im?" came from him.

"Yes," was her answer.

Both men sprang to their feet; it was impossible to doubt any longer
that she spoke the truth.

"What's his game?" demanded Rance.

The woman answered his question with a question.

"How about the reward, Senor Ashby?"

"You needn't worry about that--I'll see that you get what's coming to
you," replied the Wells Fargo Agent already getting into his coat.

"But how are we to know?" inquired Rance, likewise getting ready to
leave. "Is he an American or a Mexican?"

"To-night he's an American, that is, he's dressed and looks like one.
But the reward--you swear you're playing fair?"

"On my honour," Ashby assured her.

The woman's face stood clear--cruelly clear in the light of the kerosene
lamp above her head. About her mouth and eyes there was a repellent
expression. Her mind, still working vividly, was reviewing the past; and
a bitter memory prompted the words which were said however with a smile
that was still seductive:

"Try to recall, Senor Ashby, what strangers were in The Polka to-night?"

At these ominous words the men started and regarded each other
questioningly. Their keen and trained intelligences were greatly
distressed at being so utterly in the dark. For an instant, it is true,
the thought of the greaser that Ashby had brought in rose uppermost in
their minds, but only to be dismissed quickly when they recalled the
woman's words concerning the way that the road agent was dressed. A
moment more, however, and a strange thought had fastened itself on one
of their active minds--a thought which, although persisting in forcing
itself upon the Sheriff's consideration, was in the end rejected as
wholly improbable. But who was it then? In his intensity Rance let his
cigar go out.

"Ah!" at last he cried. "Johnson, by the eternal!"

"Johnson?" echoed Ashby, wholly at sea and surprised at the look of
corroboration in Nina's eyes.

"Yes, Johnson," went on Rance, insistently. Why had he not seen at once
that it was Johnson who was the road agent! There could be no mistake!
"You weren't there," he explained hurriedly, "when he came in and began
flirting with the Girl and--"

"Ramerrez making love to the Girl?" broke in Ashby. "Ye Gods!"

"The Girl? So that's the woman he's after now!" Nina laughed bitterly.
"Well, she's not destined to have him for long, I can tell you!" And
with that she reached out for the bottle on the table and poured herself
a small