culty he lifted the bundle to the back of the outlaw's
pony, and bound it securely with a lariat.

Then he tied the pony's reins to the horn of the saddle, gave the beast
a slash with his quirt, and it started, snorting and jumping, toward the
distant mountains.

Thus was the body of Sol Flatbush sent to his friends.

"What was it?" asked Stella, when Ted, having finished his gruesome
task, returned to her side.

"The chap who was mutilating the cattle is dead," he replied. "The bulls
turned upon him and gored and trampled him to death."

"Horrible! Do you know who he was?"

"Yes, I recognized him."

"Is that a fact! Who was he?"

"An old enemy of yours."

"An enemy of mine! I didn't know I had one."

"Not really of your own, for no one who knows you could feel any
animosity toward you, Stella. But you have enemies through me. Those who
would seek to hurt me do so by making trouble for you, knowing that they
can hurt me worse by injuring you than they could by torturing me
personally."

"That's why you have so often warned me to be careful where I go alone."

"That is why. It is not fair that you should be put to discomfort or in
danger of death merely because I make enemies by trying to force men to
obey the laws."

"I understand. But who was the man who was killed?"

"Sol Flatbush."

"Sol Flatbush! How does it happen that he is in this country?"

"I'm sure I don't know, unless he and Shan Rhue, after escaping from the
Wichita Mountains, came directly here, having previously been members of
the notorious Whipple gang."

"Then I suppose we shall see Shan Rhue one of these days. Ted, I'm
afraid of that fellow. When they had me in the Hole in the Wall I heard
him make the most horrible threats against you."

"Threats don't hurt, Stella. The threatened man lives long. You know the
old proverb: 'The man I most fear is he who says nothing, but smiles in
your face while he is planning to stab you in the back.'"

They were turned toward the ranch house, and as darkness was falling
swiftly, conversation was suspended as they put their ponies to their
highest speed, galloping across the snow-covered range toward where they
could see the lantern of the house shining like a beacon through the
gloom.

For the safety of the boys and the cow-punchers traveling toward the
ranch house in the dark, Ted had placed a large lantern on the top of
the flagstaff which stood in the front yard, so that it could be seen