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trouble came to-night; I let him go." "Young feller," growled Glendin, "you ain't been in town a long while, but I've heard a pile too much about you already. What you mean by takin' the law into your own hands?" "Wait," said Nash, his keen eyes on the two, "I guess I understand." "Let's have it, then." Still the steady eyes of Nash passed from Sally Fortune to Bard and back again. "This feller bein' a tenderfoot, he don't understand our ways; maybe he thinks the range is a bit freer than it is." "That's the trouble," answered Glendin, "he thinks too damned much." "And does quite a pile besides thinkin'," murmured Nash, but too low for the others to hear it. He hesitated, and then, as if making up his mind by a great effort: "There ain't no use blamin' him; better let it drop, Glendin." "Nothin' else to do, Steve; but it's funny Sally let him do it." "It is," said Nash with emphasis, "but then women is pretty funny in lots of ways. Ready to start, Bard?" "All ready." "S'long, Sally." "Good-night, Miss Fortune." "Evenin', boys. We'll be lookin' for you back in Eldara to-morrow night, Bard." And her eyes fixed with meaning on Nash. "Certainly," answered the other, "my business ought not to take longer than that." "I'll take him by the shortest cut," said Nash, and the two went out to their horses. They had difficulty in riding the trail side by side, for though the roan was somewhat rested by the delay at Eldara it was impossible to keep him up with Bard's prancing piebald, which sidestepped at every shadow. Yet the tenderfoot never allowed his mount to pass entirely ahead of the roan, but kept checking him back hard, turning toward Nash with an apology each time he surged ahead. It might have been merely that he did not wish to precede the cowpuncher on a trail which he did not know. It might have been something quite other than this which made him consistently keep to the rear; Nash felt certain that the second possibility was the truth. In that case his work would be doubly hard. From all that he had seen the man was dangerous--the image of the tame puma returned to him again and again. He could not see him plainly through the dark of the night, but he caught the sway of the body and recognized a perfect horsemanship, not a Western style of riding, but a good one no matter where it was learned. He rode as if he were sewed to the back of the horse, and, as old William Drew
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