from the men that they +heard nothing and saw nothing but Harlan and Deveny, and that Harlan and +Deveny saw nothing but each other. + +She sent the horse away, walking him for a dozen yards or more, until he +crossed the little level and sank into a shallow depression in the trail. +Still looking back, she saw that none of the men had changed +position--that they seemed to be more intent upon Harlan and Deveny. And +she could hear Harlan's voice, now, low, husky. + +She urged the horse into a lope; and when she had ridden perhaps a +hundred yards, the conviction that she would escape grew strong in her. +Once out of the valley she would ride straight to Lamo, to ask Sheriff +Gage to protect her. + +She rode faster as she widened the distance that separated her from the +men; and soon the horse was covering the trail rapidly; and she leaned +forward in the saddle, praying that the men might not see her. + +She had gone several miles when she noticed a dark object beside the +trail ahead of her. She drew the horse down and approached the spot +cautiously. And when she saw that the object was a man, her thoughts flew +to the shot she had heard, and to Deveny's words: + +"Make sure of it." + +It _was_ Linton, she saw, as she halted the horse near the object she had +seen. He was lying on his right side, resting his weight on an elbow, as +though trying to rise. + +In an instant she was out of the saddle and at his side, raising his +head. + +He looked at her, smiled, and said weakly: + +"You got away, eh? I reckon they met Harlan. I was hopin' they would. Did +they?" + +"Yes," she answered quickly. She had seen that Linton was badly wounded, +and she knew that she must give up hope of getting to Lamo in order to +give him the care he needed. + +So without speaking further, though with an effort that required the last +ounce of her strength, she lifted Linton, he helping a little, and led +him toward her horse. Somehow, with Linton doing all he could, she got +him into the saddle, climbed up behind him, and sent the horse toward the +Rancho Seco. + +Back at the little level where the men were grouped there was a tension +that seemed to charge the atmosphere with tragedy. Deveny's men sat +silent in their saddles, watching their leader and Harlan with sullen, +savage eyes. The T Down men, facing them, were equally sullen. Guns in +hand, they alertly watched the men who were with Deveny, plainly +determined that there should be no interference from them in the tragedy +that seemed imminent. + +Rogers and his men, and the riders who had come with Colver, were also +watching the Deveny group. All of these held weapons, too; and Rogers, +who had dismounted, was standing beside his horse, a rifle resting on the +saddle seat, his cheek snuggling the stock, the muzzle trained on Deveny. + +Harlan, Rogers, and the others, racing down the valley, had met Deveny +and his men coming up. And when Deveny had recognized Harlan and the +others he had quickly dismounted, bearing his unconscious burden. Because +he felt that trouble would result from the meeting, Deveny had thrown +Barbara from him. + +He had instantly forgotten the girl. For when Harlan came up Deveny saw a +gleam in his eyes that sent his brain to throbbing with those +unmistakable impulses of fear which had seized him the day, in Lamo, when +Harlan had faced him. + +There had been a moment of silence when the two groups met; a stiffening +of muscles and the heavy, strained breathing that, in men, tells of +mental preparation for violence, swift and deadly. + +It had been Harlan who had prevented concerted action--action that would +have brought about a battle in which all would have figured. His guns +came out before the thought of trouble could definitely form in the +brains of the Deveny men; and he had held them--the men in the saddles, +Deveny standing--until the T Down men, whom he had seen from a distance, +coming toward him, could arrive. + +Then, still menacing the Deveny men with weapons, he had dismounted to +face Deveny--where he had been when Barbara Morgan had recovered +consciousness. + +And while the girl had been stealing away he had been talking to Deveny, +though loud enough for all of them to hear. + +There was about Harlan as this moment a threat that brought awe into the +hearts of Deveny's men--a cold, savage alertness that told them, +unmistakably, that the man's rage was at a pitch where the slightest +movement by any of them would precipitate that action for which, plainly, +Harlan longed. + +"So you got Barbara Morgan?" he said as he stood close to Deveny. There +was a taunt in his voice, and an irony that made Deveny squirm with fury. + +And yet Deveny fought hard for composure. He could see in Harlan's manner +something akin to what he had seen that day, in Lamo, when Harlan had +baited him. His manner was the same, yet somehow it was not the same. +There was this difference: + +In Lamo, Harlan had betrayed the threat of violence that Deveny had felt. +But he had seemed to be composed, saturnine--willing to wait. It had +seemed, then, that he wanted trouble, but he would not force it. + +Now, he plainly intended to bring a clash quickly. The determination was +in his eyes, in the set of his head, and in his straight, stiff lips. + +He seemed to have forgotten the other men; his gaze was on Deveny with a +boring intensity that sent a chill of stealthy dread over the outlaw. + +Deveny had faced many men in whose hearts lurked the lust to kill; he had +shot down men who had faced him with that lust in their eyes--and he knew +the passion when he saw it. + +He saw it now, in Harlan's eyes--they were wanton--in them was +concentrated all the hate and contempt that Harlan felt for him. But back +of it all was that iron self-control that Deveny had seen in the man when +he had faced him in Lamo. + +Deveny had avoided Harlan since that day. He had known why--and he knew +at this minute. It was because he was afraid of Harlan--he feared him as +a coward fears the death that confronts him. The sensation was +premonitory. Nor was it that. It _had_ been premonitory--it was now a +conviction. In the time, in Lamo, when he had faced Harlan some +prescience had warned him that before him was the man whom the fates had +selected to bring death to him. + +He had felt it during all the days of Harlan's presence in the section; +he had felt it, and he had avoided the man. He felt it now, and his +breathing grew fast and difficult--his chest laboring as he shrilled +breath into his lungs. + +He knew what was coming; he knew that presently Harlan's passion would +reach the point where action would be imperative; that presently would +come that slow, halting movement of Harlan's hands toward his gun--which +gun? He would witness, with himself as one of the chief actors, the +hesitating movement which had brought fame of a dread kind to the man who +stood before him. + +Could he beat Harlan to the "draw?" Could he? That question was dinned +into his ears and into his consciousness by his brain and his heart. He +heard nothing of what was going on around him; he did not hear Harlan's +voice, though he saw the man's lips moving. He did not see any of the men +who stood near, nor did he see his men, sitting in their saddles, +watching him. + +He saw nothing but Harlan; felt nothing except the blood that throbbed in +his temples; was conscious of nothing but the question that filled his +heart, his brain, and his soul--could he beat Harlan to the "draw?" + +Presently, when he saw, with astonishment, that Harlan was slowly backing +away from him, crouching a little, he divined vaguely that the moment had +come. And now, curiously, he heard Harlan's voice--low, distinct, even. +What an iceberg the man was! + +"Haydon's dead," he heard Harlan saying--and he stared at Harlan, finding +it difficult to comprehend. "Lafe Woodward killed him," Harlan went on +"killed him at the Cache. Now get this straight--all of you." It seemed +strange to Deveny that Harlan seemed to be speaking to the men, while +watching him, only. + +"Woodward was killed, too. His real name was Bill Morgan. He was Lane +Morgan's son. Bill Morgan was sent here by the governor, to get evidence +against Haydon. He got it. I took it from his pockets when I planted +him--an' it's goin' straight to the governor. + +"You guys are through here--" again he seemed to speak to all the men. +"Morgan told me he had some men with the Cache gang. They're to ride out +an' join my boys--the T Down outfit." + +Deveny was conscious that several men detached themselves from the group +of riders he had brought with him, and rode to where the T Down men were +standing. Then Harlan spoke again: + +"Now, she shapes up like this. If there's any of the Star gang wantin' to +go straight, they can throw in with the T Down boys, too. If there's some +that figure on pullin' their freight out of the valley--an' stayin' +out--they can hit the breeze right now--drivin' that Star herd to +Willow's Wells, sellin' them, an' dividin' the money. Whoever is takin' +up that proposition is startin' right now!" + +About half the Star men began to move; heading up the valley. There was a +momentary pause, and then those that were left of Deveny's men moved +uneasily. + +"Does that go for us guys too?" + +"It's wide open," announced Harlan, cold humor seeming to creep into his +voice. "It's your chance to get out of this deal without gettin' what's +comin' to you." + +There was a rush and clatter as Deveny's men joined the men of the Star, +who were already on the move. And then there followed a long silence, +during which Deveny glanced up the valley and saw the men riding away. + +He turned again, to face Harlan, with the consciousness that he stood +alone. The T Down men, half of the Star men, and a large proportion of +the Cache men were standing with Harlan. Deveny saw Colver and Rogers +among those who had aligned themselves with Harlan. + +No invitation to withdraw had been extended to Deveny. The knowledge +strengthened his conviction that Harlan intended to kill him. And yet, +now, facing Harlan, he knew that he would never take up the slender +thread of chance that was offered him--to draw his gun, kill Harlan and +resume his authority over the men who were left. + +The possibility, dangling at the other end of the slender thread of +chance, did not allure him. For he knew he could not draw the pistol at +his hip with Harlan's gaze upon him--that would be suicide. + +"Deveny!" + +Harlan's voice, snapping with menace roused him, straightened him, +brought an ashen pallor to his face. + +"It's your turn, Deveny. You stay here. Flash your gun!" + +Here it was--the dreaded moment. Deveny saw the men around him stiffen +rigidly; he heard their slow-drawn breaths. The thought to draw his gun +was strong in him, and he fought hard to force his recreant muscles to do +the will of his mind. For an instant he stood, his right hand poised +above the holster of his pistol, the elbow crooked, ready to straighten. + +And then, with the steady, coldly flaming eyes of Harlan upon him, +Harlan's right hand extended slightly, the fingers spread a little as +though he was about to offer his hand to the other. Deveny became aware +that he was doing an astonishing thing. He was raising his right hand! + +Already it was at his shoulder. And as he marveled, it went higher, +finally coming to a level with his head, where it stopped. He had +publicly advertised his refusal to settle his differences with Harlan +with the pistol. + +"Yellow!" + +It was Harlan's voice. "You won't fight an' you won't run. Well, we'll +keep you, savin' you for the governor. I reckon he'll be glad to see +you." + +Harlan turned, sheathing his pistol, and began to walk toward his horse, +his back toward Deveny. + +Then Deveny acted. His eyes flaming hate, he drew his pistol with a +flashing movement, his face hideous with malignant passion. + +He sent one bullet into Harlan's back and two more as Harlan tumbled +forward, sinking to his knees from the shock. But Deveny's two last +bullets went wild, tearing up the grass of the level as the gun loosened +in his hand. + +For Rogers' rifle was spitting fire and smoke with venomous rapidity, and +Deveny was sinking, his knees doubling under him, his body shuddering +with the impact of each bullet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +PEACE--AND A SUNSET + + +Red Linton had recovered--there was no doubt of that. For Linton, though +a trifle pale, was vigorous. Vigor was in the look of him as he stood, a +slow grin on his face, beside Barbara Morgan at the entrance of the +_patio_ of the Rancho Seco ranchhouse. + +Barbara was sitting on a bench that ranged the front wall of the +building. She was arrayed in a dress of some soft, fluffy material, in +which she made a picture that brought a breathless longing into Linton's +heart--a longing which made him feel strangely tender and sympathetic. + +But Barbara was not smiling. There was a wistfulness in her eyes that +made Linton gulp with jealous thoughts that came to him. + +"He don't deserve it, the durned scalawag!" + +"Deserve what?" questioned Barbara. + +"You," muttered Linton, with an embarrassed grin. "Shucks, I wasn't +thinkin' I was talkin' out loud. I'm sure gettin' locoed." + +"Who doesn't deserve me?" asked Barbara. + +"Harlan!" declared Linton, with a subtle glance at the girl. "He ain't in +no ways fit to be thinkin' serious thoughts about a girl like you." + +"Has he been thinking serious thoughts?" Her eyes dropped from Linton's +and the latter grinned widely. + +"Thinkin' them! He's been talkin' them. Talked them all the time him an' +me was stretched out in the big room, gettin' over our scratches. That +man is plumb locoed. I couldn't get him to talk nothin' else. When I told +him about the governor sendin' him congratulations, an' offerin' to do +somethin' handsome for him, he says: 'You say she ain't worryin' none +about things? Red, do you think she'd hook up with a guy like me--that's +got a bad reputation?'" + +Linton shot a side glance at Barbara and saw a flush steal into her +cheeks. He concealed a broad grin with the palm of his hand and then +said, gruffly: + +"I answers him as such a impertinent question ought to be answered. Says +I--'Harlan, you're a damned fool!'--askin' your pardon, ma'am. A girl +like Barbara Morgan ain't goin' to throw herself away on a no-good +outlaw. Not none! Why, ma'am, he's an outlaw at heart as well as by +reputation. He's clean bad--there ain't a bit of good in him. Didn't he +go to Haydon deliberate? An' didn't he keep you in suspense about what +was goin' on--not tellin' you anything until he had to? Shucks!" + +"But there was a method in that, Linton," said Barbara; "he told me he +was afraid I'd unconsciously betray him, and then he could not have done +what he did." + +Linton grinned again--again concealing the grin. + +"You don't mean to say that you believe the cuss done the best he could?" + +"I think I do, Linton." + +"Shucks. Women is odd that way, ain't they? You ain't tellin' me that you +think he's on the level--that his reputation ain't as bad as some folks +make believe it is, an' that he's _square_?" + +"I believe he's square, Linton!" the girl answered, firmly. + +Linton was silent for an instant, during which he stood on one foot, +looking westward where the sun was swimming low above the big valley. + +"Ma'am," he said lowly, breaking the silence: "I'm damned if I ain't +beginnin' to believe it, myself. There's some things that seem to prove +it. + +"First, there's him takin' your part over in Lamo. Then there's him +comin' here with you, knowin' you was alone--an' not botherin' you. Then +he guarded you right steady, not lettin' Haydon or Deveny run in on you. +Then he makes me foreman--which seems to prove that he's got sense. Then +he goes up the valley an' helps your brother bust up the outlaw gang, +riskin' his life a lot. + +"An' all the time he knows where your dad hid that gold. But he didn't +touch it until he got over that scratch Deveny give him--or until he +could take you where it was hid an' show you he hadn't touched it. Yes, +ma'am," he added with a hyprocritical grin--which he did not permit the +girl to see--"I'm beginnin' to believe the cuss is on the level." + +"Oh, he _is_, Linton!" said Barbara, in a low, earnest voice. + +Again there was a silence. Then---- + +"Do you think he's a pretty good looker, ma'am?" + +"I think he is handsome!" Again the girl blushed. + +And again Linton grinned. He cleared his throat before he again spoke: + +"Well," he drawled; "mebbe I wouldn't go that far. Mostly I don't care +for a handsome man, anyway. I wouldn't say he's ugly, an' I won't say +he's handsome. I'd light on a spot about halfway between them two +extremes. I'd say he ain't a bad looker. That would be about right." + +"He _is_ handsome, Linton!" + +"Well, likely he is--to a woman. I've heard that there's _been_ women +which thought him a heap good lookin'." + +"Where, Linton?" she asked, quickly. + +"Why, in Pardo, ma'am. There was a biscuit shooter in a eatin'-house +there that was sure wild about Harlan--she followed him around a heap." + +"He didn't have anything to do with her, Linton?" she questioned, +stiffening. + +"Shucks! Not him. Women never bothered him none. He always fought shy of +them--until now. He's changed a lot. I don't understand him no more. +Keeps a-moonin' regular about you. I'm gettin' a heap sick of hangin' +around him. Ain't you?" + +"No!" + +"Well, that's a heap odd, ma'am. I was thinkin' you didn't like him a +heap. Accordin' to that, I reckon you'd be right glad to see him--comin' +home from Pardo--where's he been to have that gold assayed?" + +"He ought to be here before dark, Linton. And I shall be glad to see +him." + +"Hopin' the gold will assay good, I reckon?" + +"Hoping he will come back, safe." + +"You don't care about the gold?" + +"No." + +"Only about him?" + +"Yes, Linton," she said, gently. + +"Well, that's odd, ma'am," drawled Linton. + +"What is?" + +"That I feel the same way about the cuss." + +She looked keenly at him, saw the dancing, wayward gleam in his eyes, and +gave him a reproachful glance. + +"You've been pumping me, Linton," she charged. + +"Well," he defended; "he's my friend, ma'am; an' I was sure worried, +thinkin' you wouldn't take him--if he offered himself." + +She smiled, wisely. + +"He did that long ago, Linton--right after he--well, the day he got up, +after the doctor told him he could." + +"That he could offer himself?" + +"That he could get up. Linton," she said, severely; "you want to know too +much." + +Linton did not answer. He took her by an arm, raised her to her feet, and +turned her face toward the northeast--where a rider came, not more than +two or three miles distant. + +Linton left her to stand there, while he made his way into one of the +bunkhouses, where, with an appearance of unconcern that he did not feel, +he watched the coming rider. And when he saw the rider head his horse +straight for the gate of the patio, Linton grinned widely and sought some +of the other men in the cook-house. + +The sun was between the two huge mountains at the western end of the big +valley when Harlan dismounted at the _patio_ gate and dropped, tired and +dusty, to the bench upon which Barbara sat. Had Linton seen what occurred +when Harlan dismounted he would have ceased to speculate over certain +phases of the relations between the man and the girl. + +Barbara did not seem to mind the dust on Harlan's sleeve, nor did she +feel it on his shoulder where her head was nestling. + +For both were looking out into the big valley, where the sun was sinking +with a splendor that reminded them of another day. + +"The gold isn't worth mining," said Harlan, gently. "The assayer used +names that didn't mean anything to me, but he told me enough in plain +talk, to prove that your dad wasted his time." + +"I'm satisfied," said the girl. + +"Me too," smiled Harlan. "There's somethin' better than gold." + +"It's peace--and happiness," said Barbara, gently. + +"An' a girl," smiled Harlan. + +"And a man," declared Barbara stoutly. + +"Well, then," he conceded, "we won't quarrel. We'll say it's both." + +And they sat, saying little, watching the colors of the sunset flame over +the mighty valley--stealing over the vast, silent space that spread +between the two mountain ranges. And the big valley smiled back at them, +softening the sadness that dwelt in the heart of the girl, and holding +out to both of them a promise of good to come--telling them of a mystery +that had been solved, and of a menace removed. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'DRAG' HARLAN*** + + +******* This file should be named 25779.txt or 25779.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/7/7/25779 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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