impulsive anger of the old Texan suddenly
ripped out. "Hell, I'm not goin' to beg you to do what yore own decency
ought to tell you right away. But I'll say this right off the reel:
neither 'Mona nor I want to have a thing to do with a man who's so
selfish he can't yield the first favor she ever asked of him. We're
through with you."

The two men had fallen back of the others and were riding alone. Now the
young Texan looked hard at the old-timer. The eyes of neither of them
gave way even for a beat of the lashes.

"I'll have to hear Miss Ramona say that before it goes with me,"
answered Roberts steadily.

"All right. You can hear it right this minute." The cattleman touched
his horse with the spur and cantered forward.

The Ranger was with him when they drew up beside Ramona. The smile in
the eyes of the girl died away as she looked first at one and then at
the other of them. She was sensitive to atmospheres, and if she had not
been the harsh surface of both of them would have been evidence enough
of a clash.

"Ramona," began her father, "this fellow here is a Ranger first an' a
human bein' afterward. He's hell-bent on takin' Dinsmore to prison so as
to make a big name for himself. I've told him how we feel, an' he says
that doesn't make any difference a-tall, that Dinsmore's got to hang."

"That isn't what I meant a-tall," explained Jack. "I've been tryin' to
tell yore father that I'd give an arm to turn him loose. But I can't. It
wouldn't be right."

The soft eyes of the girl pleaded with her lover. "I think we ought to
free him, Jack. He saved my life. He fought for me. Nobody could have
done more for me. He ... he was so good to me." Her voice broke on the
last sentence.

The young man swallowed a lump in his throat. "I wish I could. But don't
you see I can't? I'm not Jack Roberts, the man who ... who cares for
you. I'm an officer of the State sent out to bring in this man wanted
for a crime. I've _got_ to take him in."

"But he saved my life," she said gently, puzzled at his queer point of
view. "He stayed with me when he could easily have escaped. You
wouldn't ... take advantage of that, Jack?"

"I'll give every dollar I've got in the world to clear him, 'Mona. I'll
fight for him to a finish. But I've got to take him to town an' put him
in jail. If I don't I can't ever hold up my head again," he told her
desperately.

"I thought you loved me, Jack," she murmured, through gathering tears.

"What k