He had worked for an hour or more when Turkey emerged from the house,
his hands in his pockets, his back hunched. At first he did not notice
the absence of the stack. When he did, being almost at the stable, he
stopped short, staring at the black heap, at the frozen blankets and
covers hanging on the fence. He entered the stable, came out again, and
hearing Angus' hammering, made for the workshop. As he came in Angus saw
that his mouth was set, his face flushed, his brow scowling.

"Say--" he began and stopped. "Say--"

"Well?" Angus returned, coldly.

"The stack!"

"You can see for yourself, can't you?"

"Why didn't you call me?"

"You'd have been a lot of use!"

The boy flushed darkly.

"What started it?"

"You ought to know," Angus replied, "whether you do or not."

"What do you mean?" Turkey cried.

"I mean that you started the fire yourself."

"What?" Turkey exclaimed. "I didn't! What do you take me for?"

"Where did you get the hay to fill Dolly's manger?"

"From the stack," Turkey admitted.

"I thought so. And you dropped a butt or a match. Nobody else had been
near there for hours."

"I didn't. I didn't light a cigarette till after I came out of the
stable."

"I don't think you know what you did. The stack is gone. We have to buy
feed now, and we haven't the money to pay for it."

"That's not my fault," Turkey asseverated. "I won't be blamed for what I
didn't do."

"No," Angus returned grimly, "but for what you did do."

"If you say I started that fire you're a ---- liar!" Turkey flared.

Angus looked at him with narrowing eyes.

"You had better go slow, Turkey," he warned. "I don't feel like taking
much from anybody this morning. And I'll take less from you than
anybody."

"Then don't say I started that fire!" Turkey cried "The hay was mine as
well as yours. You act as if you were boss here, and I won't stand for
it any longer."

Under ordinary circumstances Angus would have let that go. But now he
was sore and worried and angry. He had worked hard, denied himself a
good deal to hold the ranch together and make a living for them all. It
seemed that a show-down had to come and he was ready for it.

"We may as well settle this now," he said. "I am boss. I mean to stay
boss, and while you're on this ranch you'll toe the mark after this,
understand?"

"Is that so?" Turkey sneered.

"It is so," Angus repeated. "Let me tell you something: I've given you
the easy end right alon