"One man--an' a led horse," he said shortly. "Looks like Laskar."

Deveny--big, smooth-shaven--with black, glowing, attractive eyes that
held a glint quite as hard as that which shone in the eyes of the
speaker, looked long out of the window at a moving dot on the desert,
which seemed to be traveling toward them. Deveny had looked before; but
now he saw two dots where at other times he had seen only one. His lips
held a slight pout as he glanced at the speaker.

"You're right, Rogers," he said; "there's only one. The old fool must
have put up a fight."

Deveny filled a glass from the bottle and drank slowly. His features were
large. His nose was well shaped, with wide nostrils that hinted of a
fiery, passionate nature; his thrusting chin and the heavy neck muscles
told of strength, both mental and physical--of mental strength that was
of a tenacious character, of physical strength that would respond to any
demand of the will.

He was handsome, and yet the suggestion of ruthlessness in the atmosphere
of him--lurking behind the genial, easy-going exterior that he wore for
appearances--or because it was his nature to conceal his passions until
he desired to unleash them--was felt by those who knew him intimately. It
had been felt by Barbara Morgan.

Deveny was king of the lawless element in the Lamo section. The magnetism
of him; the arrogance, glossed over with the calm and cold politeness of
his manner; his unvarying immaculateness; the air of large and complete
confidence which marked his every action; the swiftness with which he
struck when he was aroused, or when his authority was questioned, placed
him without dissent at the head of the element that ruled the Lamo
country.

Deveny ruled, but Deveny's rule was irksome to Strom Rogers--the man to
whom Deveny had just spoken. For while Deveny drank, Rogers watched him
with covert vigilance, with a jeering gleam far back in his eyes, with a
secret envy and jealousy, with hatred and contempt and mockery.

Yet there was fear in Rogers' eyes, too--a mere glimmer of it. Yet it was
there; and when Deveny set his glass down and looked straight at Rogers,
it was that fear which brought the fawning, insincere smirk to Rogers'
lips.

"See the girl?" questioned Rogers.

Deveny laughed lowly. Apparently he did not notice the glow in Rogers'
eyes; but had Rogers looked closely he might have seen Deveny's lips
straighten as he shot a glance at the other.

"Had the room ne