observed Ed Sorenson come out presently, jerking his collar and tie
straight. He was mad. He had been whipped, too. For he yet looked as
if he wanted to kill the other man in there, but he went away. Soon
the other man came out and with him was a young white girl, whom I
did not know. The man was this engineer and he carried an old piece of
baggage, not such as he would carry but as the girl might, for she
looked like a ranch girl who was poor. The girl was scared. The man
was calm as a priest. That scoundrel Ed Sorenson had been beaten. Aha,
so; it was clear. The engineer had put a spoke in the fellow's wheel.
Then I walked to the door and saw the two get into a car and start on
the trail this way. After that, I resumed my supper. You perceive, the
man had taken the girl away from the wolf."

Martinez' restless eyes wandered about the room as he digested this
account.

"Did you see the dead man?" he inquired, casually.

"Yes, senor."

Their looks met, held for an instant, dropped. Each read the thought
of the other: the motive for the attack on the engineer was clear. But
some convictions are better not expressed.

"I should have liked to see Senor Weir do the shooting," Naharo
stated. "Dios, such shooting! Two shots, two hits. And in the dark!"

Martinez' grinned.

"It will not please--whoever hired the dead man. He was hired for the
job, of course."

"Unquestionably, senor," was the reply.

CHAPTER VIII

THE GATHERING STORM

At the inquest next morning no outward sign indicated what Weir's
enemies might be at. Indeed, none of them was present. The engineer
made a statement; the two witnesses, Janet Hosmer and Felipe Martinez,
were briefly interrogated, and the finding was returned that the
unknown Mexican had met death from two bullet wounds while attempting
to kill Steele Weir.

One spectator there was who took a strong interest in proceedings, Ed
Sorenson. When, however, Janet Hosmer was notified by her father, who
was in charge, that she could withdraw, the young fellow hastened to
lead her away, with an audible remark that it was a shame she had had
to be "dragged into this disreputable gun-man's bloody show." Meaning
Steele Weir, naturally.

That feeling was being intensified against him was only too apparent
in the hostile manner of the crowd and in the silence with which it
received the finding. There was his former unpopularity, to begin
with; there was now added a race resentment,