the occasion
were one of unquestioned peace, he drew out some tobacco and several
strips of rice paper. Selecting one of the strips of paper, he
returned the others to a pocket and proceeded to roll a cigarette. His
movements were very deliberate. Stafford watched him, fascinated by
his coolness. In the tense silence no sound was heard except a subdued
rattle of pans in the bunkhouse--telling that the cook and his
assistant were at work.

The cigarette was made finally, and then the stray-man lighted it and
looked again at Leviatt, ignoring his question, asking another himself.
"You workin' down the creek yesterday?" he said.

"Up!" snapped Leviatt. The question had caught him off his guard or he
would have evaded it. He had told the lie out of pure perverseness.

Ferguson took a long pull at his cigarette. "Well, now," he returned,
"that's mighty peculiar. I'd have swore that I seen you an' Tucson
ridin' down the river yesterday. Thought I saw you in a basin in the
hills, talkin' to some men that I'd never seen before. I reckon I was
mistaken, but I'd have swore that I'd seen you."

Leviatt's face was colorless. Standing with his profile to Tucson, he
closed one eye furtively. This had been a signal that had previously
been agreed upon. Tucson caught it and turned slightly, letting one
hand fall to his right hip, immediately above the butt of his pistol.

"Hell!" sneered Leviatt, "you're seein' a heap of things since you've
been runnin' with Mary Radford!"

Ferguson laughed mockingly. "Mebbe I have," he returned. "Ridin' with
her sure makes a man open his eyes considerable."

Now he ignored Leviatt, speaking to Stafford. "When I was in here one
day, talkin' to you," he said quietly, "you told me about you an'
Leviatt goin' to Dry Bottom to hire a gunfighter. I reckon you told
that right?"

"I sure did," returned Stafford.

Ferguson took another pull at his cigarette--blowing the smoke slowly
skyward. And he drawled again, so that there was a distinct space
between the words.

"I reckon you didn't go around advertisin' that?" he asked.

Stafford shook his head negatively. "There ain't anyone around here
knowed anything about that but me an' you an' Leviatt," he returned.

Ferguson grinned coldly. "An' yet it's got out," he stated quietly.
"I reckon if no one but us three knowed about it, one of us has been
gassin'. I wouldn't think that you'd done any gassin'," he added,
speaking to S