t
wasn't so bad while old Morgan was here, but now he's gone, an' she's got
to play it a lone hand.

"You git riled an' sling your gun on me if you want to. I know I wouldn't
have a chance. But just the same, I'm tellin' you. You know that more'n
half that outfit you've put me at the head of is Deveny's men--sneakin',
thievin', murderin' outlaws?"

"You wantin' to quit, Red?" said Harlan, smoothly.

"Quit! Hell's fire! I'm hangin' on to the finish. But I'm findin' out
where you stand. What you meanin' to do with Barbara Morgan?"

Harlan grinned. "I answered that question when I appointed you foreman,
Red. But I reckon I made a mistake--I ought to have appointed a man who
knows what his think-box is for."

Linton flushed, and peered intently at the other.

"Meanin' that you're backin' Barbara in this here deal?" he demanded.

"A real thoughtful man would have tumbled to it quicker," was Harlan's
soft, ironical reply.

For an instant Linton's gaze was intense with searching, probing inquiry.
And Harlan's steady eyes were agleam with a light that was so quietly
honest that it made Linton gasp:

"Damn me! You mean it! You're playin' 'em straight, face up. That talk of
yourn about Lane Morgan makin' you manager was straight goods. I know
Dolver an' Laskar an' the guy they call 'Chief' plugged Morgan--for I
heard Stroud an' some more of them talkin' about it. An' I heard that you
got Dolver an' Laskar, an' kept Deveny from grabbin' off Barbara Morgan,
over in Lamo. But I thought you was playin' for Barbara, too--an' I
wasn't figurin' on lettin' you."

Harlan laughed lowly.

"Things don't always shape up the way a man thinks they will, Red. I
started for Lamo, figurin' to salivate Dolver an' the other guy who
killed Davey Langan. I got Dolver at Sentinel Rock, an' I figured I'd be
likely to run into the other guy somewheres--mebbe findin' him in
Deveny's gang. But runnin' into Lane Morgan sort of changed the deal. An'
now I'm postponin' a lot of things until Barbara Morgan is runnin' free,
with no coyotes from the Deveny crowd tryin' to rope her."

Linton's eyes were glowing, he crowded close to Harlan, so close that his
body touched Harlan's, and he stood thus for an instant, breathing fast.
Then, noting the unwavering, genial gleam in Harlan's eyes--a visible
sign of Harlan's knowledge of his deep emotion--Linton seized one of the
other's hands and gripped it tightly.

"Damn your hide," he said, lowly, "you h