chance remarks. We have to watch Morris like hawks. If he
suspects us he'll find a way to let Silent know we're here and then
the hunters will be hunted."

In the house they found a dozen cattlemen sitting down at the table in
the dining-room. As they entered the room the sheriff, who sat at the
head of the table, waved his hand to them.

"H'ware ye, boys?" he called. "You'll find a couple of chairs right in
the next room. Got two extra plates, Jac?"

As Dan followed Tex after the chairs he noticed the sheriff beckon
to one of the men who sat near him. As they returned with the chairs
someone was leaving the room by another door.

"Tex," he said, as they sat down side by side, "when we left the
dining-room for the chairs, the sheriff spoke to one of the boys and
as we came back one of them was leavin' through another door. D'you
think Morris knew you when you came in?"

Calder frowned thoughtfully and then shook his head.

"No," he said in a low voice. "I watched him like a hawk when we
entered. He didn't bat an eye when he saw me. If he recognized me he's
the greatest actor in the world, bar none! No, Dan, he doesn't know us
from Adam and Abel."

"All right," said Dan, "but I don't like somethin' about this
place--maybe it's the smell of the air. Tex, take my advice an' keep
your gun ready for the fastest draw you ever made."

"Don't worry about me," smiled Calder. "How about yourself?"

"Hello," broke in Jacqueline from the end of the table. "Look who
we've picked in the draw!"

Her voice was musical, but her accent and manner were those of a girl
who has lived all her life among men and has caught their ways--with
an exaggeration of that self-confidence which a woman always feels
among Western men. Her blue eyes were upon Dan.

"Ain't you a long ways from home?" she went on.

The rest of the table, perceiving the drift of her badgering, broke
into a rumbling bass chuckle.

"Quite a ways," said Dan, and his wide brown eyes looked seriously
back at her.

A yell of delight came from the men at this naive rejoinder. Dan
looked about him with a sort of childish wonder. Calder's anxious
whisper came at his side: "Don't let them get you mad, Dan!"
Jacqueline, having scored so heavily with her first shot, was by no
means willing to give up her sport.

"With them big eyes, for a starter," she said, "all you need is long
hair to be perfect. Do your folks generally let you run around like
this?"

Every man