him. "Wha's wrong now, Dug?"

The ex-foreman of the D Bar Lazy R took his time to answer. He enjoyed
the suspense under which his ally was held. "Why, I reckon nothin'
a-tall. Only that this mo'nin' I put a match to about a coupla hundred
thousand dollars belongin' to Crawford, Sanders, and Hart."

Eagerly Steelman clutched his arm. "You did it, then?"

"Didn't I say I'd do it?" snapped Doble irritably. "D'ya ever know me rue
back on a bargain?"

"Never."

"Wha's more, you never will. I fired the chaparral above Bear Canon. The
wind was right. Inside of twenty-four hours the Jackpot locations will go
up in smoke. Derricks, pumps, shacks, an' oil; the whole caboodle's
doomed sure as I'm a foot high."

The face of the older man looked more wolfish than ever. He rubbed his
hands together, washing one over the other so that each in turn was
massaged. "Hell's bells! I'm sure glad to hear it. Fire got a good start,
you say?"

"I tell you the whole country'll go up like powder."

If Steelman had not just reached Malapi from a visit to one of his sheep
camps he would have known, what everybody else in town knew by this time,
that the range for fifty miles was in danger and that hundreds of
volunteers were out fighting the menace.

His eyes glistened. "I'll not wear mournin' none if it does just that."

"I'm tellin' you what it'll do," Doble insisted dogmatically.

"Shorty with you?"

"He was, an' he wasn't. I did it while he wasn't lookin'. He was saddlin'
his horse in the brush. Don't make any breaks to him. Shorty's got a soft
spot in him. Game enough, but with queer notions. Some time I'm liable to
have to--" Doble left his sentence suspended in air, but Steelman,
looking into his bleak eyes, knew what the man meant.

"What's wrong with him now, Dug?"

"Well, he's been wrong ever since I had to bump off Tim Harrigan. Talks
about a fair break. As if I had a chance to let the old man get to a gun.
No, I'm not so awful sure of Shorty."

"Better watch him. If you see him make any false moves--"

Doble watched him with a taunting, scornful eye.

"What'll I do?"

The other man's gaze fell. "Why, you got to protect yoreself, Dug, ain't
you?"

"How?"

The narrow shoulders lifted. For a moment the small black eyes met those
of the big man.

"Whatever way seems best to you, Dug," murmured Steelman evasively.

Doble slapped his dusty hat against his thigh. He laughed, without mirth
or geniality. "If you do