hty
indecision. The fingers of his right hand spread wider; the hand
descended to a point nearer to his pistol holster.

There it poised, the fingers hooked, like the talons of some giant bird
about to clutch a victim.

Had Haydon faced a man with less courage; had Harlan's iron control
lacked that quality which permitted him to give an enemy that small
chance for life which he always gave them, death might have reigned at
the Star again. Haydon owed his life to that hesitation which had made
Harlan famous.

And as the strained, tense seconds passed with both men holding the
positions they had assumed, it seemed Haydon was slowly beginning to
realize that Harlan was reluctant, was deliberately giving him a chance.

A change came over Haydon. The clawlike fingers began to straighten;
imperceptibly at first, and then with a spasmodic motion that flexed the
muscles in little jerks. The hand became limp; it dropped slowly to his
side--down beyond the pistol holster. Then it came up, and the man swept
it over his eyes, as though to brush away a vision that frightened him.

His face grew pale, he shuddered; and at last he stood, swaying a little,
his mouth open with wonder for the phenomenal thing that had happened to
him.

Harlan's voice, cold and expressionless, startled him:

"You wasn't meanin' to cuss me?"

"No!" The denial was blurted forth. Haydon grinned, faintly, with hideous
embarrassment; the knowledge that he had been beaten, and that he owed
his life to Harlan, was plain in his eyes.

He laughed, uncertainly, as he made an effort to stiffen his lagging
muscles.

"I was a bit flustered, Harlan; I talked rather recklessly, I admit. You
see, I've been used to giving orders myself. I was riled for a minute."

"That goes!" said Harlan, shortly. His voice had changed. The slow drawl
had gone, and a snapping, authoritative sharpness had replaced it.

Haydon gazed at him with a new wonder. He sensed in Harlan's manner the
consciousness of power, the determination to command. At a stroke, it
seemed, Harlan had wrenched from him the right to rule. He felt himself
being relegated to a subordinate position; he felt at this minute the
ruthless force of the man who stood before him; he felt oddly impotent
and helpless, and he listened to Harlan with a queer feeling of wonder
for the absence of the rage that should have gripped him.

"I'm runnin' things from now on," Harlan said. "I ain't interferin' with
the St