of the hut, "I
saw you close it."

Charlie seemed to have recovered from the apprehension which had
caused him to obey his brother unquestioningly. There was an angry
sparkle in his eyes as he gazed steadily into Bill's face.

"That's none of your damn business," he said, in a low tone of surly
truculence. "I'm not here to answer any questions till you tell me the
reason why you've had the impertinence to hunt me down. How did you
know where to find me?"

Just for one moment a hot retort leaped to the other's lips. But he
checked his rising temper. His journey in pursuit of his brother had
been taken after deep reflection and consultation with Helen. But the
mystery of that hut, that cupboard, did more to keep him calm than
anything else. His curiosity was aroused. Not mere idle curiosity, but
these things, this place, were a big link in the chain of evidence
that had been forged about his brother, and he felt he was on the
verge of a discovery. Then there was Fyles somewhere nearby in the
neighborhood. This last thought, and all it portended, destroyed his
feelings of resentment.

"I s'pose you think I followed you for sheer curiosity. Guess I might
well enough do so, seeing we bear the same name, and that name's
liable to stink--through you. But I didn't, anyway. I came out here to
tell you something I heard this morning, and it's about--last night.
Fyles says that the result of last night is that the gang, their
leader, is now wanted for an armed attack on the police, and that the
penalty is--anything up to twenty years in the penitentiary."

Charlie's intense regard never wavered for one moment.

"Who told you I was here?" he demanded angrily.

"No one."

There was a sting in the sharpness of Bill's reply. The big blue eyes
were growing hot again.

"Then how did you know where to find me?" Charlie's deep voice was
full of suppressed fury.

"I didn't know just where to find you," Bill protested, with rising
heat. "The kid told me you'd gone up the valley, but didn't say where.
I set out blindly and stumbled on your horse's tracks. I chanced those
tracks, and they led me here. Will that satisfy you?"

Charlie's eyes were still glittering.

"Not quite. I'll ask you to get out of my ranch. And remember this,
you've seen me at this shack, and you've seen that cupboard. If you'd
been anybody but my brother I'd have shot you down in your tracks.
Fyles--anybody. That cupboard is my secret, and if anyone lea