nced in explanation of
their prompt arrival.

Alden motioned Slade to his horse and helped him up.

"Shoot him out of the saddle if he makes a break," he ordered briefly.

"Now you can move against those men I've sworn out complaints for,"
Harris said to Alden. "Public sentiment has turned against them to
such an extent that they won't get any help--and there won't be any to
fill their places, once we've cleaned them up. Deputize the whole
Three Bar crew when you're ready to start."

The sheriff nodded and led the way with the two deputies riding close
behind, one riding on either side of Slade.

XIV

The freight wagons rattled away from the Three Bar as the first light
showed in the east, and the grind of wheels on gravel died out in the
distance as Harris and Billie finished their breakfast.

They walked to the mouth of the lane and watched the light driving the
shadows from the valleys. A score of times they had stood so, never
tiring of the view afforded from this spot, a view which spoke of Three
Bar progress and future prosperity. The hands had come in from the
round-up the night before, prior to the return of Harris and Waddles
from their mysterious two-day trip in response to the sheriff's
message, and Evans had led them to Brill's for a night of play. They
were due back at the ranch in the early forenoon and Harris had allowed
the freighters to depart before the others arrived.

"We'll be short of guards for the next hour or two," he said. "Till
the boys get back from Brill's--but they'll be rocking in most any time
now."

"What did Alden want?" she asked, referring to the trip from which he
and Waddles had returned late the night before.

"We made a call on Carp," he said. "He had some good news we've been
waiting for."

"Then Carp is a Three Bar plant," she said.

"He's a U. S. plant," Harris corrected. "But he's been working in with
us to get something on Slade--to gather proof that he's behind these
squatter raids of the last few years and the ones they've aimed at us
up to date. He couldn't get a shred that would hold in court. But
Slade is almost through. His claws are clipped."

The girl started to question him as to Carp's activities but after the
first sentence she became aware that his attention was riveted on
something other than her words. He had thrown up his head like a
startled buck and was peering down the valley.

Her range-bred ears caught and correctly inte