ing near the front door of
a saloon, his hands on his hips. He did not appear interested in either
the wagon or its occupants; his gaze roved up and down the street and he
nervously fingered his cartridge belt. He was a brown-skinned man, almost
olive, Sheila thought as her gaze rested on him, attired after the manner
of the country, with leathern chaps, felt hat, boots, spurs, neckerchief.

"Why, it is sundown already!" Sheila heard her father say. "What a sudden
change! A moment ago the light was perfect!"

A subconscious sense only permitted Sheila to hear her father's voice, for
her thoughts and eyes were just then riveted on another man who had come
out of the door of another saloon a little way down the street. She
recognized the man as Dakota and exclaimed sharply.

She felt her father turn; heard the driver declare, "It's comin' off,"
though she had not the slightest idea of his meaning. Then she realized
that he had halted the horses; saw that he had turned in his seat and was
watching something to the rear of them intently.

"We're out of range," she heard him say, speaking to her father.

"What's wrong?" This was her father's voice.

"Dakota an' Blanca are havin' a run-in," announced the driver. "Dakota's
give Blanca till sundown to get out of town. It's sundown now an' Blanca
ain't pulled his freight, an' it's likely that hell will be a-poppin'
sorta sudden."

Sheila cowered in her seat, half afraid to look at Dakota--who was walking
slowly toward the man who still stood in front of the saloon--though in
spite of her fears and misgivings the fascination of the scene held her
gaze steadily on the chief actors.

Out of the corners of her eyes she could see that far down the street men
were congregated; they stood in doorways, at convenient corners, their
eyes directed toward Dakota and the other man. In the sepulchral calm
which had fallen there came to Sheila's ears sounds that in another time
she would not have noticed. Somewhere a door slammed; there came to her
ears the barking of a dog, the neigh of a horse--sharply the sounds smote
the quiet atmosphere, they seemed odd to the point of unreality.

However, the sounds did not long distract her attention from the chief
actors in the scene which was being worked out in front of her; the noises
died away and she gave her entire attention to the men. She saw Dakota
reach a point about thirty feet from the man in front of the
saloon--Blanca. As Dakota