work
Ferguson bent over her with a question on his lips.

"Do you reckon he'll come around, ma'am?"

She shook her head negatively. "The bullet has lodged
somewhere--possibly in the lung," she returned. "It entered just above
the heart, and he has bled much--internally. He may never regain
consciousness."

Ferguson's face paled with a sudden anger. "In that case, ma'am, we'll
never know who shot him," he said slowly. "An' I'm wantin' to know
that. Couldn't you fetch him to, ma'am--just long enough so's I could
ask him?"

She looked up with a slow glance. "I can try," she said. "Is there
any more whiskey in your flask?"

He produced the flask, and they both bent over Rope, forcing a generous
portion of the liquor down his throat. Then, alternately bathing the
wound and his forehead, they watched. They were rewarded presently by
a faint flicker of the eyelids and a slow flow of color in the pale
cheeks. Then after a little the eyes opened.

In an instant Ferguson's lips were close to Rope's ear. "Who shot you,
Rope, old man?" he asked eagerly. "You don't need to be afraid to tell
me, it's Ferguson."

The wounded man's eyes were glazed with a dull incomprehension. But
slowly, as though at last he was faintly conscious of the significance
of the question, his eyes glinted with the steady light of returning
reason. Suddenly he smiled, his lips opening slightly. Both watchers
leaned tensely forward to catch the low words.

"Ferguson told me to look out," he mumbled. "He told me to be careful
that they didn't get me between them. But I wasn't thinkin' it would
happen just that way." And now his eyes opened scornfully and he
struggled and lifted himself upon one arm, gazing at some imaginary
object.

"Why," he said slowly and distinctly, his voice cold and metallic,
"you're a hell of a range boss! Why you----!" he broke off suddenly,
his eyes fixed full upon Miss Radford. "Why, it's a woman! An' I
thought---- Why, ma'am," he went on, apologetically, "I didn't know
you was there! . . . But you ain't goin' to run off no calf while I'm
lookin' at you. Shucks! Won't the Ol' Man be some surprised to know
that Tucson an'----"

He shuddered spasmodically and sat erect with a great effort.

"You've got me, damn you!" he sneered. "But you won't never get
anyone----"

He swung his right hand over his head, as though the hand held a
pistol. But the arm suddenly dropped, he shuddered again, and