e cowboys were with
Vil Holland, and Pierce thought I was one of the horse-thieves."

"If you know what you're talkin' about it's more'n what I do," sighed
Thompson, resignedly, as the girl concluded the somewhat muddled
explanation. "If the raid's come off, why wasn't I in on it--an' me
keepin' Lightnin' up an' ready fer it's goin' on three months? They's
a thing or two I do know, though. For one, you've rode fer enough." He
called to Pete, who, rifle in hand, was making for the trail. "Hey,
Pete, come back here with that gun, an' quick as Mike gits the hull
cinched onto Lightnin', you fork him an' hightail fer town an' fetch
Doc Mallory out to Samuelson's. Tell him the Old Man's worse. Better
fetch Len Christie along, too. If there's a dead man, even if he's a
horse-thief, it's better he was buried accordin' to the book. Take
Miss Sinclair's horse to the stable an' tell Mike to onsaddle him an'
give him a feed." He turned to Patty: "You come along in an' rest up
'til Miz T. gits breakfast ready. Then when you've et, you kin begin
at the beginnin' an' tell what's be'n a-goin' on in the hills."

A couple of hours later when Patty concluded her detailed narrative,
Thompson leaned back in his chair. "I got a crow to pick with Vil
Holland, all right, fer not lettin' me in on that there raid."

"Maybe he didn't have time," suggested the girl, and suppressed a
desire to smile at the readiness with which she sprang to the defense
of her "guardian devil of the hills."

Protesting that she needed no rest after her night of wild adventure,
Patty refused the pressing invitation of the Thompsons to remain at
the ranch, and mounting her horse, headed for the cabin on Monte's
Creek.

Once through the canyon, she turned abruptly into the hills and as her
horse, unguided, topped low divides, and threaded mile after mile of
narrow valleys, her thoughts wandered from the all-absorbing topic of
her father's location, to the man for whom she had so recently
experienced such a signal revulsion of feeling. "How could I ever have
been deceived by that disgusting Monk Bethune?" she muttered.
"Especially after he warned me against him. It's a wonder I couldn't
have seen him for the sleek oily devil that he is. I must have been
crazy." She shuddered at the recollection of that day in the little
valley when he boldly made love to her. "It's just blind luck
that--that something _awful_ didn't happen. I could see the lurking
devil in his eye