m. If he's honest he'll do it. If he don't
go in about ten seconds, I'm going to throw a bullet through his hat.
_Then_ if he hangs around, I shall shoot him in his left leg just
about six inches above the knee. I can do it, can't I, Riley?"

"Well, now, you shore can, Belle!" Riley nodded his head emphatically.
"If you say six, I'd shore gamble a year's wages it won't be five,
or seven. Six inches above his knee goes, if you say six."

"All right. I'm just defending the ranch when Tom's gone. You hear me,
Mr. Man. Now, you git!"

The sheriff turned and opened his mouth to protest, and Belle shot the
promised bullet through his hat crown. The sheriff ducked and made a
wild scramble for the stirrup.

"Open your mouth again and I'll be awfully tempted to shoot that
crooked tooth out of it," Belle observed. "And in ten seconds,
remember, you're going to get--"

The sheriff still had two of the ten seconds to spare when he left,
Aleck Douglas following him glumly.

"It's him, all right. It's the sheriff, Belle," Riley informed her,
while they watched the two clatter up the road to where the real grade
began. "What's eatin' on 'em? Likely he did have a search warrant."

"He can use it, after I'm through. Old Scotty is trailing some rustled
stock, they claim. They came here looking for hides. You keep an eye
out, Riley, and see if they keep going. I guess they will--they'll go
after Tom. I'm going to have a look at those cowhides in the old
shed."

"Better let me," Riley offered. "It ain't any job for a woman nohow.
You watch the trail and I'll look."

Belle would not even consider the proposition. The Lorrigan reputation
never had troubled her much,--but it sent her now to the shed where
hides were kept stored until the hide buyer made his next annual visit
through the country. She did not believe that she would find any brand
save the various combinations of the NL monogram, but she meant to
make sure before any stranger was given access to the place.

The _job_ was neither easy nor pleasant, but she did it thoroughly.
Riley, roosting meditatively on the top rail of the corral where he
could watch the road down the bluff, craned his long neck inquiringly
toward her when she returned.

"Nothing but NL stuff, just as I thought," said Belle, holding her
hands as far away from her face as possible. "I knew Tom wouldn't have
any stolen hides on the place--but it was best to make sure."

"No ma'am, he wouldn't. I'm