aking there came a short silence, during which
many of the men looked at one another inquiringly.

It was a moment during which, had a leader appeared to take the
initiative for those who intended to dissent from Harlan's rule, the
outfit might have been divided.

Evidently the tall, swarthy man divined that the time to dissent had
come, for he cleared his throat, and grinned felinely.

Before he could speak, however, a short man with keen eyes that, since
the instant they had rested upon Harlan, had been glowing with something
that might have been defined as mingled astonishment and delight thinly
concealed by a veneer of humor--said distinctly:

"You crossed over from Pardo--you say?"

Harlan nodded, and a pin-point of recognition glowed in his eyes as he
looked at the man.

The other laughed, lowly. "Seems I know you," he said. "You're 'Drag'
Harlan!"

A tremor ran through the group. There was a concerted stiffening of
bodies, a general sigh from lungs in process of deflation. And then the
group stood silent, every man watching Harlan with that intent curiosity
that comes with one's first glimpse of a noted character, introduced
without expectation.

Harlan noted that a change had come over the men. Those whose faces had
betrayed their inclination to accept his authority had taken--without
exception--a glum, disappointed expression. On the other hand, those who
had formerly betrayed hostility, were now grinning with satisfaction.

A tremor of malicious amusement, expressed visibly by a flicker of his
eyelids, was Harlan's only emotion over the change that had come in the
men of the group. He could now have selected those of the men who--as
Lane Morgan had said--could not be trusted, and he could have pointed out
those who had been loyal to Morgan, and who would be loyal to Barbara and
himself.

Among the former were the tall, swarthy man on the extreme left, and the
hook-nosed fellow near the center. There were perhaps ten of the latter,
and it was plain to Harlan that the short man who had spoken was their
leader.

"'Drag' Harlan--eh?"

This was the tall, swarthy man. The malevolence had gone from his eyes,
he was grinning broadly, though there was respect of a fawning character
in his manner as he stepped out from the group and halted within a few
feet of Harlan.

"Me an' my friends wasn't none tickled to find that we was goin' to have
a new manager. We was sort of expectin' Miss Barbara to do the