red in her fear.

"That's their lookout! They're three to one. Let them kill--"

"But they don't know him. They've never been close enough to see his
face. Besides, no three men I--he--for God's sake tell me what to do!"

"Stay here--if you love me. I won't let you go. I won't!"

"I got to warn them."

"You'll be killed!"

He tore away her hands.

"I got to warn them--but who'll I help? Them three against Dan? He saved
me--twice! But--I got. I got to go."

"If you fight for him first he'll only turn on you afterwards. Vic, stay
here."

"What good's my life? What good's it if I'm a yaller dog ag'in? I'm
goin' out--and be a man!"

Chapter XXII. The Fifth Man

The moment Vic Gregg stood in the open air, with the last appeal of
Betty ringing still at his ear, he felt a profound conviction that he
was about to die and he stood a moment breathing deeply, taking the
faint alkali scent of the dust and looking up to the stars. It was that
moment when night blends with day and there is no sign of light in the
sky except that the stars burn more and more bright as the darkness
thickens, and Vic Gregg watched the stars draw down more closely
and believed that he was seeing this for the last time. Alder seemed
inexpressibly dear to him as he stood there through a little space, and
the vaguely discernible outlines of the shacks along the street were
like the faces of friends. In that house behind him was Betty Neal,
waiting, praying for him, and indeed, had it not been for shame, he
would have weakened now and turned back. For he hardly knew which way
to turn. He wanted to save Ronicky and the other two from the attack
of Barry, yet he would not lay a trap for Dan. To Barry he owed a vast
debt; his debt to the three was that which any human being owes to
another. He had to save them from the wolf which ran through the night
in the body of a man.

That thought sent him at a run for Captain Lorrimer's saloon. It was
lighted brilliantly by the gasoline lamp within, but a short distance
away from it he heard no sound and his imagination drew a terrible
picture of the big, empty room, with three dead men lying in the center
of it where the destroyer had reached them one by one. That was what
took the blood from his face and made him a white mask of tragedy when
he stepped into the door of the saloon. It was quiet, but half a dozen
men sat at the tables in the corner, and among them were Ronicky and the
other two. Slive