dy served notice."

He looked startled. "What do you mean by that?"

Without answering, she went to the bookshelf and took down a folded
sheet of paper. "Here is a letter I got yesterday," she explained, as
she handed it to him.

It was a rudely penciled note, but entirely plain in its message. "Spite
of what the coroner found, most folks believe you killed Ed Watson," it
began, abruptly. "Some of us don't blame you much. Others do, and they
say no matter what the jury reports you've got to go. I don't like to
see a woman abused, so you'd better take warning and pull out. Do it
right away." It was signed, "A Friend."

The ranger read this through twice before he spoke. "Did this come
through the mail?"

"Yes--addressed to me."

He pretended to make light of it. "I wouldn't spend much time over that.
It's only some smart Aleck's practical joke."

"I don't think so," she soberly replied. "It reads to me like a sincere
warning--from a woman. I haven't shown it to daddy yet, and I don't know
whether to do so or not. I thought of going over to see you, but I was
not sure of the way. I'm glad Providence sent you round to-day, for I am
uncertain about what to do."

"I'm a little uneasy about that warning myself," he confessed, after a
pause. "I hear the Kitsong gang is bitterly dissatisfied with the result
of the inquest thus far. They still insist on connecting you in some way
with the shooting. Fact is, I came over to-day to see if they had made
any new move."

All the lightness had gone out of his face now, and in the girl's eyes
the shadow deepened as she said:

"It seems to me that I have drawn more than my share of trouble. I came
out here hoping to find a sanctuary, and I seem to have fallen into a
den of wolves. These people would hang me if they could. I don't
understand their hate of us. They resent our being here. Sometimes I
feel as if they were only trying to drive us from our little ranch."

"Of course, all this talk of violence is nonsense," he vigorously went
on. "They can make you a whole lot of discomfort, but you are in no
danger."

Her glance was again remote as she said: "I cannot take that murder case
seriously. It all seems a thousand miles away from me now. And yet I am
afraid for daddy's sake. Why connect me with it? Is there no other woman
to accuse? Do you suppose a woman did the shooting? I don't."

"No. I think the footprints were accidental. I figure the killing was
done by some m