efore the ranch house calling to Dan Barry. Ay, at the very door
of the place they should meet and one of them must die. And better by
far that the blood of him who died should stain the hands of Kate
Cumberland.

CHAPTER XXXII

VICTORY

The grey light which Buck Daniels saw that morning, hardly brightened as
the day grew, for the sky was overcast with sheeted mist and through it
a dull evening radiance filtered to the earth. Wung Lu, his celestial,
slant eyes now yellow with cold, built a fire on the big hearth in the
living-room. It was a roaring blaze, for the wood was so dry that it
flamed as though soaked in oil, and tumbled a mass of yellow fire up the
chimney. So bright was the fire, indeed, that its light quite
over-shadowed the meagre day which looked in at the window, and every
chair cast its shadow away from the hearth. Later on Kate Cumberland
came down the backstairs and slipped into the kitchen.

"Have you seen Dan?" she asked of the cook.

"Wung Lu make nice fire," grinned the Chinaman. "Misser Dan in there."

She thought for an instant.

"Is breakfast ready, Wung?"

"Pretty soon quick," nodded Wung Lu.

"Then throw out the coffee or the eggs," she said quickly. "I don't want
breakfast served yet; wait till I send you word."

As the door closed behind her, the eye-brows of Wung rose into perfect
Roman arches.

"Ho!" grunted Wung Lu, "O ho!"

In the hall Kate met Randall Byrne coming down the stairs. He was
dressed in white and he had found a little yellow wildflower and stuck
it in his button-hole. He seemed ten years younger than the day he rode
with her to the ranch, and now he came to her with a quick step,
smiling.

"Doctor Byrne," she said quietly, "breakfast will be late this morning.
Also, I want no one to go into the living-room for a while. Will you
keep them out?"

The doctor was instantly gone.

"He hasn't gone, yet?" he queried.

"Not yet."

The doctor sighed and then, apparently following a sudden impulse, he
reached his hand to her.

"I hope something comes of it," he said.

Even then she could not help a wan smile.

"What do you mean by that, doctor?"

The doctor sighed again.

"If the inference is not clear," he said, "I'm afraid that I cannot
explain. But I'll try to keep everyone from the room."

She nodded her thanks, and went on; but passing the mirror in the hall
the sight of her face made her stop abruptly. There was no vestige of
colour in it