you!"

For a moment, gripped by his ever-ready rage, the old man stood
towering over her, looking down with blazing eyes into eyes which
blazed back, a little tremor visibly shaking him as though he were
tempted almost beyond resistance to lay his hands on her and punish her
impudence. A bright, almost eager, fearlessness shone in her eyes.

"I dare you," said Terry. "Old man that you are, I'll slap you so that
you'd know who it is you're insulting. Pirate!" she flung at him.
"And land-hog-- Oh!

"Doctor Bridges, you are to come with me right now." She had flung
about giving her shoulder to Packard's inspection. "We must hurry back
to Red Creek."

"Say, Packard," chimed in Guy Little. "Her car's all shot to pieces.
An' her gas is all gone. An' her ol' man is awful sick in Red Creek
an' needin' a doc in a hurry--or not any. You understan'----"

"What's it got to do with me?" boomed Hell-Fire Packard. "What do I
care whether her old thief of a father dies to-night or next week?
What do I----"

"Aw, rats," grunted Guy Little. "What's eatin' you, Packard? Listen
to me: She says how she done it in fifty-three minutes an' you can't do
it any better'n fifty-seven; how you ain't no dead-game sport noways;
how she's short of change but would bet a man fifty dollars you
couldn't an' wouldn't."

"She said them things?" roared the old man.

"I--" began Terry.

"She did!" answered Guy Little hastily and loudly. "She did!"

"Bridges," snapped old Packard, "grab your hat an' black poison bag an'
be ready in two minutes." Packard was on his way to the door. "Guy
Little, you get my car at the front door--quick! An' as for you--" He
was at the door and half turned to stare angrily into Terry's
eyes--"You can do what you please. I'm goin' to take the only
pill-slinger in the country to the worst ol' thief I ever heard a man
tell about."

"I'm going back with you," said Terry briefly.

Old man Packard shrugged. Then he laughed.

"If you ain't scared," he grunted, "to ride alongside a man as swears,
so help him God, in spite of smash-bang-an'-be-damn', is goin' to make
that little run back to Red Creek--in less'n fifty minutes!"

"Mind you," said old man Packard at the front door, his eye stony as it
marked how Terry's car stood among his choice roses, "I ain't doin'
this because I got any use for a Temple, he or she. Especially she.
You jus' get that in your head, young lady. An' before we start let m