saw Henley, and
it was a crushing blow from the storekeeper's fist against the side of
Bradley's head that showed him what he had to contend with. He had
scarcely taken another breath before Henley struck him again with the
force of a sledgehammer squarely between the eyes. Bradley staggered,
swayed, grew limp, and went down. His eyes rolled back in his head till
the whites were exposed. He quivered through his whole form, drew his
shoulders up once, and then lay still. Henley, his hands clinched, the
eyes of an infuriated animal in his head, his great mouth hanging open,
stood over the fallen man.

"Thank God, oh, thank God!" It was Dixie's voice behind him, and he
turned to see her at the edge of the road, her face as white as death
could have made it, her hands convulsively clasped in front of her. "Oh,
Alfred, Alfred, if you hadn't come--" She came to him, but, primitive
man that he now was, there seemed to be no place in him for tenderness.
His great breast heaved, his lips quivered, his eyes bulged from their
sockets. She was about to put out her hands in an effort toward soothing
him when, glancing toward Bradley, she uttered a scream of alarm. He was
rising, a drawn revolver in his hand. Quick as his approach had been,
Henley's next movement was quicker; before the weapon was fairly poised
he had knocked it from Bradley's grasp. Contemptuously kicking it out of
his reach, Henley gave the man a sharp blow with his fist; and while
Bradley was impotently shielding his face with his arms, Henley picked
up the revolver, cocked it, and directed it toward him.

"Apologize to this lady," he said, huskily, "and do it quick, for I'm
going to blow your brains out. Down on your knees, you dirty
whelp--down, I say!"

"I'll be damned if I do."

"Then take your medicine, and may God have mercy on your dirty soul!"
And, as Bradley screamed out and held up his hands in sudden,
overpowering fear, Dixie sprang forward and wrested the weapon from
Henley's hand.

"No," she said--"no, you sha'n't kill him. Hank Bradley, go! Go, I tell
you! I won't have blood spilt over me. I've got a right to demand that,
and I _do_ demand it. Go, I tell you! I'm going to keep this gun to
protect myself with. I live in a country of outlaws, and I'm going to
defend myself from now on. Go! What are you waiting for?"

Muttering and growling in sullen defiance, Bradley got to his feet, his
battered face and eyes swollen.

"You've got the best of