there ain't any use of takin' chances on an accident. You
mightn't live to tell about it. An' havin' the bottoms of your
holsters tied down keeps your guns from snaggin'. I've seen men whose
guns got snagged when they wanted to use them. They wasn't so active
after."

"Then I shall have to make my hero a 'two-gun' man," she said. "That
is decided. Now, the next thing to do is to give some attention to his
character. I think he ought to be absolutely fearless and honest and
incapable of committing a dishonorable deed. Don't you think so?"

While they had talked he had come closer to her and stood beside the
shelf rock, one foot resting on it. At her question he suddenly looked
down at the foot, shifting it nervously, while a flush started from
above the blue scarf at his throat and slowly suffused his face.

"Don't you think so?" she repeated, her eyes meeting his for an instant.

"Why, of course, ma'am," he suddenly answered, the words coming
sharply, as though he had only at that instant realized the import of
the question.

"Why," said she, aware of his embarrassment, "don't you think there are
such men?"

"I expect there are, ma'am," he returned; "but in this country there's
a heap of argument could be made about what would be dishonorable. If
your two-gun should happen to be a horse thief, or a rustler, I reckon
we could get at it right off."

"He shan't be either of those," she declared stoutly. "I don't think
he would stoop to such contemptible deeds. In the story he is employed
by a ranch owner to kill a rustler whom the owner imagines has been
stealing his cattle."

His hands were suddenly behind him, the fingers clenched. His eyes
searched her face with an alert, intense gaze. His embarrassment was
gone; his expression was saturnine, his eyes narrowed with a slight
mockery. And his voice came, cold, deliberate, even.

"I reckon you've got your gun-man true to life, ma'am," he said.

She laughed lightly, amused over the sudden change that she saw and
felt in him. "Of course the gun-man doesn't really intend to kill the
rustler," she said. "I don't believe I shall have any one killed in
the story. The gun-man is merely attracted by the sum of money
promised him by the ranch owner, and when he accepts it is only because
he is in dire need of work. Don't you think that could be possible?"

"That could happen easy in this country, ma'am," he returned.

She laughed delightedly. "That