alley. I want him to--if he can. But he
can't. Not as long as the grass grows. He's beaten--beaten before he
starts. I don't want help. I don't want help from anybody. Now, for
God's sake, can't you leave me alone?"

The tension between the two was relaxed. Bill gave an exclamation of
impatience.

"You want him to--send you down?"

The warp of this man was too much for his common sense.

"If he can."

Charlie smiled now. It was a smile of perfect confidence. Bill threw
up his hands.

"Well, you've got me beat to a rag. I----"

"The same as I have Fyles. But say----"

Charlie broke off, and his smile vanished.

"Maybe I'm a crook. Maybe I'm anything you, or anybody else likes to
call me. There's one thing I'm not. I'm no bluff. You know of that
cupboard in that shack. The thought's poison to me. If any other man
had found it, he wouldn't be alive now to listen to me. Do you
understand me? Forget it. Forget you ever saw it. If you dream of it,
fancy it's a nightmare and--turn over. Bill, I solemnly swear that
I'll shoot the man dead, on sight, who gives that away, or dares to
look inside it. Now, we'll get away from here."

He sprang into the saddle and waited while his brother mounted. Then
he held out his hand.

"Do you get me?" he asked.

Bill nodded, and took the outstretched hand in solemn compact.

"What you say goes," he said easily. "But your threat of shooting
doesn't worry me a little bit."

He gathered up his reins and the two men rode out of the clearing.

* * * * *

The last sound of speeding hoofs died away, and the clearing settled
once more to its mysterious quiet. Only the twittering of the swarming
birds on the thatched roof of the hut disturbed the silence, but,
somehow, even their chattering voices seemed really to intensify it.

Thus a few minutes passed.

Then a breaking of bush and rustling of leaves gave warning of a fresh
approach. A man's head and shoulders were thrust forward, out from
amid the boughs of a wild cherry bush.

His dark face peered cautiously around, and his keen eyes took in a
comprehensive survey of both corral and hut. A moment later he stood
clear of the bush altogether.

Stanley Fyles swiftly crossed the intervening space and entered the
corral. He strode up to the wagon and examined it closely, studying
its position and the wheel tracks, with a minuteness that left him in
possession of every available fact. Having sati