it. You're right. But it can't be, Joe. This thing has killed my
chances!"

The gun seemed to leap from its holster into his hand at his hip of
its own accord. The old miner's brows lifted in astonishment at the
draw.

"If I was you I wouldn't be much scared who I met on the way down to
the Mallory place if I didn't meet too many of 'em at once," he said
with a smile.

"I--I couldn't wear it--there," Rathburn faltered.

"Well, leave it hangin' on a handy peg, boy," said the old man
cheerfully.

Rathburn jammed the gun back into its holster and walked around to his
horse. He led the animal down to drink and then returned and saddled.

"You goin' on to-night?" asked Price casually.

"I'm takin' a ride," Rathburn confessed.

"You ain't takin' my advice at the same time, are you?" asked Price,
pretending to be greatly concerned.

Rathburn mounted and looked down upon him in the faint light of the
stars.

"Joe Price, you're a wise old desert rat, an' I'm a young fool," he
said with a twinkle in his gray eyes. "If Bob Long happens this way
give him my regards an' tell him they got the reward notices over in
California all right, for I saw 'em stuck up over there. So long."

The old miner called out after him and watched him ride down the canyon
and disappear in the shadows. Nor was he the only watcher; for, high
on the ridge above, another man touched his horse with his spurs and
started down the west side of the range, as Rathburn vanished.

CHAPTER XXVIII

A NIGHT SUMMONS

In two hours Rathburn came to a fence about a small ranch. Cattle were
grazing on the sparse feed within the inclosure, and he saw a clump of
trees marking the site of a house.

He rode around the fence until he came to a gate. There was a light
shining from two of the windows of the house. He passed through the
gate, and, as he approached the house from the side, he saw two
figures on the porch. He halted in the shelter of the trees, and, as
one of the figures crossed the beam of light which shone out the door,
he saw that it was a man. He obtained a fleeting look at the man's
face. He was comparatively young, not bad looking, with blue eyes and
a small, close-cropped, sandy mustache.

Rathburn scratched his head in an effort to place the man. He seemed
vaguely familiar. Rathburn was sure he had seen him somewhere. But he
gave up the futile effort to identify him when he saw that the other
figure on the porch was that of a