tale when I stand face to face with
Jim Silent and we go for our six-guns. And somewhere between that
rising sun and those mountains I'll find Jim Silent and the end of
things for one of us."

He started his cattle-pony into a sudden gallop, and they drove on
into the bright morning.

CHAPTER XVIII

CAIN

Hardly a score of miles away, Jim Silent and his six companions topped
a hill. He raised his hand and the others drew rein beside him. Kate
Cumberland shifted her weight a little to one side of the saddle to
rest and looked down from the crest on the sweep of country below. A
mile away the railroad made a streak of silver light across the brown
range and directly before them stood the squat station-house with
red-tiled roof. Just before the house, a slightly broader streak of
that gleaming light showed the position of the siding rails. She
turned her head towards the outlaws. They were listening to the final
directions of their chief, and the darkly intent faces told their own
story. She knew, from what she had gathered of their casual hints,
that this was to be the scene of the train hold-up.

It seemed impossible that this little group of men could hold the
great fabric of a train with all its scores of passengers at their
mercy. In spite of herself, half her heart wished them success. There
was Terry Jordan forgetful of the wound in his arm; Shorty Rhinehart,
his saturnine face longer and more calamitous than ever; Hal Purvis,
grinning and nodding his head; Bill Kilduff with his heavy jaw set
like a bull dog's; Lee Haines, with a lock of tawny hair blowing over
his forehead, smiling faintly as he listened to Silent as if he heard
a girl tell a story of love; and finally Jim Silent himself, huge,
solemn, confident. She began to feel that these six men were worth six
hundred.

She hated them for some reasons; she feared them for others; but the
brave blood of Joe Cumberland was thick in her and she loved the
danger of the coming moment. Their plans were finally agreed upon,
their masks arranged, and after Haines had tied a similar visor over
Kate's face, they started down the hill at a swinging gallop.

In front of the house of the station-agent they drew up, and while the
others were at their horses, Lee Haines dismounted and rapped loudly
at the door. It was opened by a grey-bearded man smoking a pipe.
Haines covered him. He tossed up his hands and the pipe dropped from
his mouth.

"Who's in the