guage, which angered me.

"Cut out your references to the lady," I said in a low tone, "unless
you are starting in for trouble."

"Oh, skittish, hey! Wal, stranger, I never run away frum no troble
yet, an' I reckon I don't begin now. Besides, yer need n't ride no
high hoss with me. I 'm on ter your game."

His words sufficed to silence my batteries. I felt no fear of the man,
big as he was and armed, but the thought that he might have been sent
there by either Neale or Vail, and informed of the conspiracy, made me
cautious about angering him. I must discover first the exact situation
before locking horns with this Texas steer.

"Oh, do you!" I returned carelessly. "All right, then, we 'll let it
go at that; only please remember the lady is under my protection. What
is your name?"

"Coombs," in better humor, feeling he had bluffed me. "Bill Coombs."

"Can we have a bit of lunch?"

"I reckon yer can. Ol' Sally is a rustlin' some grub now. I stirred
her up when I furst cum in."

He sat down cross-legged on a chair the other side the littered table,
and stared at us, his hat still drawn down over his eyes. Whether the
fellow knew no better or was deliberately insolent, I could not clearly
determine. However, it was easy to perceive the girl was alarmed, and
my thought was with her. This unmannerly brute could wait until we
were alone for his lesson. I had handled worse men than him in my
time, and I proposed finding out before we retired who was master. So
when he even rolled and lit a cigarette, eyeing me closely during the
operation, I pretended to take no notice, but spoke to her quietly, in
a voice which would not carry across the room.

"Don't mind him," I whispered. "He's only a rough-neck trying to bully
a bit. I'll teach him his place before tomorrow."

"It is not the man so much," she replied, giving me a glimpse of her
eyes. "But it is all so desolate and gloomy. I have never been
superstitious, but that negro's fear actually gave me the creeps. I
have been seeing shadows ever since."

I laughed lightly, touching her hand.

"Still we 've found nothing else than live ones. Shadows won't hurt
us, and this place will look better by daylight."

"You have n't any nerves."

"Oh, yes, I have; only they are trained. I didn't anticipate an easy
job when I came down here. It's assumed a different form, that's all."

"You do not like it?"

"Not altogether," I admitted. "I am beginn