o odds and gave no quarter, one whose name
sent as chill a shiver through the hard hearts of the lawless as a sight
of the gallows would have done. And this man, small, well dressed, quiet
mannered, as dapper as a tailor's dummy....

"If you are Billy Comstock," grunted Thornton, "well, I'm damn' glad to
know you, sir!"

"If I am?" grinned Comstock. "And why should I lie to you?"

"I'm not saying that you are lying," returned the cowboy coolly. "But
I'm getting in the habit these days of being suspicious, I guess. But if
you are that Comstock and want to see me, I'd come mighty close to
guessing what you want. But before I do any talking I want to know."

"Sure," Comstock nodded. And then, smiling again "Only, Mr. Thornton,
I'm not in the habit of carrying around a trunk full of
identifications."

"You don't need them."

Billy Comstock's name he had made himself, and it had carried far. There
were few men in half a dozen States in this corner of the country who
did not know why he was called "Two-Hand Billy" and how he had earned
his right to the nickname. His fame was that of a man who was absolutely
fearless, and who carried the law where other men could not or would not
carry it. To him had come the dangers, the sharp fights against odds
that had seemed overwhelming, and always he had shot his way out with a
gun in each hand, and no waste lead.

"I never saw the man who could beat me to my gun," went on Thornton
quietly, no boastfulness in his tone, merely the plain statement of a
fact. "If you are 'Two-Hand Billy Comstock' you ought to do it."

The two men were sitting loosely in their chairs at opposite sides of
the room, the table with the lamp between them. Comstock's hands were
again clasped behind his head. Thornton lifted his arms, clasping his
own hands behind his head.

Comstock smiled suddenly, brightly, seeming to understand and to be as
pleased as a child with anew game.

"I'll count three," said Thornton. "We'll both go for our guns. If I get
the drop on you first," with a smile which reflected the other's, "I've
a notion to shoot you up for an impostor!"

"If you get the drop on me first," grinned Comstock, "and don't shoot me
up, I'll make you a present of the best gun you ever saw."

Thornton counted slowly, with regular intervals between the words.
"One," and neither man moved, both sitting in seeming carelessness,
their hands behind their heads. "Two," and only their eyes showed that