ere was triumph there, too--and comprehension, and craft
of a kind that might have disturbed Haydon, had he seen it.

Then their hands parted, mutually, and Haydon grinned smoothly and with
apparent cordiality at Harlan. He grasped Harlan by an elbow and urged
him toward the door through which the latter had entered.

"I'll give you a knockdown to the boys, now--those that are here," he
said.

An hour later--after Haydon and the dozen men to whom he had introduced
Harlan had watched Harlan ride eastward through the valley toward the
Rancho Seco--Haydon rode westward, accompanied by several of the men.

They rode for many miles into the heart of the big basin, coming at last
to a gorge that wound a serpentine way southward, through some concealing
hills, into a smaller basin. A heavy timber clump grew at the mouth of
the gorge, hiding it from view from the trail that ran through the
valley. Some rank underbrush that fringed the timber gave the mouth of
the gorge the appearance of a shallow cave, and a wall of rock, forming a
ragged arch over the entrance, heightened the impression. At first glance
the place seemed to be impenetrable.

But the horsemen filed through easily enough, and the underbrush closed
behind them, so that, had they been seen, the watcher might have been
startled by their sudden disappearance.

Near the center of the little basin stood a huge cabin, built of adobe,
with a flat roof. In a small corral were a number of cattle. Grazing upon
the grass, with which the place was carpeted, were many horses; and
lounging in the grass near the cabin, and upon some benches that ranged
its walls, were perhaps a dozen men, heavily armed.

Several of the men grinned as the newcomers rode in and dismounted, and
one or two spoke a short greeting to Haydon, calling him "Chief."

Haydon did not linger to talk with the men, though; he dismounted and
entered the cabin, where, an instant later, he was talking with Deveny.

Haydon's eyes were still triumphant--glowing with a malignant
satisfaction.

"He's wise--and dead tickled to join," he told Deveny, referring to
Harlan. "And I took him in on his own terms. We'll play him along, making
him believe he's regular and right, until we get what we want. Then we'll
down him!"

* * * * *

At about the time Haydon was talking with Deveny, Harlan was dismounting
at the Rancho Seco corral.

The T Down men were variously e