s men knew him--unyielding, unafraid, indomitable.

Yet there was much in this sudden revelation of character to admire.
She liked a man whom other men respected for the very traits that his
expression had revealed. No man would be likely to adopt an air of
superiority toward him; none would attempt to trifle with him. She
felt that she ought not to trifle, but moved by some unaccountable
impulse, she laughed.

He turned his head at the laugh and looked quizzically at her.

"I hope you were not thinking of killing some one?" she taunted.

His right hand slowly clenched. Something metallic suddenly glinted
his eyes, to be succeeded instantly by a slight mockery. "You afraid
some one's goin' to be killed?" he inquired slowly.

"Well--no," she returned, startled by the question. "But you looked
so--so determined that I--I thought----"

He suddenly seized her arm and drew her around so that she faced the
little stretch of plain near the ridge about which they had been
speaking previously. His lips were in straight lines again, his eyes
gleaming interestedly.

"You see that man down there among them cattle?" he questioned.

Following his gaze, she saw a man among perhaps a dozen cattle. At the
moment she looked the man had swung a rope, and she saw the loop fall
true over the head of a cow the man had selected, saw the pony pivot
and drag the cow prone. Then the man dismounted, ran swiftly to the
side of the fallen cow, and busied himself about her hind legs.

"What is he doing?" she asked, a sudden excitement shining in her eyes.

"He's hog-tieing her now," returned Ferguson.

She knew what that meant. She had seen Ben throw cattle in this manner
when he was branding them. "Hog-tieing" meant binding their hind legs
with a short piece of rope to prevent struggling while the brand was
being applied.

Apparently this was what the man was preparing to do. Smoke from a
nearby fire curled lazily upward, and about this fire the man now
worked--evidently turning some branding irons. He gave some little
time to this, and while Miss Radford watched she heard Ferguson's voice
again.

"I reckon we're goin' to see some fun pretty soon," he said quietly.

"Why?" she inquired quickly.

He smiled. "Do you see that man ridin' through that break on the
ridge?" he asked, pointing the place out to her. She nodded, puzzled
by his manner. He continued dryly.

"Well, if that man that's comin' through the break is