r, for it is one more link in
the chain of evidence--impressions, you may call them, but they will be
accepted as evidence by Wade's friends."

Rexhill was considering it, and swiftly, in the light of the visit he
had had from Trowbridge. The cattleman had left him with a distinct
feeling that every word spoken had been meant. "If we can prove it
against you, we'll ride you to hell on a rail." The language was
melodramatic, but it seemed very suggestive as the Senator called it to
mind. He regretted that he had supported Moran in his lust for revenge.
The lawless spirit of the West seemed to have poisoned his own blood,
but somehow the feeling of indifference as to suffering personal
violence had been left out, and he realized that the West was no place
for him.

"Even so," he said pompously, "even if what you say of Moran should
prove true, it does not follow that I know it, or am a party to it. Race
Moran is his own master."

"He is your employee--your agent--and you are responsible for what he
does in your behalf," Dorothy retorted desperately. "Why do you bandy
words with me like this? You may be able to do it with me, but don't
think that you can do it with Mr. Trowbridge, and the others, if I tell
them what I know. I tell you, you can't. You feel safe before me alone,
but you are in much greater danger than you think. You don't seem to
realize that I am holding your lives in my hand."

Helen's cheeks blanched at this.

"I do realize it." There was a slight quaver in the Senator's voice,
although he tried to speak with easy grace. "I assure you, I do and I
shall be very grateful to you"--his anxiety was crowding out his
discretion--"if you will help me to save my daughter...."

"I say just what I said before," Helen interposed, courageous to the
last. There is, many times, in the woman a finer fiber of courage than
runs in the man.

Dorothy regarded the Senator scornfully, her feminine intuition assuring
her that he was weakening. She no longer doubted that he knew; she was
certain of it and happy to feel that she had only to press him harder to
wring the truth from him.

"Grateful? For helping you? I am not trying to help you. You deserve any
punishment that could be inflicted upon you, I would say that, even if
you had not insulted me and lied about me. You are an evil man. I am
offering you your safety, so far as I can grant, only for the sake of
Mr. Wade. If it were not for him, I should not have come