aid Talpers, "and
I've come to the conclusion that this girl is sure to tell the Indian
agent all she knows, and the best thing for us to do is to get her out
of the way before she puts the noose around our necks."

"Why will she tell the Indian agent?"

"Because he's callin' pretty steady at the ranch, and he's made her
think he's the only friend she's got around here. And as soon as he
finds out, we might as well pick out our own rope neckties, Jim. It's
goin' to take quick action to save us, but you're the one to do it."

"What do you want me to do?" asked McFann suspiciously.

"Well, you're the best trailer and as good a shot as there is in this
part of the country. All that's necessary is for you to drop around the
ranch and--well, sort of make that girl disappear."

"How do you mean?"

Talpers rose and came closer to McFann.

"I mean kill her!" he said with an oath. "Nothin' else is goin' to do.
You can do it without leavin' a track. Willis Morgan or that Chinaman
never'll see you around. Nobody else but the agent ever stops at the
Greek Letter Ranch. It's the only safe way. If she ever tells, Jim,
you'll never come to trial. You'll be swingin' back and forth somewheres
to the music of the prairie breeze. You know the only kind of fruit that
grows on these cotton woods out here."

Jim McFann had always been pliable in Talpers's hands. Talpers had
profited most by the bootlegging operations carried on by the pair,
though Jim had done most of the dangerous work. Whenever Jim needed
supplies, the trader furnished them. To be sure, he charged them off
heavily, so there was little cash left from the half-breed's bootlegging
operations. Talpers shrewdly figured that the less cash he gave Jim, the
more surely he could keep his hold on the half-breed. McFann had grown
used to his servitude. Talpers appeared to him in the guise of the only
friend he possessed among white and red.

Jim rose slowly to his moccasined feet.

"I guess you're right, Bill," he said. "I'll do what you say."

The trader's eyes glowed with satisfaction. The desire for revenge had
come uppermost in his heart. The girl at the ranch had outwitted him in
some way which he could not understand. Twenty-four hours ago he had
confidently figured on numbering her among the choicest chattels in the
possession of William Talpers. But now he regarded her with a hatred
born of fear. The thought of what she could do to him, merely by
speaking a few c