s that
I'm goin' to round up the Dinsmore bunch. We can't convict 'em of murder
on the evidence we have, but I'll arrest 'em for shootin' you an' try to
get a confession out of one of 'em. Does that look reasonable, Clint?"

Wadley considered this.

"It's worth a try-out. The Dinsmores are game. They won't squeal. But
I've a sneakin' notion Gurley is yellow. He might come through--or that
other fellow Overstreet might. I don't know him. You want to be careful
how you try to take that outfit, though, Jim. They're dangerous as
rattlesnakes."

"That's the kind of outfit my boys eat up," answered the chipper little
officer as he rose to leave. "Well, so long, Clint. Behave proper, an'
mebbe this young tyrant will give you a nice stick o' candy for a good
boy."

He went out chuckling.

The cattleman snorted. "Beats all how crazy Jim is about those Ranger
boys of his. He thinks the sun rises an' sets by them. I want to tell
you they've got to sleep on the trail a long time an' get up early in
the mo'nin' to catch the Dinsmores in bed. That bird Pete always has one
eye open. What's more, he an' his gang wear their guns low."

"I don't think Uncle Jim ought to send boys like Jack Roberts out
against such desperadoes. It's not fair," Ramona said decisively.

"Oh, ain't it?" Her father promptly switched to the other side. "You
give me a bunch of boys like young Roberts, an' I'd undertake to clean
up this whole country, an' Lincoln County too. He's a dead shot. He's an
A-1 trailer. He can whip his weight in wildcats. He's got savvy. He uses
his brains. An' he's game from the toes up. What more does a man need?"

"I didn't know you liked him," his daughter said innocently.

"Like him? Jumpin' snakes, no! He's too darned fresh to suit me. What's
likin' him got to do with it? I'm just tellin' you that no better
officer ever stood in shoe-leather."

"Oh, I see."

Ramona said no more. She asked herself no questions as to the reason,
but she knew that her father's words of praise were sweet to hear. They
sent a warm glow of pride through her heart. She wanted to think well of
this red-haired Ranger who trod the earth as though he were the heir of
all the ages. In some strange way Fate had linked his life with hers
from that moment when he had literally flung himself in her path to
fight a mad bull for her life.

CHAPTER XVIII

A SHOT OUT OF THE NIGHT

Ramona sat on the porch in the gathering darkness. She had b