hold it over me till I put the fear of God in his heart
one night when we were alone. I wouldn't do his dirty work, and I didn't
know till too late what Blake and Jerry had done. I mean about your
ditch. Larry wasn't in that. I couldn't give my brothers away, could I?
Oh, it's a rotten mess from start to finish!"

He stared gloomily across the moonlit spaces, frowning heavily.

"So there's the whole thing," he said. "I've felt like telling you
before, but what was the use? From first to last my family has done you
dirt. Well, I'm the only man left, and I'll pay for the crowd. I'll be
the goat. Short of surrendering, which I won't do, I'll give you any
satisfaction you like. If you want it with a gun, all right. But we're
two big, skookum men. I don't know which of us is the better, though I
think I am. If you can best me to-night, in a fair fight without
weapons, I'll go back with you; and if I best you you go back alone.
What do you say?"

Angus knew that Gavin meant it. The proposal was primitive in conception
and simplicity. Perhaps because of that it appealed to him strongly.

"There are not many men who would make that offer," he said.

"I would not make it to any other man," Gavin replied. "Does it go?"

"No."

The big man threw out his hands in a gesture of impatience.

"Then what the devil does?" he demanded. "Why not? You're no more afraid
of me than I am of you. What do you want?"

"Nothing," Angus said. "Now that I know how my father died, I have
nothing against you. Braden I care nothing about. So I am going back the
way I came. But I am glad you do not think me a coward."

Gavin French drew a deep breath and his cold blue eyes for a moment held
a curiously soft expression.

"Mackay," he said, "it probably sounds queer, but I have always liked
you. And I liked you better after that little fuss we had on Christmas
night, for then I knew you were strong as I am strong, and I hoped some
day, for the pure fun of it, we might see which of us was the better
man. A coward? Lord, no! I know why you are doing this. I'll bet you saw
Kathleen."

"Yes," Angus admitted, "I saw her. She told me. But that's not--"

"You needn't lie about it," Gavin said gruffly. "That sort of thing is
about all you would lie about. She's a good girl. I--I'm fond of her."
He hesitated over the admission. "We were a queer bunch--our family.
Stand-off. No slush. Afraid to show that we were fond of each other.
That was the way