'll take this friskiness out of you in a minute,"
said he, giving the horse a slap under the belly as he reached to pull
the stirrup down.

He drew back with a start as his eyes lifted above the saddle, and his
hand dropped to the butt of the revolver which he carried so clumsily in
his belt. Hun Shanklin was standing there facing him, not above a dozen
feet away, grinning dubiously, but with what he doubtless meant for an
expression of friendliness.

The old gambler threw out his hands with a sidewise motion eloquent of
emptiness, lifting his shoulders in a quick little jerk, as if to say,
"Oh, what's the use?"

"Kind of surprised you; didn't I, Doc?" he asked, coming nearer.

"What do you want here?" demanded Slavens harshly.

"Well, not trouble," replied Shanklin lightly. "If I'd come over for
that, I guess I could 'a' started it before now."

"Yes, I suppose you could," admitted Slavens, watching him distrustfully
and feeling thankful, somehow, that the horse was between them.

"I saw you up on the hill after your horse, so I thought I'd come over
and let you know I was around," said Shanklin. "Thought I'd tell you
that I ain't holdin' any grudges if you ain't."

"I don't see where you've got any call to. I never took a crack at you
with a blackjack in the dark!"

"No, you didn't, friend," Shanklin agreed in his old easy, persuasive
way. "And I never done it to you. You owe the honorable Mr. Jerry Boyle
for the red mark you've got on your forrid there. I'll own up that I
helped him nail you up and dump you in the river; but I done it because
I thought you was finished, and I didn't want the muss around."

"Well, it will all come out on the day of reckoning, I suppose," said
Slavens, not believing a word the old scamp said.

He knew that minute, as he had known all the time, that no other hand
than Shanklin's had laid him low that night. Of this he was as certain
in his own mind as if he had seen the gambler lift hand for the blow.
Boyle had no motive for it up to that time, although he had been quick
to turn the circumstance to his advantage.

"I thought Boyle'd dickered you out of this claim before now," said
Shanklin, looking around warily.

"He's down the road here a little piece," replied Slavens testily, "in
company of another friend of yours. You could have seen his tent as you
came over if you'd looked."

"I just put up my tent last night," Shanklin explained.

Slavens took hold of his saddl