on the mountain, and sure enough, he came into the
Company. He financed me, from the start; but he kept this claim for
himself without putting it in with the rest. Well, as luck would have
it, when we sunk on the ledge, it turned at right angles up the hill.
Up and down, she went--it was the main lode of quartz and we'd been
following in on a stringer--and _rich_? Oh, my, it was rotten!"

He paused and smiled wanly, then his eyes became fixed again, and he
hurried on with his tale.

"I was standing out in front of my office one day when Tuck Edwards,
the boy I had in charge of the mine, came riding up and says:

"'Rim, they've jumped you!'

"'Who jumped me?' I says.

"'Andrew McBain and L. W.!' he says and I thought at first he was crazy.

"'Jumped our mine?' I says. 'How can they jump it when it's part their
own already?'

"'They've jumped it all,' he says. 'They had a mining expert out there
for a week and he's made a report that the lode apexes on L. W.'s
claim.'

"I couldn't believe it. L. W.? I'd made him. He used to be nothing
but a cowman; and here he was in town, a banker. No, I couldn't
believe it; and when I did it was too late. They'd taken possession of
the property and had a court order restraining me from going onto the
grounds. Not only did they claim the mine, but every dollar it had
produced, the mill, the hotel, everything! And the judge backed them
up in it--what kind of a law is that?"

He leaned forward and looked her in the eyes and Mary Fortune realized
that she was being addressed not as a woman, impersonally, but as a
human being.

"What kind of a law is that?" he demanded sternly and took the answer
for granted.

"That cured me," he said. "After this, here's the only law I know."

He tapped his pistol and leaned back in his chair, smiling grimly as
she gazed at him, aghast.

"Yes, I know," he went on, "it don't sound very good, but it's that or
lay down to McBain. The judges are no better--they're just promoted
lawyers----"

He checked himself for she had risen from her chair and her eyes were
no longer scared.

"Excuse me," she said, "my father was a judge." And Rimrock reached
for his hat.

"Whereabouts?" he asked, groping for a chance to square himself.

"Oh--back East," she said evasively, and Rimrock heaved a sigh of
relief.

"Aw, that's different," he answered. "I was just talking about the
Territory. Well, say, I'll be moving along."

He rose