ing up a coulee, a mere flash here and there above the sage as the
owner of it ran. As he watched for the man to reappear, the roof of
the whole string of buildings to the east caved with a hissing roar and
belched sparks and debris high in the air.

The fire was filtering through the cracks and circling its hungry
tongues inside. The smoke hurt his eyes and the heat seemed to crack
his skin. He crossed over to see if Harris was down; that would
account for the sudden cessation of shooting from the hills back of the
house.

The raiders in the lower field were riding swiftly for the far side of
the valley. One man knelt near the head gate, then mounted and jumped
his horse off after the rest. Waddles put the whole force of his lungs
behind one mighty cheer.

Fifty yards back in the brush Harris cautiously raised his head to
determine the cause of this triumphant peal.

Far down along the rim of the valley, outlined against the sky, four
mules were running as so many startled deer under the bite of the lash
and six men swayed and clung in the wagon that lurched behind. High
above the crackle of the flames sounded Tiny's yelps, keen and clear,
as he urged on the flying mules. Three men unloaded from the wagon as
it came opposite the cluster of men riding far out across the flats.
They opened a long-range fire at a thousand yards while the others
stayed with the wagon as it rocked on toward the burning ranch.

Billie was running to the brush at the spot where Harris had
disappeared. He rose to meet her.

"Cal, you're not hurt?" she asked.

"Not a scratch," he said. "Thanks to you."

In her relief she grasped his arm and gave it a fierce little squeeze.

"Then it's all right," she said.

Waddles burst from the door of the burning house, his arms piled high
with salvage.

"We'll save what we can," Harris said and started for the house. As he
ran the valley rocked with a concussion which nearly threw him flat and
a column of fragments and trash rose a hundred feet above the spot
where the head gate had been but a second past.

A dozen running horses flipped over the edge of the hill and plunged
down toward the ranch. The men were back from Brill's. Tiny halted
the mules on the lip of the valley and the three men came down the
slope on foot.

Harris held up his hand to halt the riders as they would have kept on
past the house. He knew that the raiders stationed behind the ranch
had long since reach