refused personally to return the chain to Haydon. And yet he stood
there now, smiling and winking at the other, evidently with the desire to
ingratiate himself. Sycophant, weakling, or fool--which was he? She
shuddered with disgust, deliberately turned her back to Harlan, and began
to walk toward the ranchhouse, Haydon following.

And Harlan, standing at the fence, leaned an elbow on one of the rails
and watched the two, an enigmatic smile on his face.

For he had succeeded in opening a gate which disclosed a trail that would
lead him straight to the mystery, a breath of which had been borne to him
that morning upon the slight breeze that had swept down to him from the
mighty valley out of which Haydon had ridden.

Between him and Haydon a bond had been established, fashioned from the
links of the section of chain.

CHAPTER XVIII

HARLAN RIDES ALONE

Upon the morning of the fourth day following Haydon's visit to the Rancho
Seco, a dust cloud developed on the northwestern horizon. Harlan observed
the cloud; he had been watching for it since dawn, when he had emerged
from the stable door, where he had been looking after Purgatory.

From the ranchhouse Barbara also saw the cloud, and she ran upstairs to
one of the north windows. There, with her face pressed against the glass,
she watched the cloud grow in size, observed that it was dotted with the
forms of horsemen; saw at last that the horsemen were headed straight for
the Rancho Seco. Then, wondering, anxious, eager, she descended the
stairs and ran out to where Harlan was standing, speaking breathlessly:

"What does it mean? Who are they?"

"It'll be Red Linton an' some T Down boys."

"'T Down'?"

"Pardo men. From where I used to work. I sent Linton for them. If I'm
going to run a ranch I aim to run it with men I can depend on."

She had hardly spoken to him in the four days that had elapsed since
Haydon's last visit, for the disgust she had felt that day had endured.
But there was something new in his manner now--a briskness, a
business-like air that made her look sharply at him.

He smiled at her, and in the smile was a snapping humor that puzzled her.

She stood, watching for a while--until the group of horsemen became
clearly defined--and then, with a sudden fear that the men might be
outlaws of the same type as Harlan--possibly he had sent for them because
they were--she returned to the ranchhouse and watched from one of the
windows.

Whe