n.

He began to think that his luck was with him now. He rode slowly at
first, afraid of the noise of his horse's hoofs. A quick glance behind
showed him the three horses in the yard, no man or woman in sight.

Which way? There was scant time for reflection. It was time for
inspiration, for the flash of instinct. He felt the pad of bank notes
safe in his pocket. He would ride straight to the Bar L-M, cross the
bridge, turn out from the range buildings, reach the upper end of the
valley. He would cross over the ridge to where his hirelings were
tunnelling. There was a man among them who was not afraid of the law,
a man who would help him, who would go to hell for the half of that
sheaf of paper.

He buckled on his spurs and drove them into his horse's sides.

In the study MacKelvey was saying:

"I dunno. We may have some trouble. Brisbane has gotten an injunction
all right, but that crowd of Hume's looks like a bad one. I have sent
two men on ahead to the Bar L-M. Been deputies of mine on more than
one hard job. By the way, talking of Hume, seen him lately?"

"Yes," Martin answered. "He's here now. In bed. He stayed last night
with me. Do you want to see him?"

"Nothing urgent. I wanted to ask him if he wants to sell Endymion.
Shandon wants to buy him back."

Hume, riding furiously, pushed on through the forest, keeping a course
parallel to the road, near enough to see any one who might be riding
there, far enough to conceal his horse and himself behind a grove or
ridge. So at last he came to a knoll from which he could look down
upon the bridge, not over a quarter of a mile away. There were two men
there, sitting their horses idly and yet seeming to the man's distorted
imagination to be watching every shadow flickering through the woods.
He jerked his horse to a quivering standstill.

He had recognised one of the horses, a great wire limbed pinto. It was
a horse familiar in El Toyon, one of MacKelvey's string.

"Damn him," snarled Hume, his eyes flashing like bright steel.

From behind a fringe of trees he watched the two deputies. They made
no move to go on. Ten minutes he waited, ten minutes of precious time.
Twice he felt that their eyes had found him out, twice he called
himself a fool. Five minutes more and then, from behind him, he heard
the pounding of hoofs.

"It's MacKelvey and the rest," he told himself angrily. "They've got
me like a trapped rat. Damn them. Damn th