ded Duane an opportunity, and he decided to
avail himself of it in spite of the very great danger. Crawling on very
stealthily, he got under the shrubbery to the entrance of the passage.
In the blackness a faint streak of light showed the location of a crack
in the wall. He had to slip in sidewise. It was a tight squeeze, but he
entered without the slightest noise. As he progressed the passage grew
a very little wider in that direction, and that fact gave rise to the
thought that in case of a necessary and hurried exit he would do best by
working toward the patio. It seemed a good deal of time was consumed in
reaching a vantage-point. When he did get there the crack he had marked
was a foot over his head. There was nothing to do but find toe-holes in
the crumbling walls, and by bracing knees on one side, back against the
other, hold himself up Once with his eye there he did not care what risk
he ran. Longstreth appeared disturbed; he sat stroking his mustache; his
brow was clouded. Lawson's face seemed darker, more sullen, yet lighted
by some indomitable resolve.

"We'll settle both deals to-night," Lawson was saying. "That's what I
came for."

"But suppose I don't choose to talk here?" protested Longstreth,
impatiently. "I never before made my house a place to--"

"We've waited long enough. This place's as good as any. You've lost your
nerve since that ranger hit the town. First now, will you give Ray to
me?"

"Floyd; you talk like a spoiled boy. Give Ray to you! Why, she's a
woman, and I'm finding out that she's got a mind of her own. I told you
I was willing for her to marry you. I tried to persuade her. But Ray
hasn't any use for you now. She liked you at first. But now she doesn't.
So what can I do?"

"You can make her marry me," replied Lawson.

"Make that girl do what she doesn't want to? It couldn't be done even if
I tried. And I don't believe I'll try. I haven't the highest opinion
of you as a prospective son-in-law, Floyd. But if Ray loved you I would
consent. We'd all go away together before this damned miserable business
is out. Then she'd never know. And maybe you might be more like you used
to be before the West ruined you. But as matters stand, you fight your
own game with her. And I'll tell you now you'll lose."

"What'd you want to let her come out here for?" demanded Lawson, hotly.
"It was a dead mistake. I've lost my head over her. I'll have her or
die. Don't you think if she was my wife I'd s