ar. But I'm runnin' things for the boys. I told Rogers to drive the
cattle to Willow's Wells--an' to sell them. I've promised the boys a
bigger divvy. They get it. I've told them to take a day off, in town,
after they turn the cattle over.

"There's got to be a new deal. The boys are fussed up--claimin' they
ain't gettin' their share. I'm seein' that they do. You can't run a camp
like this an' not treat the boys right."

The wonder that had been aroused in Haydon grew as Harlan talked; it
increased in intensity until, when Harlan's voice died away, it developed
into suspicion.

That was what Harlan had come to the Star for! He wanted to run the camp,
to direct the activities of the outlaws in the valley. Power! Authority!
Those were the things Harlan craved for.

Haydon saw it all, now. He saw that Harlan wanted to dominate--everything.
He wanted to rule the outlaw camp; he wanted to run the Rancho Seco; he
intended to get possession of the gold that Morgan had left, and he wanted
Barbara Morgan.

The rage that had held Haydon in its clutch when he had called Harlan to
him was reviving. Haydon's face was still white, but the fury in his
eyes--slowly growing--was not to be mistaken.

Harlan saw it, and his lips straightened. He had expected Haydon would
rage over what he had determined to tell him; and he was not surprised.
He had deliberately goaded the man into his present fury. He had
determined to kill him, and he had been disappointed when he had seen
Haydon lose his courage when the crisis arrived. And now his deliberate
and premeditated plan was to bear fruit.

Harlan was reluctant to kill, but there seemed to be no other way. Haydon
was a murderer. He had killed Lane Morgan; he was an outlaw whose rule
had oppressed the valley for many months. If Harlan could have devised
some plan that would make it possible for him to attain his end without
killing anybody, he would have eagerly adopted it.

But in this country force must be fought with force. It was a grim game,
and the rules were inflexible--kill or be killed.

His own life would be safe in this section so long as he guarded it.
Eternal vigilance and the will to take life when his own was threatened
was a principle which custom had established. If he expected to save the
girl at the Rancho Seco he could not temper his actions with mercy. And
he knew that if he was to succeed in his design to disrupt the outlaw
gang he would have to remove the man wh