stice to the place where the outlaw chief had been left. His eyes lit
feebly at sight of them.

"What news, York?" he asked.

"Reilly and Hardman are killed. How are you feelin', cap?" The
cow-puncher knelt beside the dying outlaw and put an arm under his head.

"Shot all to pieces, boy. No, I got no time to have you play doctor with
me." He turned to Collins with a gleam of his unconquerable spirit. "You
came pretty near making a clean round-up, sheriff. I'm the fourth to be
put out of business. You'd ought to be content with that. Let York here
go."

"I can't do that, but I'll do my best to see he gets off light."

"I got him into this, sheriff. He was all right before he knew me. I
want him to get a chance now."

"I wish I could give him a pardon, but I can't do it. I'll see the
governor for him though."

The wounded man spoke to Collins alone for a few minutes, then began
to wander in his mind He babbled feebly of childhood days back in his
Kentucky home. The word most often on his lips was "Mother." So, with
his head resting on Neil's arm and his hand in that of his friend, he
slipped away to the Great Beyond.

CHAPTER 22. FOR A GOOD REASON

The young ladies, following the custom of Arizona in summer, were
riding by the light of the stars to avoid the heat of the day. They rode
leisurely, chatting as their ponies paced side by side. For though they
were cousins they were getting acquainted with each other for the first
time. Both of them found this a delightful process, not the less so
because they were temperamentally very different. Each of them knew
already that they were going to be great friends. They had exchanged
the histories of their lives, lying awake girl fashion to talk into the
small hours, each omitting certain passages, however, that had to do
with two men who were at that moment approaching nearer every minute to
them.

Bucky O'Connor and Sheriff Collins were returning to the Rocking Chair
Ranch from Epitaph, where they had just been to deposit twenty-seven
thousand dollars and a prisoner by the name of Chaves. Just at the point
where the road climbed from the plains and reached the summit of the
first stiff hill the two parties met and passed. The ranger and the
sheriff reined in simultaneously. Yet a moment and all four of them were
talking at once.

They turned toward the ranch, Bucky and Frances leading the way. Alice,
riding beside her lover in the darkness, found the defenses