ly Sorenson had reason to walk briskly away
from Doctor Hosmer's dwelling.

Janet had somberly watched him till he was out of sight, then had gone
inside.

"I don't see how I ever imagined him an honorable man," she said to
her father. "For all his pretended politeness he was ready if
necessary to bully me. One thing he can't ever say is that I didn't
tell him exact facts; what I omitted was the circumstances giving rise
to the facts." And her father, who now knew from Weir the story of the
happening of thirty years before, assured her that she need be
troubled over no moral hairsplitting.

The incident, as Steele Weir perceived, diverted both suspicion and
danger from Janet, at least for a time. A big gain that. And he was
impressed by the subtle sagacity of the maneuver.

"That wasn't just a clever move, it was a flash of genius," he told
father and daughter. Then after a few minutes more of talk he said:
"Now I must be running up to the dam. To-day is Sunday and the works
are quiet, so if I find everything all right I shall strike back
immediately for Terry Creek and the cabin up above. I want to make a
search for that paper by daylight."

"After your hard night?" Janet exclaimed. "I snatched some sleep when
we had done talking last night, but father says you and he had none.
You can't make that terrible ride again without rest!"

"Missing a night in bed is nothing new," he laughed. "Once or twice in
my life I've not had my clothes off in a week, and only such cat-naps
as I could steal meantime. But I'll not boast of that; your father
probably has gone longer periods without sleep, or with only broken
rest, than ever I did. Most doctors do. Be sure and let me know if
anything new occurs."

But if Weir's mind was put at ease so far as Janet was concerned, he
had more than enough other cares to burden his thoughts. The loss of
the deposition, chief of all; then the matter of effecting Martinez'
release, wherever he was immured; and finally, as he learned from
Meyers and Atkinson on reaching camp, the insidious promise of trouble
in the "free whiskey party."

"Perhaps whoever supplied the fire-water underestimated this
copper-lined crew's capacity and didn't furnish enough," Meyers
suggested. "Nobody was really drunk last night and here it is nearly
noon, with the men all hanging about camp. If there was whiskey yet to
be had, some of these thirsty, rollicking scrappers of ours would be
right back at the spig