HES 177
XIX A QUEER PAPER 189
XX ANXIETIES 197
XXI THE WEAK LINK 209
XXII AN OLD ADOBE HOUSE 219
XXIII WITH FANGS BARED 226
XXIV THE ALARM 238
XXV NO QUARTER 248
XXVI THE THUNDERBOLT 256
XXVII WEIR STRIKES WHILE THE IRON IS HOT 261
XXVIII VORSE 270
XXIX THE FOURTH MAN 279
XXX THE VICTOR 286
XXXI A FINAL CHALLENGE 294
XXXII THE RECLUSE 304
XXXIII UNDER THE MOON 314

IN THE SHADOW OF THE HILLS

CHAPTER I

IN A HOSTILE COUNTRY

Eastward out of the Torquilla Range the Burntwood River emerged from a
gorge, flowing swift and turbulent during the spring months, shallow
and murmurous the rest of the year, to pass through a basin formed by
low mountains and break forth at last from a canyon and wind away over
the mesa. In the canyon was being erected the huge reservoir dam which
was in the future to store water for irrigating the broad acres
spreading from its base.

The construction camp rested on one of the hillsides above the dam.
And here one summer afternoon a man stepped forth from the long low
tar-papered shack that served as headquarters, directing his gaze down
the road across the mesa at a departing automobile. He was Steele
Weir, the new chief, a tall, strong, tanned man of thirty-five, with
lean smooth-shaven face, a straight heavy nose, mouth that by habit
was set in grim lines, and heavy brows under which ruled cold, level,
insistent, gray eyes. He had come suddenly, unexpectedly, returning
with Magney, the engineer in charge, when the latter had been summoned
east for a conference with the company's directors. He had replaced
Magney, who was now whirling away to the nearest railway point,
Bowenville, thirty-five miles distant.

He thoughtfully watched the car, a bla