an ill-repressed oath, Farnham sprang to his
feet, his rising anger putting an end to all prudence.

"Wait!" he exclaimed gruffly. "Wait where you are until I am done.
You have heard only a part of this thing so far. My God, girl! don't
you know me well enough by this time to comprehend that I always have
my way, whatever the cost may be to others? Lord! what do I care for
this fellow? or, for the matter of that, what do I care for you? I
don't permit people to stand in my path; and I supposed you had
thoroughly learned that lesson, if no other. Faith, you had cause
enough, surely. So you refuse all endeavor to keep Winston out of this
affair, do you? Perhaps you had better pause a minute, and remember
who it is you are dealing with. I reckon you never saw any signs of
the quitter about me. Now, it 's true I 'd rather have you do this
business up quietly; but if you refuse, don't forget there are other
means fully as effective, and a damn sight quicker." He reached out
suddenly, grasping her hand. "Did you ever hear the adage, 'Dead men
tell no tales'?" he questioned savagely.

She drew her hand sharply back from its instant of imprisonment, with a
smothered cry, her eyes filled with undisguised horror.

"You threaten--you threaten murder?"

"Oh, we never use that word out in this country--it is considered far
too coarse, my dear," and Farnham's thin lips curled sardonically. "We
merely 'silence' our enemies in Colorado. It is an extremely simple
matter; nothing at all disagreeable or boorish about it, I can assure
you. A stick of dynamite dropped quietly down a shaft-hole, or pushed
beneath a bunk house--that's all. The coroner calls it an accident;
the preachers, a dispensation of Providence; while the fellows who
really know never come back to tell. If merely one is desired, a
well-directed shot from out a cedar thicket affords a most gentlemanly
way of shuffling off this mortal coil."

"You would not! You dare not!"

"I? Why, such a thought is preposterous, of course, for the risk would
be entirely unnecessary. Quite evidently you are not well acquainted
with one of the flourishing industries of this section, my dear. There
are always plenty of men out of a job in this camp; conscience does n't
come high, and the present market price for that sort of work is only
about twenty-five dollars a head. Not unreasonable, all things
considered, is it?"

If she had not thoroughly known this man,