to know where you stand. Conway's strong for pulling out, eh?"

"I told you all that he wrote me."

"What have you done about it?"

"Nothing."

"You're going to buy him out?"

"No."

"Damn it!" cried Hume irritably. "Don't make me pump at you like a dry
well! You know what I'm driving at. If Shandon goes clear where are
you and I coming out?"

"Mr. Hume," returned the old man heavily, "I'm glad you came, for I was
coming to you. Shandon is going clear. I've talked with his lawyer,
I've talked with Kinsell--"

"What's Kinsell got to do with it?"

"Kinsell is a detective sent up here by Brisbane to work up the case.
Also, I have talked with Wayne Shandon." This came slowly, with an
evident effort, but it came calmly. "Shandon will go free because he
is not the man who killed Arthur Shandon."

"You're swapping horses, eh?" sneered Hume.

"Perhaps not exactly. But I have gone to him and told him that I had
allowed myself to think of him as a murderer for the illogical but none
the less potent reason that I hated his father. And I apologised to
him, having no other amends to make."

"Cut the sentimental drivel short," cut in Hume unpleasantly. "Have
you gone over to his side of the deal? Are you throwing me down and
tying up with him?"

"No." Leland threw out his hands in a wide gesture. "I am done with
the whole thing."

"And what happens to me! Here I am in up to my neck and you go and
chuck the thing. Do you think I'll stand for the double cross like
that?"

"Hume," cried Leland sharply, "I don't want to quarrel with you. I am
quitting because I am ashamed of the things I have already done. I
tried to blind myself by thinking that I was usurping the prerogative
of God, in telling myself that it was my duty to punish. Now I am
ashamed, I tell you. And not a second too soon can you understand and
the world know that you and I are in no way interested in each other.
I have learned since I saw you that you were going on with a matter
which I can have nothing to do with."

"What's that?"

"I refer to the way in which you are seeking to tunnel from the
McIntosh property into Shandon's, to take the water whether or no.
That may be in your mind a bold stroke of business. I can't
countenance that sort of thing."

"Ho! How you've taken the robe of righteousness upon your shoulders!
And after trying to steal Shandon's ranch from him on a mortgage!"

Martin made no reply. Not once du