t; he was jammed, face down, into the dust and held there,
smothering, until his body slacked and his muscles ceased rippling. Then a
handkerchief was slipped around his mouth and drawn tightly. He was rolled
over, still unconscious, his hands tied behind him. Then he was borne away
into the darkness by the big man, who carried him as though he were a
child.

"Locked in a box-car," whispered the big man, returning: "They'll get him;
they're half unloaded."

Without further words they returned to the shadow of the building.

Judge Lindman had not been able to sleep until long after his usual hour
for retiring. The noise, and certain thoughts, troubled him. It was after
midnight when he finally sought his cot, and he was in a heavy doze until
shortly after two, when a breath of air, chilled by its clean sweep over
the plains, searched him out and brought him up, sitting on the edge of
the cot, shivering.

The rear door of the courthouse was open. In front of the iron safe at the
rear of the room he saw a man, faintly but unmistakably outlined in the
cross light from two windows. He was about to cry out when his throat was
seized from behind and he was borne back on the cot resistlessly. Held
thus, a voice which made him strain his eyes in an effort to see the
owner's face, hissed in his ear:

"I don't want to kill you, but I'll do it if you cry out! I mean business!
Do you promise not to betray us?"

The Judge wagged his head weakly, and the grip on his throat relaxed. He
sat up, aware that the fingers were ready to grip his throat again, for he
could feel the big shape lingering beside him.

"This is an outrage!" he gasped, shuddering. "I know you--you are
Trevison. I shall have you punished for this."

The other laughed lowly and vibrantly. "That's your affair--if you dare!
You say a word about this visit and I'll feed your scoundrelly old carcass
to the coyotes! Justice is abroad tonight and it won't be balked. I'm
after that original land record--and I'm going to have it. You know where
it is--you've got it. Your face told me that the other day. You're only
half-heartedly in this steal. Be a man--give me the record--and I'll stand
by you until hell freezes over! Quick! Is it in the safe?"

The Judge wavered in agonized indecision. But thoughts of Corrigan's wrath
finally conquered.

"It--it isn't in the safe," he said. And then, aware of his error because
of the shrill breath the other drew, he added, quave