sort. I'm a peaceful man, I am. I never likes to start no trouble."

"Get out, what's one kiss?" laughed Allen.

"I've seen a big jack-pot of trouble opened by chippin' in just one
kiss," wisely remarked the Sheriff.

Sage-brush, at this point, announced decisively: "The bride has got to
be kissed."

Slim tried to break through the group and enter the house, thinking
that by making such a move he would divert their attention, and that in
the excitement of the wedding he could avoid kissing the bride, an
ordeal which to him was more terrible than facing the worst gun-fighter
in Arizona.

"I deputize you to do the kissin' for me," he said to Parenthesis, who
had laid his hand shoulder to detain him.

"No, siree," the cowboy replied. "Every man does his own kissin' in
this game." Slim half-turned as if undecided. Suddenly he turned on
his heel, started for the corral. "I'll wait outside," he shouted.

"No, you don't!" cried his companions. He turned to face a semicircle
of drawn revolvers. He looked from one man to another, as if puzzled
what move to make next. Allen was annoyed by the sheriff's actions,
taking it as an insult that he would not kiss his daughter, although he
had started to twit the Sheriff in the beginning.

"You ain't goin' to insult me and mine that way. No man sidesteps
kissin' one of my kids," he said angrily.

Slim was plaintively apologetic: "I ain't kissed a female since I was a
yearlin'."

"Time you started," snapped Polly.

"You kiss the bride, or I take it pussenel," said Allen, thoroughly
aroused.

"Well, if you put it that way, I'll do it," gasped Slim, in desperation.

The agreement restored the boys to their good nature.

"You will have to put blinders on me, though, and back me up,"
cautioned Hoover.

"We'll hog-tie you and sit on your head," laughed Sage-brush, as the
guests entered the house.

CHAPTER VI

A Tangled Web

After fording Sweetwater River several times to throw pursuit off the
track, Buck McKee and Bud Lane entered an arroyo to rest their mounts
and hold council as to their future movements. During the flight both
had been silent; McKee was busy revolving plans for escape in his mind,
and Bud was brooding over the tragic ending of the lawless adventure
into which he had been led by his companion. When McKee callously
informed him that the agent had been killed in the encounter, Bud was
too horrified to speak. A dry sob arose in his throa