.

"Buck up! It's never as bad as it looks. Anyway, we _know_ now what to
expect, an' that's well."

Moore shook his head. "Couldn't you see how like steel Collie was?...
But I'm on to you, Wade. You think by persuading Collie to put that
marriage off that we'll gain time. You're gambling with time. You swear
Buster Jack will hang himself. You won't quit fighting this deal."

"Buster Jack has slung the noose over a tree, an' he's about ready to
slip his head into it," replied Wade.

"Bah!... You drive me wild," cried Moore, passionately. "How can you?
Where's all that feeling you seemed to have for me? You nursed me--you
saved my leg--and my life. You must have cared about me. But now--you
talk about that dolt--that spoiled old man's pet--that damned cur, as if
you believed he'd ruin himself. No such luck! no such hope!... Every day
things grow worse. Yet the worse they grow the stronger you seem! It's
all out of proportion. It's dreams. Wade, I hate to say it, but I'm sure
you're not always--just right in your mind."

"Wils, now ain't that queer?" replied Wade, sadly. "I'm agreein' with
you."

"Aw!" Moore shook himself savagely and laid an affectionate and
appealing arm on his friend's shoulder. "Forgive me, pard!... It's me
who's out of his head.... But my heart's broken."

"That's what you think," rejoined Wade, stoutly. "But a man's heart
can't break in a day. I know.... An' the God's truth is Buster Jack will
hang himself!"

Moore raised his head sharply, flinging himself back from his friend so
as to scrutinize his face. Wade felt the piercing power of that gaze.

"Wade, what do you mean?"

"Collie told us some interestin' news about Jack, didn't she? Well, she
didn't know what I know. Jack Belllounds had laid a cunnin' an' devilish
trap to prove you guilty of rustlin' his father's cattle."

"Absurd!" ejaculated Moore, with white lips.

"I'd never given him credit for brains to hatch such a plot," went on
Wade. "Now listen. Not long ago Buster Jack made a remark in front of
the whole outfit, includin' his father, that the homesteaders on the
range were rustlin' cattle. It fell sort of flat, that remark. But no
one could calculate on his infernal cunnin'. I quit workin' for
Belllounds that night, an' I've put my time in spyin' on the boy. In my
day I've done a good deal of spyin', but I've never run across any one
slicker than Buster Jack. To cut it short--he got himself a
white-speckled mustang that