ntil then completely
lost in the greater issues. It was the threat of that scrawled note
which had been flung in at that very window. She even remembered the
sensation of the blow which had awakened her on the night of torture
during which she had waited for Jeff's return from Orrville.

She sprang to her feet. Every other thought was swept from her mind.
And, for a moment, fresh panic stirred her veins. The words of that
message. They were unforgettable.

"You sold the lives of men for a price. You had your way then. We're
goin' to have our way now. You'll pay for that deal the only way we
know."

The only way we know! Her memory flew to the man Sikkem. Oh, she knew
him. She had recognized him on the instant of their meeting. She knew
he came from Orrville. She had seen him there. But---- Was he one of
the original Orrville gang, all unsuspected, or, at least, if not
unsuspected, _unknown_ to be?

While she pondered the subject she heard her husband's arrival. She
heard him cross the veranda and, pass into the house.

Then again she took up the thread of her thought. This man Sikkem. If
he were one of the Orrville gang, what was more likely than that he
should have sent that threat? If he sent it, what more likely than
that he was one of the gang of rustlers operating here? If he were one
of them, then what added significance did it give threat?

A wave of sudden excitement replaced the panic of a moment before.
"The only way we know." Did that mean raiding her husband's stock and
endeavoring so to ruin the Obar? It looked like it. It would account
for what was being done. But no. That might be part of what was
contained in the threat. But not all. The only way we know! The only
way this class of man understood paying off a score was different from
that. With these men it was always a life for a life. Whose? Hers?
It might be.

The sun had sunk beyond the mountain peaks. In the adjoining
living-room she heard the clatter of supper things. Jeff was having
his meal in the solitude which had become their habit.

If it were her life they intended it would not much matter. But was
it? Would they punish her that way? To her it did not suggest the
refinement of cruelty which would appeal to them. No, there were other
signs. Their purpose looked to be to ruin the Obar, and then--what
then? Rob her of the man she loved? It could be done. It would be
easy, and surely the ref