teep approach to take from the cave the jugged whiskey,
and the keg or two which was aging there. His eyes were reddened; but the
dark flush which had been on his face had now given place to a curious
pallor. There was a new element in his mood, a different note in his
bearing, a suggestion of furtive hurry and anxiety.

He was not afraid of the marshal. Haley could not be on the mountain
before noon. But he had left that behind in the little log stable from
which his team came that cried haste to his going.

Gord Bosang from whom he was to buy the horses was a man somewhat of
Blatch's own ilk. Cavalierly called out of bed after midnight and offered
only a partial cash payment--all that Blatch had been able to raise--he
had angrily refused to let the team be taken off the place. Turrentine's
situation was desperate. He must have the horses. In the quarrel that
followed, he struck to clear this obstacle from his path; but whether he
had left a dead man lying back there on the hay--whether it was a
possible charge of murder he was now fleeing from--he had not stopped to
find out. He had got back to his cabin with all haste, pitched his ready
belongings into the wagon, and now he came down to the still to get the
last, and see that all there was working out right.

As his foot reached the opening he uttered a loud exclamation, then
leaped into the cave. Both chairs were empty, the ropes lying cut beside
them. He sprang back to the rude doorway and gave the usual signal--the
screech-owl's cry. It was inappropriate at this time, yet he could not
risk less, and he sent it forth again and again.

Getting no answer he ventured cautiously to call Gideon Rust's name, and
when this failed he looked about him and came to a decision. The boys
were gone. The fat was in the fire. Yet--he returned to it--the marshal
could not be there before noon. He had time to remove the whiskey if he
worked hard enough. He glanced at the still. The worm and appurtenances
were of value. He had saved money for nearly two years to buy the new
copper-work. He wondered if he might empty and take it also.

For half an hour he toiled desperately, carrying filled jugs up the steep
and hiding them carefully in his loaded wagon. The kegs he could not move
alone, and set to work jugging the fluid from them. Sweat poured down his
face, to which, though he drank repeatedly from the tin cup, no flush
returned. His teeth were set continually on his under lip. H