tion, if you
like. And then you must return here, to stay until you disclose the
whereabouts of the original land record."

The Judge paled, partly from anger, partly from a fear that gripped him.

"This is an outrage, Trevison! This is America!"

"Is it?" The young man smiled imperturbably. "There have been times during
the past few weeks when I doubted it, very much. It _is_ America, though,
but it is a part of America that the average American sees little of--that
he knows little of. As little, let us say, as he knows of the weird
application of its laws--as applied by _some_ judges." He smiled as
Lindman winced. "I have given up hoping to secure justice in the regular
way, and so we are in the midst of a reversion to first principles--which
may lead us to our goal."

"What do you mean?"

"That I _must_ have the original record, Judge, I mean to have it."

"I deny--"

"Yes--of course. Deny, if you like. We shan't argue. Do you want to
explore the place? There will be plenty of time for talk."

He stepped aside as the Judge came out, and grinned broadly as he caught
the Judge's shrinking look at a rifle he took up as he turned. It had been
propped against the wall at his side. He swung it to the hollow of his
left elbow. "Your knowledge of firearms convinces you that you can't run
as fast as a rifle bullet, doesn't it, Judge?"

The Judge's face indicated that he understood.

"Ever make the acquaintance of an Indian pueblo, Judge?"

"No. I came West only a year ago, and I have kept pretty close to my
work."

"Well, you'll feel pretty intimate with this one by the time you leave
it--if you're obstinate," laughed Trevison. He stood still and watched the
Judge. The latter was staring hard at his surroundings, perhaps with
something of the awed reverence that overtakes the tourist when for the
first time he views an ancient ruin.

The pueblo seemed to be nothing more than a jumble of adobe boxes piled in
an indiscriminate heap on a gigantic stone level surmounting the crest of
a hill. A sheer rock wall, perhaps a hundred feet in height, descended to
the surrounding slopes; the latter sweeping down to join the plains. A
dust, light, dry, and feathery lay thickly on the adobe boxes on the
surrounding ledge on the slopes, like a gray ash sprinkled from a giant
sifter. Cactus and yucca dotted the slopes, thorny, lancelike, repellent;
lava, dull, hinting of volcanic fire, filled crevices and depressions, and
hug