got a chance, ol'-timer, but never yu mind, slick yoreself up, buy a new shirt--yu can do with one, anyway--an' --'
'Aw, go to hell, yu--yu blatherskite,' Yago shouted.
'Let's make it the hotel--they tell me drinks ain't too plentiful where yu said, an' I'm as dry as the Staked Plain,' his foreman smiled.
THAT same evening, on the verandah at the C P, Sudden related the day's happenings to an interested audience of two. The rancher's brow grew black when he learned of the attack on his foreman. Angrily he struck in on the story,
'By God ! I've a mind to round up the boys an' go clean up the Circle B right away,' he said.
'Which is just what they're hopin' for,' Sudden pointed out. 'No, we gotta lie doggo an' let them do the movin'. Yu ain't heard all of it.'
He went on to tell of the attempted lynching, and though Purdie did not interrupt again, he exploded when the tale ended.
'Pity yu didn't show up a bit later,' was his cruel comment.
'But, Daddy, if Luce wasn't guilty,' Nan protested, and there was a tremor in her tone.
Purdie had not seen her cheeks pale, or noticed the little gasp of relief when she heard that the accused man had been delivered from danger; he grasped one fact only--a Burdette had escaped a fate he held to be richly deserved.
'He's earned it a'ready,' he growled harshly, and both his hearers knew that he was thinking of his son.
The foreman shook his head. 'Still can't agree with yu on that, Purdie. As for to-day's play, it was a plain frame-up, an' a clumsy one too, though it nearly came off; if that bullet had got me right, nothin' could 'a' saved Burdette. Now, ask yoreself a question: If Luce is in with his brothers, why should they try to get him stretched?'
'I dunno, but it might 'a' been him,' was the obstinate reply.
'Not a chance,' Sudden said. 'Luce ain't such a fool as to leave his name an' address like that.'
'Huh! Any fella who has just downed another in cold blood is liable to run off an' forget a hat,' Purdie persisted. 'An' if he had got yu, who'd ever find the spot he fired from? It was on'y by chance Riley was passin'.'
'Was it?' the foreman asked dryly. 'Riley rides for the Circle B, an' was comin' to town. What was he doin' so far off the reg'lar trail?'
'Yu suggest he did the shootin'?'
'No, but I'd say he was there to take the news in an' lead the posse to the place.'
'Well, I ain't convinced,' the rancher replied. 'An' watch out for yoreself, Jim; the Burdettes ain't quitters, which is the on'y good thing I can say for 'em.'
He went into the house, and the girl followed. The foreman caught a murmured 'Thank you' as she passed him. He smiled as he reflected that Luce might be having a thin time just now, but there were compensations to come. His thoughts went to 'The Plaza,' but he jerked them savagely away and stalked to his own quarters.
Riley, for reasons of his own, did not return to the ranch, but he took care to keep clear of 'The Plaza'; the boss of the Circle B had a nasty habit of venting his displeasure on the nearest object. Therefore, no other member of the outfit having been to town, King Burdette rode in that evening blissfully ignorant of what had happened. But he knew what he expected to hear, and his darkly handsome face wore an expression of satisfaction when he tied his horse to the hitch-rail in front of 'The Plaza' and walked in. Lu Lavigne greeted him with her usual smile, and the customer to whom she was chatting promptly drifted away. King's keen eyes searched the girl's face for any sign of distress and found none; she appeared to be her own gay, impudent self. The hand which poured a drink for him was perfectly steady.
'Well, honeybird, what's the good news?' he smiled.
She bobbed a mocking curtsey. 'The best I can offer Your Majesty is that the coward who tried to shoot Mister Green from ambush this afternoon failed, and another gang of cowards who would have hanged Luce for it, failed also.'
She was laughing as she spoke, but her dark eyes watched him; she had not forgotten his cryptic reference to the bringing down of two birds with one stone. But King Burdette was an expert poker-player, and though the information had hit him like a blow, not a muscle of his face moved. Still smiling, he said drawlingly:
'So somebody took a shot at the estimable Green, huh? On'y shows that even a fella like Whitey may have friends, don't it?'
'Why should he fasten the crime on Luce?' she asked.
'Him being already under a cloud, it seems a pretty bright idea,' he replied carelessly. 'As regards Luce, I'm sorry . . .'
Lu Lavigne pushed out a slim white hand. 'That pleases me, King,' she said warmly.
'Sorry they didn't succeed in hangin' him, I was goin' to say,' he finished harshly.
'But--after all--he's your brother,' she protested.
'Don't think it,' he said sharply. 'When Luce left the Circle B he stepped right outa the family--he's no more to me than any bum who tramps the trail. If I'd been at the stringin'-up I wouldn't 'a' raised a finger to stop it.'
She knew he meant it, and the vicious savagery of his attitude appalled, and yet, in some curious way, appealedto her. She too was a creature of extremes, of fire and ice, primitive in her passions, not to be bound by the humdrum conventions of civilization. King Burdette was a kindred spirit, and she was aware of it; though she condemned, she could not help being attracted.
'Look here, sweetness, to the devil with that young cur,' he said. 'I came to see yu.'
She had an impish desire to plague him. 'Really?' she doubted. 'So Nan Purdie did dare to turn you down?'
At once she saw that she had struck home. For all his iron control, the raging fiend within the man showed in his evil eyes. And then he laughed.
'Shucks,' he said. 'Jealous huh? Yu needn't be. No milk an' water for me, honey; I like a dash o' somethin' stronger.'
She allowed herself to be persuaded, and as he could be very entertaining when he chose, the pair of them were soon laughing merrily. Some of the men in the place shrugged significant shoulders.
'Callous devil,' muttered one. 'Yu'd never think they mighty near hanged his brother this afternoon.'
'He wouldn't care if they had--seein' they've quarrelled,' said another. 'That's the Black Burdettes all over; the Ol' Man would 'a' shot any son that disobeyed him. Holy terror, he was; an' it wouldn't surprise me none if one o' the boys wiped him out.'
'Hey, Simmy, yu owe me ten dollars. Ante up,' chimed in a third in the party.
'What's the matter with yu? Didn't I say I'd pay yu to-morrow?' Simmy said indignantly.
'Shore, but if yo're goin' to talk like a fool, there won't be no to-morrow for yu, an' I can use that dinero,' was the reply, with a meaning glance at the lounging figure at the bar.
But the Circle B man had no eyes for anyone but the beauty before him. He was aware that there were probably men present who hated him, but such a thought would add to his enjoyment rather than otherwise, for inaction on their part meant that they feared him, and fear, King Burdette held, was the ruling passion of life.
He left 'The Plaza' early and went to 'The Lucky Chance,' where he found Riley, considerably the worse for liquor.
'I'm wantin' yu,' King said shortly, and led the way out of the saloon to an empty space at the back of it. Then he turned on the man and said fiercely: 'Why didn't yu come back to the ranch an' report to me?'
The cowboy blinked owlishly at him. 'Well, the bottom sorta fell out o' things,' he excused.
'Yu damned fool, all the more reason for lettin' me know,' the other rapped back. ''Stead o' that, yu gotta get soaked.'
'Yore han's have to ask yore permish to take a drink?' Riley asked impudently.
The boss of the Circle B looked at him for a moment, calmly measured his distance, and struck. Before the piston-like force of that blow the man went full-length to the ground. Ere he could rise or pull the gun at which he
