hed simply with one long
table and half a dozen chairs. Here were five men besides Bayne
Trevors. All except Trevors and the man who had opened the door were
seated; Trevors, at the far end of the room, was standing, an
oratorical arm slowly dropping to his side.

His eyes met Lee's, ran quickly to Carson's, came back to Lee's and
rested there steadily. Beyond the slow falling of his extended arm, he
did not move. The muscles of his face hardened, the look of triumph
which just now had stood in his eyes changed slowly and in its place
came an expression that was twin to that in Bud Lee's eyes, just a look
of inscrutability with a hint of watchfulness under it, and the
hardness of agate. While a man might have drawn a deep breath into his
lungs and expelled it, neither Lee nor Trevor stirred.

"What the devil is this?" demanded Melvin from across the table.
"Hold-up or what?" He rapped the table resoundingly.

"Shut up!" snapped Carson. "It's just a two-man play, Melvin: Lee an'
Trevors."

"Oh," said Melvin, and sank back, making no further protest. He was no
stranger to Carson or to Bud Lee, and he sensed what might be between
Lee and a man like Trevors. Then shrugging his shoulders, he said
carelessly: "I'm not the man to get in other men's way, and you know
it, Carson. But you might tell your friend Bud Lee that Bayne Trevors
is rather a big man influentially to mix things with. I've just
resigned this morning and Trevors is our new president."

"Thanks," returned Carson dryly. "I don't think that'll make much
difference though, Melvin. Most likely you'll have two presidents
resigning the same day."

At last Lee spoke.

"Trevors," he said quietly, "maybe the law can't get you. But I can.
For reasons which both you and I understand you are going to clear out
of this part of the country."

"Am I?" asked Trevors. The look of his eyes did not alter, the poise
of his big body did not shift, his hands, both at his sides again,
might have been carved in bronze.

Then suddenly he laughed and threw out his arms in a wide gesture and
again dropped them, saying shortly:

"You're playing the game the way I thought you would. You've got a
gun. I am unarmed--begin your shooting and be damned to you!"

He even stepped forward, his eyes fearlessly upon Lee's, and settled
his big frame comfortably in a chair by the table.

"Go ahead," he concluded. "I'm ready."

"That's as it should be!" Lee's voice