. She heard Henry
Pollard return from the stable where he had left the horses and enter
the house, passing down the hallway to his room. Still she sat, never
stirring save for the little involuntary shiver which ran over her from
head to foot, as her uncle came into the house. And still she worked at
the patchwork of her puzzle, putting it together piece by piece.

"Buck Thornton didn't do it," she whispered to herself, looking up at
the stars flung across the sky above the ugly little town. "Ben
Broderick did do it. He robbed me of Uncle's money. And Uncle knows! I
don't understand!"

But at last she thought that she did understand. Thornton was buying the
Poison Hole ranch from Pollard. Already he had paid fifteen thousand
dollars into the deal. Now, what would happen if it were proven that
Thornton had stolen back from Pollard's emissary five thousand of that
money? Thornton would go to jail and for a long time, and then....

But why was Pollard waiting? Why was Broderick waiting, urging
the sheriff to wait? She saw it all in a flash then! They would
prove ... they thought that they were sure of proof through her! ... that
Buck Thornton had robbed her of the five thousand dollars. They would
prove that Buck Thornton had killed Bill Varney; that he had robbed Hap
Smith at Poke Drury's road house; they would prove that Buck Thornton was
the man the whole country wanted, the man who had committed crime upon
crime! She knew that he was a new man here, that he had lived on the
Poison Hole ranch for only a year and that the evidence of which her own
word was to have been a part, would be sufficient to prove to the
countryside that Buck Thornton was the daredevil marauder they sought.
And how undeniably strong would that evidence be if all crime ceased
abruptly upon the arrest of this one man!

"It would not be the penitentiary for Buck Thornton," she thought
suddenly, her face whiter than it had been when she had overheard
Pollard and Broderick. "The ranch would come back into Henry Pollard's
hands, the men who have committed these crimes would be able to keep the
thousands and thousands of dollars they have taken from stages and
stolen cattle, and Buck Thornton would go to the gallows!"

It was unbelievable, it was unthinkable, it was impossible! And yet....

"And yet," she whispered through her white lips, "it is the truth!"

She sprang to her feet, her hands clenched at her sides, her eyes
blazing. Buck Thornton