stove as he heard Slade's
head crunch against the wall under Harris's savage thrust.

"Down him!" Waddles roared. "Tear him down! Tear him down! I'm
holding the door."

From the corner by the stove an iron pot hurtled across the room for
the sound of the voice and crashed against the wall a foot from his
head. A second kettle struck Alden in the chest and he went down.
Waddles saw the light vanish from the window, then reappear. Morrow
had made a headlong dive through the little opening.

Waddles swung back the door and sprang outside as Morrow vaulted to the
saddle. The big man lunged and tackled both horse and man as a grizzly
would seek to batter down his prey.

The frightened horse struck at him, numbing one leg with the blow of an
iron-shod forefoot, then reared and wheeled away from the thing which
sprang at him, but Waddles retained his grip in the animal's mane, his
other hand clamped on Morrow's ankle.

The rider leaned and struck him in the head. The crazed horse shook
Waddles off but as he fell the other man fell with him, dragged from
the saddle by the jerk of one mighty hand. They rolled apart and
Morrow leaped to his feet but Waddles had wrenched the leg already
numbed by the striking horse and it buckled under him and let him back
to the ground as he put his weight on it. He reached for his gun. A
form loomed above him, a heavy rock upraised in both hands. The gun
barked just as a downward sweep of the arms started the rock for his
head. Morrow pitched down across him and Waddles swept him aside with
a single thrust.

He rose and stirred the limp shape with his toe as the sheriff reached
his side.

"Dead bird!" Waddles announced and turned to limp back to the cabin.

A match flared inside as Harris lighted the lantern. Carpenter stirred
and sat up, moving one hand along the gash in his scalp. The sheriff
stooped and snapped a pair of handcuffs on Slade's wrists. They
splashed water on his face and he opened his eyes. He regarded the
steel bracelets at his wrists as he was helped to his feet and turned
to Harris.

"Don't forget that I'll kill you for this," he said. It was a simple
statement, made without heat or bluster, and aside from this one remark
he failed to speak a syllable until the sheriff rode away with him.

The sheriff waved the lantern outside the door and before he lowered it
two deputies rode up, leading his horse.

"We started at that shot," one of them annou