d Ben Swann.

"Kate Cumberland."

"Her! And--Barry--the Killing at Alder--"

"Shut up!" ordered Haines, and his face grew ugly. "Don't let that
chatter get to Kate's ears. Barry ain't with her. Only his kid. Now stir
about."

After the first surprise was over, Ben Swann did very well. He found the
fire already started in the living-room and on the rug before the hearth
a yellow-haired little girl wrapped in a tawny hide. She was sound
asleep, worn out by the long ride, and she seemed to Ben Swann a very
pretty picture. Surely there could be in her little of the father of
whom he had heard so much--of whom that story of the Killing at Alder
was lately told, He took in that picture at a glance and then went to
rustle food; afterward he went down to sleep in the bunkhouse and at
breakfast he recounted the events of the night with a relish. Not one of
the men had been more than three years on the place, and therefore their
minds were clean slates on which Swann could write his own impressions.

"Appearances is deceivin'" concluded the foreman. "Look at Mrs. Dan
Barry. They tell you around these parts that she's pretty, but they
don't tell you how damned fine lookin' she is. She's got a soft look and
you'd never pick her for the sort that would run clean off with a gent
like Barry. Barry himself wasn't so bad for looks, but they'll tell you
in Elkhead how bad he is in action, and maybe they's some widders in
Alder that could put in a word. Take even the kid. She looks no more'n a
baby, but what d'you know is inside of her?

"Speakin' personal, gents, I don't put no kind of trust in that houseful
yonder. Here they come in the middle of the night like there was a posse
after 'em. They climb that house and sit down and eat like they'd ridden
all day. Maybe they had. Even while they was eatin' they didn't seem
none too happy.

"That loose shutter upstairs come around in the wind with a bang and
Buck Daniels comes out of his chair as fast as powder could blow him.
He didn't say nothin'. Just sat down lookin' kind of sick, and the other
two was the same way. When they talked, they'd bust off in the middle of
a word and let their eyes go trailin' into some corner of the room that
was plumb full of shadow. Then Lee Haines gets up and walks up and down.

"'Swann,' says he, 'how many good men have you got on the place?'

"'Why,' says I, 'they're all good!'

"'Huh,' says Haines, and he puts a hand on my shoulder, 'Just how g