ange
from the dazzling light without to the shaded interior blinded him for
a moment. He heard the heavy breathing of the sleeper before he saw
him.

Returning to the mouth of the arroyo, McKee motioned to his companion
to bring out the horses. When this was done, the two men cinched the
saddles and made every preparation for sudden flight. Lane and the
horses remained outside the station behind a freight-car on a siding,
while McKee stole softly through the open door to 'Ole Man' Terrill's
side.

Now, the agent used as a safe-deposit vault his inside waistcoat
pocket, the lock upon which was a huge safety-pin. For further defense
he carried a revolver loosely hung at his hip, and easily reached. His
quickness on the draw in the hour of need, and his accuracy of aim made
him a formidable antagonist.

Some men are born into the world to become its watch-dogs; others to
become its wolves. The presence of a human wolf is, as it were,
scented by the human watch-dog, even when the dog is asleep. McKee was
known instinctively as a man-wolf to the born guardians of society;
Slim Hoover, himself a high type of the man-mastiff, used to say of the
half-breed: "I can smell that b'ar-grease he slicks his hair with
agin' the wind. He may be out o' sight an' out of mind, when somethin'
tells me 'McKee's around'; then I smell b'ar-grease, and the next
thing, Bucky shows up, with his ingrasheatin' grin. It's alluz 'grease
before meet, as the Sky Pilot would say."

'Ole Man' Terrill was of the watch-dog breed. Whether warned by the
instinct of his kind or wakened by the scent of McKee's bear-grease, he
suddenly opened his eyes. Like all men accustomed to emergencies, he
was instantly in full possession of his wits, yet he pretended to be
slightly confused in order to get a grasp upon the situation before
greeting his visitor.

"Howdy, Buck," he said, adjusting his revolver as he swung half-round
in his chair, that he might reach his weapon more readily in an
emergency. "Bustin' or busted?"

"Well, I'm about even with the game," replied McKee, pulling from his
pocket a bag of tobacco and papers, and deftly rolling a butterfly
cigarette. "Goin' to shake it before I lose my pile. It's me for the
Lazy K. Dropped in to say good-by."

Terrill, who had recently had an expensive seance with McKee at poker,
remonstrated:

"Yuh ought 'o give me another chanct at yuh, Buck. Yo're goin' away
with too much of my money."