that masked the anger against
the man who sat calmly baiting her. "In fact, I never ride alone. I
have an unseen escort, who accompanies me wherever I go. 'My guardian
devil of the hills' I call him, and even when I'm at home I know that
he is watching from his notch in the rim of the hills."

"Guardian devil," the man repeated. "That's pretty good." He did not
smile, in fact, Patty recalled, as she sat looking squarely into his
eyes, that she had never seen him smile--had never seen him express
any emotion. Without a trace of anger in tone or expression he had
ordered the grasping hotel-keeper about--and had been obeyed to the
letter. And without the slightest evidence of annoyance or displeasure
he had listened, upon several occasions to her own sarcastic outbursts
against him. Here was a man as devoid of emotion as a fish, or one
whose complete self-mastery was astounding. "Pretty good," he
repeated. "And does he know that you call him your 'guardian devil?'"

"Yes, I think he does--now," she answered, dryly. "By the way, Mr.
Holland, you do a good deal of riding about the hills, yourself."

"Yeh, prospectors are apt to. Then, there's other little matters of
interest here, too."

"Such as horse-thieving?" suggested the girl. "I heard you were paid
to run down a gang of horse-thieves. I was wondering when you found
time to earn your money."

"Yeh, there's some hair artists loose in the hills, an' some of the
outfits kind of wanted me to keep an eye out for 'em."

An old saw flashed into the girl's mind, and the comers of her mouth
drew into a sarcastic smile.

"'Settin' a thief to catch a thief,' is what you're thinkin'. We ain't
so well acquainted yet as what we will be--when you get your eye teeth
cut."

"I suppose our real acquaintance will begin when the game we are
playing comes to a show-down?" she sneered. "But let me tell you this,
if I win, our acquaintance will end, right where you think it will
begin!"

The cowboy nodded: "That's fair an' square. An' if I win--_you'll have
to be satisfied with what you get_. Good-day, I've fooled away time
enough already." And, with a word to his horse, Vil Holland
disappeared up the valley in the direction from which the girl had
come.

When her anger had cooled sufficiently, Patty smiled, a rather grim,
tight-lipped little smile. "If he wins I'll have to be satisfied with
what I get," she muttered. "At least, he's candid about it. I think,
now, Mr. Vil Holl