At the preliminary examination, which was held without delay, both men
were fully exonerated on the grounds of self-defense and were as
promptly discharged from custody. The bill of sale was duly recorded;
another transfer of the brand and its contents from Douglass to Carter
was executed and put on record, and relaxation was the logical order of
the day.

Douglass, suddenly remembering his promise to report the result of his
attempt, went up to the telegraph office and indited a brief message.

"Won out. O Bar O brand recorded in your name."

He did not know that it had been preceded by another message to the same
address, sent by Warren Brewster in reply to one received from Carter,
and ascribed the unconcealed admiration of the girl operator to an
entirely different cause from that which actually inspired it. Evidently
his vanity had suffered no discouragement over night. But he only smiled
indulgently at her; she was a pale, anaemic, washed-out blonde and he had
but small regard for the type.

Back in their palatial New York home Robert Carter and his sister were
seated in the library, waiting with strained emotions for the ring of
the messenger boy who would bring the answer to a message flashed an
hour before to the far West. The man was visibly perturbed and ever and
anon strode impatiently to the window, watch in hand, cursing the
dilatoriness of telegraph companies in general and this one in
particular. The woman sat very quiet and thoughtful in a big cozy chair
before the open fire of sea coals, her head supported by one hand, the
other lying clenched upon two open letters in her lap. Her face was very
pale and there were lines of pain about the sensitive mouth. Her whole
attitude betokened a great nervous tension and the eyes were luminous
with dread. Mechanically she took up the letters and reread them for at
least the hundredth time that morning. They were the two written by
Douglass the night before his departure to Gunnison. It was evident that
Abbie had either exceeded or misunderstood his instructions as to the
posting of them, for they had arrived together in the same mail.

Once more she yielded to the fatal fascination of the shorter note: "In
case of my death--" this time she got no farther for the letters swam in
a blinding mist; her reserve broke down and she laid her head on the
cushioned arm of the chair. Robert came quickly to her side.

"Don't! For God's sake, don't, Gracie! We wi