e agent's tone did not reveal a great amount of venom.

"Hello, Wade!" he greeted, as he looked down on his prisoner. "Find your
quarters pretty comfortable, eh? It's been a bit of a shock to you, no
doubt, but then shocks seem to be in order in Crawling Water Valley just
now."

"Moran, I've lived in this country a good many years." Wade spoke with a
suavity which would have indicated deadly peril to the other had the two
been on anything like equal terms. "I've seen a good many blackguards
come and go in that time, but the worst of them was redeemed by more of
the spark of manhood than there seems to be in you."

"Is that so?" Moran's face darkened in swift anger, but he restrained
himself. "Well, we'll pass up the pleasantries until after our business
is done. You and I've got a few old scores to settle and you won't find
me backward when the times comes, my boy. It isn't time yet, although
maybe the time isn't so very far away. Now, see here." He leaned over
the edge of the cliff to display a folded paper and a fountain-pen. "I
have here a quit-claim deed to your ranch, fully made out and legally
witnessed, needing only your signature to make it valid. Will you sign
it?"

Wade started in spite of himself. This idea was so preposterous that it
had never occurred to him as the real motive for his capture. He could
scarcely believe that so good a lawyer as Senator Rexhill could be blind
to the fact that such a paper, secured under duress, would have no
validity under the law. He looked up at the agent in amazement.

"I know what you're thinking, of course," Moran went on, with an evil
smile. "We're no fools. I've got here, besides the deed, a check made
out to you for ten thousand dollars." He held it up. "You'll remember
that we made you that offer once before. You turned it down then, but
maybe you'll change your mind now. After you indorse the check I'll
deposit it to your credit in the local bank."

The cattleman's face fell as he caught the drift of this complication.
That ten thousand dollars represented only a small part of the value of
his property was true, but many another man had sold property for less
than it was worth. If a perfectly good check for ten thousand dollars,
bearing his indorsement, were deposited to the credit of his banking
account, the fact would go far to offset any charge of duress that he
might later bring. To suppose that he had undervalued his holdings would
be no more unreasonable