ty close, Deal!"

"Why do you want to kill him?"

"For what he done to Peggy--damn him! He sneaked into the house an'
hurt her head, draggin' her to Okar--to Maison's. I've killed Maison,
an' I'll kill him!"

"He ain't here, then--Dale ain't?" demanded Sanderson.

"They ain't nobody here," gruffly announced Nyland. "They've been
here, an' gone. Dale, most likely. The house looks like a twister had
struck it!"

Sanderson was inside before Nyland ceased speaking. He found the lamp,
lit it, and looked around the interior, noting the partially destroyed
lounge and the other wrecked furniture, strewn around the rooms. He
went out again and met Nyland on the porch.

One look at Sanderson told Nyland what was in the latter's mind, and he
said:

"He's at the Bar D, most likely. We'll get him!"

"I ain't takin' no chance of missin' him," Sanderson shot back at
Nyland as they mounted their horses; "you fan it to Okar an' I'll head
for his shack!"

Nyland's agreement to this plan was manifested by his actions. He said
nothing, but rode beside Sanderson for a mile or so, then he veered off
and rode at an angle which would take him to the neck of the basin,
while Sanderson, turning slightly northward, headed Streak for Dale's
ranch.

Halfway between the Double A and the neck of the basin, Nyland came
upon the sheriff and his posse. The posse halted Nyland, thinking he
might be Dale, but upon discovering the error allowed the man to
proceed--after he had told them that Sanderson was safe and was riding
toward the Bar D. Sanderson, Nyland said, was after Dale. He did not
say that he, too, wanted to see Dale.

"Dale!" mocked the sheriff, "Barney Owen hung him!"

"Dale's alive, an' in Okar--or somewhere!" Nyland flung back at them as
he raced toward town.

"I reckon we might as well go back," said the sheriff to his men. "The
clean-up has took place, an' it's all over--or Sanderson wouldn't be
back. We'll go back to Okar an' have a talk with Silverthorn. An'
mebbe, if Dale's around, we'll run into him."

The posse, led by the sheriff, returned to Okar. Within five minutes
after his arrival in town the sheriff was confronting Silverthorn in
the latter's office in the railroad station. The posse waited.

"It comes to this, Silverthorn," said the sheriff. "We ain't got any
evidence that you had a hand in killing those men at Devil's Hole. But
there ain't a man--an honest man--in town that ain't convin