arlan headin'
toward the valley the day he come here, I lit out ahead of him. And when
he got to the timber over there I brought him in.

"An' I heard you talk that day. I heard him sayin' that you killed Lane
Morgan. He said my dad told him you fired the shot that killed him."

Harlan started and leaned forward, amazed. But Haydon swayed, and then
steadied himself with an effort, and stared at Woodward with bulging,
incredulous eyes.

"Your _dad_?" he almost shrieked; "Lane Morgan was your father?"

Woodward's grin was wolfish. He took two or three steps toward
Haydon--panther-like steps that betrayed the lust that was upon him.

"I'm Billy Morgan," he said, his teeth showing in a merciless grin;
"Barbara's brother. Flash your gun, Haydon; I'm goin' to kill you!"

Haydon clawed for his pistol, missing the butt in his eagerness, and
striving wildly to draw it. It snagged on a rawhide thong that supported
the holster and his fingers were loosening in the partial grip when Billy
Morgan shot him.

He flattened against the wall of the ranchhouse for an instant, staring
wildly around him; then his head sagged forward and he slid down the wall
of the ranchhouse into the deep dust that was mounded near it.

CHAPTER XXII

A DEAD MAN WALKS

Harlan had paid strict attention to Lane Morgan's words at Sentinel Rock,
and he remembered that Morgan had told him that his son, whom he had
called "Bill," had left the Rancho Seco on some mission for the governor.
Evidently it had not occurred to Morgan that his son's mission had taken
him only to the valley in which reigned those outlaws Morgan had reviled.

But it was plain to Harlan that "Billy" was here--he had said so himself,
and he had given proof that he had been watchful and alert to Barbara's
interests. And now was explained young Morgan's interest in himself. The
thought that during all the days he had spent at the Rancho Seco, his
movements had been watched by the man who had just killed Haydon, brought
a glow of ironic humor to Harlan's eyes.

During a long interval, through which Billy Morgan stood over Haydon,
watching him with a cold savagery, Harlan kept at a respectable distance,
also watching.

He saw that for Haydon the incident had been fatal. The man's body did
not move after it slipped to the ground beside the ranchhouse wall. Yet
Morgan watched until he was certain; then he slowly wheeled and looked at
Harlan.

"That settles him--damn him!"