ing,--

"Our positions have been so difficult, Miss Cullen, that I don't
think we either of us are quite responsible for our actions."

She said nothing, and, after a pause, I continued,--

"I hope you'll think as leniently of my conduct as you can, for I
can't tell you how grieved I am to have pained you."

Cullen joined us at this point, and, knowing that every moment we
remained would be distressing to his sister, I announced that we
would start up the trail. I hadn't the heart to offer to help her
mount, and after Frederic had put her up we fell into single file
behind Hance, Lord Ralles coming last.

As soon as we started I took a look at the three letters. They
were all addressed to Theodore E. Camp, Esq., Ash Forks,
Arizona,--one of the directors of the K. & A. and also of the
Great Southern. With this clue, for the first time things began
to clear up to me, and when the trail broadened enough to permit
it, I pushed my mule up alongside of Cullen and asked,--

"The letters contain proxies for the K. & A. election next
Friday?"

He nodded his head. "The Missouri Western and the Great Southern
are fighting for control," he explained, "and we should have won
but for three blocks of Eastern stock that had promised their
proxies to the G. S. Rather than lose the fight, we arranged to
learn when those proxies were mailed,--that was what kept me
behind,--and then to hold up the train that carried them."

"Was it worth the risk?" I ejaculated.

"If we had succeeded, yes. My father had put more than was safe
into Missouri Western and into California Central. The G. S.
wants control to end the traffic agreements, and that means
bankruptcy to my father."

I nodded, seeing it all as clear as day, and hardly blaming the
Cullens for what they had done; for any one who has had dealings
with the G. S. is driven to pretty desperate methods to keep
from being crushed, and when one is fighting an antagonist that
won't regard the law, or rather one that, through control of
legislatures and judges, makes the law to suit its needs, the
temptation is strong to use the same weapons one's self.

"The toughest part of it is," Fred went on, "that we thought we
had the whole thing 'hands down,' and that was what made my
father go in so deep. Only the death of one of the M. W.
directors, who held eight thousand shares of K. & A., got us in
this hole, for the G. S. put up a relation to contest the will,
and so delayed the obta