on: DUNCAN GRASPED FOR HIS PISTOL, BUT THE HAND HOLDING
IT WAS STAMPED VIOLENTLY INTO THE EARTH.]

"I'm telling you something," he said quietly, as Duncan lifted the reins
with his uninjured hand, turning his horse to depart. "You and me have
never hitched very well and there isn't any chance of us ever falling on
each other's necks. I think what I've done to you about squares us for
that calf deal. I've been yearning to hand you something before you left
the country, but I didn't expect you'd give me the chance in just this
way. I'm warning you that the next time you shove your coyote nose into my
business I'll muss it up some. That applies to Miss Sheila. If I ever hear
of you getting her name on your dirty tongue again I'll tear you apart. I
reckon that's all." He drew his pistol and balanced it in his right hand.
"It makes me feel some reckless to be talking to you," he added, a glint
of intolerance in his eyes. "You'd better travel before I change my mind.

"You don't need to mention this to Miss Sheila," he said mockingly, as
Duncan urged his horse away from the corral gate; "just let her go
on--thinking you're a man."

CHAPTER IX

STRICTLY BUSINESS

For two or three quiet weeks Sheila did not see much of Duncan, and her
father bothered her very little. Several nights on the gallery of the
ranchhouse she had seen the two men sitting very close together, and on
one or two occasions she had overheard scraps of conversation carried on
between them in which Doubler's name was mentioned.

She remembered Doubler as one of the nesters whom Duncan had mentioned
that day on the butte overlooking the river, and though her father and
Duncan had a perfect right to discuss him, it seemed to Sheila that there
had been a serious note in their voices when they had mentioned his name.

She had become acquainted with Doubler. Since discontinuing her rides with
her father and Duncan she had gone out every day alone, though she was
careful to avoid any crossing in the river which looked the least
suspicious. Such crossings as she could ford were few, and for that reason
she was forced to ride most of the time to the Two Forks, where there was
an excellent shallow, with long slopes sweeping up to the plains on both
sides.

The first time that she crossed at the Two Forks she had come upon a small
adobe cabin situated a few hundred yards back from the water's edge.

Sheila would have fled from the vicinity, for there w