t had left the floor, and he was swinging in the air before his
finger pressed the trigger.

There was a muffled report.

The two men fell in a heap on the floor, McKee on top. Dazed and
shaken, McKee scrambled to his feet. The air was pungent with odor of
powder smoke. Terrill rolled over on his side, trembled convulsively,
and died. He had paid the penalty for a moment's indiscretion with his
life.

McKee quickly unfastened the pin and seized the roll of bills. Skimming
through the package, he smiled with satisfaction to see that the most
of it was in small bills, and none of them stained.

Carefully avoiding the fast-forming pool of blood which was oozing from
the hole in the dead man's head, he hurried to the door.

A glance showed him the coast was clear. Running across the tracks, he
joined Lane, who was waiting for him behind the freight-car with
impatience. In silence they mounted their horses. For a short
distance McKee led the way upon the railroad-track, in order to leave
no hoof-prints, and then struck across the desert toward the hills in
the south.

"Why did you shoot?" gasped Lane.

"He drew on me," snarled McKee. "It wasn't Dick's money, but you'll
get half. Shut up."

The burning sun rose higher and higher. The buzzard dropped lower in
the sky. The silence of death brooded over the railroad-station.

CHAPTER V

Hoover Bows to Hymen

Unknown to Bud Lane and Buck McKee, who were rioting in Florence, Jack
Payson had hurried up the wedding. Colonel Jim had wheedled Josephine
into consenting that it should take place two months ahead of the time
that had been fixed. "April is the month fer showers, Josie, an' we'll
let you weep all you please."

Two weeks' notice, however, gave scant time for preparation for the
important ceremony that Mrs. Allen deemed necessary. During this
period the busiest spot in Arizona was the kitchen of Allen hacienda.
An immense cake, big as a cheese, was the crowning effort of Josephine,
who wept copiously at the thought of losing her daughter as she
measured and mixed the ingredients. A layer of frosting an inch in
thickness encrusted this masterpiece of the art of pastry-making.
Topping the creation were manikins of a bride and bridegroom.

This climax of the bridal cake had been brought up by wagon from Tucson
with more caution than if it were a month's clean-up of a paying mine.
Mrs. Allen allowed no one to go near the artistic achievement.