kly to
one side, and an instant later she was on her knees beside Stratton.

"Buck!" she sobbed. "Oh, Buck!" clutching at him as if from some wild fear
that he would topple into the abyss.

Hands suddenly put her gently to one side, and some one dragged Stratton
from his dangerous position and supported him against an upraised knee. It
was Bud Jessup, and behind him loomed the figures of Sheriff Hardenberg
and several of his men.

Mary's glance noted them briefly, incuriously, returning anxiously to the
man beside her. His eyes were open now, and he was sucking in the air in
deep, panting gulps.

"How yuh feelin'?" asked Bud briefly.

"All right--get my breath," mumbled Buck.

"Yuh hurt any place?" Jessup continued, after a brief pause.

"Not to speak of," returned Stratton in a stronger tone. "When I first
jumped for the cuss, I hit my head the devil of a crack, and--pretty near
went out. But that don't matter--now."

His eyes sought the girl's and dwelt there, longingly, caressingly. There
was tribute in their depths, appreciation, and something stronger, more
abiding which brought a faint flush into her tired face and made her heart
beat faster. Presently, when he staggered to his feet and took a step or
two toward her, she felt no shame in meeting him half way. Quite as
naturally as his arm slipped around her shoulders, her lifted hands rested
against the front of his flannel shirt, torn into ribbons and stained with
grime.

"For a little one," he murmured, looking down into her eyes, "you're some
spunky fighter, believe me!"

She flushed deeper and her lids drooped. Of a sudden Sheriff Hardenberg
spoke up briskly:

"That was a right nice shot, kid. You got him good."

He was standing beside the body sprawling on the ground, and the words had
scarcely left his lips when Lynch's eyes opened slowly.

"Yes--yuh got me," he mumbled.

Slowly his glance swept the circle of faces until it rested finally on the
man and girl standing close together. For a long moment he stared at them
silently, his pale lips twitching. Then all at once a look of cunning
satisfaction swept the baffled fury from his smoldering eyes.

"Yuh got me," he repeated in a stronger voice. "Looks like yuh got her,
too. Maybe yuh think you've gobbled up the ranch, likewise, an'--an'
everything. That's where yuh get stung."

He fell to coughing suddenly, and for a few minutes his great body was
racked with violent paroxysms that brough