great desire to be shot, and he
discovered that his view of the corral was much plainer than from where
he had first seen it. He looked behind him for an easy retreat to the
skyline, and then before he turned to ride away, he glanced down again
curiously.

A man walked out into the center of the corral and stood there in the
revealing sunlight. Ward's eyes bored like gimlets through the space
that divided them. Instinctively his hand went to the gun on his hip.
It was a long pistol shot, and he was afraid he might miss; for Ward
was not a wizard with a gun, much as I should like to misrepresent him
as a dead shot. He was human, just like yourself. He could shoot
pretty well, a great deal better than lots of men who do more boasting
than he ever did, but he frequently missed. He measured the distance
with his mind while the man stood there talking to someone unseen. To
look at Ward's face, you would have sworn that the man was doomed; but
something held Ward's finger from crooking on the trigger; the man had
his back turned squarely toward the gun. Ward waited. The man did not
move. He waited another minute, and then he opened his lips to shout.
And when his lips parted for the call that would bring the fellow
facing him, Ward's tricky brain snapped before his eyes the face of
Billy Louise.

He lowered the gun. He could not shoot when he knew that the bullet
would split a gulf between himself and the girl--a gulf that would
separate him forever from that future where stood his air castles.
Billy Louise had talked to him very seriously one day about this very
possibility. She had made him see that shooting this man would be the
worst thing he could possibly do.

He let down the hammer with his thumb, slid the gun back into his
holster, and dismounted, with a glance toward the place where the
lookout was stationed. He was sure he had not been seen, and so he
crouched behind a splinter of rock and watched. He had no plan, but
his instinct impelled him to closely watch Buck Olney.

Another man came into view, down there in the corral. He also stood
plainly revealed, and Ward gave a little snort of contemptuous surprise
when he recognized him. After that he studied the situation with
scowling brows. This other man either upset his conclusions or
complicated his manner of dealing with Buck Olney. Ward would not have
hesitated one second about putting the sheriff on the trail of Buck,
but if the second ma