ainst the wall. Swan had furnished a few extra frills to his
cupboard, for the ends of the boxes were fastened to hewn slabs standing
upright and just clearing the floor. Near the upper shelf a row of nails
held Swan's coffee cups,--four of them, thick and white, such as cheap
restaurants use.

Swan hooked a finger over the nail that held a cracked cup and glanced
over his shoulder at Jack, sitting in the doorway with his keen nose to
the world.

"You watch out now, Yack. I shall talk to my mother with my thoughts,"
he said, drawing a hand across his forehead and speaking in breathless
gasps. "You watch."

For answer Jack thumped his tail on the dirt floor and sniffed the
breeze, taking in his overlapping tongue while he did so. He licked his
lips, looked over his shoulder at Swan, and draped his pink tongue down
over his lower jaw again.

"All right, now I talk," said Swan and pulled upon the nail in his
fingers.

The cupboard swung toward him bodily, end slabs and all. He picked up
the lantern, stepped over the log sill and pulled the cupboard door into
place again.

Inside the dugout Swan set the lantern on a table, dropped wearily upon
a rough bench before it and looked at the jars beside him, lifted his
hand and opened a compact, but thoroughly efficient field wireless
"set." His right fingers dropped to the key, and the whining drone of
the wireless rose higher and higher as he tuned up. He reached for his
receivers, ducked his head and adjusted them with one hand, and sent a
call spitting tiny blue sparks from the key under his fingers.

He waited, repeating the call. His blue eyes clouded with anxiety and
he fumbled the adjustments, coaxing the current into perfect action
before he called again. Answer came, and Swan bent over the table,
listening, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the opposite wall of the dugout.
Then, his fingers flexing delicately, swiftly, he sent the message that
told how completely his big heart matched the big body:

"Send doctor and trained nurse to Quirt ranch at once. Send men to
Bear Top Pass, intercept man with young woman, or come to rescue if
he don't cross. Have three men here with evidence to convict if we
can save the girl who is valuable witness. Girl being abducted in
fear of what she can tell. They plan to charge her with insanity.
Urgent. Hurry. Come ready to fight.

"S.V."

Swan had a code, but codes require a little time in the co