ybe by experience?"

It was an odd thing to watch the three, every one of them a practiced
fighter, every one of them primed for trouble, but each ostentatiously
keeping his hands away from the holsters.

"What we might have done if we had come to a pinch," said Haines, "is
one thing, and what we did do is another. Barry was started and off
before we had a chance to show teeth, my friend, and you never even
caught the flash of our guns. If he'd waited but he didn't. There's
nothing left for us to do except say good-by."

The little dusty man stroked his moustaches thoughtfully. He had gone
out there hoping against hope that his chance might come--to trick the
two into violence, even to start an arrest for reasons which he knew his
posse would swear to; but it must be borne in mind that Pete Glass was a
careful man by instinct. Taking in probable speed of hand and a thousand
other details at a glance, Pete sensed the danger of these two and felt
in his heart of hearts that he was more than master of either of them,
considered alone; better than Buck Daniels by an almost safe margin of
steadiness; better than Lee Haines by a flickering instant of speed. Had
either of them alone faced him, he would have taken his chance, perhaps,
to kill or be killed, for the long trail and the escape had fanned that
spark within him to a cold, hungry fire; but to attempt a play with both
at the same time was death, and he knew it. Seeing that the game was up,
he laid his cards on the table with characteristic frankness.

"Gents," he said, "I reckon you've come clean with me. You ain't my meat
and I ain't goin' to clutter up your way. Besides"--even in the dull
moonshine they caught the humorous glint of his eyes--"a friend is a
friend, and I'll say I'm glad that you didn't step into the shady side
of the law while Barry was gettin' away."

No one could know what it cost Pete Glass to be genial at that instant,
for this night he felt that he had just missed the great moment which
he had yearned for since the day when he learned to love the kick of a
six-shooter against the heel of his hand. It was the desire to meet face
to face one whose metal of will and mind was equal to his own, whose
nerves were electric energies perfectly under command, whose muscles
were fine spun steel. He had gone half a lifetime on the trail of
fighters and always he had known that when the crisis came his hand
would be the swifter, his eyes the more steady;