w it work."

"You'll be careful, won't you, Will?" she said.

"Deal," smilingly insisted Sanderson.

"Deal," she repeated, giving him a look that made him blush. Then she
went into one of the other rooms, and Sanderson and Owen went outside.
At the corner of the stable Sanderson halted and faced Owen.

"You've got some explainin' to do," he said. "How did you know Dale
had a letter from Will Bransford to his father; an' how did you know
that Dale wanted me to write my name on that brand-registering blank so
he could compare it with Will Bransford's name on the letter?"

"Will Bransford told me he wrote such a letter; he showed me a letter
from his dad which told how he had dropped Will's letter and how Dale
had picked it up. Dale thought old Bransford hadn't seen him pick up
the letter--but Bransford did see him. And last night I was snooping
around over at the Bar D and I overheard Dale and Silverthorn cooking
up this deal."

Sanderson grinned with relief. "Well," he said, "that name-signing
deal sure had me considerable fussed up." He told Owen of his mental
torture following the discovery of the letter that had disappeared from
the dresser drawer. "We've got to run together from now on," he told
Owen. "I'll be Bransford an' you'll be Bransford's name. Mebbe
between us we'll make a whole man."

Over at the Bar D, Dale was scowling at Silverthorn.

"He ain't Will Bransford," Dale declared. "He signed his name all O.K.
an' regular, just the same as it was on the letter. But just the same
he ain't a Bransford. There ain't no Bransford ever had an eye in him
like he's got. He's a damned iceberg for nerve, an' there's more fight
in him than there is in a bunch of wildcats--if you get him started!"

"Just the same," smiled Silverthorn, silkily, "we'll get the Double A.
Look here--" And the two bent their heads together over Dale's desk.

CHAPTER XII

DALE MOVES

A passionate hatred of Alva Dale was slowly gripping Sanderson. It had
been aroused on that first day of his meeting with the man, when he had
seen Dale standing in front of the stable, bullying Mary Bransford and
Peggy Nyland and her brother. At that time, however, the emotion
Sanderson felt had been merely dislike--as Sanderson had always
disliked men who attempted to bully others.

Sanderson's hatred of Dale was beginning to dominate him; it was
overwhelming all other emotions. It dulled his sense of guilt for the
part he wa