it. You're stealing another man's wife--and, by
God, I won't let you do it!" His voice shook so that he hardly uttered
his sentence intelligibly. The sweat of shame broke out on his face, but
he did not falter. "I've seen this coming on all summer. I ought to have
interfered before--"

Rivers laid a hand on him. "Stand out o' my way, or I'll kill you."

The quiver went out of Bailey's voice. He took his partner's hand down
from his shoulder, and when he dropped it there was a bracelet of
whitened flesh where his fingers had circled it. "You'll stay right
here, Jim, till I say 'go.'"

Rivers reached for a weapon. "Will I?" he asked. "I wonder if I will?"

Blanche burst out: "Oh, Jim, don't! Please don't!"

The men did not hear her. They saw no one, heard no one. They were
facing each other in utter disregard of time or place.

Bailey's tone grew sad and tender, but he did not move: "All right, Jim.
If you want to go to hell as the murderer of your best friend, as well
as for stealing another man's wife, do it. But you sha'n't go out of
this door with that woman _while I live_. Now, that's final." His voice
was low, and his words came slowly, but not from weakness.

For a moment hell looked from the other man's eyes. He was like a tiger
intercepted in his leap upon his prey. The laugh had vanished from his
hazel eyes--they were gray and cold and savage, but there was something
equally forceful in Bailey's gaze.

Rivers could not shoot. He was infuriate, but he was not insane. He
turned away, cursing his luck. His face, twitching and white, was
terrible to look upon, but the crisis was over.

Bailey's eyes lightened. "Come, old man, you can't afford to do this. Go
out and put up the team, and to-morrow we'll take Mrs. Burke home--I'll
explain that she came over after the mail and couldn't get back."

Rivers turned on him again with a sneer. "You cussed fool, can't you see
that she _can't_ go back to Burke? I've made her mine--you understand?"

Bailey's hands fell slack. He suddenly remembered something. He brushed
his hand over his brow as if to clear his vision:

"Jim, Jim, I--good God!--how could you do such a thing?" He was
helpless as a boy, in face of this hideous complication.

Rivers pushed his advantage. He developed a species of swagger:

"Never mind about that. It's done. Now what are you going to do? Can you
fix up such a thing as that?" Bailey was still silent. "It simply means
that I'm her husba