ir
gleaming fronts, snorting, and beginning to bellow their rage.

"If it hadn't been for you, Terry Temple--" Steve began, his voice a
little hoarse.

"If it hadn't been for you, Steve Packard,"' laughed Terry a trifle
unsteadily but quite happily, "where would I have been?"

And then, quite as though their destiny wished it made plain that not
yet had the time come for them to devote exclusively to themselves,
Barbee rode down toward them, spurring through the last of the fleeing
herd, shouting:

"There's a dozen men ridin' this way an' ridin' like----! An' the
firelight's shinin' on their guns; every man's totin' one. An' it's
ol' Hell-Fire Packard ridin' at their head."

"I'm glad he has come," muttered Steve heavily.

And then, as though he were uncertain of his return to her, he kissed
Terry's lips that were lifted toward his. In a dull stupor, so much
had she experienced these last few minutes, she watched him swing again
to the back of a horse and ride to meet those who came. The very way
he carried his rifle in front of him bespoke with rare eloquence his
readiness for anything.

CHAPTER XXVI

YELLOW BARBEE KEEPS A PROMISE

Terry started, shook off her apathy with a sudden effort and called out:

"Steve! Steve! Come back!"

He had gone but a half-dozen paces. He swung about and returned to
her. It was not light enough yet for her to see his eyes; they seemed
just unfathomable, sombre pools in the shadow of his hat-brim. As he
turned his head a little, harking to the distant sounds of men's voices
earning on, the rigid profile was harsh and implacable.

"Terry," he said sternly, "you mustn't ask me to come back again. I am
just standing on my own rights this time, as a man must now and then.
Old man Packard is over there. He is coming on. He wants trouble. He
doesn't want the law courts. He always preferred to play the game man
to man. He has cost me a number of cattle; when I can figure just how
many I am going over and collect from him--if we are both left alive,
which is to be doubted. And now, if he wants fight----"

Again he glanced over his shoulder. Still she could not read what lay
in his eyes. But a new, almost eager note, boyishly eager Terry
thought in dismay, had burst into his voice:

"If he wants fight--by God, Terry Temple, I'm as much Packard as he is!"

She watched him wheel again and go. This time she did not call to him.
Her little figure stiffened,