have to fight against any unworthy jealousy because of her
interest in Clanton. Of late he had been very busy. It struck him now
that his mind had been much less preoccupied with the thought of her than
it used to be. He supposed there was such a thing as falling out of love.
Perhaps he was in process of doing that now.

Bud Proctor, a tall young stripling, met Prince on the porch of the
hotel.

"Buck Sanders was here to see you, sheriff," the boy said.

Since the days when he had been segundo of the Snaith-McRobert outfit
Sanders had declined in the world. Like many of his kind he had taken to
drink, become bitten with the desire to get rich without working, and
operated inconspicuously in the chaparral with a branding iron. Much
water had poured down the bed of the Pecos in the past three years. The
disagreement between him and Clanton had long since been patched up and
they had lately been together a great deal.

Prince went up to his room, threw off his coat, and began to prepare some
papers he had to send to the Governor. He was interrupted by a knock
at the door.

Sanders opened at the sheriff's invitation, shoved in his head, looked
around the room warily, and sidled in furtively. He closed the door.

"Mind if I lock it?" he asked.

The sheriff nodded. His eyes fixed themselves intently on the man. "Go as
far as you like."

The visitor hung his hat over the keyhole and moved forward to the table.
His close-set eyes gripped those of the sheriff.

"What about this reward stuff?" he asked harshly.

An instant resentment surged up in Billie's heart. He knew now why this
fellow had come to see him secretly. It was his duty to get all the
information he could about Clanton. He had to deal with this man who
wanted to sell his comrade, but he did not relish the business.

"You can read, can't you, Sanders?" he asked ungraciously.

"Where's the money?" snarled his guest.

"It's in the bank."

"Sure?"

From his pocket-book Billie took a bank deposit slip. He put it on the
table where the other man could look it over.

"Would a man have to wait for the reward until Clanton was convicted?"
the traitor asked roughly.

"A thousand would be paid as soon as the arrest was made, the rest when
he was convicted," said Prince coldly.

"Will you put that in writin', Mr. Sheriff?"

The chill eyes of the officer drilled into those of the rustler. He drew
a pad toward him and wrote a few lines, then shoved the ta