can I hide you? Anyhow, there
are the horses in plain sight."

Phyllis took imperious control. "Get a coat on him, Jim," she ordered.

At the same time she caught up the basin of bloodstained water and flung
its contents through the open window. The torn linen and the stained
handkerchief she tossed into a corner and covered with a gunny sack.

"Not a word about the wound, Jim. Mr. Keller is here to help you do your
assessment work, remember. And whatever I say, don't give me away."

Yeager nodded. He had manoeuvred the wounded arm through the coat sleeve
and was straightening out the shoulders. The nester's eyes were shining
with excitement. Alone of the three, he was enjoying himself.

"Remember now. Don't talk too much. Let me run this," the girl
cautioned, and with that she stepped to the door, caught sight of her
brother with a glad little cry of apparent relief, and ran swiftly to
him.

"Oh, Phil!" she almost sobbed, and the stress of her emotion was genuine
enough, even if she dissembled as to the cause.

The boy patted her dark hair gently. They were twins, without other near
relatives except their father, and the tie between them was close.

"What is it, Phyllie? Why didn't you stay where we left you?"

"I was afraid for you. And I rode a little nearer. Then he came straight
toward me--and I rode away. I could hear him crashing through the
mesquite. When I reached the trail of Jim's mine, I followed it, for I
knew he would be here."

"Sure. Course she was scared. What woman wouldn't be? We oughtn't both
to have left her. But there wasn't one chance in a thousand of his
stumbling on the very spot where she was," said Healy.

Phil gentled her with a caressing hand. "It's all right now, sis. Did
you happen to see the fellow at all?"

"Yes. At a distance."

"I don't suppose you would know him," Healy said.

She gave a strained little laugh. "I didn't wait to get a description of
him. Didn't you boys recognize him?"

After Phil's answer she breathed freer. "We did not get near enough,
though Brill got two shots at him as he pulled out. He was going
hell-for-leather and Brill missed both times." He lowered his voice and
asked angrily: "What's _he_ doing here?"

For Keller had followed Yeager from the cabin and was standing in the
doorway with his hands in his pockets. He wore no hat, and had the
manner of one very much at home.

"He's helping Jim with his assessment work," she answered in the same