coolin'. Ef ye did
ye thought wrong!"

Parish Thornton drew a long breath and the colour gradually went out of
his brown face, leaving it white and rapt in an exaltation of passion.

"I've been bidin' my time an' my time hes come," he declared in a voice
that rang like a bronze bell. "When I kills ye I does a holy act. Hit's
a charity ter mankind an' womankind--an' yit some foreparent bred hit
inter me ter be a fool, an' I've got ter go on bein' one."

A note of hopefulness, incredulous, yet quickening with a new lease on
courage, flashed into the gray despair of the conspirator's mind and he
demanded shortly:

"What does ye mean?"

Thornton recognized that grasping at hope, and laughed ironically.

"I hain't goin' ter shoot ye down like ye merits," he said, "an' yit I
misdoubts ef hit's so much because I've got ter give ye a chanst, atter
all, es ther hunger ter see yore life go out under my bare fingers."

Slowly dying hope had its redawning in Bas Rowlett's face. His
adversary's strength and quickness were locally famous, but he, too,
was a giant in perfect condition, and the prize of life was worth a good
fight.

He stood now with hands held high while Thornton disarmed him and flung
his pistol and knife far backward into the thicket. His own weapon, the
Harper leader still held.

"Now, me an' you are goin' ter play a leetle game by ther name of
'craven an' damn fool'," Thornton enlightened him with a grim smile.
"I'm ther damn fool. Hit's fist an' skull, tooth an' nail, or anything
else ye likes, but fust I'm goin' ter put this hyar gun of mine in a
place whar ye kain't git at hit, an' then one of us is goin' ter fling
t'other one offen thet rock-clift whar she draps down them two hundred
feet. Does ye like thet play, Bas?"

"I reckon I'll do my best," said Rowlett, sullenly; "I hain't skeercely
got no rather in ther matter nohow."

Thornton stripped off his coat and rolled his sleeves high and the other
man followed suit. Bas even grinned sardonically in appreciation when
the other at length thrust his pistol under a rock which it strained his
strength to lift. The man who got that weapon out would need to be one
who had time and deliberation at his disposal--not one who snatched it
up in any short-winded interval of struggle.

Then the two stood glaring into each other's faces with the naked
savagery of wild beasts, and under the stress of their hate-lust the
whites of their eyes were already bloo