er.

"In this here country all the rustlers an' thieves an' cut-throats
an' gun-throwers an' all-round no-good men jest happen to be Gentiles.
Ma'am, which of the no-good class does that young feller belong to?"

"He belongs to none of them. He's an honest boy."

"You KNOW that, ma'am?"

"Yes--yes."

"Then what has he done to get tied up that way?"

His clear and distinct question, meant for Tull as well as for Jane
Withersteen, stilled the restlessness and brought a momentary silence.

"Ask him," replied Jane, her voice rising high.

The rider stepped away from her, moving out with the same slow, measured
stride in which he had approached, and the fact that his action placed
her wholly to one side, and him no nearer to Tull and his men, had a
penetrating significance.

"Young feller, speak up," he said to Venters.

"Here stranger, this's none of your mix," began Tull. "Don't try any
interference. You've been asked to drink and eat. That's more than you'd
have got in any other village of the Utah border. Water your horse and
be on your way."

"Easy--easy--I ain't interferin' yet," replied the rider. The tone of
his voice had undergone a change. A different man had spoken. Where, in
addressing Jane, he had been mild and gentle, now, with his first speech
to Tull, he was dry, cool, biting. "I've lest stumbled onto a queer
deal. Seven Mormons all packin' guns, an' a Gentile tied with a rope,
an' a woman who swears by his honesty! Queer, ain't that?"

"Queer or not, it's none of your business," retorted Tull.

"Where I was raised a woman's word was law. I ain't quite outgrowed that
yet."

Tull fumed between amaze and anger.

"Meddler, we have a law here something different from woman's
whim--Mormon law!... Take care you don't transgress it."

"To hell with your Mormon law!"

The deliberate speech marked the rider's further change, this time from
kindly interest to an awakening menace. It produced a transformation in
Tull and his companions. The leader gasped and staggered backward at
a blasphemous affront to an institution he held most sacred. The man
Jerry, holding the horses, dropped the bridles and froze in his tracks.
Like posts the other men stood watchful-eyed, arms hanging rigid, all
waiting.

"Speak up now, young man. What have you done to be roped that way?"

"It's a damned outrage!" burst out Venters. "I've done no wrong. I've
offended this Mormon Elder by being a friend to that woman."