the bank of the wash till he reached the first of the cottonwoods. From
here he could catch a glimpse of something huddled lying under the
live-oak. This no doubt was the sleeping girl. The figure of a heavy-set
man stood with his back to Yeager in silhouette against the skyline.

Yeager crawled forward another fifteen yards. A twig snapped under his
knee. The figure in silhouette whirled. Steve rose at the same instant,
rifle raised to his shoulder.

"Don't move," he advised quietly.

CHAPTER XIV

THE CAVE MEN

Harrison stared at him dumfounded, chin down and jutting, his hand
hovering longingly close to the butt of a revolver. He stood so for an
instant in silence, crouched and tense.

"Damn you, so you're here," he said at last in a low, hoarse voice.

"Don't make another pass like that or I'll plug you. Unbuckle that belt
and drop it. That's right. Now, kick it from you."

"What do you want?" demanded the man under the gun savagely after he had
obeyed instructions.

"You know what I want, you wolf." Steve moved forward till he was about
fifteen feet from the other. His eyes did not lift for a moment from the
man he covered.

They glared at each other, two savage, primeval men with the murder lust
in their hearts. All that centuries of civilization had brought them was
just now quenched.

Then the woman, the third factor in the triangle, stirred restlessly and
awoke. She looked at them incuriously from innocent eyes still heavy
with slumber. Gradually the meaning of the scene came home to her, and
with it a realization that Steve Yeager was standing before her in the
flesh.

"You--here!" she cried, scarce believing.

"The cur lied," explained the cowpuncher. "It was a frame-up to get you
in his power."

"But your letter said--"

"Never mind about that now. Go down into the wash and bring up my horse.
It needs water."

She hesitated. "You're not going to hurt him, Steve?"

"That's between him and me. Do as I say."

Ruth scarcely recognized in this grim, hard-faced man with the blazing
eyes the gay youth whom she knew at home. She felt in his manner the
steel of compulsion. Without further protest she moved to obey him. She
was fearful of what was about to take place, but her heart leaped with
gladness. Steve was alive and strong. It was not true that he lay with
the life ebbing out of him, all the supple strength stolen from his
well-knit body. For the moment that was happiness enough.