l of reproaches. His later life had been
more of a punishment for him than I had suspected. His voice was full of
venom as he threatened me. He told me that Helen was at the ranch, but I
would never see her. He had a sawed-off shotgun in his hand. I had no
weapon. I made a quick leap at him and threw him from his horse. The
shotgun fell in the road. I jumped for it just as he scrambled after it.
I wrested the weapon from him. He tried to draw a revolver that swung in
a holster at his hip. There was no chance for me to take that from him.
It was a case of his life or mine. I fired the shotgun, and the charge
tore away the lower part of his face.

"Strangely enough, I had no regret at what I had done. It was not that I
had saved my own life--I had managed to intervene between Helen and a
fate worse than death. I weighed matters and acted with a coolness that
surprised me, even while I was carrying out the details that followed.
It occurred to me that, because of our close resemblance to each other,
it might be possible for me to pass myself off as my brother. I knew
that he had lived the life of a recluse here, and that few people knew
him by sight. We were dressed much alike, as I was traveling in khaki,
and he wore clothes of that material. I removed everything from his
pockets, and then I put my watch and checkbook and other papers in his
pockets. I even went so far as to put my wallet in his inner pocket,
containing bills of large denomination.

"I had heard that there was some dissatisfaction among certain young
Indians on the reservation--that those Indians were dancing and making
trouble in general. It seemed to me that such a situation might be made
use of in some way. Why not drag my brother's body out on the prairie at
the side of the road and stake it down? Suspicion might be thrown on the
Indians. I had no sooner thought of the plan than I proceeded to carry
it out. I worked calmly and quickly. There was no living thing in sight
to cause alarm. I took a rawhide lariat, which I found attached to the
saddle on the old white horse, and used it to tie my brother's ankles
and wrists to tent-stakes which I took from my automobile.

"After my work was done, I looked it over carefully, to see that I had
left nothing undone and had made no blunder in what I had accomplished.
I obliterated all tracks, as far as possible. Although it had rained the
night before, and there was mud in the old buffalo wallows and in the
d