stalked into the room, waving a branding
iron over his head in a most ferocious manner.

The two young lady visitors sprang up, and rushing into the other room
shut the door. But Evelyn knew that there could be no safer place for
her than with Fred and Terry.

When she saw the big fellow with that formidable weapon in his hands she
paled somewhat, and thought that Fred and her brother were in danger of
being badly hurt, if not killed.

The man had evidently been drinking heavily, for his face was flushed.

"Mr. Fearnot," he fairly roared, "you refused to give me work this
morning, and yet an hour later you took on another man. Now I've got to
have work or know the reason why, or else clean out the whole ranch!"
and he flourished the branding-iron above his head in a most threatening
manner.

"It's work or fight," he continued. "Which shall it be?"

Terry had his rifle hanging on a couple of pegs at the rear end of the
kitchen, and he started for it.

Fred had bought, up in Crabtree, a few weeks before, a bulldog, which he
was training for his own use, and the dog had come into the dining-room
and sat in a place that had been assigned him in expectation of being
fed when the dinner was finished.

As the burly cowboy burst open the door and rushed into the dining-room,
brandishing a branding-iron above his head, and threatening dire
destruction to everybody present, Fred dashed at him, and seized his
upraised arm, while Terry reached for his rifle.

The burly cowboy aimed a blow at Fred's head with the branding-iron, but
Fred reached up and caught him by the wrist, while the dog ran around
and attacked him in the rear.

The fellow evidently thought that it would be an easy matter to jerk
loose from Fred's grip, but to his amazement he found that his grip was
like that of a steel vise, and to save his life he couldn't pull loose
from him.

Fred held him steadily, and with his left fist dealt him a blow on the
right side of his chest.

Terry then ran up with his Winchester, holding it rather menacingly.

"Let him alone, Terry," said Fred, "I'll attend to him."

Fred then gave him three or four blows while the fellow kept jerking and
twisting to try to free himself, after a while giving vent to fierce
imprecations and at the same time trying to avoid the fangs of the
bulldog.

Fred then began pushing the villain back toward the door, through which
he had entered.

Seeing that he couldn't use the brandin