is man is leaving Willets--immediately!" said Lawler. "He's going
East, to the end of this line--at my expense. When he regains
consciousness you will tell him what I have said."

"It's Warden, ain't it?" grinned the conductor. "Well, I'll be glad to
take him. But I'll have to wire for orders. This guy ain't a _bona fide_
passenger."

He strode to the telegraphers window. There was a short wait; and during
the interval Warden stirred and sat up, swaying from side to side and
staring about him in bewilderment. Lawler stepped forward, leaned over
the platform.

"Warden," he said; "you are going East. You are not coming back. If you
ever step a foot into this state again I will send you to prison for a
term that will make you wish you were dead. I have a signed confession
from Link and Givens that convicts you of a crime for which this state
provides an adequate penalty. Do you understand?"

Warden nodded, wearily, and dropped his chin to his chest. After an
interval, during which the crowd watched him intently, he staggered to
his feet and reeled into the coach, and the crowd saw him no more. An
instant later the conductor went toward the coach, grinning, signaling
the engineer.

A low cheer rose from the crowd as the train started, and a man far back
toward the station shouted, loudly:

"If they hadn't been in such a damned hurry, we'd have raised a
collection to send him to hell!"

A little later Lawler and Ruth and Shorty formed the van of the crowd
that walked down the street toward the Wolf--where the Circle L men had
left their horses. Ruth walked between Lawler and Shorty. Ruth was very
pale, and her lips were trembling. In front of the Willets Hotel--in the
flood of light that came through the windows, she clutched at Lawler's
sleeve.

"Hurry, Kane," she begged; "they have killed daddy!"

"Don't you believe it, Miss Ruth," said Shorty, softly, into her ear.
"When I left Joe Hamlin he was a whole lot alive--an' gettin' more alive
right along. I left Andy Miller with him--an' Andy's got more sabe of
medicine than any doctor in these parts!"

"Shorty!" she breathed, springing around in front of him and catching
him by the shoulders--standing on tip-toe to do it. "_Shorty_, you don't
mean it?"

Shorty laughed lowly. "I'm reckonin' to mean it, Miss Ruth."

"But how," she questioned, her hands still on his shoulders, her eyes
wide and questioning; "how did you happen to go to the Two Bar?"

"Well, you s