igh.

"Right again, Steve! An' the ol' board's still there. Go look at it;
it's still there."

Again all eyes sought Blenham. For a moment he stood uncertain,
looking about him. Then abruptly he swept up his hat and went out.
And Barbee's laughter, like an evil echo of Royce's, followed him.

CHAPTER VI

BANK NOTES AND A BLIND MAN

"He'd as soon set fire to the hay-barns as not," said Royce. "Better
watch him, Steve."

And so Steve, stepping outside, watched Blenham, who had gone swiftly
toward the ranch-house and who now swung about sharply and stopped dead
in his tracks.

"He's up to something, Bill," conceded Packard. And called quietly to
Blenham: "Every step you take on this ranch, I'm right along with you,
Blenham."

Whereupon Blenham, his hesitation over, turned abruptly and went down
to the corral, saddled, and rode away.

On the heels of the irate foreman's wordless departure Steve Packard
and Bill Royce went together to the old ranch-house, where, settled
comfortably in two big arm-chairs, they talked far into the night. A
sharp glance about him as he lighted a lamp on the table showed Packard
dust and disuse everywhere excepting the few untidy signs of Blenham's
recent occupancy.

An old saddle sprawled loosely upon the living-room floor, littered
about with bits of leather and buckles; from a nail hung a rusty,
long-rowelled Mexican spur; on the hearth-stone were many cigarette
stumps and an occasional cigar-end. An open door showed a tumbled bed,
the covers trailing to the floor.

"I'd give a year off my life for a good look at you, Steve," said Royce
a trifle wistfully. "Let's see--thirty-five now, ain't you?"

"Right," answered Packard.

"An' big?" asked Royce. "Six foot or better?"

"A shade better. About an inch and a half."

"Not heavy, though? Kind of lean an' long, like Phil Packard before
you?"

Packard nodded; then, with Royce's sightless eyes upon him, he said
hastily:

"Right again, Bill; kind of lean and long. You'd know me."

"Sure, I would!" cried Royce eagerly. "A man don't change so all-fired
much in a dozen years; don't I remember just how you looked when you
cut loose to see the world! Ain't made your pile, have you, Steve?"

Packard laughed carelessly.

"I'm lord and master of a good horse, saddle, bridle, and seventy-odd
bucks," he said lightly. "Not much of a pile, Bill."

"An' Number Ten Ranch," added Royce quickly.

"And Number Ten