he rapid
murmur that reached Fendrick.

Presently Bucky asked a question. "On his way to town now?"

Again the rapid murmur.

"I'll attend to that, Miss Cullison. I am in Fendrick's room now. Make
your mind easy."

Bucky hung up and turned to the sheepman. The latter showed him a face of
derision. He had gathered one thing that disquieted him, but he did not
intend to let O'Connor know it.

"Well?" he jeered. "Find friend Cullison in tolerable health?"

"I've been talking with his daughter."

"I judged as much. Miss Spitfire well?"

"Miss Cullison didn't mention her health. We were concerned about yours."

"Yes?"

"Cullison is headed for town and his daughter is afraid he is on the
warpath against you."

"You don't say."

"She wanted me to get you out of her father's way until he has cooled
down."

"Very kind of her."

"She's right, too. You and Luck mustn't meet yet. Get out of here and hunt
cover in the hills for a few days. You know why better than I do."

"How can I when I'm under arrest?" Fendrick mocked.

"You're not under arrest. Miss Cullison says her father has no charge to
bring against you."

"Good of him."

"So you can light a shuck soon as you want to."

"Which won't be in any hurry."

"Don't make any mistake. Luck Cullison is a dangerous man when he is
roused."

The sheepman looked at the ranger with opaque stony eyes. "If Luck
Cullison is looking for me he is liable to find me, and he won't have to
go into the hills to hunt me either."

Bucky understood perfectly. According to the code of the frontier no man
could let himself be driven from town by the knowledge that another man
was looking for him with a gun. There are in the Southwest now many
thousands who do not live by the old standard, who are anchored to law and
civilization as a protection against primitive passions. But Fendrick was
not one of these. He had deliberately gone outside of the law in his feud
with the cattleman. Now he would not repudiate the course he had chosen
and hedge because of the danger it involved. He was an aspirant to
leadership among the tough hard-bitted denizens of the sunbaked desert.
That being so, he had to see his feud out to a fighting finish if need
be.

"There are points about this case you have overlooked," Bucky told him.

"Maybe so. But the important one that sticks out like a sore thumb is that
no man living can serve notice on me to get out of town because he is
coming on th