iping off the scowl.

"Say, Dade," Jack began irrelevantly, "I'm going to use Surry. You don't
mind, do you? He's the best horse I ever threw a rope off from, without
any exceptions. I've been training him up a little, and I tell you
what, Surry's going to have a lot to do with that duel."

Dade sat up in bed as if he had been pulled up. "Jack, are you going to
make it a sure-enough duel?" he asked anxiously.

"Why?" Jack's eyes hardened perceptibly. "That's what Jose wants."

"Do you want it?" Dade scowled absent-mindedly at the wall, felt the
prick of an unpleasant thought, and glanced sharply at Jack.

"Say, I feel sorry for Jose," he began straightforwardly. "As a man, I'd
like him fine, if he'd let me. And, Jack, you've got everything coming
your way, and--well, seems like you might go easy on this fight, no
matter what Jose wants. He's crazy jealous, of course--but you want to
recollect that he has plenty of cause. You've stepped in between him and
a girl he's known all his life. They were practically engaged, before--"

"I don't know as Jose's love affairs interest me," put in Jack harshly.
"Do you care if I use Surry? I kinda took it for granted it would be all
right, so I went ahead and trained him so I can bank on him in a pinch."

"Of course you can use him." That Dade's hesitation did not cover more
than a few seconds was proof of his absolute loyalty to Jack. Not
another man living could have used Surry in a struggle such as that
would be; a struggle where the danger was not all for the rider, but
must be shared equally by the horse. Indeed, Dade himself would not have
ridden him in such a contest, because his anxiety lest Surry should be
hurt would have crippled his own dexterity. But Jack wanted to ride
Surry, and Dade's lips smiled consent to the sacrifice.

"All right, then. That horse is sure a wonder, Dade. Sensible? You never
saw anything like it! I never saw a horse so sensitive to--well, I
suppose it's muscular reactions that I'm unconscious of. I've tried him
out without a bridle on him; and, Dade, I can sit perfectly still in the
saddle, and he'll turn wherever I make up my mind to go! Fact. You try
it yourself, next time you ride him. So I've cultivated that faculty of
his, this last month.

"And besides, I've got him trained to dodge a rope every time. Had Diego
go out with me and try to lasso me, you know. I had one devil of a time
with the Injun, too, to make him disrespectful enough