for a minute. If I've rustled yore cattle, prove it. Until then padlock
yore tongue, or you an' me'll mix it."

"You're threatenin' me, eh?"

"If that's what you want to call it."

"You're a killer, I'm told," flashed back Webb hotly. "Now listen to me.
You an' yore kind belong in the penitentiary, an' that's where the honest
folks of Washington County are goin' to send you soon. Give me half a
chance an' I'll offer a reward of ten thousand dollars for you alive or
dead. That's the way to get rid of gunmen."

"Is it?" Clanton laughed mockingly. "You advise the fellow that tries to
collect that reward to get his life insured heavy for his widow."

If this was a boast, it was also a warning. Jimmie-Go-Get-'Em may not
have been the best target shot on the border, but give him a man behind a
spitting revolver as his mark and he could throw bullets with swifter,
deadlier accuracy than any old-timer of them all. He did not take the
time to aim; it was enough for him to look at his opponent as he fired.

The young fellow swung his horse expertly and cantered into the mesquite.

"I'll give you two months before you're wiped off the map," the cattleman
called after him angrily.

At the edge of a heavy growth of brush Clanton pulled up, flashed a
six-shooter, and dropped two bullets in the dust at the feet of the
horses in the road. Then, with a wave of his hand, he laughed derisively
and plunged into the chaparral.

Webb, stung to irritable action, fired into the cholla and the arrowweed
thickets. Shot after shot he sent at the man who had disappeared in the
maze.

"Let him go. Homer. You're well quit of him," urged Wrayburn.

The words were still on his lips when out of the dense tangle of
vegetation rang a shot. The owner of the Flying VY clutched at his
saddle-horn. A spasmodic shudder shook the heavy body and it began to
sink.

Wrayburn ran to help. He was in time to catch his friend as he fell, but
before he could lower the inert weight to the ground the life of Homer
Webb had flickered out.

Chapter XXIV

Jimmie-Go-Get-'Em Leaves a Note

Prince and his posse were camped in a little park near the headquarters
of Saco de Oro Creek when a trapper brought word to Billie of the death
of Webb. The heart of the young sheriff sank at the news. It was not only
that he had always liked and admired the bluff cattleman. What shocked
him more was that Jim Clanton had killed him. Webb was one of the most
pop