ith the weight of a heavy pistol.

He wore a plain gray silk handkerchief at his throat; it sagged at the
front, revealing a muscular development that had excited the envious
admiration of men. His hair was coal-black, wavy and abundant--though he
wore it short--with design, it seemed, for he must have known that it
gave him an alert, virile appearance.

His face, despite the tan upon it, and the little wrinkles brought by the
sun and wind, had a clear, healthy color, and his eyes black as his hair,
had a keen glint behind which lurked humor of a quality not to be
determined at a glance--it was changeable, fleeting, mysterious.

Barbara was silent. The steady courage that had sustained her until this
instant threatened to fail her in the presence of this big, sympathetic
man who seemed, to her, to embody that romance for which she had always
longed. She looked at him, her lips trembling with emotion.

Until now she had had no confidant--no one she could be sure of. And so,
with Haydon standing close to her, though not too close--for he had never
been able to achieve that intimacy for which he had yearned--she told him
what had happened, including details of her father's death, as related to
her by Harlan; finishing by describing the incident with Deveny in Lamo
(at which Haydon muttered a threat) and the subsequent coming of Harlan
to the Rancho Seco, together with the story of his assumption of
authority.

When she concluded Haydon laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

"It's too bad, Barbara. And on top of it all, Lawson had to play the
beast, too, eh? Why didn't you send someone to me?"

"There was no one to send." Her voice threatened to break, despite the
brave gleam that flashed through the moisture in her eyes. "Lawson had
sent the men away; and when they came in Harlan took charge of them.
And--besides," she admitted, dropping her gaze, "I--I thought you ought
to--I thought you would----"

He shook her, reprovingly, laughing deeply as he led her through the
gateway into the _patio_, where they sat on a bench for a long time,
talking, while the aspect of the _patio_ began to change, becoming again
a place of cheerfulness flooded with the soft, radiant light of returning
happiness--reflected in her eyes; while the sunlight streaming down into
the enclosure took on a brightness that made the girl's eyes glisten;
while the drab and empty days since her father's death began to slip back
into the limbo of m