en his two prisoners, and confronting Ballard at the head of a crowd
of frenzied villains, stood the ranger, a gleaming weapon in his hand, a
look of resolution on his face.

What he had said, or what he intended to do, she did not learn, for her
mother rushed at the invaders with the mad bravery of a she-bear. "Get out
of here!" she snarled, thrusting her revolver into the very mouth of the
leader.

They all fell back in astonishment and fear.

Ross leaped to her side. "Leave them to me!" he said. "I'll clear the
room."

"Not on your life! This is my house. I have the right to smash the fools."
And she beat them over the heads with her pistol-barrel.

Recognizing that she was minded to kill, they retreated over the
threshold, and Ross, drawing the door close behind them, turned to find
Lee Virginia confronting Edwards, who had attempted to escape into the
kitchen. The girl's face was white, but the eye of her revolver stared
straight and true into her prisoner's face.

With a bound Ross seized him and flung him against the wall. "Get back
there!" he shouted. "You must take your medicine with your boss."

The old fellow hurriedly replaced his ragged hat, and, folding his arms,
sank back into his chair with bowed head, while Lize turned upon Joe
Gregg. "What the devil did you go into this kind of deal for? You knew
what the game laws was, didn't you? Your old dad is all for State
regulation, and here you are breaking a State law. Why don't you stand up
for the code like a sport?"

Joe, who had been boasting of the smiles he had drawn from Lee, did not
relish this tongue-lashing from her mother, but, assuming a careless air,
he said, "I'm all out of smokes; get me a box, that's a good old soul."

Lize regarded him with the expression of one nonplussed. "You impudent
little cub!" she exclaimed. "What you need is a booting!"

The ranger addressed himself to Lee. "I want to thank you for a very
opportune intervention. I didn't know you could handle a gun so neatly."

She flushed with pleasure. "Oh yes, I can shoot. My father taught me when
I was only six years old."

As she spoke, Ross caught the man Edwards studying them with furtive
glance, but, upon being observed, he resumed his crouching attitude, which
concealed his face beneath the rim of his weather-worn hat. It was evident
that he was afraid of being recognized. He had the slinking air of the
convict, and his form, so despairing in its lax lines, appeal