e its discovery. He knew the dangerous temper of the people, and
that it would take very little to arouse them against him, and
precipitate them into a lynching, with himself as the central figure.

Ted had heard that Fancy Farnsworth was the worst man in Arizona, and
that he had the most ungovernable temper, the quickest eye, and swiftest
"draw" of a gun in the Territory.

He was a gambler against whom nobody seemed to be able to cope, for he
invariably won. It had been said that he was not a straight gambler, but
those who said it did so only once, as they were incapable of saying it
twice, for by that time they had been shot full of holes by the card
sharper.

Why it was that Farnsworth always escaped punishment at the hands of the
authorities no one knew, except that they lacked the nerve to force
prosecution against him, and that he invariably had a good excuse for
killing a man; at least, one that made good in that rough country, where
every man was of a size because all carried revolvers.

But even while Ted believed that Farnsworth was innocent of the murder
of Miss Mowbray, he felt that some day he and the dashing young fellow
would meet on the battlefield as enemies.

But it was the strange resemblance between him and Major Caruthers that
affected Ted more than anything else, and he often wondered that the
major had not noticed it himself.

Major Caruthers found Ted on the veranda turning these things over in
his mind after breakfast. Coming to his side, the old gentleman threw
his arm around Ted's shoulder and said:

"Ted, I'm rather worried about that young chap Dickson, or Farnsworth,
whichever he is. I was greatly attracted to him, and intended to invite
him to stay with us several days, when those deputy marshals entered and
accused him of a crime that horrifies me. Somehow, I feel that he is
guilty, although I want to believe in his innocence, as you so bravely
advocated when we all were too cowardly to do so. But if he was
innocent, why did he not stay and face his accusers, and go back to
Rodeo with the marshals and prove himself innocent?"

"He never would have got as far as Rodeo," said Ted quietly.

"Why not? He was under arrest and in the guard and custody of four
deputy marshals, officers of the United States."

"They would have prevailed no more than if they had been dummies, which
I strongly suspect they were."

"Um, how is that?"

"They were sent out from Rodeo as marshals, but th