th such smiling hardihood. They were trying to starve the secret out
of him. Already his cheek showed thin and gaunt, dark circles shadowed
the eyes. The man, no doubt, was suffering greatly, yet his manner
gave no sign of it. He might not be master of his fate; at least, he
was very much the captain of his soul. Pat Ryan had described him in a
sentence. "One hundred and ninety pounds of divil, and ivery ounce of
ivery pound true gold." There could not be another man in the Big
Creek country that this description fitted as well as it did this
starving, jocund dare-devil on the bed.

The savory odor of bacon and of coffee came through the open window to
Beaudry where he crouched in the chaparral. He heard Meldrum's brusque
"Come and get it," and the sound of the two men drawing up their chairs
to the table.

"What's the use of being obstinate, Dave?" presently asked Rutherford
from amid a pleasant chink of tin cups, knives, and forks. "I'd a heap
rather treat you like a white man. This 'Pache business doesn't make a
hit with me. But I'm obeying orders. Anyhow, it's up to you. The
chuck-wagon is ready for you whenever you say the word."

"I don't reckon I'll say it, Ned. Eating is just a habit. One man
wants his eggs sunny side up; another is strong for them hard-boiled.
But eggs is eggs. When Dan went visitin' at Santa Fe, he likely
changed his diet. For two or three days he probably didn't like the
grub, then--"

With a raucous curse the former convict swung round on him. A revolver
seemed to jump to his hand, but before he could fire, young Rutherford
was hanging to his wrist.

"Don't you, Dan. Don't you," warned Ned.

Slowly Meldrum's eyes lost their savage glare. "One o' these days I'll
pump lead into him unless he clamps that mouth of his'n. I won't stand
for it." His voice trailed into a string of oaths.

Apparently his host's fury at this reference to his convict days did
not disturb in the least the man on the bed. His good-natured drawl
grew slightly more pronounced. "Wall yore eyes and wave yore tail all
you've a mind to, Dan. I was certainly some indiscreet reminding you
of those days when you was a guest of the Government."

"That's enough," growled Meldrum, slamming his big fist down on the
table so that the tinware jumped.

"Sure it's enough. Too much. Howcome I to be so forgetful? If I'd
wore a uniform two years for rustling other folks' calves, I reckon I
wouldn't th