nt. He beckoned him to
follow him. Slowly he led him to the door, and, partly opening it,
motioned him to listen.

"Forasmuch as John Payson and Echo Allen have consented together in
holy wedlock" were the words that fell upon his ears.

As the doomed man stands, motionless, before his judges, and hears his
death-sentence read without a tremor, ofttimes thinking of some trifle,
so Dick stood for a moment. At first he did not fully realize what it
all meant. Then the full depth of his betrayal flooded him. "What?"
he cried. "Payson!" Allen held him back.

Again the minister's voice fell upon their ears repeating the solemn
words. "And have declared the same before God and in the presence of
these witnesses, I pronounce them husband and wife. What God hath
joined together, let no man put asunder."

Dick, shaken and hurt, slowly sank to his knees, covering his face with
his hands. A dry sob shook his frame. Here was the end of all his
hopes. Here was the sad reward for years of toil and waiting.

"Now you know why you can't stay here," said Allen, his tones full of
pity.

"Now I know."

Dick staggered to his feet, and started blindly from the house.

"Dick!" cried Allen, in a broken voice, "forgive me. She's my child,
she loves him now."

The betrayed friend took his hand without looking at him. In vain he
tried to hide his deep emotion. "I know," he faltered, "I'll never
trouble her. I'll go away never to return."

"Where'll you go?" asked Allen.

"Back where I came from, back into the desert--into the land of dead
things. Good-by!"

As he wrung the ranchman's hand and turned to walk out of the life of
his old comrades and the woman he loved, he heard the minister repeat:
"The blessing of the Almighty Father rest upon and abide with you, now
and forevermore. Amen."

"Evermore. Amen!" faltered Dick, bidding a last mute farewell to Allen.

The old ranchman watched him quietly as he mounted his horse and rode
down the trail.

His reverie was interrupted by the bursts of laughter of the
wedding-guests, and the cries of Fresno: "Kiss the bride, Slim! Kiss
the bride!"

CHAPTER X

The Piano

Five weeks had passed since the marriage of Echo and Jack. On her
return from the honeymoon in the little hunting cabin in the Tortilla
Range, the young wife set to work, and already great changes had been
made in the ranch-house on the Sweetwater. Rooms were repapered and
painted. The big c