lded his arms. He stood lookin' at Jabez for a
moment, an' then he sez slow an' soft an' creepy: "Every word you have
said from start to finish is a lie; and you yourself are a liar."

The ol' man choked. He loosened the collar around his neck, fairly
gaspin' for breath; an' then he grabbed up the gun an' held it ready to
drop on Dick's heart. A curious expression came over Dick as he looked
into Jabez' face; a tired, heart-achy smile as though he'd be so glad
to be all through with it that he wouldn't care a great deal how it was
done. Ol' Cast Steel was livin' up to his name if ever a man did. The'
wasn't a sign of anger in his face by this time, nothin' but one grim
purpose, an' it was horrid. It looked like a plain case o' suicide on
Dick's part, an' I was just makin' up my mind whether or not it would
be polite to interfere, when the door opened noiselessly an' Barbie
stood in the openin'.

She seemed turned to stone for a second, an' then she gave a spring an'
grabbed the ol' man's arm. "Jabez Judson, what are you doin'?" she
said, an' the' wasn't much blood relation in her tone.

The ol' man lowered his gun an' sank into a chair, while Barbie stood
with her hands on her hips an' looked from one to the other of us. Then
it would be the time for our eyes to hit the carpet. "Now I want to
know the meanin' o' this," sez she, "an' I want the full truth. This is
nice doin's over a game o' cards. I wish I had thought to set up a bar,
so you'd all felt a little more at home. What's it about?"

We didn't none of us seem to have a great deal to say, but just stood
there lookin' foolish. Finally Dick came out of it an' sez, "I have
been accused of cheatin' an' lyin' an' stealin'. The circumstantial
evidence is all again me, so I shall have to go away, but you remember
all I told you out in the other room--an' on our rides across the
plain, an' on our walks in the moonlight; an' Barbie, girl, don't you
believe a word of it.

"Good-bye, Happy--I know you an' you know me. Jabez Judson, I know it
ain't no use to attempt any explanation; but I give you my word of
honor--an' I set just as much store by it as any man in all the
world--that I never stacked a deck o' cards in my life, an' I never
held a single underhanded thought again you; while as for Barbie--well,
Barbie knows. Good-bye."

Dick turned on his heel an' stalked out o' the room, Barbie dropped
into a chair sobbin', an' me an' the old man continued to look like