hat Janet jumped up, her eyes gleaming.

"That is not all the proof, not all by any means!" she cried.

"What more is there?"

"Mr. Johnson's evidence."

"Johnson's!" came in surprised tones from all four of the men
uninformed of the rancher's story.

"Yes, he saw the man Dent killed and the plotters make your father,
Mr. Weir, believe he had done the killing."

Steele stared at Johnson dumbfounded.

"Just that; I saw the whole dirty trick worked, looking through the
back door of the saloon."

"Then you were the boy!" Weir gasped. "The boy who looked in! After
thirty years I supposed that boy gone, lost, vanished beyond
finding."

"I stayed right here," was the reply. "Of course I kept my mouth shut
about what I had seen. I worked on ranches and rode range and at last
got the little place on Terry Creek and married. Nothing strange in my
remaining in the country where I grew up, especially as I only knew
the cattle business."

Weir swung about to Madden.

"Here's a live witness," said he. "With the other proof his evidence
should be final."

"Whenever you say, I'll arrest the men. As for this warrant I have,
I'll just continue to carry it in my pocket," the sheriff stated. "I
must remark that I never heard of a more villainous plot, taking it
all around, than you've brought to light."

"And the charges must cover everything," Pollock said sternly. "From
Dent's murder to the conspiracy against the irrigation company."

"I'll stay here in case you need me to stop any trouble with your
workmen," Madden remarked.

But trouble though imminent was coming from another direction, as was
suddenly shown when a man, dust-covered and hatless, rushed into the
office.

"They're on the way," he cried.

"Who? The workmen?" Weir demanded.

"No. I don't know anything about the workmen, but a bunch of Mexicans,
fifty or more, are headed this way to blow up the dam. I saw and heard
them."

"Where?"

"At the spring a mile south. I was watching down there, where Atkinson
had sent me after supper, relieving the man who kept lookout during
the afternoon. That was where the booze was dealt out last night, you
remember. I was sitting there when I heard a crowd coming. At first I
thought it was our men, but when they stopped to drink and smoke, I
saw by their talk they were Mexicans. But there was one white man with
them, a leader. He and a Mexican talked in English. They're to raid
the camp, crawling up the canyon, t