e boy nodded. "And all in. He fainted right away."

"With him still burning away like the doctor's fire there," murmured
Healy ironically, with a slight gesture toward the cook.

Phil looked at him angrily. "I didn't say that. Some one put the fire
out."

"Oh, some one! Might a man ask who?"

Phil had not had any intention of telling, but he found himself letting
Healy have it straight.

"Phyllis."

"About what I thought!" Healy said it significantly, and with a malice
that overrode his discretion.

"What do you mean?" demanded the boy fiercely.

"I ain't said anything, have I?" Healy came back smoothly.

Yeager's quiet voice broke the silence that followed, while Phil was
trying to voice the resentment in him.

"You mean what we're all thinking, Brill, I reckon--that she is the sort
to forget herself when somebody needs her help. Ain't that it?"

The eyes of the two met steadily in a clash of wills. Healy's gave way
for the time, not because he was mastered, but because he did not wish
to alienate the rough, but fair-minded, men sitting around.

"You're mighty good at explaining me to the boys, Jim. I expect that is
what I mean," he answered sullenly.

"Sure," put in Purdy, with amiable intent.

"But when it comes to Mr. Keller I can explain myself tol'able well. I
don't need any help there, Jim, not even if he is yore best friend."

"If you've got anything to say against him, I'll ask you to say it when
I'm not around," broke in Phil. "You'll recollect, please, that he's
_my_ friend, too."

"That so? Since, when, Phil?" the rodeo boss retorted sarcastically.

"Since he went into the fire after me and saved my life. Think I'm a
coyote to round on him? I tell you he's a white man clear through. In my
opinion, he's neither a rustler nor a bank robber." He was flushed and
excited, but his gaze met that of his former friend and challenged him
defiantly.

Healy's eyes narrowed. He gazed at the boy darkly, as if he meant to
read him through and through. For years he had dominated Phil, had
shaped him to his ends, had led him into wild, lawless courses after
him. Now the anchors were dragging. He was losing control of him. He
resolved to turn the screws on him, but not at this time and place.

"I've always been considered a full-grown man, Phil. What I think I aim
to say out loud when the notion hits me. That being so, I go on record
as having an opinion about Keller. You think he's on the square, and y