Dick. "You tell her when you get a chance.
Jack, as I was saying, I've made quite a bit of money out of my Bisbee
holdings. I can pay back my stake to you now."

"Not now," said Jack nervously.

Would this torture never end? Here was his friend, whom he had
betrayed come back in the very hour of his marriage to the woman who
had promised first to marry him. Now he was offering him money, which
Jack needed badly, for his prospective mother-in-law was complaining
about his taking her daughter to a mortgaged home.

"Sure, now," continued Dick, pulling a roll of bills from his pocket.
"It's three thousand dollars--here it is, all in one bundle."

"Not now, let that wait," said Jack, pushing the money aside.

"It's waited long enough," cried Dick doggedly. "You put the mortgage
on your ranch to let me have the money, and it must be about due now."

"Yes, it will be due, but let it wait."

"What's the use? I'm all right now. I brought the cash with me on
purpose. I wanted to square it with you on sight."

Dick pressed the money into Jack's hand, closing his fingers over the
roll of bills. With a sigh of relief, as if a disagreeable task was
completed, he questioned: "How's Bud?"

Jack replied shortly: "All right; he's inside."

"I didn't write to him," cheerfully resumed Dick. "I didn't want the
kid to know. He is so excitable, he would have blabbed it right out.
I'll sure be glad to see the boy again. He's impulsive, but his
heart's all right. I know you've kept a lookout over him."

This trust in him was getting too much for Jack to bear, so the voice
of Polly crying to him to hurry up was music to his ears. "I'm coming,"
he shouted. "I'll see you in a few minutes," he told Dick. "I've
something to tell you. I can't tell you now."

"Go in, then," answered Dick. "I'll wait yonder in the garden. Don't
keep me waiting any longer than you can help."

Dick turned and walked slowly toward the gate which lead to the
kitchen-garden, a part of every ranch home in Arizona. It was cut off
from the house by a straggling hedge, on which Echo had spent many
hours trying to keep it in shape.

Jack hesitated about going into the house. Even if Echo married him,
he knew that she would never forgive him when she learned of his
dastardly conduct from Dick Lane's own mouth. It was better to
sacrifice the life of one to save three lives from being ruined.

Jack followed Lane up, partly drawing his gun. It