d. "He's took a shine to
Ruth, an' he's aimin' to scare you out. He'd sooner shoot a foot off than
bore you. 'Cause why? 'Cause if he bored you he'd never have no chance to
get next to Ruth. She's some opposed to him killin' folks promiscuous.
You lay low, that's all. An' I'll rustle up a guy one of these days which
will put a crimp in Randerson. If he comes snoopin' around here, why,
there's a rifle handy. Let him have it, sudden--before he can git set!"

Since he had sent Chavis with the note to Hagar, Masten had been uneasy.
He had not stayed inside the shack for more than a minute or two at a
time, standing much in the doorway, scanning the basin and the declivity
carefully and fearfully. And he had seen Catherson lead his pony down. He
went in and took the rifle from its pegs.

He had had a hope, at first, that it might be Kester or Linton. But when
he saw that the rider did not come directly toward the shack a cold sweat
broke out on his forehead and he fingered the rifle nervously. When he
saw the rider disappear in the washout, he got a chair from inside and,
standing on it, concentrated his gaze at the point where the rider must
emerge. And when, a little later, he caught a glimpse of the rider's
head, appearing for just an instant above the crest of a sand ridge,
noting the beard and the shaggy hair, his face turned ashen and the chair
rocked under him. For he knew but one man in this country who looked like
that.

He got down from the chair and glared around, his eyes dilated.
Catherson's actions seemed innocent enough. But what could he be doing in
the basin? And, once here, what could he mean by prowling like that,
instead of coming directly to the cabin? What could he be looking for?
Why did he not show himself?

Masten slipped outside and crept along the wall of the shack to a corner,
from which, screened by some alder, he watched breathlessly, a nameless
disquiet oppressing him. Did Catherson know anything?

That question his conscience dinned in his ears. It was answered many
times, as he stood there--an insistent affirmative, suggested, proven by
Catherson's actions, supported by the fact that he had never seen
Catherson in the basin before.

As he watched, he saw Catherson again. He was closer, riding behind a
thicket of gnarled brush, which was not high enough entirely to conceal
him, and he was bending far over in the saddle as though he did not want
to be seen. But Masten could see him, and t