y at the sliding weapon, and as it toppled out of sight into the
canyon barely an inch ahead of his clutching, striving fingers, she
thrilled with sudden fierce joy.

"Curse you!" he frothed, springing up and rushing at her. "You--"

"Buck!" she screamed. "Quick! His gun's gone! He--"

A blow from his fist struck her mouth and flung her backward against the
horse. Half fainting, she saw Freckles lunge over her shoulder and heard
the vicious click of his teeth snapping together. But Lynch, ducking out
of reach of the angry horse, caught Mary about the waist and dragged her
toward the precipice.

Involuntarily she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, stirred by
the curious silence and the sudden cessation of all movement, she found
herself staring dazedly into the face of Buck Green.

He stood very quietly just inside the narrow entrance to the ledge, not
more than ten feet from her. In one hand was a six-shooter; the other hung
straight at his side, the fingers tightly clenched. As he met her
bewildered glance, his eyes softened tenderly and the corners of his lips
curved in a momentary, reassuring smile. Then abruptly his face froze
again.

"Yuh take another step an' down she'll go," said a hoarse voice close to
the girl's ear.

It was Lynch; and Mary, her senses clearing, knew whose hands gripped her
so tightly that she could scarcely breathe. Glancing sidewise, she hastily
averted her eyes. She was standing within six inches of the edge of the
precipice. For the first time she could look down into those sheer depths,
and even that hurried glimpse made her shiver.

"Well, I admit you've got the bulge on me, as it were." Buck's voice
suddenly broke the silence. "Still, I don't see how you're going to get
out of this hole. You can't stand like this forever."

Mary stared at him, amazed at his cool, drawling, matter-of-fact tone. She
was still more puzzled to note that he seemed to be juggling with his
revolver in a manner which seemed, to say the least, extraordinarily
careless.

"I can stand here till I get tired," retorted Lynch. "After that-- Well,
I'd as soon end up down there as get a bullet through my ribs. One thing,
I wouldn't go alone."

"Suppose I offered to let you go free if you give up Miss Thorne?"
Stratton asked with sudden earnestness.

"Offer? Hell! Yuh can't fool me with that kind of talk. Not unless yuh
hand over yore gun, that is. Do that, an' I might consider the
proposition--n