through the break in the canyon, riding slightly in advance
of Hagar, Randerson heard the report of a pistol, distant and muffled. He
turned in the saddle and looked at Hagar questioningly.

"That come from your shack!" he said shortly; "Ruth there alone?"

He caught the girl's quick affirmative, and Patches leaped high in the
air from pain and astonishment as the spurs pressed his flanks. When he
came down it was to plunge forward with furious bounds that sent him
through the water of the river, driving the spume high over his head. He
scrambled up the sloping further bank like a cat, gained the level and
straightened to his work. Twice that day had riders clattered the narrow
trail with remarkable speed, but Patches would have led them.

He was going his best when within fifty feet of the shack he heard
Randerson's voice and slowed down. Even then, so great was his impetus,
he slid a dozen feet when he felt the reins, rose to keep from turning a
somersault, and came down with a grunt.

In an instant Randerson was inside the cabin. Ruth lay prone, where she
had fallen. Randerson, pale, grim-lipped, leaned over her.

"Fainted!" he decided. He stepped to the man and turned him over roughly.

"Chavis," he ejaculated, his lips hardening. "Bored a-plenty!" he added,
with vindictive satisfaction. He saw Ruth's weapon, noted the gash in
Chavis' forehead, and smiled. "I reckon she fit like a tiger, all right!"
he commented admiringly. And now he stood erect and looked down at Ruth
compassionately. "She's killed him, but she'll die a-mournin' over it!"
Swift resolution made his eyes flash. He looked again at Ruth, saw that
she was still in a state of deep unconsciousness. Running out of the
cabin, he drew one of his six-shooters. When he had gone about
twenty-five feet from the edge of the porch, he wheeled, threw the gun to
a quick level, and aimed at the interior of the cabin. At the report he
ran toward the cabin again, to meet Hagar, just riding up, wide-eyed and
wondering.

"What is goin' on?" she demanded. "What you doin'?"

"Killin' a man," he told her grimly. He seized her by the shoulders.
"Understand," he said sternly; "_I_ killed him, no matter what happens.
I'd just got here."

With Hagar at his heels he entered the cabin again. While the girl worked
with Ruth, he went to the rear wall of the cabin and examined it. When
shooting from the outside he had aimed at the wall near a small mirror
that was affixed