hat he had never met his match in
rough fighting, and he did not expect to meet it now.

"You're a bigger man than I am," the cattleman went on. "I'll take a
chance on you being a better one. I believe that I can break you with
my--hands--like the rotten thing you are." He paid no heed to Dorothy's
tearful protests. "Will you meet me in a fair fight?" Wade's face
suddenly contorted with fury. "If you won't...." His grip on the rifle
tightened significantly.

"No, Gordon, no! Oh, please, not that!" the girl pleaded.

"Sure, I'll fight," Moran answered, a gleam of joy in his eyes. He
gloried in the tremendous strength of a body which had brought him
victory in half a hundred barroom combats. He felt that no one lived,
outside the prize-ring, who could beat him on an even footing.

"Take his gun away from him," Wade told Dorothy. "It's the second time
you've disarmed him, but it'll be the last. He'll never carry a gun
again. Take it!" he repeated, commandingly, and when she obeyed, added:
"Toss it on the bed." He stood his rifle in a corner near the door.

"You're a fool, Wade," Moran taunted as they came together. "I'm going
to kill you first and then I'll take my will of her." But nothing he
could say could add to Wade's fury, already at its coldest, most deadly
point.

He answered by a jab at the big man's mouth, which Moran cleverly
ducked; for so heavy a man, he was wonderfully quick on his feet. He
ducked and parried three other such vicious leads, when, by a clever
feint, Wade drew an opening and succeeded in landing his right fist,
hard as a bag of stones, full in the pit of his adversary's stomach. It
was an awful blow, one that would have killed a smaller man; but Moran
merely grunted and broke ground for an instant. Then he landed a
swinging left on the side of Wade's head which opened a cut over his ear
and nearly floored him.

Back and forth across the little room they fought, with little advantage
either way, while Dorothy watched them breathlessly. Like gladiators
they circled each other, coming together at intervals with the shock of
two enraged bulls. Both were soon bleeding from small cuts on the head
and face, but neither was aware of the fact. Occasionally they collided
with articles of furniture, which were overturned and swept aside
almost unnoticed; while Dorothy was forced to step quickly from one
point to another to keep clear of them. Several times Wade told her to
leave the room, but she