y hat's off," said Lee, with grave simplicity. "And in any old kind
of a fight a man wouldn't want a better pardner than I can reach now,
putting out my hand. He'd want--just a thoroughbred! And now, little
pardner, let's give them--fits!"

Judith, even as Quinnion's second shot tore into the door, laughed
softly.

"Finish it as you began it, Bud Lee! Even George Washington swore at
Monmouth, you know!"

So Bud Lee amended his words and spoke his thought:

"Then, pardner, let's give 'em hell!"

Crouching in the dark, reserving their own fire while they waited for
something more definite than the bark of a rifle to shoot at, their
hand met.

XIII

THE CAPTURE OF SHORTY

It came about, quite as matters often do, that at the
three-mile-distant ranch headquarters it was one who knew comparatively
little of the ways of this part of the world who was first to suspect
that all was not well with Judith Sanford. To Pollock Hampton her
failure to appear at dinner was significant.

Together with the other newcomers to the ranch from the city he had
been deeply moved by yesterday's outlawry. Drawing upon a vivid
imagination, he peopled the woods with desperate characters. When
after dinner an hour passed without bringing Judith, he began to show
signs of nervous anxiety. Without making his fears known to his
friends, he went to the office and telephoned to Doc Tripp. All that
Tripp could tell him was that he didn't know where Judith was and
didn't care; she could take care of herself. Though the veterinarian
didn't say as much, he was at the moment puzzled by the new sickness
among the hogs and his irritable concern in this matter allowed him
scant interest in other people's affairs.

Hampton learned from Mrs. Simpson that in the afternoon Judith after a
hurried lunch had taken her rifle and ridden away. Where? Mrs.
Simpson did not know. But she grasped the opportunity to confide in
Hampton a certain suspicion which she held in connection with the
robbery and killing of Bud Lee's horse under him--a suspicion which was
growing rapidly into positive certainty. She didn't like to mention
the matter to him, since Fujioki was his servant. But had he noted
Fujioki and that other black Spanish, Jose? They had a community of
interest which must extend far beyond racial kinship; they were, even
at this very second, out in the courtyard together talking in subdued
voices. Mrs. Simpson had been raised a la