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肩書を与える: The Octopus of 巡礼者 Valley
Author: Ernest Haycox
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The Octopus of 巡礼者 Valley

by

Ernest Haycox

First published in Short Stories, 10 January 1928

This e-調書をとる／予約する 版: 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg Australia, 2020

Short Stories, 10 January 1928, with "The Octopus of 巡礼者 Valley"

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. — THE LONE BUCKAROO

"Politeness is shorely a 保護物，者 that stops many a 弾丸. Still an' all, if a feller has got to insinuate hisself into another party's quarrel, it's plumb best to omit 陳謝s until the shootin' is over...I nev' yit did see a red- 長，率いるd gent that wa'n't burnin' to 権利 the wrongs of this yere 不正な world."—Parting advice of Joe Breedlove to Tom Lilly.

THE 炎ing, 血-red sun dropped over the western 縁 and left the valley to a twilight peace. Tom Lilly riding his 疲れた／うんざりした buckskin toward the distant 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集める of buildings that formed the 孤立するd town of 砕く, felt the first of the evening's 微風. It had all the 影響 of a 冷淡な にわか雨 on man and beast; Lilly wiped the crusted sweat from his 直面する and washed his parched throat with a drink.

"Another day, another dollar. Buck, you got a restless, homeless no-account for a rider."

The pony raised its ears and quickened the pace Dust rose behind in 渦巻くing eddies. Night threw 連続する darkening cobalt 影をつくる／尾行するs across the land, through which twinkled here and there the light of a homesteader's shack; eastward the high mesa became nothing but a stark 輪郭（を描く） against the sky.

It was new country to Tom Lilly. For that 推論する／理由 and no other was he here. The 誘惑する of the unknown, the unseen drew him like a magnet. Beyond the hill was always the 約束 of fairer fields, the hint of 広大な／多数の／重要な adventure. And as tired as he was, a small excitement 燃やすd in his blue 注目する，もくろむs and compressed the muscles of his lean, sun-blackened 直面する as he drew upon 砕く and beheld the lights 向こうずねing out of the windows into the rutty, dusty street. This was the whole story of Tom Lilly and explained the wistfulness of his features, the temper that slumbered fitfully beneath the sorrel-red thatch of hair. He was a wanderer, a 探検者 of something that could never come to pass; Joe Breedlove, his partner 支援する on the H-H, had said this in plain blunt language—though rather sorrowfully—when Tom was on the point of moving.

"Yuh ain't foolin' me, old-trapper, with that poker 直面する o' yourn. I reads you mos' 明確に. Yore a red-haired gent with misbegotten idears o' romance. All red-長，率いるs is the same, which is a fact. Yuh have traveled a hell of a lot o' 追跡するs before yuh （軍の）野営地，陣営d here, without findin' anything to please yuh. Better stick to these diggin's, amigo. Yuh won't 位置を示す any better. All you'll do is grow gray an' mis'ble. Ain't I seen how these roamers end up? Usually over a 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業'l o' spuds in some town restaurant. Yeah, a broken-負かす／撃墜する old codger washin' dishes fer a livin'. Ain't that a 罰金 end fer an A-l 最高の，を越す 手渡す?"

But Tom Lilly 強化するd his cinches and tied 負かす／撃墜する his 一面に覆う／毛布 roll, smiling in a faint sheepish way. "Lots of country I ain't seen, Joe. If I don't like it I'll mosey 支援する."

Joe Breedlove shook his 長，率いる. "Yore 肉親，親類d don't 支援する 跡をつける." Then the man's big paw gripped his friend's arm. "井戸／弁護士席, yuh know best. If yuh ever git in a jam, 減少（する） a line or send up a smoke signal. I'll come-a-runnin'."

"Sho'," muttered Tom, losing his grin. He had ridden off with a very 簡潔な／要約する 別れの（言葉，会）. Now, as he entered this straggling town street, he was 解任するing those words. "The hardest part about movin'," he said to himself "is leavin' a good Joe like that behind." He had said goodbye often, yet never with やめる the same 不景気 of spirit. "He was shore a square gent. 井戸／弁護士席, here we are, and where are we?"

砕く was just another 砂漠 town. Tom Lilly had seen a hundred built in the same loose-共同のd shackling fashion, with a dozen or more 誤った-前線d でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる buildings abutting a dirt street. There would be two or three saloons with their kerosene lights beckoning through the swinging doors, a general 蓄える／店, a restaurant, a 刑務所，拘置所 and, somewhere 近づく the 辛勝する／優位 of town, a livery stable. Lilly 棒 slowly, looking for this latter 設立. Men moved in the 影をつくる／尾行するs, their cigarette tips gleaming. Dishes 動揺させるd in the restaurant and from the nearest saloon （機の）カム the flat, unmelodious 公式文書，認めるs of a piano. 砕く was tuning up for the night, given a new 賃貸し（する） on life by the evening 微風. Lilly, turning his horse into the stable, felt depressed. It was the same old story over again; Joe Breedlove was 権利—he would travel the long 追跡する until he could no longer sit in the saddle, looking for something not to be 設立する. How could he find it when he didn't know what he looked for? Just another 逸脱する critter never thrown and branded. He slipped off the buckskin, seeing the stable roustabout amble through the door.

"This pony," said he, "gets oats. Where's yore 小衝突 and currycomb?"

He led the animal to a 立ち往生させる, slipped off the gear and 始める，決める to work with the 器具／実施するs the roustabout produced. The latter, 陳列する，発揮するing the indirect curiosity of his 肉親，親類d, spoke casually.

"Hope it ain't this hot where you come from."

"We had rain there in 1903," opined Tom 厳粛に. "Where's a good place to eat?"

"They's only one place, which is the 星／主役にする. You won't mind it too much if yore hungry, I might 追加する they's usually a gentleman's game o' poker in 進歩 at Jake 鉱夫's place. Mos' stranger like to know, so I'm a-tellin' you. Mama Ringo runs the hotel if it's your 願望（する） to sleep on a real four-bit bed. The sher'ff an' 保安官 are both tol'rant to'rds ord'nary 軽罪s o' the peace. I might 追加する the likker here abouts is thirty proof an' the cards 完全に without 示すs. Which 構成するs the whole story o' this 穴を開ける in the ground. It's a nice leetle place—if you don't stay long."

"You shore are a 要約 of useful knowledge," averred Lilly, strolling out. "市民の pride is a jewel of 広大な／多数の／重要な renown."

The roustabout's retort was a short and emphatic word that 爆発するd in the 不明瞭. Tom Lilly, smiling わずかに, crossed to the 星／主役にする and had his supper in 独房監禁 明言する／公表する. 砕く had 全員一致で eaten and 出発／死d to its 楽しみs, leaving the 最新の arrival to finish his steak and onions の中で a 破片 of dishes. It was a meal, nothing more than that and Tom paid his 法案 and walked out, hungry; not for food, but for the palaver of his own 肉親，親類d, for the rough joke and the twang of a familiar 発言する／表明する. It was always thus when restlessness drove him onward and away from friends. He was forever an 外国人 in a strange land, left to his own sober, wistful thoughts. Under the impulse of this loneliness, he built himself a cigarette and 長，率いるd for Jake 鉱夫's.

But before he reached the door the jingling of the piano, the 動揺させるing of 半導体素子s and the hum of 発言する／表明するs suddenly 中止するd. A silence, uneasy and expectant, pervaded the place and when he 押し進めるd through the swinging portals he became a 証言，証人／目撃する to a scene that jerked at his 神経s and sent a 警告 負かす／撃墜する his 権利 arm. There was something going on here out of the ordinary, something that made him 小衝突 the butt of his gun with careful fingers and move quickly to a 後部 塀で囲む. It was such a little 演劇 as he had often seen before and within thirty seconds his quick-事実上の／代理, 同志／支持者 temper was 完全に engaged on the 味方する of a man who appeared to be the under dog. And of a man not of his own 肉親，親類d or profession.

He was a nester, this fellow. That was obvious from a ちらりと見ること at the shabby 全体にわたるs and the sallow, bewhiskered 直面する. He had a gaunt, 天候-beaten でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる and a pair of 手渡すs warped out of 形態／調整 by hard labor. A very homely man, who leaned uneasily against the mahogany 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 and gripped a glass of whisky that had not been touched. He was perhaps forty, but he looked older, and from beneath bushy sun-bleached brows a pair of faded blue 注目する，もくろむs 星／主役にするd out in mixed 反抗 and 恐れる. Lilly leaned against the 塀で囲む, 審理，公聴会 a faint whisper float across a 近づく （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. "Trono'll shore kill 'im. He shore will." And Lilly, growing angry on the instant, turned his attention to the second party at the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業.

Trono was smiling in the tight malevolent way of a man enjoying himself over a 犠牲者. He was a short and burly creature with 巨大な shoulders and 武器; a 厚い, columnar neck supported a 直面する that was as swart as any Indian's; but here the resemblance stopped, for his chin was of the outthrust, cleft 肉親，親類d and he had bulging green 注目する，もくろむs. Somewhere he had been engaged in desperate fighting, one 示す of which ran across the high 橋（渡しをする） of his nose and up in to the half-bald 弾丸 長，率いる. Undeniably he was of the cattle 範囲, and he was taking a cowman's 態度 toward the nester. He 解除するd his own whisky glass, speaking in a rumbling, husky 発言する／表明する.

"We'll drink to the sudden death o' all nesters. 負かす／撃墜する she goes."

"井戸／弁護士席, I dunno's that's perlite," 抗議するd the other. "I'm a peaceable feller, a-mindin' my own 商売／仕事."

"Mean to say yuh won't drink with a man?" roared Trono. "That's the sorta 侮辱 that don't go 負かす／撃墜する in this country! Why, you—"

"Oh, I'll drink if it'll soothe yer feelin's any," said the nester, raising his glass.

Trono was grinning. And when the nester was about to drink, one 大規模な arm swept across the 介入するing space and slapped the glass to the 床に打ち倒す. The nester 噴出するd the アルコール飲料 from his mouth and wiped his 注目する，もくろむs. His flat chest rose and fell with an 超過 of 乱暴／暴力を加えるd feeling, but in the end he spoke やめる mildly. "Seems to me you be tryin' to 選ぶ trouble. I want these fellers to know I ain't startin' no trouble. It's a 解放する／自由な country."

"解放する／自由な fer anything but bugs," broke in Trono, working himself to a 激怒（する）. "Y' know what we do with bugs, mister? We bash 'em! Better take warnin' an' （疑いを）晴らす out."

"No, I don't guess I'll give up," said the nester. Tom Lilly inwardly 拍手喝采する the man's courage. It took 神経 to stand in the 中央 of a （人が）群がる of cowpunchers and 宣言する himself. Even more 神経 to say what he went on to say. "巡礼者 Valley wa'n't created jes' purposely fer the Octopus an' his JIB ranch, though you seem to think so. I'm holdin' my land by gov'ment 同意. Mean to 証明する it an' farm it."

"Oh, you do?" muttered Trono, 耐えるing 負かす／撃墜する on the final word.

The nester 急いでd to take the sting from his pronouncement. "Ain't no 推論する／理由 fer you folks to git sore. They's aplenty land left to run cows on. Shucks, I'm only holdin' a half section outen three-four hundred thousand acres."

"Bugs 産む／飼育する," replied Trono. "Leave one alone an' he hatches a hundred more. No, that ain't no argument. Hey, where you goin'?"

The nester had started to 支援する off. Trono's 権利 手渡す dropped half way to his gun and the nester's whole 団体／死体 強化するd; he, too, made a gesture toward his coat pocket, only to throw both 武器 解放する／自由な of his 団体／死体 as if to show he meant no trouble. It was a cruel ordeal and the 示す of it appeared on his lean 直面する in 深い furrows and 罰金 beads of sweat. Tom Lilly sighed to relieve the 圧力 of his 蓄積するing 怒り／怒る. First and 真っ先の he was a cowman, with most of the prejudices of that class. But he fought fair, always, and now his sympathies were 完全に with the nester who was 存在 badgered. It bore hard on him to stand 支援する and watch this quarrel 存在 trumped up by Trono; for there could be only one end to it. It was obvious that Trono meant there should be but one end.

"I'm goin' about my 商売／仕事," muttered the nester, rubbing his lips with a trembling 手渡す. "I know you, Mister Trono. You figger to 原因（となる） trouble. You've allus tried to 煙霧 me off my （人命などを）奪う，主張する. 井戸／弁護士席, if I was a younger feller I might stand up to you. All I ask is to be let alone. It's a 解放する／自由な country and they's plenty o' room fer all o' us in it. I'm gettin' along in years an' there's nobody to take care o' me when I break 負かす／撃墜する, so I want to make a little 火刑／賭ける afore I die. Now you leave me be."

Lilly checked an impulse to step 今後 between the men. His sharp 注目する，もくろむs caught the 強化するing muscles beneath Trono's coat and the sudden ゆらめく of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 in Trono's 注目する，もくろむs. The 殺し屋 instinct was there; he had seen such a light before. But, on the 瀬戸際 of 事実上の／代理, he took 持つ／拘留する of himself. It was not his quarrel and nobody had asked him to 干渉する. The strictest 肉親，親類d of unwritten 支配するs guarded such an 事件／事情／状勢 and held him in his place. Even so, as he watched Trono gather himself, he had come to a 決定／判定勝ち（する）. Trono's 発言する／表明する droned throughout the room.

"Callin' me a trouble 製造者, you damn fool? Come 支援する here an' drink!"

What passed in the 後継するing moments was something that only swift 注目する，もくろむs might see. Trono's arm dropped and seemed to waver. It was only a gesture, yet it might have been the first move to draw his gun. The nester, badgered until his 神経s were 拷問ing him, saw that gesture and copied it. But where Trono had been clever, he was only clumsy. He could not feint. One paw started downward and could not stop. After that it was 殺人. Trono's gun gleamed in the light; the room 激しく揺するd and roared and someone cried out a 警告. That was Tom Lilly's 発言する／表明する, though he never knew it. His 注目する，もくろむs, passing from 味方する to 味方する, saw the nester struggle with his 武器 and stand a moment; then like a man 鎮圧するd by a 重荷（を負わせる）, he buckled at the 膝s and fell 今後. The life was out of him before he struck the 床に打ち倒す. His lean, bewildered 直面する 星／主役にするd dumbly through the 追跡するing gun smoke. Not a soul in that room moved, not a word was spoken until Trono's 厳しい 発言する／表明する broke the （一定の）期間.

"You boys saw it. You saw he went for his gun. I'd 'a' been plugged 冷淡な if I'd waited. Plain self-弁護, understand? Such 活動／戦闘s is about all you can 推定する／予想する from a nester." And he swept the （人が）群がる with a hard, 冷淡な ちらりと見ること. For one instant his attention was 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on Tom Lilly; then he walked from the place. Lilly rubbed his 手渡すs along his coat 辛勝する／優位 and tried to （疑いを）晴らす the unreasoning, white-hot 激怒（する） from his 長，率いる. A 肉親，親類d of whistling sigh passed ever the onlookers and the bartender's carefully indifferent words reached him.

"Some o' you gents lug him into the 味方する room. I don't want my 床に打ち倒すs all 血まみれのd up."

Lilly turned away from the sight and built himself a cigarette with 異常に ぎこちない fingers. One of the men at the 近づく （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する shuffled a deck and spoke philosophically. "井戸／弁護士席, that's another chalked up to Theed Trono in に代わって o' the JIB. God-darnit, why didn't the fool stay （疑いを）晴らす o' Trono?"

Lilly bent 今後, speaking with a sharp rise o| 発言する／表明する. "Does this Trono hombre run this JIB rancho?"

The group at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する turned toward him and spent some time in a carefull 査察. He was rewarded finally by a 簡潔な／要約する word. "Not 正確に／まさに, stranger. Though I'd say he had a-plenty to say about it. Fact is, he's old Jim Breck's foreman. Who is Jim Breck? You shorely must be from distant parts. Jim Breck is 長，指導者 factotum o' 巡礼者 Valley."

"And where might that be?"

"South thirty miles or so. It's behind the string o' Buttes you might see from here of a day. Though if yore lookin' fer a 職業 you won't have to ride that far."

"I'm han'somely 強いるd, but I 不信 my ability to work under that Trono gent," said Lilly. "I take it this here nester 占領するd unhealthy 国／地域."

"井戸／弁護士席, you can read the picture an' 肩書を与える fer yourself," answered his informant somewhat 簡潔に, and turned away. Lilly understood the meaning of this perfectly. Trono, he decided, in a wave of disgust, had 砕く buffaloed. He said as much in an audible phrase that was 演説（する）／住所d at nobody in particular. It was meant to 刺激する attention and it 後継するd admirably. The group turned on him with sharpened 利益／興味 and the 広報担当者 put a direct question. "Who the hell are you, amigo, to tell us what the trouble is? You a 候補者 for the unpopularity contest?"

"I'm just a simple creature," murmured Lilly, "that never learned the a-b-c's from any 調書をとる／予約する. But I was always taught 殺人 was a 罪，犯罪."

"Mebbe you'd like to try yore luck with Theed Trono."

Lilly ground the cigarette beneath his boot heel and 星／主役にするd at a group with a 冷淡な directness. Ice 辛勝する／優位d his words. "You can bet your last 半導体素子, fellow, that if I ever do, there'll be more'n one 弾丸 解雇する／砲火／射撃d. That's （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） for general 出版（物）." He swung and left the saloon, knowing that every soul within the room had heard his last 声明. Knowing, too, that in time the challenge would reach Theed Trono. He had meant it as a 審議する／熟考する challenge; etiquette had kept him out of a poor nester's trouble, but there was nothing in the 調書をとる／予約するs that forbade a man starting an 完全に new quarrel if he was so minded. As he walked somberly 負かす／撃墜する the dark street he had a （疑いを）晴らす picture of Trono's savage, いじめ（る）ing 直面する. Why, the man had committed the coldest 肉親，親類d of 殺人 and these fellows stayed glued to their seats! It was enough to rouse the spirit of an Eskimo, for a fact. What sort of a fool was this Trono and what 肉親，親類d of an outfit was the JIB to 許す such 解放する／自由な-手渡すd 殺人，大当り?

He paused in 前線 of the livery stable, sympathies more and more engaged in the 事件／事情／状勢s of the dead nester. There was a 火山の 激変 inside him and he 星／主役にするd 辛うじて through the dark, 解任するing the 下落する words of Joe Breedlove. "I nev yit did know a redheaded gent that wa'n't burnin' to 権利 the wrongs of this yere 不正な world." 井戸／弁護士席, that wasn't 正確に／まさに so. He, Tom Lilly, wasn't going around with a 半導体素子 on his shoulder, but there certainly was such a thing as fair play in the world.

The stable roustabout ambled out of the doorway and murmured. "Ain't the flesh マリファナs 誘惑するd yuh yet?"

Tom Lilly built another cigarette and began delving for （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）. "Once upon a time there was a nester—"

"Yeah. I heard that 発射 in the saloon. The ways o' man are plumb mortal."

"Where might that nester have had his （人命などを）奪う，主張する, anyhow?"

"Jes' inside 巡礼者 Valley, offen the road to the JIB about four miles. They's a nice 冷淡な spring on the place, which shore has been 毒（薬） bait fer many a foolish feller."

"In other words," said Lilly, "the JIB has sort of 不法に swallowed a lot of gov'ment 入ること／参加（者） land along with its rightful 範囲 an' 反対するs to a man peaceably settlin' thereon."

"If yore askin' fer an opinion I ain't got any. If it's a question o' facts, then I guess you don't need no 是正 on the foregoin' 声明."

"井戸／弁護士席, it's an old game," murmured Lilly. "But mos' usually a cattle outfit will draw the line at 冷淡な 殺人. 巡礼者 Valley, I reckon, is 排他的に JIB 領土?"

The roustabout happily fell upon a remembered phrase. "The memory o' man runneth not to the contrary."

"Sho'," 認可するd Lilly, glowering at the 影をつくる／尾行するs. A vague excitement gripped him and he felt a sense of personal 傷害. Theed Trono was taking in too much 領土 and so was a ranch that tried to keep 植民／開拓者s off 政府 land. Boiled 負かす／撃墜する, it 量d to nothing more than a curtailment of his own liberty, for if the nester was shooed off, then they'd shoo him off too. No, that was a 状況／情勢 hardly bearable. He threw away the cigarette with a hunch on his shoulders. "Ain't there a land office here?"

"Over the gen'ral 蓄える／店. See the yaller light? He sleeps there, too. An old dodo bird that come out here to die an' ain't been lucky at it yit." As Lilly drifted away the roustabout sent a 警告 whisper after him. "Don't you be a fool, amigo."

"It's a man's born 特権," replied Lilly, crossing the street. "A 特権 I shore do 演習 a lot, too," he said to himself, climbing the stairway. He steered for a door emitting a 選び出す／独身 beam of light through the keyhole and knocked once. A 不平（をいう）ing 招待 was evoked and he entered a room that was both an office and a 肉親，親類d of living ４半期/4分の1s. On an army cot behind the 反対する—a 反対する heaped with 記録，記録的な／記録する 調書をとる／予約するs and plat 地図／計画するs—was stretched an 古代の fellow with タバコ stained whiskers and a parchment 肌. Amber 注目する，もくろむs moved fretfully toward Lilly. "What you want?"

"目的（とする） to とじ込み／提出する on some land."

The old fellow 一打／打撃d his faded whiskers and grinned a toothless grin. "Wal, my 良心 is （疑いを）晴らす, friend. Takes a lot o' people to make the world. Don't never say I encouraged you."

"Cheerfulness," opined Lilly, "is a priceless thing. Don't get up if it 傷つけるs you, though I'd like to have you show me one particular 位置／汚点／見つけ出す on yore 地図／計画するs."

The old man groaned and hoisted himself an インチ at a time. "Ain't there nothin' I can do to 回復する sanity. Le's see; have you got a thousand dollars, a 巡査 lined stomach, the strength o' a horse? Have you—?"

"Yore makin' that up," interrupted Lilly. "Just 明言する／公表する gov'ment 必要物／必要条件s."

"Upon which 部分 of this earth's crust do you 目的（とする） to take root?"

"Why, there was a （人命などを）奪う，主張する 放棄するd half an hour ago by a gentleman in Jake 鉱夫's place. It's over in 巡礼者 Valley an' it's got a spring on it. I don't 疑問 but what you 解任する the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す."

The answer （機の）カム quickly enough. The old man's 直面する drooped a little and he made aimless 人物／姿／数字s on the 反対する with his pencil. "If the advice of a friend is 価値（がある） anything, my boy, you don't want land there."

"JIB got you buffaloed, too?"

The other shook his 長，率いる. "I'm too far along to mind bein' 発射. It'd be a blessin' to die that sudden. But they wouldn't 取り組む a 政府 公式の／役人. You watch your step."

"Show me this place," 主張するd Lilly. And the old man 陳列する，発揮するing 明白な 不本意, turned the 調書をとる／予約する to a 確かな page and with traveling pencil point 示すd the homestead. "Hamby was a nice feller, too," he opined. "I thought it was jes' an ordinary 発射 when I heard it. 井戸／弁護士席, you understand, there's 形式順守s to go through with before you can とじ込み／提出する. If you want to squat until then it'll be all 権利. Better take lots of cattridges."

Lilly turned toward the door. "Consider me as bein' entered, then. I'm here to stay." He walked out, going 慎重に 負かす／撃墜する the stairway. There was a 事柄 of 供給（する）s to take care of, but these could wait until later in the evening. 権利 at 現在の he felt inclined to return to Jake 鉱夫's place; he had laid an egg there that by now せねばならない have hatched something. 均衡を保った in the doorway he heard 発言する／表明するs floating through the 不明瞭 and by and by Theed Trono （機の）カム into the small reflection of the hotel light. There was another man with him—the tall, horsey-直面するd type familiar throughout the cattle country. England was stamped all over the long, out-thrust chin and the 目だつ nose. Only for a moment were they 一時停止するd in this yellow beam. Lilly tarried thoughtfully, mind 回転するing around several pieces of （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） he had gathered. What he now 提案するd to do was enter 巡礼者 Valley and challenge Theed Trono's attention; Theed Trono, who was a 殺し屋 foreman walking under the 保護 of the JIB, and its owner. Men seemed to be 気が進まない to speak of the owner of this ranch. The roustabout had について言及するd his 指名する—it was Jim Breck—casually and with no 願望（する） to go on. And the nester had called him an octopus. Fitting 肩書を与える.

"井戸／弁護士席, if Breck 扇動するd the shootin' the devil will shorely 支払う／賃金 him for it."

With this reflection he 前進するd on the saloon and 押し進めるd through the door and into trouble. Trono was at the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業, his 注目する，もくろむs やめる hard and 有望な; when he saw Lilly 前進するing he put his whisky glass carefully on the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 and thrust his 弾丸 長，率いる 今後 as if wishing a closer 見解（をとる） of this new 見本／標本. Once again Lilly was aware of the pervading silence of the 見込み half-隠すd in men's 注目する，もくろむs. The Englishman, he noticed, had not entered the saloon.

"Amigo, I been hearin' things about yuh."

It was Trono's 発言する／表明する, unpleasant and blunt. Lilly inclined his 長，率いる, 注目する，もくろむs pinned on the burly one. "Always been my 政策 to 宣言する myself," he 認める. "Whatever you heard about me goes."

"Uhuh. Pass some 発言／述べる about more'n one 弾丸 flyin?"

"That's 訂正する."

"Ain't you a little previous with them 無分別な words?" growled Trono. He の近くにd the fingers of one 手渡す as if to show Lilly the 力／強力にする that was in his arm. "Usually a gent don't go huntin' fer trouble."

"致命的な error of my education," 認める Lilly.

"It's apt to be 致命的な, shore enough," said Trono, displeasure growing. "I think I got an 陳謝 comin' from you. Gettin' pretty bad when a man can't 成し遂げる his chores 'thout bein' libelled. I'm listenin'."

"You'll listen a long, long while, hombre," replied Lilly. He had a hard struggle with the 炎上 of 乱暴／暴力を加えるd 怒り／怒る that 炎d up. "To 縮める this palaver I will 追加する that I don't like yore methods or yore manners. I hear you don't 許す nesters in 巡礼者 Valley. Tomorrow mornin' I'll be on my way up there. You'll find me squattin'. Better change yore style, mister, before you try to run me off."

Fighting talk. A cooler 長，率いる would not have 招待するd trouble in such a way. But Tom Lilly's sympathies were in 支配（する）／統制する and he was willing to 軍隊 the 問題／発行する. He saw やめる 明確に that sooner or later he would 衝突／不一致 with this Trono and he was willing that the fight should come and be done with. Trono seemed 急落（する），激減（する）d in 深い thought, 熟考する／考慮するing Lilly with a long, 審議する／熟考する ちらりと見ること. Evidently the swart foreman saw something in his adversary that bade him move carefully. Lilly was no half-broken nester. That gun butt was placed in the careful manner of a man who had experience.

"井戸／弁護士席," he muttered, "if yore lookin' fer trouble, they's folks that'll 強いる yuh. 本人自身で I'm a peaceable man—" He seemed to feel that he was losing ground, so he finished with a 抱擁する roar. "But I'll give yuh twenty-four hours to pull freightl After that I'm shootin' at sight!"

"A large and （疑いを）晴らす 声明," 観察するd Lilly and turned squared around. It was fifteen feet to the door and at each step he 推定する／予想するd to hear a 警告 shout. 非，不，無 （機の）カム. He reached the street with mingled 悔いる and 救済. "I shore played my cards to the 限界 that time. Joe Breedlove wouldn't scarcely care for such sword-swallowin'."

There was another question in his mind and he re-traced his steps to ask it of the roustabout. "Say, tell me somethin' more about this Jim Breck."

The answer rolled solemnly out of the doorway. "Sooner or later, amigo, he'll cross yore path. An' you won't never fergit it. That's the old Octopus."

The 会合 of Lancelot Stubbins and Theed Trono had been very 簡潔な／要約する and very 私的な. Only by a moment of carelessness had Stubbins permitted himself to be drawn into the patch of light 近づく the hotel. It was here that Lilly had seen the man's English features, and in turn Stubbins had caught a glimpse of the newcomer. The next moment he had pulled Trono into the helter of the 影をつくる／尾行するs, 不平（をいう）ing at his own 怠慢，過失. "That was foolish. 井戸／弁護士席, I'll turn into this alley. Trono, I wish you could hustle things a bit."

"Tomorrow night is plenty soon, ain't it?"

"How's Breck now?"

"Seems like he's losin' his 支配する faster ner usual. He don't get around like he used to a month 支援する."

"His 肉親，親類d goes 負かす／撃墜する all in a pile," 観察するd Stubbins. "I don't believe it'll be long now. Then you and I can do what we want to."

Trono was 疑わしい. "You got to consider the girl, Stubbins. She's a 闘士，戦闘機 like her daddy."

Stubbins laughed. "Trono, I've got a way with women. Don't let that worry you. It's only old Jim Breck I'm afraid of. He's stung me too many times when I thought he was licked. We can afford to wait. Tomorrow night, then, at the usual place."

"Uhuh," said Trono, started toward the saloon. Stubbins looked 支援する toward the hotel and saw Tom Lilly 前進するing also upon the saloon. But the stranger made no particular impression on Stubbins, whose mind was filled with other things, and thus preoccupied he slipped between buildings and 棒 from town.

II. — THE OCTOPUS

"This bein' a bad man is shorely a 堅い 職業, fer sooner er later they's bound to come a leetle bit badder man who's honin' to shoot off the tie."—Joe Breedlove.

AT 誤った 夜明け Tom Lilly was away from 砕く, 長，率いるing south toward the Buttes. By sunrise he had crossed the 鉄道／強行採決する 跡をつけるs and 侵入するd a land that 誇るd neither house nor windmill nor 盗品故買者. It was 厳密に cattle country and for the greater part of the morning he traveled across it, marching 直接／まっすぐに upon the high bluffs and then 平行のing them until the road swung はっきりと 上向き and passed through a gap into a 肉親，親類d of elevated valley. This, Lilly had discovered from the 地図／計画するs, was Jim's Pass and the only 入り口 to 巡礼者 Valley from the west. He turned his horse up the 味方する of the gap and stopped on a 命令（する）ing point What he saw 原因（となる）d him to whistle softly and build a cigarette in 深い meditation.

The valley, （犯罪の）一味d on three 味方するs by the Buttes and 合併するing into a pine forest far to the south, was a self-含む／封じ込めるd, almost inaccessible land. No such thing as a 盗品故買者 was needed and since it was a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 higher than the country outside and below the Buttes it drew more moisture and was visited with a cooler 空気／公表する. The buffalo grass, just turning yellow, covered the valley in a solid mat as far as his 注目する，もくろむs could reach. It was an astonishing contrast to the dead area stretching west and north. No wonder Jim Breck, the octopus, 手配中の，お尋ね者 to keep out interlopers. The sight of it explained a 広大な／多数の／重要な many things to Tom Lilly and as his 注目する，もくろむs wandered out upon the plain below him he 解任するd 逸脱する gossip he had pumped from the reticent roustabout.

That road, for instance, which drifted away before it reached Jim's Pass and 消えるd into the 砂漠. He had learned that it led to the 3Cross, an outfit owned by an Englishman called Stubbins. Stubbins, the roustabout had 慎重に 暗示するd, 支配するd the country outside of 巡礼者 Valley and had even tried to 侵入する the JIB domain. But old Jim Breck had fought him to a 行き詰まり, using the 激しい-手渡すd methods ありふれた to the country. Ever since they had dwelt 味方する by 味方する in an uneasy 態度 of peace; just two gents, the roustabout had 示すd, trying to 削減（する） each other's throat and alike only in the manner they 煙霧d unwelcome newcomers out of the country.

Lilly pinched out his cigarette and threw it away, turning 負かす／撃墜する into the valley. Five miles さらに先に on he reached a small 追跡する that darted from the road toward the pine forest and this he followed for something like an hour when of a sudden he dipped over a 山の尾根 and （機の）カム upon a shanty nestling between three or four young cottonwoods. The 国／地域 had been broken around the house and corn was coming up; a piece of 盗品故買者 had been built and a 骨折って進む stood idle in the yard. Tom slid from the horse, took his 解雇（する） of 供給（する）s and 押し進めるd through the door.

Typical bachelor's ４半期/4分の1s. The dead Hamby had spent very little time in housekeeping. A long 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of nails stretched around the 塀で囲むs from which hung most everything 有能な of 存在 一時停止するd. A pine （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, a bunk, a 議長，司会を務める, and a stove 井戸／弁護士席 filled the place. All there was of food stood on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and Lilly saw at a ちらりと見ること that the nestcr had 許すd himself to get very low before 投機・賭けるing to town. The man must have understood his danger and put off the trip as long as possible. The thought 生き返らせるd Lilly's sulphurous 怒り／怒る and on sight of a riflc hanging above the doorway he walked over and took it 負かす／撃墜する, 事情に応じて変わる the bolt thoughtfully.

"井戸／弁護士席, old fellow, I sure can't help you any, but I can show this JIB 乗組員 a few things about land 権利s."

That reminded him he meant to 支払う／賃金 a visit. So, after watering his horse from the spring at the 後部 of the shanty and eating a can of 冷淡な beans, he swung up and 棒 east. Somewhere beyond the grassy 山の尾根s was the JIB home ４半期/4分の1s. What he meant to do was 明言する／公表する his 意向s to the いわゆる octopus and 身を引く. After that it was a 事例／患者 of listening for the 雷鳴 to roll across the sky.

He smiled grimly at the thought of turning nester. Twenty-four hours before he would have taken the idea in 広大な／多数の／重要な and unbelieving humor. Why, he hardly ever turned around unless on the 支援する of a horse. And as for struggling behind the 扱うs of a 骨折って進む—"Joe Breedlove shore would laugh," he murmured, の近くにing his 注目する，もくろむs against the glare of the day. "Oh, I know I'm hot-長，率いるd. It's been 証明するd plenty times enough. But, by the Lord, that shootin' would make a 木造の Indian cuss. If this ain't a 解放する／自由な land it's high time somebody changed things."

And as he was thus 急落（する），激減（する）d 深い in a 熟考する／考慮する he crossed a 山の尾根 and saw the many buildings of the JIB ranch stretched before him. The place took him 支援する forty years to the time of the Indian wars. Once upon a time there had been a stockade stretched around the place, an 時折の 示す of which still was 明白な. Within this stockade they had built the dozen or so houses in the 形態／調整 of a square, with the main house sitting in the middle of the 広大な／多数の／重要な yard thus formed. All were built of スピードを出す／記録につけるs and the 中心 house, a 選び出す／独身 storied structure sixty feet long, had 肘s built at each corner with ライフル銃／探して盗む embrasures 削減（する） through; 頂上に a sod roof a cupola likewise hewn of スピードを出す／記録につけるs 命令（する）d all angles of the yard. A porch ran the length of the place, upon which at intervals opened 激しい oak doors.

Men moved slowly about. Dust rose out of a remote corral and a horse sunfished 上向き through the 煙霧 with a man weaving perilously in the saddle. At another corner several Indians seemed busy around a 解雇する／砲火／射撃. As Lilly drew rein before the main house he was あられ／賞賛するd by a rumbling 発言する／表明する.

"Sit an' light."

Tom had to look around a pine 中心存在 to see the man, and at once knew him to be the redoubtable Jim Breck. He was sprawled in a 議長，司会を務める, his 大規模な 団体／死体 洪水ing it—a 団体／死体 that even with the 蓄積するd 層s of fat 陳列する，発揮するd something of the tremendous muscles that once must have stretched across the shoulders. The 長，率いる was square and seemed hewn out of so much granite, each feature chiseled 概略で and generously. The Octopus, someone had called him. 井戸／弁護士席, it was a good 愛称. Even so Lilly was not 用意が出来ている 正確に／まさに for the 残り／休憩（する） of the picture. Here was an old man, a sick man; one who sat very still and listened to the sound of his own heart as it labored toward the end of its 旅行. A gray, dust-like pallor was on the 直面する and the lips were almost colorless; a strange and depressing spectacle of a mighty でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる going to pieces. Still, there was 解雇する／砲火／射撃 in those grim 注目する，もくろむs. It flashed out now, fitfully.

"Come out o' the sun, young man. We'll eat すぐに."

At this moment an 古代の, skinny Indian slipped around the corner of the house and reached for Lilly's reins.

"No, I don't believe I will, thanks. It ain't 権利 to traffic on a man's 歓待. I take it yore Jim Breck. Such bein' the 事例／患者 I don't reckon I could eat comfortable at your （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する."

One mighty shoulder rose and fell. "Knew somethin' was itchin' you when I saw you comin' over the rise. Say it, younker."

"I'm settlin' on the three-sixty over at the spring. I 目的（とする） to stay, notwithstandin' yore foreman. Just 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 宣言する myself."

Jim Breck sat motionless, his 注目する，もくろむs 調査するing Lilly. After a long interval he answered almost gently. "The fightin' 肉親，親類d, ain't you? Somethin's roused yore sense o' 司法（官）. But it's too late, Red. They's a nester on that place now. A fellow by the 指名する o' Hamby."

Tom shook his 長，率いる. "Yore foolin' me, Mister Breck. You ought to know better."

"What's that?" asked Breck with an 増加する of energy.

"Yore foreman いじめ（る）d him into a fight. 発射 him dead." Lilly was unable to keep the 怒り／怒る from his words. "About as dirty a piece o' work as I've seen in my time. Don't you draw the line at anything?"

"So," muttered Breck. His chin fell 今後 and he fumbled in his pocket for a cigar. He looked wistfully at it, then with a 反抗的な gesture put it in his mouth. "So that's got you excited. Hornin' in on another party's misfortune. 'Tain't a 安全な game, son. But yore 肉親，親類d don't care about playin' 安全な. Reckon you've got me 計器d as a hop toad, eh?"

"Yore 評判 is on public 記録，記録的な／記録する," said Tom.

"井戸／弁護士席, that's so," murmured Breck in a gentle 発言する／表明する. "But I was raised in a hard school. Had to fight my way. Don't this ranch look like it was built to stand 包囲? If you 観察する them スピードを出す／記録につけるs you'll see 弾丸 示すs a-plenty."

"That ain't no answer for shootin' a nester."

解雇する／砲火／射撃 gleamed in the 注目する，もくろむs again. "Mebbee 'tain't. When a man gets to the end o' the road an' looks 支援する he sees plenty things different than he used to. 井戸／弁護士席, I like yore 勇気. I could shorely use a 闘士，戦闘機 on this ranch. Want a 職業?"

"No," said Lilly. "I'm 強いるd, but that's not my politics. The world ain't goin' to be large enough for Trono an' me, let alone a ranch. Anyhow, I'm （軍の）野営地，陣営d off yonder an' I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to let you know."

"Pleased to know a man's real feelin's," agreed Breck. He started to 追加する something, but was interrupted. A door opened and a woman's 発言する／表明する broke in. "Dad, are you disobeying the doctor? You give me that cigar."

"Damn the pill peddler," muttered Breck, irritably. "If I got to die, I got to die. But I'm goin' to have a leetle fun."

Lilly turned in the saddle and without knowing just why, 除去するd his hat. She was a girl of perhaps eighteen or twenty; a sturdy supple 人物／姿／数字 dressed in riding 着せる／賦与するs. In the 影をつくる／尾行する of the porch her 注目する，もくろむs glowed and there was a rose-pink color on her cheeks. She took the cigar from her father in a quick, 防御の movement "You won't help yourself, so I must 扱う／治療する you like a baby." Then she saw Lilly and a smile flashed out. Her 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs passed from man to man and the quick, open-手渡すd 歓待 of the West 誘発するd her to speak to the newcomer. "Won't you stop for dinner?"

"I'm han'somely pleased," said Lilly, "but I've got to get 支援する to my place."

"You live 近づく here?" she asked, puzzled.

"Yes'm. I'm taking up the homestead by the spring."

He saw friendliness 消える and 憤慨 spring up.

Old Jim Breck's chuckle followed him away from the place and far along the road home.

"Spitfire," he murmured. "She's got every bit of her daddy's temper. But, by Godfrey, she's pretty! Now look what I'm into."

The 残り／休憩（する） of the 旅行 was made in 激しい silence. This 会合 had 大いに puzzled him. If Breck were so 激しい-手渡すd, why hadn't the man challenged him on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す? Instead he'd been 申し込む／申し出d a 職業. Was the Octopus the 肉親，親類d that spoke softly and struck in the dark? This 事件／事情／状勢 was getting 複雑にするd and that was a fact. There was only one thing he could depend on for a certainty—Theed Trono's 完全な 敵意.

支援する on the porch, Jill Breck spoke her mind. "He certainly has got his 神経 riding deliberately over here to tell us that. Did he mean, Dad, he was going in with Hamby?"

"Hamby died," answered Breck, 星／主役にするing into the 有望な yard. "The lad's goin' to take over the homestead."

Jill fell silent for a moment. She was a loyal girl with an 巨大な pride for everything 関心ing the JIB. Nor was it her fault that she did not know the seamier 味方する of her father's 事件／事情／状勢s. She had always thought that every acre within the valley was owned in 料金 simple and she could never understand why nesters dared to trespass. She had asked her father about this once, but the reply had been so vague and technical that it only served to 強化する her belief that her father was, in a kindly way, trying to 保護物，者 the lawless nesters. For she had never seen other than 親切 in her father. What he had been in his younger days she never knew, and was never told. The stories of the 範囲 wars （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する to her as so much legend and whatever the trouble occurring between JIB and 3Cross in later years, it was carefully kept from her, just as it was kept from the outside world.

"井戸／弁護士席, I'm sorry the man died. He was old and goodness knows how he made a living, but he shouldn't have come on our land. And I don't see why you 許す this red-長，率いるd cowpuncher to 反抗する you like he did. I'll bet he's a Stubbins' man. A nester doesn't wear 着せる／賦与するs like that, or ride like that."

"Uhuh. Jill, you go see about the grub."

When she had disappeared inside, Breck spoke to the Indian who had held Lilly's horse. "Pattipaws, you git Trono for me. Tell him I want him."

The Indian was away on the run, leaving Breck a morose, silent 人物／姿／数字. "Seems there's a lot o' things passin' on hereabouts I don't have 勝利，勝つd of lately. Trono's forcin' my 手渡す. 井戸／弁護士席, I allus knew what sort of man he was. If he's tryin' to out-nigger me, it's my own fault."

Trono rolled around the corner of the house, a surly indifferent man built in the same mold as his boss. Breck, 注目する，もくろむing the foreman, 結論するd that was the 推論する／理由 he had kept the foreman so long. Here was the image of himself as he had been in earlier days—抱擁する and tireless, without compunction, a hard driver. If Trono, in 新規加入, had the 障害（者） of 存在 without 忠義 and was a dirty 闘士，戦闘機 in his 激怒（する）s, Breck had shut his 注目する，もくろむs. Trono had 遂行するd the necessary and unmentionable JIB chores; that was the service he had 要求するd. But now Trono was assuming too much; he was becoming intractable.

"井戸／弁護士席?" muttered the foreman.

Breck の近くにd his 広大な／多数の／重要な 握りこぶしs. "Who told you to kill Hamby?"

Trono smiled. "How d'yuh know?"

"Don't 削減する with me, you yellow-belly!" cried Breck. "Ain't I told you to leave Hamby alone?"

"井戸／弁護士席, that's all the good it did yuh. If yore goin' to call 指名するs, I'll call a few myself. Yore gettin' chicken-hearted. Losin' yore 支配する. I tried to use peaceable means on that nester, but he was pigheaded, so I killed him. Since when've you changed idees on that 支配する? Wa'n't long ago when you sent me out with a gun fer those fellas."

The gray color swept 負かす／撃墜する into Breck's collar and his 手渡す 圧力（をかける）d at his heart. "The world ain't the same to an old man, Theed. Was a time when the whole valley wasn't 肘 room enough. 井戸／弁護士席, I'm more peaceable now to'rds neighbors. Y'see, about all the land I'll be needin' is a （土地などの）細長い一片 six feet by three."

Trono ripped out a short and ugly word. "I killed Hamby fer my own personal satisfaction like I used to do 確かな 職業s fer you. An' I'll kill any other gent tha tries to squat on that spring."

"You got my orders on that, Trono," said Breck, speaking in a dead level トン. "Mean to disobey me?"

Trono was grinning. It was the same tight, malevolent grin Lilly had 証言，証人／目撃するd the night before in Jake 鉱夫's place; the man was riding his victory high and wide. "Who's talkin' about obedience? I'm a 解放する／自由な man, Breck."

Breck leaned 今後, one trembling forefinger （電話線からの）盗聴 the arm of his 議長，司会を務める. "Listen, Theed. Nobody ever crossed me yet an' got away with it. Which 適用するs to you. Yore my foreman. I 選ぶd you outen trouble an' I give you a 職業 when other folks 手配中の，お尋ね者 to tie you to a 四肢. Now, boy, don't try any rannies or I'll 破産した／（警察が）手入れする you. I'll 破産した／（警察が）手入れする you, hear? You do my orders an' you do 'em on the jump. What's more, keep away from the spring. They's a new man there and he's welcome to the place. I 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う he's more'n a match fer you, at that."

Trono's features suffused with a purplish red. "That redhead eh? So he come tellin' you tales. I give him twenty-four hours to pull out an' by Godfrey he'd better take the warnin'!"

"You got my orders, Trono!"

"To hell with you, Breck. I'll do as I please. You start a fight with me an' I'm apt to show you a few surprises on this yere ranch. Think that over!"

He wheeled off toward the bunkhouse. Breck saw him stop, whisper something to one of the 手渡すs and jerk a thumb toward the porch, nodding his 長，率いる derisively. The old man relaxed in his 議長，司会を務める, breathing hard. A grinding 苦痛 ran from his neck 負かす／撃墜する his left arm and a old sweat covered him from 長，率いる to foot. Of a sudden he was very weak and the world grew 薄暗い and distant. He seemed to be apart from his 団体／死体—watching himself die. 井戸／弁護士席, he had a few 悔いるs. He had lived his 株 of years, lived them up to the hilt and had all the fun any man could have wished. A few things, perhaps, he would like to have the 力／強力にする of undoing. But life wasn't that way; once a man played his 手渡す there was no 解任するing it.

No, it wasn't for himself, but for his girl that he worried. Trono had the upper 手渡す now, and Trono was a disloyal, self- 捜し出すing dog. Why hadn't he considered this long ago when he could have 鎮圧するd the man with his 握りこぶし? What would happen to the place after he died? Jill was a hard-長，率いるd little kid with a world of 勇気, but she couldn't run a cattle ranch without help and she couldn't buck Trono if he was of a mind to make trouble. And the foreman meant to make trouble; the man's last 警告 示すd as much. There were a dozen ways in which a ranch could be stripped, 地雷d and made unbearable for the girl. Breck gripped his 手渡すs together, feeling the sweat roll 負かす／撃墜する his sleeves. This helplessness was something new, something terrible.

"I'm of a mind to kill him, by the Lord!" He groaned, and he thought of getting his gun and calling Trono 支援する. Shoot him 冷淡な. Once he would have had no scruples, but the stomach was out of him now, just as the foreman had said.

The day grew dimmer and the 日光 turned to 影をつくる／尾行する. In the 薄暗い borderland which is passed by man but once he 設立する himself thinking of Tom Lilly. There was a fighting heart and an honest 直面する. He had seen men like that before. He had 廃虚d men like that before. 廃虚d them and laughed. But there was no laughter in him now. "Jill," he muttered, "Jill! You send for the pill peddler. And bring Pattipaws to me. I've got one more 発射 in the バーレル／樽 yet."

Tom Lilly ate his supper, rolled a cigarette and sat in the doorway watching the sun go 負かす／撃墜する over the Buttes. With the lengthening 影をつくる／尾行するs （機の）カム a 微風 that soughed through the cottonwoods and なぎd him to a lazy, dreaming peace. There were plenty of things to think about, but for a time he let his fancy roll where it pleased. It was a mighty queer feeling, this, of 存在 perched high above the heat of the 砂漠 and watching the world turn around from his own doorstep. Of course, it wasn't really his yet, but it would be. He meant to （軍の）野営地，陣営. The rolling 石／投石する had 設立する a mighty 罰金 place to grow a little moss.

"Joe Breedlove would shore laugh," he murmured. Tom Lilly a nester. 井戸／弁護士席, worse things had happened. Clerking in a 蓄える／店, for example, or doing roustabout's work in a stable. And this land ふさわしい him 権利 負かす／撃墜する to the grass roots. He ran his 注目する，もくろむs along the unfinished 盗品故買者 with a professional 利益／興味 and he began to calculate the 量 of 手渡す labor that lay before him. There was plenty of it—but there was plenty of time, too. First and 真っ先の, he would be busy with the JIB and its 成果／努力s to 除去する him from the valley.

So he sat until it was やめる dark. Then he rose and lugged his saddle to a 山の尾根 a hundred yards left of the house and returned for his pony. It wouldn't do to sleep in the shack this night. Unless he was 大いに mistaken there would be 訪問者s along to see him. He picketed the buckskin in a hollow and rolled himself in a 一面に覆う／毛布, 星／主役にするing 上向き at the inky sky. It was very strange, this feeling of restfulness that took 持つ／拘留する. Most usually he was always wanting to go on, always wanting to see the land beyond the 山の尾根. He chuckled. "I'll have to tell Joe about this."

He wondered how much the girl knew of her father's 事件／事情／状勢s. By George, but she was a pretty one, and with her little 長，率いる plumb 十分な of fight! Those 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs had changed powerfully quick from friendliness to 憤慨 when he 発表するd himself. "I wonder if she understands what her daddy and that Trono person have been up—"

The question was 押し進めるd to the 支援する of his mind. The ground was telegraphing him the （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 of many hoofs coming 速く across the swelling valley 床に打ち倒す. He rolled from his 一面に覆う／毛布 and touched the butt of his gun; the rumbling grew louder and presently a party swept over the 山の尾根 and toward his house. He heard them stop and made out the murmur of 発言する／表明する. A match ゆらめくd and by it he saw the 薄暗い blur of a 直面する. によれば the noise of the horses there must have been a half dozen in the party and they appeared to be waiting. A horse blubbered softly and a 逸脱する word floated over the still 空気／公表する. "Late."

This was 利益／興味ing. Lilly gathered himself and crept 負かす／撃墜する the 味方する of the 山の尾根 until he made out the faint 輪郭（を描く） of men and beasts. In a few moments he heard the rumbling of another rider and he stopped, plastering himself to the ground. The newcomer spurred out of the east and reined in with a jingling of gear. A 激しい, 不平（をいう）ing 発言する／表明する that was やめる familiar to him floated across the 黒人／ボイコット 湾 of space. "Hey, Stubbins, this is a hell of a place to stop. They's that red-長，率いる around here. He's took up Hamby's （人命などを）奪う，主張する."

A ripping, 爆発性の 誓い. Men dropped out of their saddles and circled around the house. A match ゆらめくd again and by it Lilly saw someone move in and out the door of the shanty. "井戸／弁護士席," 発表するd a 発言する／表明する, "He ain't here now. Guess he got 冷淡な feet an' 出発／死d. Whyn't you let me know this before, Trono?"

"Wasn't able to get away. Been a lot o' 雷鳴 raised at the rancho."

"Old man gettin' ticklish, eh?"

"I told him where to 長，率いる in," muttered Trono. He was in the saddle again, moving toward Lilly's position. "And I give this red-長，率いる twenty-four hours to vamoose, but he's plumb bull-直面するd an' won't 脅す. Can't have him puttin' his long nose into our 事件／事情／状勢s, Stubbins."

"井戸／弁護士席, if he meddles he'll get 不正に scorched," replied the Englishman. "No 広大な／多数の／重要な worry about that. You're always issuin' some sort of a challenge, me lad. Better salve yourself. And I wouldn't cross old Jim. He's a 堅い fellow. 平易な does it."

"Pussyfoot," snorted Trono. He was within ten feet of Lilly, turning from 味方する to 味方する in his saddle. "That don't get you nowhere."

"いつかs it does," 反対するd the Englishman. "The trouble with you, me lad, is that you fail to understand when a soft word will do the work of a hard one. I have no scruples about 暴力／激しさ, you mind. But I'd rather take the 平易な path than the hard one. There is trouble enough in this country without creating more. 井戸／弁護士席, let's 煙霧 these brutes out of the 木材／素質 before daylight. Onward."

The party drifted around the shack and were lost in the rising ground to the south. Lilly rose and returned to his 一面に覆う／毛布, piercing together diverse bits of （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）. Trono was a JIB man and Stubbins ran the 3Cross. Why all this fraternizing when the two outfits were in a 明言する／公表する of 武装した 一時休戦? The answer was simple enough. Trono was knifing his boss. This night party was making a （警察の）手入れ，急襲 on JIB 在庫／株; they meant to break the old Octopus who was no longer able to fight for himself. Lilly shook his 長，率いる in disgust. "I'd as lief sleep with a skunk as have any 商売／仕事 with Trono. The doggone doublecrosser! If he ain't even loyal to his own outfit he ain't fit to be 発射." Perhaps old Jim Breck was unscrupulous, but it was plain dirty to knife a man when he was 負かす／撃墜する. And so he drifted off to a light slumber, mildly sympathizing with the man he had not long before 反抗するd.

He had trained himself to wake at the slightest sound. Yet when he did wake it was at no sound, but rather from a sense of danger の近くに by. Even before his 注目する，もくろむs opened the 神経s at the 支援する of his neck sent a chilly 警告 through him and he groped for his gun, rolling 速く aside from his 一面に覆う／毛布. Gray 夜明け had come and at his very feet, crouched, was the skinny Indian buck who had held his reins the day before, Pattipaws. The Indian had crept within five feet of Lilly without betraying himself and now as he saw Lilly rising up in self-弁護 he held out a 手渡す, palm to the 前線, and the inscrutable 巡査-colored visage moved from 味方する to 味方する. "Pattipaws a frien'. You come with me. Boss he want to see you now."

Lilly 熟考する／考慮するd the Indian with 穏やかな indignation. "You shore had me in a 穴を開ける, Smoke 直面する. First time I was ever 罠にかける like that."

"Indian way," said Pattipaws 簡潔に. His faded, murky 注目する，もくろむs played across Lilly's 直面する for a long while. He put out his 手渡す. "We frien's. Come."

Lilly saddled and swung up. The Indian trotted over the 山の尾根 and 再現するd on a flea-bitten paint pony, riding bareback. Together they galloped eastward toward the ranch. Rose 夜明け suffused the sky and the light, 冷淡な 空気／公表する carried the 激しい aromatic smell of the 下落する. Lilly bent toward Pattipaws. "This a peace talk, Smoke 直面する, or are we raisin' the hatchet?"

"Plenty peace, plenty trouble," said Pattipaws, his moccasined heels banging at the paint pony's 側面に位置するs. "Boss, he dyin'."

And when they reached the ranch and entered the house Lilly 設立する old Jim Breck lying in bed, the 大規模な 直面する turned to the color of old ivory. But there was still a gleam in the 激しい 注目する，もくろむs; when he saw Lilly he smiled in a grim sort of way at his daughter and an 年輩の man who bent over him. "I'm playin' my last card," he muttered and for a moment was silent, collecting his energy. Short, clipped words 問題／発行するd from his strangely immobile lips.

"Red, you come to this country lookin' fer trouble. 井戸／弁護士席, you're goin' to get it. I'm passin' out. You take my cards from now on. I'm makin' you foreman on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. Ain't time to tell you what to do, or what to watch for. But—you'll have to fight Trono. He's bent on bustin' the JIB. 行為／法令／行動する as if this place belonged to you. Jill understands. Take care of the kid. You 約束?"

The 年輩の man, who appeared to be a doctor, leaned over to 示す Breck's flagging pulse and shook his 長，率いる in 警告. Lilly, 急落（する），激減（する）d in a 深遠な and wondering 熟考する／考慮する, saw the girl fasten a sharp ちらりと見ること on him that had all the 影響 of a blow. Then she 解任するd him with a 圧力 of her lips and turned toward her father, her 手渡すs tightly clenched and her whole 団体／死体 rigid. "Father, what is it you are doing?"

"Yeah," assented Lilly. "You don't know me."

"I've seen yore 肉親，親類d afore," muttered Breck. "Know you 権利 負かす／撃墜する to the ground. I'm bankin' on you, Red. It's a go!"

"It's a go," said Lilly in a gentle 発言する／表明する. "But there'll have to be a 対決 with Trono. You don't know half o' what he's up to."

"I can guess," replied Breck, grimly. His chest filled and swelled under the bed covers. "Damnation I'd like to be strong fer five minutes. I'd break him with my two 手渡すs!"

"That," broke in the doctor, "is no way to leave the earth. You'd better get a little charity in your system, Jim. You'll need it."

"I ain't no hypocrite," said Breck. "A man can't change himself in the last five minutes." His 直面する turned toward Pattipaws who stood silently in the background. Of a sudden the room was filled with a guttural droning of the Bannock dialect, at the end of which the Indian stepped between Lilly and the girl, laying his 手渡すs on both and in turn （電話線からの）盗聴 his own heart. 感謝 crept over Breck's 直面する—a strange emotion for that 激しい, granite countenance. "He'll stick when all the 残り／休憩（する） are gone," said the old man, pointing toward the Indian. "I fought this buck's tribe forty years ago. Made friends with 'em and ４半期/4分の1d 'em on the ranch. They'll be leavin' now, but Pattipaws said he'd stick. He knows a few things that may be helpful when the shootin' starts. Now, Jill girl, I don't want you to feel 厳しい to'rds yore paw fer what he's told you in the last couple hours. When a man plays with a deck that's been 示すd by crooks, he's got to do the best he can. Doc, gimme a cigar."

But the cigar was of no earthly use to him. He died before it touched his mouth. Pattipaws turned はっきりと and darted out; in a moment there was a long subdued wailing from the Indian ４半期/4分の1s and when Lilly left the room he saw the Bannocks とじ込み／提出するing slowly away toward the pine forest, their travois raising dust in the fresh morning 空気／公表する. One by one the cowhands began to collect in 前線 of the porch, 星／主役にするing at Lilly in the manner of men not pleased by what they saw. The Octopus had 出発／死d and with him went the アイロンをかける discipline surrounding his 指名する. Trouble brewed, even as the doctor 現れるd and spoke 簡潔に. "He's on his way, boys. Said he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be buried before noon. You know what to do."

III. — SHOW-DOWN

"When a gent figgers to 選ぶ a quarrel with yuh, don't watch his 注目する，もくろむs ner his gun arm. Keep yore orbs plastered in the middle o' his chest. He'll telegraph his nex' move from there."—Joe Breedlove.

IT was a hurried, 簡潔な／要約する funeral and of all the （人が）群がる only Jill, the doctor and Pattipaws seemed to show grief at the old Octopus' passing. The doctor, standing beside Lilly as the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な was dug—on a knoll 近づく the house—spoke sadly. "He never was a 手渡す for 感情. Never gave any and never 推定する／予想するd any, except with Jill. There せねばならない be a parson to say a few 権利 words, but he wouldn't have it that way. Said he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be out of the road so he wouldn't be cluttering the 事件／事情／状勢s of live folks. My boy, there was アイロンをかける in old Jim!"

It was wholly a man's 事件／事情／状勢. Jill had taken leave of her father in the bedroom and after that 消えるd somewhere in the dark 休会s of the house. One of the 手渡すs who was something of a carpenter made a 棺 and presently they were lowering it, with its 広大な／多数の／重要な 重荷（を負わせる）, into the earth. All of the 乗組員 stood about, with Theed Trono in the background. Lilly, turning his 注目する，もくろむs on the foreman, saw nothing of sympathy in the hard, coarse 直面する, nothing of 悔いる. Rather, there was a 肉親，親類d of sardonic, illy-隠すd 勝利 on his countenance as the 棺 消えるd from sight. It was an 表現 that, in 変化させるing 形態／調整s and degrees, could be seen の中で the others also. The doctor, conscious of his 欠如（する） of Biblical knowledge, stooped and took up a handful of 国／地域, letting it trickle beneath his fingers.

"There ain't nothing I could say to 速度(を上げる） Jim along," he murmured. "There ain't much he'd want me to say. He always 人物／姿／数字d he could fight his own way, here and hereafter. He never needed help, he never turned color when he was in a hard 直す／買収する，八百長をする. It was always up and a-doing. He took his 薬／医学 and kept his mouth shut. He was hard, but he never 二塁打 crossed a friend and he never pretended to be something he wasn't." The doctor 圧力（をかける）d his lips tightly together and 調査するd the 乗組員 with a 反抗的な, unfriendly ちらりと見ること. "You won't ever see another like him—never. Good 追跡（する）ing, Jim."

That was all. Pattipaws stretched his skinny 手渡す toward the west and turned away. Trono stepped to the fore and pulled his gun, 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing once into the 空気／公表する. "That was the sound he like best to hear," he explained and 星／主役にするd at Lilly from beneath his 激しい lids. The newcomer met the challenge with a 簡潔な／要約する ちらりと見ること and followed the doctor 負かす／撃墜する the hill. On the porch he tarried, building himself a cigarette and watching the 乗組員 drift slowly toward the bunkhouse. The doctor went inside and presently （機の）カム out, looking very glum. As he climbed into the saddle he swept the ranch with an arm and spoke.

"You got a 職業, boy. I don't envy you. But you better be straight to the girl or I'll have something to say."

With that 警告 he galloped away, his little 黒人／ボイコット satchel flopping from the 鞍馬 and his coat-tails streaming in the 勝利，勝つd. In a moment he was beyond a 山の尾根 and out of sight, leaving Lilly to his problem. The 乗組員 had disappeared and the yard baked under the hard noon-day light. A Sunday's stillness pervaded the place, but it was not the silence of peace. Lilly could feel a 脅し in the warm, lazy 空気／公表する, a 警告 of trouble to come. Still he smoked on as if serenely unconscious of 差し迫った danger. Perhaps he put more of 怠慢，過失 in his 耐えるing than he felt, for he knew that from the windows of the bunkhouse he was 存在 調査するd by many pairs of 注目する，もくろむs.

"If the old man had 手配中の，お尋ね者 to get even with me," he 反映するd, "he shore couldn't have 選ぶd a better way. Here I am plumb in the middle of 不確定 with nine chances out of ten that I'll get my 長，率いる 発射 off before sundown. A pleasant prospect. If I got any value on my hide it'd be better for me to take a good long pasear and never come 支援する."

But he was only kidding himself. He was in this fight up to his neck and he had no idea of 支援 out. 一方／合間 time rolled on and there was something 存在 hatched over at the bunkhouse. It would do no good standing here and letting them get the bulge on him. He had to get busy. So he 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd the cigarette into the yard and went through the door to the main room. It was dark and 冷静な／正味の in this long, low-beamed parlor and for a moment his 注目する，もくろむs, dilated by the sun, saw nothing.

He stood there on the threshold 広範囲にわたる the dark corners until he made out a 人物／姿／数字 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd in a 議長，司会を務める. A silent 人物／姿／数字 who 星／主役にするd at him with hot, mistrustful 注目する，もくろむs. She had been crying, he could see that; but the 涙／ほころびs had 乾燥した，日照りのd, leaving her with somber, unpleasant thoughts. Lilly guessed that Breck had told his daughter many things about the JIB she had never known and that she was struggling now to reconcile them with her father's 親切 and with her own sense of 忠義. He hated to break in, but he knew very 井戸／弁護士席 he had to come to some understanding with this girl. He could not begin unless she supported him, and already he felt he had in some manner 誘発するd her antagonism.

"Ma'am," said he, still on the threshold. "It's a hard time to palaver, but we've got to thresh a few things out. What I want to know is: Are you acceptin' me as foreman o' this ranch?"

He thought she had not heard him, so long was the silence. In the end she moved her 長，率いる わずかに. "You heard what my father told you."

"Yes, I heard. But I ain't heard what you think about it. We've got to work together if we work at all."

The dam broke all of a sudden. "Who are you? What do I know about you? What did my father know? He saw you twice and then 信用d you with the ranch—and with me. Am I to believe you are the only honest man in the 郡?"

"As to that," said he, "I don't know. I'm not claimin' any particular virtue for myself. But yore daddy appeared to be in trouble and he thought I could help you. Give him a little credit if you can't 信用 yore own 注目する，もくろむs. That's about all I can ask. Maybe there's lots of honest men hereabouts, but there's also a かなりの number o' crooks—a few of which are on this ranch at the 現在の time."

"How do you know? You 棒 into this country yesterday and now you say you are やめる honest and that the 乗組員 is not. That's taking in a lot of ground."

"You heard what yore daddy said. I'm no prosecutin' 弁護士／代理人／検事. I've been given a 職業 to do and I got to have yore help to do it. If yore goin' to buck me I might 同様に roll my 一面に覆う／毛布s."

"You know the way out," she reminded him. "You can やめる now if you want."

"I can," he 認める grimly, "but I won't. I give my word and I'll keep it. Yore old enough to know better. Don't be so foolish. I don't love this ranch, ma'am, and I don't hone to assume any 責任／義務 for its past 軽罪s. But we're in a 穴を開ける 権利 now and we've got to pull together." He saw that he had spoken more はっきりと than he meant so he tried to 軟化する his words. "There ain't any 推論する／理由 why you should jump on me."

"Oh, I know it! But can't you see—my father told me things—! Everything is crooked, everything is opposite what I've always believed it to be. Now you come and ask me to 信用 you. How can I know that the men here are not loyal, or that you are any better than they are—if they are not loyal?"

"You better believe me on that 支配する," said he. "And come to a 決定／判定勝ち（する）."

Again a long silence. There was a rumbling of 発言する／表明するs outside, a short distance from the house and the girl seemed to see the 強化するing of Lilly's 直面する muscles. "井戸／弁護士席," she 認める, "I'll do what my father asked. You are the foreman. But remember I have the final say. I won't have you 発射する／解雇するing men who have worked here for years."

"We'll 努力する／競う to please," said he, though he disliked her 仮定／引き受けること that she was doing him a 好意. "But there'll have to be a show-負かす／撃墜する between Trono and me. Unless I'm plumb wrong, one of us has got to go. We'll know in a minute, for I think I hear a 委員会."

When he reached the porch they were grouped around the steps—every man who had been at the funeral. It was not a 委員会, it was the whole 乗組員 and they were led by Trono who was standing with his shoulders squared and a light of trouble in his 注目する，もくろむs. The man was reaching out now to new 高さs of recklessness. The only 力／強力にする that had ever been able to check him was gone and he had come to the point where he might work his own will, whatever it was. Lilly understood 即時に that Trono regarded him as only a straw to be blown away, and at the thought he scanned the 乗組員 with a careful, 希望に満ちた ちらりと見ること. But if he hoped for 支持者s he was to be mistaken. The character of the JIB cowpunchers was written やめる plainly on their 直面するs. With the exception of one or two, they were the sort of men to be 設立する along the 国境, one jump from Mexico; restless, unscrupulous men who 雇うd out their services to the highest 入札者. They were not the type that ran a 平和的な cattle ranch. Lilly did not fail to 公式文書，認める their white 手渡すs and the way their gunbutts swung 今後; the new foreman guessed that they were better with the gun than with the rope.

井戸／弁護士席, it was 非，不，無 of his 商売／仕事 if this was the 肉親，親類d of a puncher old Jim Breck had needed in his 商売／仕事. Many and many a ranch had to have its professional 闘士，戦闘機s if it were to 生き残る the encroachment of other ranches. Still, this 肉親，親類d of 戦争 was dying out; cattlemen used more 平和的な methods and it was something of a surprise to Lilly that the JIB still carried its 十分な complement of feudists. It would make his 職業 the more difficult. He stood immobile, trying to 計器 the extent of their 敵意 toward him; and while he was thus groping for the 権利 word to say Trono took the bit in his mouth and 問題／発行するd his challenge.

"Don't yuh believe in 調印するs, amigo?"

"Depends on the 調印する," replied Lilly amiably.

"井戸／弁護士席, yuh heard my 声明 the other night. Yore twenty- four hours is about up. I ain't a man to go 支援する on my word. What yuh doin' around here?"

Nothing could come of the 延期する or soft speech. Trono was not the 肉親，親類d to understand it. So Lilly spoke his piece.

"I'm foreman here now, Trono. Yore out of a 職業. My orders are to give you a 職業 as 最高の，を越す 手渡す if you want it. If you don't want it, roll your 一面に覆う／毛布 and walk."

Trono had not looked for such an attack. It took the belligerent words from his mouth and he stood with his 長，率いる craned 今後 while the ruddy 血 急ぐd into his 直面する. The green 注目する，もくろむs were unblinking. "Who told yuh that?"

"The old man."

Trono's reply was short and unmentionable. He took half a step 今後, his 武器 swinging wide. "Yuh 嘘（をつく）! Bring Jill out here a minute and I'll talk to her! Don't fool me, Red."

From somewhere （機の）カム Jill's 発言する／表明する. "That is the truth, Theed. You have your choice."

Trono looked from window to window; but Jill had 消えるd again and in the silence Lilly tried again to find a friendly 直面する in the （人が）群がる. "井戸／弁護士席, we might 同様に get this straight. Are you working for me or are you pullin' out?"

"Work fer yuh? Hell, I wouldn't take yore orders if I 餓死するd. Yuh ain't gettin' away with that, Red. As to pullin' out, I dunno about that, either. Misdoubt if you got any 権利 to 雇う or 解雇する／砲火／射撃."

Lilly looked to the others. "You boys have yore choice. It's me or Trono."

There was no answer. 非，不，無 was needed. Lilly understood his 状況／情勢 完全に. These were Trono's creatures, they would fight at Trono's nod. The new foreman, watching Trono with a 安定した, 用心深い ちらりと見ること, wondered why that nod didn't come. If the man was brash enough to 軍隊 the 問題／発行する now was the proper time. Trono's 直面する was settled in reflection and there was a slow evaporation of his belligerence. Again, as in the saloon, he hesitated, seeming to 重さを計る Lilly. In the end he turned and spoke 簡潔に to the men. "We're pullin' out We ain't workin' on no ranch run by this jasper. If the old man 手配中の，お尋ね者 him so bad that ain't no 肌 off our nose."

The whole group turned and walked toward the bunkhouse. A ４半期/4分の1 hour later they were galloping over the 山の尾根 and out of sight. Lilly watched them go, both relieved and puzzled; it was hard to understand Trono's mildness, hard to fathom why the man hadn't made a stronger 企て，努力，提案 for 支配（する）／統制する.

"It shore looks like he's 支援するd 負かす／撃墜する from his bluff about me leavin' the country in twenty-four hours. Yet, somehow, it don't seem Trono would give in that 平易な. Must be a nigger in the woodpile."

Rolling a cigarette, he settled in a 議長，司会を務める and watched the sun 下落する 西方の. Life on the ranch had come to a 十分な stop. Nothing moved in the yard, no sound （機の）カム from the corrals. It was as if Breck's passing had 孤立した the JIB's 運動ing 軍隊; as if 巡礼者 Valley had shrunk and shriveled and like many another 砂漠d cattle ranch would forthwith be a place of memories. 井戸／弁護士席, perhaps the old man in his sickness had been too 怪しげな, too willing to believe in trouble and 災害. Anyhow, it was a serious 事柄 to usurp 当局 without 十分な 推論する／理由. Perhaps Trono had realized it and ridden away to other fields.

Here was a 職業 for a man to do. Somehow or other, he had to get a decent, faithful 乗組員 and start the ball rolling again; 準備する for the 落ちる 一斉検挙 and patch up any number of things. It took but a 簡潔な／要約する ちらりと見ること to see that Breck had let things sort of slide. Some of the 最高の，を越す rails of the corral were 負かす／撃墜する, the barn doors sagging on their 走者s. The Indian ４半期/4分の1s were strewn with trash piles and the sod roofs of all houses were 不正に shaken. When the 落ちる rains 始める，決める in there wouldn't be a 乾燥した，日照りの 位置／汚点／見つけ出す in any of these old structures.

"If it's this way on the home stretch," he mused, "what will it be like out on the 範囲? How many cows am I goin' to find?"

Considering the night party that had passed by the homesteader's shack, it looked as if he wasn't going to have much 残り／休憩（する）. 井戸／弁護士席, he could put a stop to rustling and he could make a 甘い-running place of it, 供給するing he could find men. There was the rub. 存在 a stranger in the land, knowing nothing of ranch politics or of men's sympathies, he was going to have difficulty in collecting six or seven good 最高の，を越す 手渡すs.

熟考する／考慮するing this from all its angles he was interrupted a couple of hours later when a pair of riders dropped over the 山の尾根 and galloped 負かす／撃墜する the slope toward him. Within fifty yards he 認めるd them to be from Trono's party and he stood up, suddenly 用心深い. They whirled before the house and dismounted, each looking to the other until one took up the 重荷（を負わせる） of explanation.

"It's like this," said the 広報担当者 looking the new foreman squarely in the 直面する. "We couldn't nowise break away from Trono here on the ranch. We ain't his 肉親，親類d, y'understan'? But a fella has got to watch his p's and q's. 法案 an' me is square an' we like the JIB. So we sorter told Trono we was a-goin' to ride up in the pines to have a look-see. When the boys got out o' sight we come foggin' 支援する here. If yuh need help we'd be 権利 pleased to throw in. They'll be gunplay sooner or later, yuh bet."

Lilly worked his thumbs through his belt and 星／主役にするd at them with a 穏やかな, disbelieving countenance. "If you weren't Trono's men how does it come you worked under him?"

"Hell, a man's got to eat, ain't he? Now, amigo, let that ride. We didn't 破産した／（警察が）手入れする into this jes' 原因（となる） we liked to be 発射 at. The old man was white to us. We been here a long time—before most o' those jaspers Trono 雇うd on his own hook. Yu' see? Better make peace an' take what help yu' can get, which ain't goin' to be plenty, Trono'll 脅す cowhands away from here an' yu' ain't ble to turn this 職業 by yoreself."

"Lads, it's too good to be a real yarn. I'm 強いるd but I don't 雇う on Tuesdays or Fridays. Just run 支援する an' tell Trono it didn't work."

The pair looked mournfully disappointed. The 広報担当者 shook his 長，率いる and 観察するd that you never could tell which way a red- 長，率いる would jump and wasn't it a fact. "Amigo, what's bit yu'? Yu' asked for help an' now yu' won't take it. Tell a man!"

"I've changed my mind. It's goin to be a new deck. I'm 強いるd but the road out is over yonder—"

"They can stay."

It was Jill speaking. She had come from the house and stood with her 支援する to the スピードを出す／記録につけるs, tight-lipped and somber. "I know these men. Billy and わずかな／ほっそりした have always been good 手渡すs. My father spoke 高度に of them. Hang your saddles in the bunkhouse, boys, And thanks for coming."

The two made off, but not before わずかな／ほっそりした, the 広報担当者, had 厳粛に 保証するd Lilly he didn't 持つ／拘留する anything against him for the 拒絶. "A man can't be too careful these days."

Lilly waited until they were 井戸／弁護士席 out of sight before speaking. "Ma'am, why do you suppose they come 支援する? Don't you think they'd of stayed when I asked for 'em to choose between me and Trono? Their yarn is 十分な of 穴を開けるs. They're Trono's men shore as shootin' an they'll only make trouble—of which we've got a-plenty 権利 now."

She was bitter-注目する，もくろむd, resentful; and when he had finished she laid 負かす／撃墜する the 法律 to him in no uncertain 条件. "Remember, you are the foreman. Nothing more. I told you I would do the 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing. As for those two I know them better than you do. How is it that you, a 完全にする stranger, 主張する that all this 乗組員 is untrustworthy? I might use the very same words to you."

He rubbed his 手渡す slowly along the 支援する of the 議長，司会を務める, watching her as the 怒り／怒る seemed to 開始する. Perhaps he would have washed his 手渡すs of the 事件／事情／状勢 then and there, have taken his horse and ridden over the 山の尾根—if the saving grace of humor had not helped him. She was a spitfire and no mistake! But he knew, or thought he knew, what was behind those hard words. Her pride and her 忠義 had been shaken by Jim Breck's 自白 of fault and in the after hours of 悲劇 when she was trying to 再構築する something from the 難破させる, trying to 回復する her own self-尊敬（する）・点, she had unconsciously laid the 非難する on the nearest man. Which happened to be himself. "She hates to have me see her humbled like this," he 反映するd. "She thinks I'm passin' judgment." 井戸／弁護士席, that would pass and she would be sorry for it. He could 耐える it. If she didn't change he would still stick until the trouble was 回避するd and then pull freight. He hated a shrewish woman.

So he turned her 告訴，告発 aside. "井戸／弁護士席, if you think they're all 権利 that settles the 事柄. Maybe I'm wrong. I've always been taught to be 怪しげな until I was shown さもなければ. Now, ma'am, if you don't mind I'd like to see yore daddy's 調書をとる／予約するs. I've got to understand his 商売／仕事 before I can start working."

She turned this over in her mind for some time and Lilly thought she was about to 辞退する him. "I guess you have a 権利 to that," she 認める. "His office was at the end of the house. Look for yourself."

"Look for himself," he 裁判官d was going to be his motto on the JIB. Entering the old man's office—which was a 明らかにする room with only a 広大な／多数の／重要な roll-topped desk and pine 議長，司会を務める to relieve its emptiness—he sat 負かす／撃墜する and tried to find his way through the 集まり of letters, 目録s and 法案s of lading. Everything was in 混乱 and によれば the dates of the letters nothing had been とじ込み／提出するd for six months. The drawers and the pigeon 穴を開けるs were jammed 十分な of 関係のない things as if the old man, suddenly tired of seeing the 最高の，を越す of the desk so cluttered, had swept it （疑いを）晴らす with his 握りこぶし.

It grew dark long before Lilly had 減ずるd anything to order or had 設立する what he most 手配中の，お尋ね者 to find—the 一致するs of the spring 一斉検挙. Abandoning the 職業 for the day he strolled to the porch. A light 燃やすd in the kitchen and he saw the girl bending over the stove; her white, strong 武器 moved 速く and once as she turned Lilly thought she looked somewhat happier. She had forgotten for the moment the troubles of the day. Work did that, Lilly 反映するd, strolling across the yard. Many a time he had 急落（する），激減（する）d headlong into any 肉親，親類d of labor to keep himself from thinking. Dusk fell across the land in gray, 渦巻くing waves, bringing with it a 冷静な／正味の night 微風. There was a light in the bunkhouse and he heard one of the 手渡すs singing a doleful ditty about Sam Bass.

He moved by the corner of an Indian house and started toward the corrals. There was a slight, hissing sound to his 後部 and the crunch of a boot. He turned 速く, arm dropping toward his gun; but he was too late to save himself. A 宙返り飛行 fell over his shoulders and tautened with such a 軍隊 that it threw him to the ground. In the dusk he heard a man breathing ひどく, 前進するing on the run; and when the fellow stooped to take another hitch in the rope he saw it to be わずかな／ほっそりした the 広報担当者. わずかな／ほっそりした grunted his satisfaction. "Yu' damn rascal! I knew I'd ketch yu' if I waited long enough. やめる that squirmin' or I'll 破産した／（警察が）手入れする yu' to aitch! Hey, Billy—come on now. I done snared him!"

わずかな／ほっそりした was on his 膝, one arm 工場／植物d in Lilly's chest. Lilly bent 上向き and with one desperate wrench of his shoulders butted the puncher beneath the chin, throwing the man off balance. A stream of profanity followed, and though Lilly tried to pull his 手渡すs （疑いを）晴らす of the rope he failed. わずかな／ほっそりした's 握りこぶし 発射 through the 影をつくる／尾行するs and took Lilly in the 寺. "Yu' damn fool, I could 粉砕する yu' fer that! Now git up an' travel to'rds the bunkhouse!"

"Here," said Lilly, "what 肉親，親類d of a game are you playin'? Just what's yore 利益（をあげる） in this?"

法案, who had joined わずかな／ほっそりした, chuckled. "You'll have to ask Trono that, amigo. Hey, わずかな／ほっそりした, it's the smokehouse we want. Yeah. All 権利, fella, 支援する in there an' 持つ／拘留する yore nose."

Lilly could not see where they were putting him. A door groaned and わずかな／ほっそりした's 手渡す went rummaging through his pockets for knives and sundry 武器s. The gunbelt dropped from his hip and he was 押すd 非，不，無 too gently across the high sill of a shed no more than three feet square. Then the door の近くにd and the hasp fell over a 中心的要素, to be locked. The two men, 退却／保養地d speaking softly. By-and-by Lilly heard three 発射s 近づく the main house. Three 発射s 平等に spaced—the 古代の signal of the 範囲. Within ten minutes he heard many men riding into the yard. Trono had returned.

IV. — LAW

"The picture o' a gal blindfolded an boldin' a pair o' 規模s is shorely a 罰金 感情 as regards equal 司法（官） to all. But いつかs the lady ain't blind. いつかs she's cross-注目する，もくろむd, which is shorely sad."—Joe Breedlove.

TRAPPED. Neatly put out of the way in a place so small that he could touch all four 塀で囲むs without moving. Above his 長，率いる was a sharp steel hook; from below a 現在の of 空気／公表する scoured through an aperture in one corner of the hard-packed 床に打ち倒す. Long seasons of meat curing had impregnated the pine boards with a sharp, woody smell and left 激しい 層s of すす. His 調査するing fingers 設立する it everywhere; 設立する, too, an 時折の rafter charred from the heat. Still, it was not an unsubstantial 刑務所，拘置所 for when he put his shoulders against the door it did not give. The old man had built this house as he had built all others—solidly and meant to 耐える.

His 長，率いる ached from the blow わずかな／ほっそりした had given him on the 寺; 血 trickled 負かす／撃墜する his jaw. But that didn't 事柄. What really 傷つける was to have been so easily 逮捕（する）d and put into Trono's 力／強力にする. What would the old man say if he knew what was going on? Lilly saw Breck's 激しい, fighting 直面する scowling at him through the 黒人／ボイコット 炭坑，オーケストラ席. This was not what he had 推定する／予想するd of the red- 長，率いるd stranger. Lilly reached for his makin's, growing impatient with himself. What he せねばならない have done was to have kicked those two スパイ／執行官s off the ranch in spite of Jill's say-so. After all, he was 責任がある her—責任がある the JIB. She wasn't the one that had to do the fighting.

"井戸／弁護士席," he muttered, "this ain't no time to 持つ／拘留する postmortems. Every minute I stay here means money in Trono's pocket. That gent used his 長，率いる proper. Instead o' bein' bull-長，率いるd and shootin' it out he saved himself the trouble an' snares me like a rabbit. Oh, 罰金! That's what I get for not followin' my 初めの idea. The question becomes, what does he 目的（とする） to do now that he's got 支配（する）／統制する?"

It was very puzzling. Not that a man couldn't 難破させる a ranch and make it 完全に 無益な for the owners to stay on. Between Trono and Stubbins, Jill couldn't 持つ／拘留する her own. By sundry 装置s, most of which were 違法な, they could 煙霧 her off. Just bring the 圧力 to 耐える hard enough and she would have to やめる. It was a 事柄 of rustling JIB cows, of sending 3Cross 在庫／株 in to graze on JIB 領土, of 妨げるing cow-punchers from working for JIB. 脅しs—and actual 暴力／激しさ. Oh, the road was wide enough for them to follow and no 疑問 they had examples 始める，決める them by old Breck himself in earlier days.

Still, what was their next move? Having 支配（する）／統制する, what would they do with him? They couldn't kill him 完全な. That would—or it should—create a stink in the country. Probably they'd 護衛する him 負かす／撃墜する the line and see that he didn't get a chance to come 支援する. What would they do with Jill? Lilly shook his 長，率いる and drew a 深い breath of cigarette smoke. There was one girl they'd have to 扱う／治療する with gloves. She could fight and she might be able to draw enough sympathy to her throughout the 郡 so that both Trono and Stubbins would find it 完全に disagreeable. So, if they 人物／姿／数字d to do the thing neatly they'd have to keep Jill from getting where she could make herself heard.

But they couldn't keep her 囚人 forever. That would 漏れる out. What they せねばならない do was 身を引く from the ranch and do their dirty work from the sidelines. If he was Trono and in that 肉親，親類d of a game it would be his 策略.

"Followin' which train of thought," he mused, "they got to put me out o' the road. Then, if they've got the 郡 buffaloed, which it seems they have, it's only a waitin' game before the JIB is 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd. Tom Lilly, my boy, it's yore move, even though you only got four feet to move in."

Someone passed 近づく the smokehouse, feet shuffling on the hard earth. Lilly flattened himself against the door, listening. Presently the sound died. The 乗組員 appeared to be in the bunkhouse and in a happy でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる of mind. They were making the rafters （犯罪の）一味 with "Arizona Boys and Girls," with now and then a gun 発射 to punctuate the rhyme. Lilly, crouched on the 床に打ち倒す, opined they must have 設立する a quart of whisky somewhere to induce all the hilarity.

"The boys in this country, they try to 前進する
By courtin' the ladies an' learnin' to dance—
An' they're 負かす／撃墜する, 負かす／撃墜する, an' they're 負かす／撃墜する!"

"You'll shore be 負かす／撃墜する if ever I get out o' this mousetrap," muttered Lilly, enraged. "A 罰金 見本／標本, I am! Supposed to be protectin' the gal an' here I sit, of no more use than two-bits 価値（がある） of canary seed!"

He waited until the 乗組員 had 乗る，着手するd on another 詩（を作る） of the song before butting the door with his shoulders. It gave わずかに and he tried it a second time, 審理，公聴会 the hasp grate against the lock. Someone moved outside and he stopped quickly, 集会 himself in a corner. As before the sound 消えるd, leaving him perplexed. Were they guarding him? And what about Jill? Were they keeping watch over her? Lilly had a 見通し of Trono smiling in his tight-lipped, sardonic manner; smiling at the girl with his 巨大な shoulders humped 今後. He would ride his victory high, this one-time foreman, would probably exult in his dominion over the 所有／入手s of old Jim Breck. He was dangerous—dangerous because of the 不確定 of his temper and of his mind. There was no telling when he might take it in his 長，率いる to use 暴力／激しさ; Lilly had read the ruthlessness, the 殺し屋's instinct in the green 注目する，もくろむs and he 井戸／弁護士席 knew that a time might come when Trono would tire of playing 安全な.

The thought moved Lily around in his 黒人／ボイコット cubicle and 始める，決める him to 調査するing again. He dug his 握りこぶし 負かす／撃墜する into the vent 穴を開ける at the 底（に届く） of the house. This was the flue by which smoke was sent into the place from a 近づく-by oven. If he could 大きくする it—dig his way through to the outside. A few 試みる／企てるs at 崩壊するing the hard-packed ground discouraged him. It would take hours to make any impression and unless he mistook his man very much, Trono would be up and doing before long. Probably the burly one was 検討する，考慮するing over the 状況／情勢 now in his clumsy mental 過程s. Lilly stepped 支援する a pace and 投げつけるd himself at the door once again. There was a long groan of the hasp and a sharp 後援ing of a board, followed by those soft, shuffling steps outside. This time they （機の）カム nearer and stopped. Someone was fumbling with the lock and as Lilly （人が）群がるd himself in a corner, ready to spring at whoever crossed the sill, he heard the hasp give way. The door （機の）カム open, インチ by インチ. As he 均衡を保った on his toes the soft, guttural 発言する／表明する of Pattipaws floated in. "Huh. You come now."

He slid outside, to be met by the Indian's outstretched 手渡す. Gun and gunbelt was there, not his own, but one that did やめる as 井戸／弁護士席 and felt 極端に 満足させるing as he strapped it about his waist. The Indian whispered. "You go get girl. I fin' horses. Put 'em by barn. Hyak."

The singing had 減らすd. Of a sudden the light streaming from the bunkhouse was shut off by an 現れるing 人物／姿／数字. A 人物／姿／数字 that rolled unsteadily along for a 簡潔な／要約する time on the path of the yellow beam and then turned 直接／まっすぐに toward the smoke house. Pattipaws 解散させるd in the 影をつくる／尾行するs, leaving Tom Lilly rooted in his place. The 前進するing puncher つまずくd over his own high heeled boots, 断言するing immoderately and presently he was 直接／まっすぐに before the house, swaying a little, his tall, lanky 人物／姿／数字 but an 輪郭（を描く） in the night. Lilly tarried, not やめる sure of his 未来 course. But here was a 誘惑 too 広大な／多数の／重要な to be passed by. Thus, when the man stretched his arm 今後 and put one 手渡す on the open door Lilly drew his gun and 逆転するd the butt, 解除するing it high. It was a moment of 不確定 until Lilly heard the puncher's breath whistling inward as if 準備するing to send out a cry of 発見. That cry was never uttered; Lilly crossed the 介入するing space at one stride; the gun （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する, not with 十分な 軍隊, but ひどく enough to send the wandering puncher to the ground senseless.

Lilly worked quickly. He untied the man's neck piece and gagged him. With his own handkerchief he tied the fellow's 手渡すs. Then he 解除するd him into the smoke house and の近くにd the door, propping it shut with a 逸脱する piece of 支持を得ようと努めるd. This was all 一時しのぎの物，策, he 井戸／弁護士席 knew; at the most he had no more than fifteen minutes to 警告する the girl and 影響 an escape before the puncher would rouse himself and struggle 解放する／自由な. Turning, he tiptoed across the yard to the house, coming to a 停止（させる） at one end of the porch. He had meant to save time and enter by one of the 前線 doors, but the gleaming tip of a cigarette told him he would have to circle around to the 後部. He could not see the man, but it took only half a guess to surmise who sat in Jim Breck's rocker. Trono. Trono mimicking the habits of the old man and flattering his own vanity by the 業績／成果. 誘惑 beset Lilly once more; this time he shook it off. The 半端物s were too much against him. かもしれない he might surprise and take Trono stowing him away as he had the fellow in the smoke house. But there were a good dozen men in the bunkhouse and he could not hope to 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせる of them in the same manner. So, foregoing the 楽しみ, he 退却／保養地d, circled the house and （機の）カム to the kitchen door. It stood ajar, 主要な into a darkened room. Listening for a moment, he finally groped through it and opened an inner portal; this was a hallway 主要な he knew not just where. But he could hear the creaking of a rocker out on the porch and presently a man coughing. Nowhere could he see a light until he turned about and looked at the other end of the hall; then he made out a faint yellow beam creeping beneath a doorway. On his toes he crept toward it, listening. No sound.

Undoubtedly it was the girl's room since all the 残り／休憩（する） of the house was dark. She was in there, waiting for trouble to break, grieving for what the day had seen. 井戸／弁護士席, it was a poor time to spend in grief. 権利 now self-保護 was 真っ先の. He put his 手渡す on the knob, very much wanting to 発表する himself but afraid of having her challenge him and thus 誘発する Trono. Half turning it, he felt the latch give and at a 選び出す／独身 movement opened the door, swung himself inside and の近くにd it, coming 直面する to 直面する with Jill.

She was in a 議長，司会を務める and she had a gun trained 直接／まっすぐに on him. The color had partly left her 直面する, but he was never to forget that flash of 注目する，もくろむ which fell fully upon him and then, after what seemed a long, long time, fade before 救済. She had been 推定する／予想するing someone else—had 地位，任命するd herself there to stop that someone. Lilly put a finger to his lips and crossed the room. "直す／買収する，八百長をする up. We're pullin' out. Quick now."

She nodded, keeping the silence, and rose. Whatever of 憤慨 Lilly had felt against her for 保留するing 信用 in him 消えるd. She was a thoroughbred! She asked no silly questions, wasted no time. A small bundle of papers went into her coat pocket, papers she had no 疑問 海難救助d from her father's office. Then she clapped on a 乱打するd 追跡（する）ing hat and turned to him as if asking his 是認. And for the first time he saw friendliness in her 直面する. The color had returned; something moved in the depths of her 注目する，もくろむs as she held out her 手渡す, 申し込む／申し出ing him her gun. He shook his 長，率いる and beckoned. Together they stepped into the hall, の近くにing the door behind, crossing to the kitchen and threading its cluttered space to the 支援する. The night 微風 struck Lilly's 直面する and the fresh, 下落する-scented 空気／公表する was as a call to adventure. Up above, the sky was metal 黒人／ボイコット, pricked by a dozen 薄暗い 星／主役にするs. Beyond this cluttered yard and its 守備隊 of lustful, over-weening men was freedom. Southward stood the 影をつくる／尾行する of the pine forest. Lilly felt the girl's 手渡す slip into his; with a swift upthrust of 無謀な pride he の近くにd his calloused 握りこぶしs about her small fingers and led her across the yard toward the corrals, 投機・賭けるing a husky phrase.

"We'll （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 'em, my girl. Don't you forget it."

They had only passed the smoke house when a strangled cry 現れるd from it—a cry that woke every echo on the ranch. Boots struck the bunkhouse 床に打ち倒す, the hum of speech 中止するd. Trono's bull 発言する／表明する にわか景気d across the area. "Who's that?"

"Shucks," grunted Lilly. "I didn't 攻撃する，衝突する that hombre nowise hard enough. Comes o' bein' chicken-hearted. Now we've got to 脚 it. 持つ／拘留する tight, girl."

The 乗組員 急ぐd pell-mell out of their ４半期/4分の1s and directed by another muffled cry, bore 負かす／撃墜する upon the smoke house as Lilly and the girl slipped away from the yard and circled the corrals; Pattipaws waited somewhere ahead, obscured by the 激しい 影をつくる／尾行するs. Fury was behind. The 乗組員 had 設立する and 解放（する）d the 拘留するd puncher. Lilly, chuckling softly, 観察するd he hadn't impaired the man's 発言する／表明する. It rose toward the sky in 乱暴／暴力を加えるd accents. "—An' I gits a strangle holt on 'im an' he breaks it like I was a leetle chil'. Belts me acrost the coco a terrible wallop! Boys, I'm all 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd up! Somebody gimme a drink! Oh, Gawd that was a dirty blow! I'll rake him across his 直面する with m' 刺激（する）s! Yeh, I will! Say, gimme a drink!"

"Pattipaws," breathed Lilly, coming to a 停止（させる）. They were behind the corrals, groping into a small hollow. "Injun, where are you at? By the Lord Harry, I hope he got the cayuses. Listen to Trono yell!"

Trono had done some 調査するing on his own account and 設立する the girl 行方不明の. He was 雷鳴ing furiously at the 乗組員. "Jill's done gone. That red-長，率いる missin', too? 井戸／弁護士席, you damn fools, don't stand there chatterin' like a cage 十分な o' monkeys! Git yore hosses! They ain't far away! Two-three you boys gallop aroun' the 前提s! On yore toes now! We're shore sunk if they ain't 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd up!"

"I'm shore glad to hear it from his own mouth," muttered Lilly. "Pattipaws—Oh, that you?" The Indian slipped up to them and grunted 簡潔に. He was 主要な three horses. Lilly helped the girl into a saddle, 審理，公聴会 someone running around the corrals, 速く approaching. "Injun," murmured Lilly, "you lead off to'rd the hills, savvy? Walk along 平易な for a hundred yards, so they won't hear."

The Indian was in 前線, the girl in the 中心 and Lilly at the 後部. They climbed the far slope of the hollow and pointed south, going at a slow and silent gait The 調査するing party had gone on to the 支援する of the corrals, 行方不明の the hollow by a few yards. どこかよそで was the creaking 混乱 of men saddling up in the dark. Trono's bellicose 発言する／表明する rose and fell, 悪口を言う／悪態ing, 脅すing, 攻撃するing at the 乗組員 as so many 罪人／有罪を宣告するs. やめる 徐々に these sounds grew いっそう少なく 際立った and mingled to a 肉親，親類d of rumble. Lilly spoke to the Indian. "All 権利. Let's stretch out now. We'll have to （疑いを）晴らす this place before they begin to circle around. Hustle."

Jill had not uttered a word all this time. And now as they swung toward the 非常に高い 影をつくる／尾行する of the pine forest she was 平等に silent. The leather gear creaked beneath them and the 安定した breathing of the horses made a 肉親，親類d of rhythm as they covered the miles. Behind them was the one （疑いを）晴らす beacon of the sky, the North 星／主役にする. どこかよそで a dusky 隠す covered the countless twinkling lights; a soft 微風 fanned them and presently the aromatic smell of the 下落する was blended with that of the trees.

It was a sober, thoughtful caravan that fled from the JIB. Once only during the night were they in danger. Lilly 停止（させる）ing the group got 負かす／撃墜する and put his ear to the ground. Somewhere in the 近づく distance was a 追求するing party. He published it 簡潔に. "Find us a hollow or arroyo somewhere, Injun. We'll 錨，総合司会者 a minute." The Indian grunted and turned his course until they were traveling 支援する toward the ranch. The ground grew rough and in five minutes dropped from them. Here they stopped and waited until the rumbling of hoofs could be distinctly heard in the （疑いを）晴らす, 静かな 空気／公表する. Presently a cavalcade swept by with a 広大な／多数の／重要な clatter and groaning, to 消える 西方の. Lilly waited some length of time and then signaled the Indian to move on. As 近づく as he could 裁判官, Trono was 広範囲にわたる the land in 広げるing circles from the ranch.

Midnight passed and they stopped for a 簡潔な／要約する breathing （一定の）期間. Toward morning they reached the first trees and began climbing, 侵入するing deeper and deeper into the 休会s of the pines. Daybreak 設立する them high above the valley 床に打ち倒す. Lilly, seeing the weariness on the girl's 直面する called a 停止（させる）. But she was quick to dissent, 説, "If you're stopping on my account, I won't have it. I can travel as long as needed." And Pattipaws made a vague gesture 今後, at which Lilly gave in. So they went for perhaps another hour until the pines suddenly made a small bayou and 明らかにする／漏らすd a cabin. There they stopped.

It was an old, mouldering trappers' cabin. On all 味方するs of the little （疑いを）晴らすing the ground rose in rugged 層s and the underbrush sprang up quickly between the trees. Not a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 さらに先に ahead Lilly saw the base of a half bald 頂点（に達する） and he 示すd it as a place from which he might scour the valley below. 一方／合間 there were other things to consider. 残り／休憩（する） and food—and a 計画（する） for the 未来. For all her splendid endurance and courage, the 示す of the night's ride was on the girl as she slid from the horse and looked uncertainly to Lilly.

"井戸／弁護士席," said she, "what are you planning now, Red?"

Lilly grew unaccountably warm at her use of the 指名する. The last twelve hours had 明らかにする／漏らすd many things to her; she 受託するd him now. Drowsiness 負わせるd her lids, but still there was a frank friendliness in her 注目する，もくろむs, and unreserved 信用.

"First off we'll 直す／買収する，八百長をする up a place for you to get a little sleep," he replied. "But not in that shack. If they 選ぶ up our 追跡する—and I think they 塀で囲む—they'll have a look at it. I'll spread the saddle 一面に覆う／毛布s up in the 小衝突 for you. As for anything to eat, it appears as if we went on a water diet for a few meals."

She waved that aside as unimportant. "I've been hungry before." Then she 紅潮／摘発するd a little, still 持つ／拘留するing his 注目する，もくろむs. "I'm—I'm sorry. Most of this is my own fault. But わずかな／ほっそりした and 法案 were two of Dad's 信用d men. Even Trono was always 肉親，親類d to me. I had no idea—"

"Yore dad," he reminded her, "was a powerful man. Nobody tried anything on him. They toed the 示す and jumped at his word. But you can never tell what a fellow carries around in his mind. That 乗組員 puzzles me. A 罰金 bunch of 強盗団の一味! I'd think yore dad would have known what they were like."

She was struggling to keep awake. "I think he did. You see Trono 選ぶd quarrels with some of our old 手渡すs and they やめる. Usually there'd be a new man the next morning. Dad didn't like some of them—I could see that, though he never told me—but we had to have help and Trono always recommended them. So Dad took Trono's word. Now that I think of it. Trono seemed to do a lot of things, these last few months, that Dad used to do himself. Dad—was getting sick."

"Uhuh. Trono packed the ranch with his own 私的な bunch. Prob'ly bought わずかな／ほっそりした and 法案 to his own 味方する o' the 盗品故買者. It's an old story. 井戸／弁護士席, it looks like a running fight for us. We'll do a lot of dodgin' before we can 攻撃する，衝突する 支援する."

"You're the boss, Red. I'll not speak out of my turn from now on."

That gave him courage to say what was in the 支援する of his 長，率いる. Through the long night ride he had come to a 計画（する） that he thought would work. "All 権利. We'll, sleep on it. Then, this afternoon we'll dodge into 砕く and leave you."

He was not やめる 用意が出来ている for her sudden awaking. Dissent flashed in the dark 注目する，もくろむs. "What will I do there?"

"Just wait until I get things in order."

"And where will you be?"

"Roamin' these hills and sort of scoutin' until I lay a few 罠（にかける）s. Don't you worry, girl. Inside of three-four days I'll wash these bad, bold hombres off the 地図／計画する."

"Leave me in town, doing nothing while you're up here fighting? No! I won't do it, Red."

"But look here. I've got to leave you in a 安全な place. This is going to be a rough 職業."

She was looking at him with a curious intensity. There was something of her father in that sharp, 重さを計るing, 侵入するing ちらりと見ること; something of the same forthright recklessness in the way she threw 支援する her 長，率いる and pursed her lips together. The rich color rose higher in her cheeks. "I'll ride with you. Do you think I'm a coward? This is my country and I'll fight for it. Oh, I know what you're thinking! How will I stand up! Don't you worry about me. And I don't care a 非難する what anybody thinks! Maybe I can't be of any help. Maybe I'll even 妨げる you. But I'd die in 砕く. I'd feel like a shirker, thinking about you doing the hard work and me doing nothing. No, we'll ride together, Red."

She spoke her mind and turned half away, as if afraid to see the 影響 on the man. Lilly fumbled for his cigarette papers, 乱すd profoundly. This was not at all as he had planned it. What could she be thinking of, anyway? In the 中央 of these troubled reflections he caught her 注目する，もくろむs—and his 不確定 消えるd. She was a 闘士，戦闘機, like her daddy. And she had forgotten, it seemed, that she was a woman. He 疑問d if she realized what a curious, gossiping world would have to say.

"Red, I know what you're thinking. Never mind me. I don't belong to any social clubs and so they can't kick me out in 不名誉. It's my 商売／仕事. I'm not an 幼児—and I will fight for JIB!"

He nodded. "All 権利. That's settled. We'll get along somehow. Now for a siesta. Come along."

He took off the saddles and appropriated the 一面に覆う／毛布s, 主要な her 井戸／弁護士席 into the thicket. It was a rough bed, の中で the 激しく揺するs, but when she settled 負かす／撃墜する she was already half asleep. Lilly bent over and 倍のd a loose end around her shoulders, wondering if ever a girl had been fashioned やめる like Jill Breck. The dark hair was all tousled, making her strangely boyish. Yet no 量 of sun or rain or rough riding could 隠す the beauties of the （疑いを）晴らす white 肌 of her neck or the pink 紅潮／摘発する on her cheeks. She had a drowsy, warming smile for him. Then she was 急落（する），激減（する）d in 深遠な slumber.

Lilly walked 負かす／撃墜する the slope to where Pattipaws crouched against the 味方する of the cabin, warming himself in a patch of sun.

"Old-timer," said Lilly, "I've got a chore for you to do."

"Um. Pattipaws do."

"It's a long trip. Sleep first."

The Indian shook his 長，率いる. "Pattipaws no need sleep. Sleep for young bucks. You 直す／買収する，八百長をする'm."

Lilly 設立する a pencil and piece of paper in his pocket and after 星／主役にするing thoughtfully at the ground wrote a very 簡潔な／要約する message, 調印 his first 指名する. He 倍のd it and passed it to the Indian who tucked it in a pocket. Thereafter for three or four minutes Lilly carefully explained the contents and 配達するd his 指示／教授／教育s. In the end the Indian rose, jumped on one of the horses—軽蔑（する）ing a saddle—and 押し進めるd through the 小衝突. Lilly watched him go and listened until he could no longer hear the rustling of leaves and the click of hoofs on the stony ground.

One more chore he had to do before finding himself a moment's 残り／休憩（する）. Hiding the horses 深い in the forest and likewise （武器などの）隠匿場所ing the saddles where they could not be seen by 調査するing 注目する，もくろむs, he started toward the 首脳会議 of the 頂点（に達する）. It was a long, 疲れた／うんざりした climb and more than a half hour elapsed before he reached the 最高の，を越す. Once there he was rewarded by a magnificent sight of the whole valley. It lay before him as a 地図／計画する unrolled on a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with each 不景気 and each knoll 明白な under the hot summer sun. Here was an 孤立するd kingdom, elevated above the 燃やすing desolation of the 砂漠 outside the rimming Buttes. And in the 中心 of it 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd the buildings of the JIB. He could see them as so many dark specks against the yellow earth.

But as for moving 人物／姿／数字s, he saw 非，不，無. Not a thing seemed to tenant the valley. No tell-tale wisp of dust kicked up behind a traveling cavalcade. Trono had buried himself; Lilly, 投機・賭けるing a shrewd guess, believed the foreman was already in the pine forest 捜し出すing his erstwhile 囚人s. The thought hurried his 査察 and he turned 負かす／撃墜する the slope, 急落（する），激減（する）ing through the trees. By-and-by, he heard a sound and he stopped dead, searching the 小衝突 with 用心深い 注目する，もくろむs. It （機の）カム but once and after a few moments he proceeded onward, using a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 more 警告を与える. A 警告 had come to him, not anything 有形の that he could put his five senses to, but still a 警告 that stayed his feet when he reached the 辛勝する／優位 of the little （疑いを）晴らすing again. 激しい silence pervaded it, broken by the sudden 激しい （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing of a grouse's wings. Far off, he thought he heard the click of 激しく揺する against 激しく揺する.

Very still, very 平和的な—yet a quick, unfathomable excitement took 所有／入手 of Lilly and, without 陳列する，発揮するing himself he withdrew and he circled higher in the 小衝突, 目的（とする）ing for the girl's covert. He crossed a small valley of trees on his stomach, はうd over 激しい 玉石s and half fell into the 炭坑，オーケストラ席 formed by an uprooted pine. And of a sudden he was looking at the very 位置／汚点／見つけ出す he had placed Jill. The ferns and smaller 小衝突 were trampled 負かす／撃墜する on all 味方するs, the 一面に覆う／毛布s thrown carelessly aside. And the girl was not to be seen.

She had 消えるd without 警告. But at the end of twenty (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing minutes Tom Lilly read the story all too 井戸／弁護士席. Trono had traced the hoof prints this far—Trono and a party of four others. And he had 設立する the girl. There was the 示す of struggle in the manner the 小衝突 had been beaten 負かす／撃墜する; Jill had not 降伏するd without a fight, though it puzzled Lilly that she had not sent out at least one cry. The pine trees made a 広大な sounding board and would have carried her 警告 井戸／弁護士席 up the slope. Perhaps she had—and he had been just beyond the 範囲 of 審理，公聴会. At any 率, struggling had done her no good. Trono had taken her and made his escape.

The horses were still tethered where he had left them. That, too, was peculiar. If they had sought through the underbrush for the girl and 設立する her, how was it they had not discovered the horses?

Lilly 延長するd his 半径 of search, 徹底的に捜すing the rocky slopes and the long avenues between trees, coming at last to the 結論 that Trono had been 満足させるd with his 選び出す／独身 逮捕（する） and was not in the 周辺, waiting to 待ち伏せ／迎撃する him. Quickly saddling a horse and letting the other animal go 解放する／自由な, he struck downward, に引き続いて the 追跡する. It was a （疑いを）晴らす 追跡する in places, showing the homeward bound prints of Trono's horses. At other places it grew 薄暗い and was lost on the 激しく揺する surfaces. Lilly 追求するd it as 速く as his sense of 警告を与える 許すd, at times striking into the 支持を得ようと努めるd and skirting such points and ledges as might form a decent place for a surprise.

When he arrived at the 辛勝する／優位 of the 木材／素質 he 設立する the 追跡する of the party diverged from the 大勝する 主要な to the JIB and swung westerly on a path that led 直接／まっすぐに toward the homestead and Jim's Pass. The thought that they were taking Jill away from her own house to some unknown hiding place enraged him beyond 手段. He struck the 側面に位置する of his horse, 断言するing softly.

"Damn 'em, they can't get away with it! They can't do it! By the Lord Harry, I'll kill the man if he 傷つけるs her! I'll run the 脚s off him!"

He spurred along the 追跡する, growing 無謀な. During the fore part of the morning he had been very careful; the さらに先に he traveled across the undulating 床に打ち倒す of the valley the いっそう少なく 注意する he took of his own safety. He kept 解任するing the old man's last words. "You take care o the gal, Red." What a 罰金 職業 he'd done so far! For all the good he'd 遂行するd he might 同様に be in 中国. Then he kept seeing her as she was in the covert, her 黒人／ボイコット hair tousled, her sleepy 注目する，もくろむs smiling 上向き at him. The fighting 激怒（する） 井戸／弁護士席d up and flowed over. Rising in the stirrups he scanned the ground ahead.

Once, toward noon, he thought he saw something moving along the skyline 近づく the homestead and he turned toward it, 生き返らせる the pace. Up and 負かす／撃墜する the rolling slopes he galloped, the wild temper overmastering his 警告を与える. Once indeed he drew rein to give his horse a 簡潔な／要約する 残り／休憩（する） and in the breathing space he 解任するd Joe Breedlove's 下落する 発言／述べるs about the unnecessary trouble red-長，率いる gents brought 負かす／撃墜する upon themselves. He threw the thought aside and went on. "Joe never got into a jackpot like this," he muttered, squinting against the hard, glittering light. What good （機の）カム of 持つ／拘留するing 支援する, of 警告を与える? He had been careful and see what had come of it! "I ain't made on that 計画（する）," he 反映するd. "Better stick to my own method o' fightin'. And by the Lord Harry, I'll nail Trono's hide to the 塀で囲む!"

The long chase was rewarded at last. When he reached the 最高の，を越す of a swelling 山の尾根 he saw the homestead shack nestling in the cottonwoods a hundred yards away. Around it were three horses, and loitering in the shade were three men. They saw him the moment he （機の）カム in 見解（をとる） and, as he was against the sun, mistook him for one of the JIB 乗組員. That was all the 好意 he needed. 製図／抽選 his gun he raced 負かす／撃墜する upon them, seeing Trono's 大規模な でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる rise slowly and then come to astonished attention and swift 承認. The bawling 発言する／表明する broke the silence.

"Hey—it's the red-長，率いる!" And his big 握りこぶし 急襲するd downward.

Lilly stopped him with a 発射 that furrowed the sand. "削減（する） that! You other two boys put 'em in the 空気／公表する! Nev' mind edgin' to'rds the door! I ain't in no good humor 権利 now." His attention snapped 支援する to Trono. "You dirty 著作権侵害者, what'd you do with Jill?"

Trono, 手渡すs half raised, looked toward the man on his left and winked 概して. "Hear him," he grunted. "That's a big bluff for 確かな . Red, yuh oughta know where she is since yore the one that took her away. Here, yuh be careful o' that 大砲! Goin' to shoot me 冷淡な?"

Lilly, 転換ing his ちらりと見ること toward the others, realized they were both strangers; neither were JIB 手渡すs. The one to whom Trono had spoken had a pair of 冷淡な gray 注目する，もくろむs and a clean shaven 直面する that at 現在の wrinkled in puzzlement. Trono broke in, "Yuh fool! Tryin' to bluff it out now? it won't wash. This yere's the 郡保安官 an' he's lookin' fer yuh. Better put 負かす／撃墜する yore gun. Yuh can't bluff the 法律, kid!"

Lilly slid from the saddle 前進するing on Trono. "Listen," said he, checking the 火山の 爆発 of 怒り／怒る, "I'm of no mind to be played with. Yore goin' to tell me what you did with Jill Breck an' yore goin' to do it sudden. Hear that? I'm a white man, but by the Lord Harry I'll use Injun methods if you stand there an' fool me! Know what that means, don't you?"

A 味方する ちらりと見ること into the cabin had told him the girl was not around the homestead; and the three horses likewise 示すd there had been a 転換ing of the 初めの party. As to this stranger 存在 a 郡保安官, that was a bluff. Even so the man did not 耐える the stamp of Trono's 産む／飼育する. He looked honest. 一方／合間 the JIB foreman 転換d his 負わせる and, seeing the 表現 on Lilly's 直面する, he began to sputter.

"That don't get you by! If you touch me you'll live to 悔いる it!"

Lilly was on the point of replying when the man with the honest 直面する broke in, speaking 静かに and with a 確かな （疑いを）晴らす 保証／確信. "Put yore gun 負かす／撃墜する, boy. I 宣言する yore under 逮捕（する）." With that 告示 he hitched his shoulder in a way that threw his coat aside, 陳列する，発揮するing a 星／主役にする.

"逮捕（する） me?" 需要・要求するd Lilly. "And what for?"

"Kidnappin' Jill Brock," 発表するd the 公式の／役人. "When the doc got 支援する to 砕く he said the 状況／情勢 out here was in poor 形態／調整, so I 棒 over. First thing I 設立する was you'd gone off with the gal an' the whole ranch was lookin' fer you. That's a serous 罪／違反, my boy."

"Yore takin' Trono's word against 地雷?"

The 郡保安官 seemed to have some 確かな mental 保留（地）／予約s. In the end he shrugged his shoulder. "Yore a stranger here. All the JIB boys stick to the same story. 配達する me yore gun."

Lilly was shaking his 長，率いる. "Don't 提案する to do it, sher'ff. They may have you deceived, but they ain't got me that way. If I got to buck the 法律 to find Jill Breck it's plumb too bad. But I 目的（とする） to wring a 自白 out of Trono or 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なう him in the 試みる／企てる."

There was a movement of the 郡保安官's 注目する，もくろむ and a sudden 救済 on Trono's sweating 直面する. At the same time a 冷静な／正味の 発言する／表明する spoke from Lilly's 後部. "Yore covered. 減少（する） the gun."

Lilly stood immobile for one long, desperate instant. In the end he nodded 簡潔に, passing his revolver to the 郡保安官 and locking his lips to keep in the flood of bitter 失望. Trono, relieved of danger, sprang 今後 with an upraised 握りこぶし. "Now who's goin' to do the cripplin', you—"

"支援する off," said the 郡保安官, coldly. "You'll do nothing to this man. He goes to 砕く."

"He oughta be lynched here an' now," muttered Trono. "If the 残り／休憩（する） o' my 乗組員 was around you'd have a hard time gettin' him off 安全な."

"So?" grunted the 郡保安官. "Trono, you don't talk sense."

Another man moved into 見解（をとる）, the one who had caught Lilly from behind. He, too, was a stranger, and doubtless of the 郡保安官's party. "Good thing," said he, "I happened to 逸脱する off."

The 郡保安官 動議d Lilly to get in the saddle. 一方／合間 he and his 副s 設立する their animals and 機動力のある, leaving Trono alone. The 激しい man was frowning 深く，強烈に and the 郡保安官, catching sight of his temper, stopped to 問題／発行する a 警告. "Don't get it in yore 長，率いる you can （警察の）手入れ，急襲 the 刑務所，拘置所, either. There'll be no lynchin' in my bailiwick."

"You goin' to let him go off 'thout tellin' where he's got the gal!" bawled Trono.

"That will develop," said the 郡保安官, cryptically and started on. The 副s fell in behind. They 棒 as far as the main 追跡する through the Pass before Lilly roused himself to speak. "So this is 司法（官） in Robey 郡."

"いつかs," 明言する／公表するd the 郡保安官, "司法（官） don't show her 直面する 完全に to the onlooker."

When Lilly turned to look at the 郡保安官, the latter was smiling わずかに. That smile engrossed Lilly's attention all the long 疲れた／うんざりした ride into town and puzzled him even when he had been locked behind the 独房 door.

V. — TRONO VERSUS STUBBINS

"Hark to me, amigo: a woman may shorely be a weak 大型船 but she's got more ways o' fightin' than a man ever heard about. It ain't because o' chivalry a man don't want to 攻撃する，衝突する a lady—it's because o' 恐れる o' gettin' a 罰金 lickin'. You bet."—Joe Breedlove.

JILL BRECK had fallen asleep 即時に in the hidden glade. But it was not a dreamless sleep; the long ride and all the discouraging, 悲劇の 出来事/事件s of the day had bruised her profoundly and left unforgettably vivid pictures in her mind. So she dreamed; terrifying dreams that at times brought helpless cries from her. It seemed she was 存在 led away from the JIB, that the house and ４半期/4分の1s were going up in 炎上s. She was 存在 概略で 扱う／治療するd and each time she 抗議するd a vise-like 握りこぶし の近くにd around her throat. She was driven to a strange country—to the chasm of a river she could not 認める. Above the roar and 急ぐ of water she felt a 激しい 握りこぶし の近くにd about her wrist and someone spoke ironically.

"What yuh shoutin' about, sister?"

She woke with a 叫び声をあげる in her throat. Trono, his 直面する beet-red and glistening with sweat, was bending over her, grinning in his- tight, 勝利を得た manner. "If yuh 目的（とする）d to hide yuh shouldn't be caterwaulin' in yore sleep. Come up girl, we got to be movin'. Where's that red-長，率いる went?"

"Take your 手渡す off me!"

"Oh, don't talk sassy. Yuh'll live to 悔いる it!"

When she pulled 支援する, resisting the 軍隊 of his 大規模な arm, he grew suddenly enraged and yanked her 今後 at a 動議. She struck at his leering 直面する and left her 示す; roaring, Trono slapped her with the palm of his 手渡す, 押すd her through the bushes and into the （疑いを）晴らすing. Half a dozen of the JIB 乗組員 were scattered around the cabin, guns out, moving warily. "Yuh goin' to tell me where the red-長，率いる went?" 需要・要求するd Trono.

She felt the cruel 圧力 of his 支配する and gave up her 試みる／企てる to get 解放する／自由な. "You will be paid for this, Trono! Don't you know what the men of the 郡 will do to you for 扱う／治療するing me like you do?"

"If there's any 支払う／賃金 comin' I guess we'll get it all 権利," muttered Trono, hoisting her into the saddle before him. "But I guess we'll ride that 負かす／撃墜する. As fer the men o' this 郡 they oughta know better'n to 取り組む me or my men. Stop that squirmin', yuh little spitfire! Ain't your own 乗組員 good enough fer yuh? Think yore awful smart, sidin' in with this waddy. 井戸／弁護士席, we'll learn yuh manners."

"What are you going to do with me?"

"Wait an' see. Come on, boys. We've lost the redhead, I guess. It won't do fer us to let him take マリファナ 発射s from the bush. Anyhow, we've got Jill, which is plenty. We're ridin'."

"If my father were alive he'd 肌 you."

Trono chuckled. "Yeah, he shore would. Or I'd 肌 him. The old man was afraid o' me. Never had the 神経 to gimme my time. Didn't know that, did yuh? 井戸／弁護士席, I had the 麻薬 on him. I'm a- tellin' yuh. I ain't no church member, but yore dad wa'n't a Methodist 年上の by a long 発射. Come on, boys."

She の近くにd her lips, 投機・賭けるing no more. Trono was a desperate man, and the 最近の turn of events had 抑えるのをやめるd the everpresent 緊張する of lawlessness. 当局, he had never held in 広大な／多数の／重要な esteem. More than once he had 率直に 侮辱する／軽蔑するd it, though he perhaps did not やめる understand that the 郡 left him alone because he had the 保護 of Old Jim Breck. In his overweening pride he considered that it was his 評判 they were afraid of; he believed he was the one who had made the JIB formidable. Stubbins would have told him さもなければ, but on this morning Stubbins was not 現在の to give his 用心深い advice. The girl wisely held her peace, uncomfortable in her 不安定な seat, thinking of Red and wondering what had become of him.

They reached the open country and instead of going toward the ranch, curved 西方の, dropping into an arroyo that put them below the horizon. Much later they reached the homesteader's shack and stopped for a 残り／休憩（する） while Trono sent out men to 小競り合い. Jill, half asleep in the house, heard one of them ride hurriedly 支援する some time later and presently the word "郡保安官'" 生き返らせるd her hopes. It was 速く quenched. Trono あられ／賞賛するd her, half 投げつけるd her up before another of the party. Then they were away, riding in 広大な／多数の／重要な haste, leaving Trono behind.

She grew so 疲れた／うんざりした that she lost trace of time. Once they stopped in a 不景気, the men whispering to one another and keeping watch over the surrounding land; later they left their 避難所 and struck 速く toward the Pass, crossed it and dipped into the 燃やすing plain below. Jill の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs and for long stretches of time was oblivious of her surroundings. She never knew how long she 棒; but toward sunset she was roused by a man speaking and she looked up to see the 3Cross ranch-house 直接／まっすぐに in 前線 of them. One of the party 棒 ahead. By-and-by the cavalcade reached the porch and stopped before Stubbins.

Stubbins smiled courteously, but Jill understood him 井戸／弁護士席 enough to know there was little hope of help here. Still, she 抗議するd as much as her flagging strength permitted.

"Mr. Stubbins, are you making war on a woman? For shame, but you will never live it 負かす／撃墜する! I'll fight 支援する—you'll never keep me long!"

"Ma'am," said he 平等に, "don't put it that way. We're only rescuin' you from your enemies. Consider yourself my guest, nothing more. All 権利, boys, the lady 残り／休憩（する）s here."

She slid gingerly to the ground. "救助（する）! 罰金 words. But, then, you never were a 手渡す to speak the truth. You were afraid of my father, Mr. Stubbins. You never had the courage to 直面する him. So you waited until he died—and then began to fight me!"

Stubbins reddened. His thin lips 倍のd beneath the 耐える-like nose and he 動議d her inside with a gesture abrupt and impatient. "You take advantage of a man, knowin' he can't strike 支援する."

"罰金 推論する／理由ing," she retorted. "What excuse have you for taking advantage of a woman?"

He half 押し進めるd her 負かす／撃墜する a hall, into a bedroom. Without a word, 屈服するd himself out. She heard the 重要な turn and when she crossed to pull 負かす／撃墜する the shade at the window she saw a puncher negligently stroll across from the bunkhouse and （問題を）取り上げる his 駅／配置する. A 囚人 of the 3Cross! She dropped on the bed to cry but instead, fell asleep.

Though 移植（する）d from his native land—or, more 適切に, driven from it by an 乱暴／暴力を加えるd family—Stubbins had never foregone its leisurely, formal customs. It was やめる dark when he knocked on the door and 発表するd supper. "I am waiting for you, of course. We must not let the meal get 冷淡な. Come, now."

Awakened, Jill 審議d on self-課すd confinement. But that passed, for she was not the 肉親，親類d to sulk. Hers was the temperament that took the fight to the enemy; in this 事例／患者 she considered it the better part of valor to break bread with the Englishman and talk him out of his ideas. So she rose, washed some of the dust from her 直面する and stepped 前へ／外へ to 会合，会う him. He had 回復するd his perfect urbanity and led her into the dining- room, seating her with a studious politeness. Jill looked about her with かなりの 利益／興味.

The man lived high and took 苦痛s to bring as much of England into the 砂漠 as he could. He had fashioned the dining-room, which was the living-room 同様に, after the fashion of a manorial hall, its 天井 延長するing a story and a half up. トロフィーs studded the four 塀で囲むs and 耐える rugs やめる 完全に covered the 床に打ち倒す. There was a 広大な／多数の／重要な fireplace, surmounted by a mantel filled with 麻薬を吸うs, タバコ and a litter of 純粋に masculine bric-a-brac. A long gun rack stood to one 味方する, the 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of oiled 武器s glistening dully in the lamp light And somewhere he had 選ぶd up some magnificent oil 絵s of the West—a Remington's scene of a bighorn on the high ledges; a 徹底的な-を締める 行う／開催する／段階 coach 攻撃するing perilously 負かす／撃墜する a mountain road done as Russell alone knew how to do.

He enjoyed her unspoken compliment and said so. "You see, I surround myself with as many 慰安s as I can. Really, the old 西部の人／西洋人s are grand 闘士，戦闘機s, but they don't understand the gentle art of living. It takes a gentleman of the old country to show them."

Jill shrugged her shoulders in dissent. A Chinaman （機の）カム silently in and they ate through four sedate courses, conversing in desultory phrases. The Englishman proceeded やめる as if he were entertaining an 栄誉（を受ける）d guest and Jill, for all her 不信 of the man, 譲歩するd that he was a far more polished 見本／標本 than she had ever before known. He made a ritual of supper and, when they had finished, drew her to the glowing 炎. The Chinaman （機の）カム in with coffee; over the cups Stubbins smiled expansively and touched on dangerous 領土.

"Jill, it has been unfortunate that your father and I never struck it off. A 罰金 gentleman. One I was 心から sorry to see go."

The girl 星／主役にするd at him somberly. It was a direct 嘘（をつく）—she saw as much in his 注目する，もくろむs. Stubbins spread his 手渡すs outward in a symbol of frankness. "All this 戦争 has been 誇張するd. True, we fought いつかs, but usually it was our 乗組員s that 衝突する／食い違うd and 原因（となる）d the rumpus. What I'm getting around to, is that you must not harbor ill will toward me on account of a fancied 反目，不和. I—most assuredly do I say so—am your friend."

"What are you getting to?" 需要・要求するd Jill, using her father's bluntness.

Stubbins shut his mouth suddenly and breathed through his nose. "Ah, you disbelieve. My dear girl, you must understand that this world is a dreadful place. Men fight each other over nothing at all, 耐える tales that are untrue and so go on weaving a web of animosity. It's this I wish to break 負かす／撃墜する, betwixt you and me. We must stick together."

"By all means," said Jill. "Even if you must lock me in my bedroom."

"Only because I was afraid you would run away before I had a chance of putting the 状況／情勢 before you in its proper light. Now, look; here you are 完全に alone and very much in trouble. What are you going to do about it?"

"I am going to scratch your 注目する，もくろむs out, Mr. Stubbins," said she, やめる 真面目に. "Once I get the chance."

He pondered over this, not やめる knowing whether she meant it literally or figuratively. The girl made herself （疑いを）晴らす.

"Don't take me for a baby. Trono is やめる crooked—and you are behind him. You mean to make life so 哀れな for me that I'll be glad to give you the JIB."

"Who told you that?" he asked, 製図／抽選 the question through his nose.

"It's to be seen."

He put his cup 負かす／撃墜する, growing わずかに red around the gills. "That newcomer filled you with that yarn. You sh'd have known better than to've 信用d him."

"How is it you know so much about him in so short a time?" she 反対するd. "Evidently someone has been keeping you 知らせるd."

The Englishman 熟考する／考慮するd her at some length and at last （機の）カム to a 決定／判定勝ち（する）. "井戸／弁護士席, if you want the cards on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, I'll not 否定する I've been 利益／興味d. But I'm a little better than you give me credit for 存在. Truth is, I have long 心にいだくd a notion."

"Yes?"

For so stolid a temper, he 陳列する，発揮するd unusual 調印するs of nervousness. Rising, he kicked 支援する the スピードを出す／記録につける of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, 提携させるd the 麻薬を吸うs on the mantle, and jammed one 手渡す in his coat pocket. "Jill, you can't go on alone. Who ever heard of a woman running a cattle ranch? Now, look; I'm a 相当な man. I own a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of land and 在庫／株 and I can 命令（する） a fair size of money. I'm not so old and, bless me, I do know how to enjoy life. But it is 疫病／悩ますd lonesome （製品，工事材料の）一回分ing in this house. Here—I'm getting into 深い water! Will you throw in with me, Jill?"

"Marry you?"

"井戸／弁護士席, it's a pleasant idea."

He was not 推定する／予想するing the 激流 of laughter that followed. Indignant 拒絶 he could understand, but laughter! Ridicule! The rosy color stained his long, horsey jaws from 寺 to cleft and he stood very 静かな, waiting for her to stop. "What would you be marrying me for?" she asked, catching her breath.

"Why, devil! What does a man marry for? Companionship."

"And land and cattle." she 追加するd ironically.

"You are 辞退するing me?"

"Of course. Do you think you are so 深遠な that you can't be seen through? Now, let's talk sense. When are you going to stop this piracy and let me go? You will find you're keeping a white elephant. Sooner or later there will be trouble for you."

"I had thought you owned a little solid 知恵," he muttered. "I see you are but a giddy thing. I'll teach you better. Ay, I will."

She rose. "I give you 警告 you will learn more than you teach, Mr. Stubbins."

Stubbins watched her 消える toward her bedroom, his 手渡すs locked behind his 幅の広い 支援する. He was scowling ひどく in the 激しい 乱暴／暴力を加えるd manner of a man who had 設立する his charitable 意向s trampled under. Like many another of his 肉親，親類d he 欠如（する）d humor; not the small incidental humor that 原因（となる）s a man to laugh at incongruous things, but the 深い, rich vein of amusement rising out of self-knowledge. He was, in truth, a 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な ass who thought he was doing Jill Breck a 広大な／多数の／重要な turn. 自然に, he 推定する／予想するd to 利益（をあげる） from it. The fact of the 事柄 was he did care somewhat for the girl, but this curious affection had been nourished almost wholly on the 仮定／引き受けること that in marrying her he would be master of 巡礼者 Valley.

奪うd of this manner of acquiring 領土 he became distinctly dangerous. 用心深い, 性質の／したい気がして to use a soft word where it would do the work of a hard one, he にもかかわらず always 押し進めるd toward the main 反対する, never 許すing himself to be shunted aside. He had 恐れるd Breck as he had 恐れるd no other living man; that alone kept him humble. But Breck was gone and, like Trono, he felt a 負わせる 除去するd. 今後 he would be いっそう少なく 用心深い.

So he stood before the fireplace, 麻薬を吸う clenched in his teeth, 熟考する／考慮するing his problem. 所有／入手 of Jill was no simple 事柄; he knew he had most of the 郡 公式の／役人s beneath his thumb and he likewise knew that with the 3Cross 乗組員 and the JIB 乗組員—the latter chosen by him through Trono—he could stand off a good sized posse. Even so, it was a dangerous 状況／情勢. Once a 感情 完全に took 持つ／拘留する of the country it swept men along at a tremendous 率. If Jill's 捕らわれた should become general knowledge it would do nothing but 害（を与える） to him.

"Trono," he muttered, "was a 悪口を言う／悪態d fool for making this move. He should have taken the girl 支援する to the JIB and held her there. Then nobody could say she was 存在 kidnapped—on her own ranch."

Trono, as it had often turned out before, was the つまずくing 封鎖する. The man was forever doing the wrong thing, the bull-長，率いるd thing. Always butting into trouble. Trono didn't know that you could only 押し進める a community about so far; after that they rose and wrought 破壊.

"井戸／弁護士席," he said to himself, "she made a bad 取引 when she turned me 負かす／撃墜する. I may look soft but I'll not let her turn me. Gad, I will not! She chooses to take マリファナ luck. All 権利. I'll use a man's 武器s on her. That I will."

Jill, 一方／合間, had gone 嵐／襲撃するing to her room with mixed emotions. In the 不明瞭—there seemed to be no lamp—she stood やめる still, listening for the lock to turn; but Stubbins had not followed her and she felt more relieved than she could 表明する. Stubbins had made his 企て，努力，提案 and in doing so had 公表する／暴露するd his mind. Here was another of those men who would stop at no point short of his 目的地. He used a little bluster, he was やめる the suave gentleman when it pleased him; that made him the more formidable. Jill, on tiptoes, went to the window and peeped through the blind. A cigarette tip glowed in the 不明瞭, 警告 her that she was still guarded.

It 高くする，増すd her feeling of desperate 抵抗. Catching 持つ／拘留する of the door knob she turned it until the lock clicked ever so わずかに. インチ at a time she slipped it open; 負かす／撃墜する the hall the boards glowed from the reflection of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 in the big room. That way she could not go without crossing Stubbins' 見通し. The other way, then. Slipping through, she の近くにd the door with equal care and slid into 不明瞭, not knowing where this 黒人／ボイコット alley led. Dishes 動揺させるd from the kitchen, a patch of light fell athwart her path, then a draught of 空気／公表する. Luck! She was on the sill of an open door that led into the 支援する yard of the house.

The glowing cigarette tip was just out of 範囲 around an 肘 of the house. The barn ぼんやり現れるd against the sky, a 目印 on which she unconsciously 始める，決める her course. Somewhere she'd find a horse and get （疑いを）晴らす of this Englishman and his 計画（する）s. But Red, where was he? Jill, setting her foot into an 予期しない hollow, bit her tongue and wistfully wished for the 慰安 of his presence. Her father had 裁判官d 権利 at first sight—Red was a man!

The barn's 影をつくる／尾行する （海，煙などが）飲み込むd her and Jill, fearful that Stubbins might now be discovering her absence, moved faster. She 小衝突d a 地位，任命する, lost her balance in the sharp turn and 突然に kicked over a bucket, waking what seemed to her every echo on the ranch. To the 権利, the bunkhouse door suddenly opened and a 人物／姿／数字 stood silhouetted in a 噴出する of yellow light. Someone drawled, "That you, 法案?" Hard on this, she heard Stubbins' mealy accent bark across the yard. "Ashbey, where the devil have you been? She's given me the slip! Roust out!"

At that she ran faster, circling the barn, seeing the man spring from the bunkhouse in hot 追跡. She 衝突する／食い違うd against the sharp 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s of a corral and said "darn!" in an 悪化させるd, rising トン. She could not turn 支援する, so she started to climb over; but that, too, was 致命的な. Boots thudded 近づく by and an ungentle 手渡す 運ぶ／漁獲高d her 負かす／撃墜する from her perch. "Honey," said a soft, southern 発言する／表明する, "you got 勇気, but yore buckin' the wrong brand."

She marched meekly 支援する to the house and into the light of the big room. Stubbins 星／主役にするd at her with a hard, glowering gaze. "Get to your room! Don't try that again, hear! I have men on guard around this house and they're ordered to shoot."

Jill said, malice in her 発言する／表明する, "I told you, Mr. Stubbins, you'd have trouble keeping me. I'll scratch your 注目する，もくろむs out yet." She went quickly to her room, this time 審理，公聴会 the 重要な turn. There was another sound, too. Hoofs drummed on the hard ground outside and a man challenged, evoking a rumbling, familiar reply. "Oh, put up yore damn gun. Yuh'd think this was an army. It's me—Trono."

The interview between Trono and Stubbins was very 簡潔な／要約する, as usual. The two men seemed to find little 慰安 in each other's company; for all their ありふれた crookedness. Trono strode across the room in long, 積極的な steps, stopping 直接／まっすぐに in 前線 of Stubbins.

"井戸／弁護士席, you got the girl. Now what you goin' to do with her?"

"That's something you should have considered before you brought her to me," answered Stubbins. "It was a foolish thing to do. Supposing this gets out? Why, I'll have a fight on my 手渡すs. You should have left her at the JIB and seen to it she stayed 権利 in the house until she was ready to pack up and leave the country."

"Yeh? Yuh always got a better idea, ain't yuh?" 不平（をいう）d Trono. "I brought her here because the sher'ff was roamin' around the Valley. Then that damn Red was causin' trouble. We pinned his ears 支援する an' led him to the calaboose fin'lly. But yore the boss, so you tell me what yore goin' to do."

"Mean to say the fellow is in 刑務所，拘置所? Oh, the devil! Now he'll spread the story and 動かす the 郡. My Godfrey, why didn't you put him out of the way?"

Trono took the rebuke with ill grace. "Say, do yuh think I'm 足緒 James? I been havin' plenty o' trouble the last thirty-six hours. Now I'm sharin' some o' it with you. It's yore 職業, anyhow. You jes' mix in an' do a few licks yoreself. As fer the red-長，率いる, the sher'ff got him 調書をとる／予約するd fer kidnappin'. I think he'll have a hard time."

"Kidnappin'? Hm. That sounds interestin'" Stubbins 熟考する／考慮するd his 同盟（する）. "He せねばならない be put out of the way, my lad. He's a dangerous critter."

"How about this?" said Trono, leaning 今後. "We'll jes' hide the girl some place an' then take a bunch o' the boys 負かす／撃墜する to 砕く an' lynch him fer doin' the 行為. Then he won't give us no bother."

Stubbins nodded. "Now you're thinking what you should have thought some time ago. But I can't have her here. Somebody's liable to 減少（する） in and see her. Got to put her in some other （武器などの）隠匿場所."

"Thought you had a way with wimmen." Trono grinned.

Stubbins 圧力（をかける）d his lips together and looked angry. "You take her, Trono. Now. Over the mountains to the last line rider's cabin. Grub there. Then in a couple days I'll see to it a lynchin' party starts for 砕く."

"So I'm to pull the coals outa the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 again?" Trono was sullenly intractable. "Why don't you do it yoreself? Supposin' I get caught?"

"Afraid?"

"Hell! I'll go. But what you goin' to do with her after that?"

Stubbins hadn't decided that. Truly, Jill was becoming a 重荷（を負わせる） to him. But he didn't say as much to Trono; the burly foreman was given to （一定の）期間s of ridicule that Stubbins disliked. So he dropped his 長，率いる 意味ありげに and said, "That will take care of itself. This newcomer must be 直す／買収する，八百長をするd first. I'll get the lady."

He roused Jill and 護衛するd her into the hall. Trono grinned sourly at her and winked portentously at Stubbins. "Jill, we got to go fer a little ride. Don't you be afeerd, though. It's all 権利."

The girl 解除するd her shoulders. She knew, in a half 確かな way, what they were about, though she didn't understand that it 巻き込むd Tom Lilly. 抵抗 was utterly useless. 召集（する）ing her courage she 解除するd her （疑いを）晴らす, oval 直面する to Stubbins. "I'm already becoming a 重荷（を負わせる） to you, am I not? All 権利, Mr. Stubbins. You'll find that a woman has a thousand ways of fighting 支援する you never heard of. And, remember, I'll scratch your 注目する，もくろむs out before you are finished with me."

Trono led her into the yard. In a few minutes a 3Cross man led around a second horse and presently the girl was traveling again. This time southward. She had managed to smile somewhat at Stubbins and assumed an 空気／公表する of 勝利. Here in the utter 不明瞭, bound for an unknown 目的地, this 勝利 砂漠d her.

"Oh, Red, where are you! I wish you'd come!"

VI. — IN POWDER'S BASTILLE

"I'm a 平和的な man. Fightin' I don't like. But here I am, now who do I shoot?"—Joe Breedlove.

POWDER sweltered under the baking, midday heat; 砕く shivered with the midnight 冷淡な. It was a town of violent extremes, living in a 明言する／公表する of 一時停止するd 活気／アニメーション for long periods of time until the cowboy and his money 棒 furiously in to 流出／こぼす the red paint. Life here was indolent and 平易な until the slumbering passions ゆらめくd up; then it became cruel, raw, 不正な. Such was 砕く as it appeared to Tom as he 調査するd it from the second 床に打ち倒す of the 郡保安官's office during the two days of his confinement.

There was nothing much to コースを変える him, save his own thoughts and these were not of a 肉親，親類d to 保証（人） peace. He was never the man to play possum; he had no 平易な-going philosophy to console him when things went wrong. Rather his quick temper fed upon his 傷害s and the 傷害s done to others, growing greater, more 火山の. So it flickered and ゆらめくd under 圧力, ready to burst 前へ／外へ at the first 適切な時期, making of him an 極端に dangerous character. The 郡保安官, visiting now and then, saw this and in an 平易な-going way tried to humor him.

"Now it don't ever help a man to 持つ／拘留する his breath until his 肺s 洞穴 in," he 警告するd. "That's what yore doin'. You'll 破産した／（警察が）手入れする yore G string and be plumb out of harmony if you don't just float with the tide a while. Sing yoreself a 甘い little ditty an' pretend yore takin' the 残り／休憩（する） cure."

"That," muttered Tom Lilly, "is what Joe Breedlove would say. Yeh, 'Take it 平易な' is his fav'儀式 motto."

"Yore friend has got plenty of sense," said the 郡保安官. "An oiled wheel lasts longer than a 乾燥した，日照りの one."

"Hell! I'm not built that way. Yore a 罰金 fellow to come 一連の会議、交渉／完成する here talkin' like Santy Claus. It ain't no 肌 off yore nose that they's a bunch of wild men up in the hills pickin' the JIB to pieces."

He couldn't やめる understand the 郡保安官. The man draped himself against the door, smiling 負かす／撃墜する his pipestem. There was 明らかな honesty in his 注目する，もくろむs and a 確かな stubborn fearlessness in the 削減（する） of the grizzled, middle-老年の 直面する. "Seems to me you didn't have any friendly notions to'rds the JIB when you went into 巡礼者 Valley," said he. "Why all the 関心 now?"

"I hate a 二塁打 crosser," said Tom. "It natcherlly makes me riled."

"井戸／弁護士席, you're buckin' some powerful gents, my son. Take the advice of an old 選挙運動者. 悪賢い does it in this country. Don't go around announcin' your 意向s. Just sing low until you're ready to 激突する in with the 大砲."

"罰金 to say," grunted Tom. "But do you realize they's a girl bein' held somewhere in those hills? By the Lord Harry, it ain't nothin' to smile about! That's what 支配するs me. I'd kill somebody for that."

The 郡保安官 星／主役にするd long and intently at Tom Lilly. His forehead wrinkled thoughtfully and he 除去するd his 麻薬を吸う, （電話線からの）盗聴 it against the grating. "Wherever she is, nobody's treatin' her too bad. Them boys ain't forgot they're gentlemen—of a sort."

"What boys?" 需要・要求するd Lilly.

The 郡保安官 単に grinned. Lilly stood up. "Say, you seem to know a powerful lot. When do I get tried for this awful 罪，犯罪 I didn't commit?"

"Soon enough," said the 郡保安官. "As for knowin' things, I'll 収容する／認める it. That's why I 持つ／拘留する my 職業. You have to mingle politics with 義務 in this country, Red."

Lilly heard him creaking 負かす／撃墜する the stairs and call to somebody in the street. A short while after a rider cantered southward from the town—Lilly saw him go from the 支援する window of his cubicle. The 郡保安官, too, got 船内に his sorrel and ambled leisurely away from the smothering heap that was 砕く. The day droned along; night （機の）カム and with it the sounds of 生き返らせるing 楽しみ. Supper （機の）カム. The piano in Jake 鉱夫's place sent 前へ／外へ its stuttering off-重要な harmony. Boots clumped across the 郡保安官's office below him. Evidently that worthy was 支援する from his ride. Lilly rolled an after supper cigarette and 反映するd on many things. Considering the 真面目さ of the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 placed against him, it seemed the 郡保安官 持続するd a mighty friendly 態度 toward him; nor did he seem 大いに 演習d at the thought of Jill Breck having disappeared. There was mystery behind this. Was the man in league with Trono? On the surface it appeared so, but Lilly could not imagine 二塁打-取引，協定ing behind the 郡保安官s square, frank 直面する.

不明瞭 had long since fallen. Below, there was a murmuring of 発言する／表明するs, two or three of them. Then the stairway squealed under a 激しい 団体／死体 and a vague 影をつくる／尾行する appeared beyond the grating. A 重要な 捨てるd the lock and a soft 発言する／表明する—a 発言する／表明する that had a 甘い and laughing 木材／素質 to it—floated inward.

"Yeh. The 郡保安官 said this was where he kept his 星／主役にする boarder. アイロンをかける 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s do not a 刑務所，拘置所 make! Shore enough. Mister Lilly would you be so 肉親，親類d as to step 前へ／外へ where I c'n shock myself with yore unholy 襲う，襲って強奪する oncet more?"

Lilly sprang up, checking a shout of delight. Joe Breedlove! Pattipaws then, had 配達するd his message. He 押すd the door open and with an 成果／努力 spoke casually. "You old wampus cat."

"Yeh. Same to yuh an' many of them. It shorely seems natcheral—me gittin' yuh outa 刑務所，拘置所 oncet more. I'm allus giftin' yuh outa some mess." A 会社／堅い 手渡す の近くにd on his shoulder. Breedlove's tall, square 団体／死体 stooped toward him. "I'm a man o' peace. I hate to fight. But here I am, now who do I shoot?"

"平易な, boy. What'd you do with the 郡保安官?"

"Oh, Moses an' I sorter sauntered in like we 手配中の，お尋ね者 to converse with him an' gits the 減少（する）. He's 負かす／撃墜する talkin' 宗教 to Moses now. Only it's hard fer a gent to talk with his 手渡すs tied."

"You brought the boys along?"

"Eight simple-minded men o' the open spaces. We rolled our 一面に覆う／毛布s five minutes after yore 電報電信 come. Hopped a freight at the water 戦車／タンク an' had a 権利 nice 旅行. 鉄道／強行採決する men c'n be awful accommodatin', when they got to be. The Injun was at the Junction waitin' fer us. Guess he knew all about yuh, fer he leads us thisaway. I left the boys outside so nobody'd get excited."

Lilly groped 負かす／撃墜する the stairway and opened a door into a 味方する room. A lantern emitted feeble rays through its smudgy 保護物，者, 明らかにする／漏らすing the 郡保安官 neatly tied to a 議長，司会を務める and a sad-直面するd, loose-共同のd person standing 近づく him, speaking in polite solemnity about the 天候. The 郡保安官 seemed not to mind his position; he grinned with cheerful humor when Tom Lilly entered.

"I was wonderin' when your party would arrive," said he. "Better turn 負かす／撃墜する that lantern a little. Somebody might peek in that door."

"Huh?" asked Lilly. "How did you know I asked for help?"

"Shucks, man, give me a little credit. Ever' time a sparrow ketches a worm in Robey 郡 I know it. How? That's my own 商売／仕事. What's your next move?"

"Now look here," interrupted Lilly. "Explain yoreself. I don't arrive at you atall. Are you for me or agin me? If yore for me, why did you put me in the jug? If yore agin me, what's the idea o' actin' as if you'd 設立する yore long lost brother?"

"I'm for 司法（官）. Red. That's a-plenty. But いつかs I've got to use devious means to arrive at it. Now, I pinched you to keep Trono and his 罰金 暗殺者s from tyin' you to a tree, which they honed to do. As for lookin' proud in these の近くに-embracin' 倍のs of rope, what good would it do me to cuss? You got me. Now go on an' peddle your papers. Though I'm more'n half glad you rustled up some good men."

"Don't it （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 hell?" grunted Lilly. Joe Breedlove was smiling, his tall, husky でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる わずかに bent over. His was the countenance of a man 井戸／弁護士席 性質の／したい気がして toward the world; from his sandy yellow hair downward he made a picture of an 平易な-going, shrcwdly-observant character. Sadness had touched Joe Breedlove; he had never had a home. Once, he had seen himself 二塁打-hitched and running his own small ranch. But that was only a memory now. Out of all this he could still smile that 甘い, charitable smile, looking at the world with 注目する，もくろむs that were いつかs thoughtful, but never embittered.

The 郡保安官 seemed to find him 価値（がある） 熟考する／考慮するing. "Tell that red- 長，率いるd friend of yours how it is when you get a chance. You savvy, don't you?"

Breedlove nodded. "Uhuh. Tom might, too, if he wa'n't such a dog-goned ser'ous nature. Y' see, he's all fight."

"So I can see. 井戸／弁護士席, where you bound for now?'"

"I'm goin' to rake 巡礼者 Valley with a 罰金 徹底的に捜す," said Tom Lilly.

"It's plumb empty," replied the 郡保安官. "Turn your attention to the 3Cross. You'll find something 利益／興味ing there."

"井戸／弁護士席, by the Lord Harry," 爆発するd Tom, "if you know that much, why 港／避難所't you collected a posse and gone after 'em?"

"Because I couldn't find ten men I could 信用. Somebody'd squeal and when I got to the rancho I wouldn't find a thing."

"井戸／弁護士席, we'll surprise 'em this time," said Tom. "You better come along."

"Nope," 反対するd the 郡保安官. "There might be some 暴力／激しさ done and I'd have to take 公式の／役人 cognizance of it. What I don't see I don't know. Just tie me tighter in this 議長，司会を務める an' 押す me in the corner. Then turn out the light, lock the door and be on your way. Good luck."

Joe Breedlove, chuckling, stepped 今後 to do as the 郡保安官 asked. The two 交流d ちらりと見ることs, they understood each other やめる 井戸／弁護士席, for they were of the same type. "I'd admire to drink with yuh some day," said Breedlove.

"井戸／弁護士席, that goes 二塁打," replied the 郡保安官. "When your vacation in the hills is finished 減少（する） 支援する."

Lilly shook his 長，率いる. "You shore （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 me, 郡保安官. 井戸／弁護士席, let's be goin'." They slid out of the office and, hidden by the 影をつくる／尾行するs, ducked through an alley to the 支援する of the town. A hundred yards off they 衝突する／食い違うd with a waiting party. Muffled words of 迎える／歓迎するing floated 上向き, the rough and 明らかに unemotional talk of men glad to see another.

"Here's the ol' hoss."

"Drunk er sober? Hey, remember when we had t' pull him outen that 捨てる at Box Canyon?"

"He don't git no tamer."

Lilly 解雇する／砲火／射撃d 支援する. "Same old pack of gossipin' gran-ma's. Hope you brought yore tattin' along."

They had 旅行d into the country without horses or gear. Yet here they stood, eight of them, each 機動力のある, and with an extra animal for Lilly. 開始するing and 主要な away to the south, he put a puzzled question. "Where'd you collect these scarecrows from, Joe?"

"Why, we borrowed 'em from the town's stable. The gent in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 is out in one o' them empty sheds, reflectin' over the sinfulness o' this world."

There was a 抑えるd chuckle. The H-H 乗組員 was having a glorious vacation. Lilly settled into a stiff pace and led them toward the 3Cross. "井戸／弁護士席, have a good time while you can, amigos. There's shootin' work ahead. Don't forget it." Leather creaked and 刺激（する）s jingled. A 黒人／ボイコット 隠す shrouded the sky and left the world in utter 不明瞭. Somewhere, a coyote sent 前へ／外へ his quavering, lonesome cry; the smell of 下落する was in the night 微風.

"緩和する up," said Lilly in a muffled 発言する／表明する. The cavalcade dropped to a slow walk, はうing southward. "We're pretty の近くに to the 3Cross now. I can smell it."

"Do we 支払う／賃金 'em a visit or a surprise?" whispered Joe Breedlove.

"A surprise. It's a fightin' game now, Joe. I want you to take four of the boys and corral the bunkhouse. I'll picket a couple around the house an' one at the barn. Me, I'm goin' in to find this horse-直面するd Englishman and pluck his eyebrows out, one at a time."

"Sounds bad," murmured Breedlove; he was chuckling. "The boys'll enjoy this little holiday."

Blacker 影をつくる／尾行するs in the thin, morning 空気／公表する. Lilly 停止（させる）d, the cavalcade 衝突する／食い違うing with him. Soft 警告 ran from man to man and there was a slight groaning of leather and the muffled sound of 手渡すs 事情に応じて変わる across holsters. "We walk from here," 発表するd Lilly. "Joe, I'll give you five minutes to get that bunkhouse 位置を示すd. When yore ready, let out a whoop and a 発射 as warnin' to me."

They slid 負かす／撃墜する, leaving the horses. Indian とじ込み／提出する, they slouched 今後 behind Lilly until the ranch-house 閉めだした their way. Silently, Joe Breedlove touched the four nearest men and, together they disappeared. Lilly whispered directions to the remaining three and waited until they had slipped off before 前進するing across the porch of the house. As with all 西部の人／西洋人s, Stubbins 軽蔑（する）d to lock his doors and Lilly raised the latch and opened the portal an インチ at a time. A 選び出す／独身 coal gleamed in the fireplace; stale 麻薬を吸う smoke filled the room. Lilly groped his way over the rug-strewn 床に打ち倒す, touched a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and stopped to orient himself. This room was やめる silent; but he heard the 激しい snoring of a man come out of some 近づく-by room. He skirted a 議長，司会を務める, entered what felt like a hallway to his 調査するing fingers and stopped at a sudden 開始. The sleeping fellow's breath rose and fell, alternately sibilant and droning. A 激しい sleeper, this one. Lilly felt 確かな it was Stubbins and moved over the threshold, approaching the bed. There was a window 直接／まっすぐに beyond the bed and by the patch of gray 影をつくる／尾行する relieving the opaque dark of the room he saw the crooked 人物／姿／数字 sprawled beneath the 一面に覆う／毛布s.

Closer he dared not go. So he 残り／休憩（する）d, bringing up his gun and waiting for the signal from Joe Breedlove. 背信の silence pervaded the 3Cross. The sleeping 人物／姿／数字 strangled and turned, relapsing to a more normal breathing.

The signal changed all this. There was a high, "Eee-yippy- yippy-yip!" and the flat 爆発 of a revolver. A door was 粉砕するd in and 即時に a dozen 発言する／表明するs and another gun 発射 answered the challenge. Lilly had no 適切な時期 to follow Joe Breedlove's fortunes; his own man had risen bolt upright in bed, silhouetted by the gray patch of the window, and was 断言するing 概して. "What's that—what's that?" he 不平（をいう）d. A better comprehension （機の）カム to him when Lilly stepped up, speaking in a soothing 発言する／表明する. "You stand 急速な／放蕩な, brother Stubbins. I 認める that beef-eatin' accent. 上げる yore 手渡すs. 上げる 'em!"

The bed springs screeched. Stubbins flung himself backward and smote the woolen 長，率いる of his couch with terrific 軍隊. Lilly saw a 手渡す go around in a semicircle and knew the man was reaching for his gun. He brought the バーレル／樽 of his own 武器 負かす／撃墜する, 粉砕するing Stubbins across the 長，率いる. Thereupon, the master of the 3Cross grunted and 一時的に passed from the scene. Lilly's 調査するing 手渡す reached and appropriated Stubbins' gun and holster hanging on the bed 地位，任命する.

A 後部 door opened with a clatter and boots （機の）カム tramping 負かす／撃墜する the hallway. A 発言する／表明する said, "Hey, Stubbins! What the hell—?"

He was 注ぐing words through the bedroom door; but his senses told him something was wrong and he drew 支援する with a challenge. "Who's that there? Speak up or I'll plug yuh!"

"Same to you, brother," 発表するd Lilly and stepped aside into a deeper patch of 不明瞭. An orange-purple 炎上 ran out and was met by another; a water jar trembled in its bowl, the acrid odor of burnt 砕く 渦巻くd high. A gun dropped, a 団体／死体 slid 負かす／撃墜する with a surprising sigh. Somewhere to the 後部 a Chinaman's 発言する／表明する was flinging weird, wild words about like so many pitched knives. Over this bedlam he heard the drawling 発言する／表明するs of one of his own men, Moses. "井戸／弁護士席, how's it stand?"

"I plugged somebody," 発表するd Lilly. "The main guy is here on the bed where I plastered him."

"Fifty-fifty," 発表するd Moses in a bored トン. "I ketched me a person at the 前線 door. Seems like he was on guard, but I reckon he fell asleep till the noise jarred him some. He's chewin' at the knots I took in him. Say, that Chink is apt to 破産した／（警察が）手入れする a 肺 if he don't take a few cinches in them gosh-awful words."

"Light up," said Lilly. "I think Joe's 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd his critters."

He had followed the sound of struggle in the bunk-house but 断続的に during his own activity; and by now the 発射s had 中止するd and there was only the hum of 発言する／表明するs like the buzzing of bees in a 乱すd 蜂の巣. Breedlove sent his gay 告示 across the yard. "Say what, Tommy."

"Good enough here."

"井戸／弁護士席, what'll I do with these boys? Never saw so many punchers fer one ranch. I count fifteen."

"Hobble 'em an' come over."

Moses had 設立する and lighted a lamp in the main room. He carried it into the bedroom and 検査／視察するd the man Lilly had dropped at the door. 血 streamed 負かす／撃墜する his 直面する, but it seemed to be something いっそう少なく than a mortal 負傷させる. Moses put the lamp on the 床に打ち倒す and ran an 調査／捜査するing finger over the fellow's 長，率いる. "He's grazed, Tom. Sorter knocked him cuckoo. I'll put a han'k'chuff aroun' it an' he'll be good enough."

Stubbins on the bed, was coming out of his 施行するd sleep; coming out in a fighting mood, twitching his 武器. Lilly waited until the Englishman opened his 注目する，もくろむs and shook the もやs （疑いを）晴らす of his 長，率いる. 怒り／怒る glinted in the pale blue 注目する，もくろむs as he 星／主役にするd toward Lilly. "What's this confounded banditry about?" he growled. "I shall 持つ／拘留する you for this, friend. I'll have your scalp for it, believe me."

"What have you done with Jill Breck?" 需要・要求するd Lilly.

"Oh—that's it, eh? It would please you to find out, wouldn't it? 井戸／弁護士席, she's not here, Red. She's far away." Then it seemed to occur to him that he had forgotten himself. "Why, you damn pup, you know 井戸／弁護士席 enough where she is! I'll have you 支援する in 刑務所，拘置所 within six hours. Watch you hang, too, by Godfrey!"

"Yore out of date," said Lilly. "Things have happened since you went to sleep. Yore ギャング（団） is hog-tied. I've got a posse here that'll string you to a tree if you 嘘（をつく） to me. Time's past for foolin'. I've got enough on you this minute to send you to the pen."

"What's that?"

"Some of the JIB boys have been tellin' tales," 申し込む／申し出d Lilly. "Some of the JIB cows have been 設立する in yore herds, too. We know Jill Breck's been here. Now, you talk turkey an' talk 急速な／放蕩な."

It was all guess work, but based on good 証拠. Lilly watched the Englishman's 直面する settle and to その上の upset the man he ordered him up and into the main room where Joe Breedlove and three or four of the H-H 乗組員 were lounging. "It's all off with you, Stubbins. You tell the truth. We've got six men who'll turn 明言する／公表する's 証拠 against you. Where's Jill Breck?"

"What if I tell?"

"You'll get an even break," 約束d Lilly.

"What if I don't tell?" 発射 支援する Stubbins, his thin mouth disappearing beneath the 広大な／多数の／重要な nose.

"You'll be hung in an hour."

"Eh? Oh, no. You wouldn't dare that. I'm too big a man in this country."

"So? Say, when this 漏れるs out there won't be a man, woman or dog in Robey 郡 but what won't want to take a piece out of yore hide. No, you ain't got a foot to stand on. Now, where's Jill Breck?"

Stubbins thrust a long, 冷静な／正味の ちらりと見ること around at the H-H men, then rose and filled one of the 麻薬を吸うs on the mantel. Behind a cloud of タバコ smoke he 審議する／熟考するd. For all his villainy, there was something in the man to evoke 賞賛. Here he stood, with all his 計画（する）s 衝突，墜落ing 負かす／撃墜する around his 長，率いる, with three or four 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s against him—告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s that would 必然的に lead him to the 刑務所 or worse; he had no means of knowing whether this posse would take his life or not, or if they let him go, whether an 乱暴／暴力を加えるd 郡 would be as lenient. Still, he smoked imperturbably, as if deciding no more important a thing than whether or not to 雇う another 手渡す for his ranch.

"Yore house is made of cards," broke in Lilly. "As long as old Breck lived, he and you could buffalo this 郡. But it's too big a 職業 for you alone. A dozen good men can 破産した／（警察が）手入れする any sort of 範囲 piracy, and we're goin' to 破産した／（警察が）手入れする you. Times are changin', amigo. You'll change with 'em or go 負かす／撃墜する."

Fretfulness 侵略するd the horsey 直面する. "Damn the man," said Stubbins testily. "Damn Trono. He was the one I always 不信d. You can't play with a bullheaded fool. Now, he shouldn't have brought—" There he stopped, finishing the 宣告，判決 to himself.

"Anybody's a fool to 追跡する along with Trono," broke in Lilly. "He'll saddle 殺人 to you yet."

"What's that?" 需要・要求するd Stubbins, jerking up his 長，率いる. "殺人—殺人?"

"It's the 肉親，親類d he is," replied Lilly. "I know him. He'll go bugs an' shoot anything in sight."

Stubbins appeared to be seeing unwelcome 見通しs. "Ay, I know that. Look, what do you mean by an even break?"

"盗品 returned and no questions asked."

"Ah. What goods?"

"Jill Breck for one. Later Joe and I will 持つ／拘留する a 一斉検挙 of yore 在庫／株 and 選ぶ JIB critters."

"And no tales told!"

"非，不，無 but what 自然に 漏れる out, amigo. Of course, yore goin' to lose some of them nice 削減（する）-throats you've got 雇うd. Joe's goin' to see that they get started north after breakfast. I'll send the JIB bunch over to you, seein' they're yore men anyhow. Now, let's 縮める this palaver."

"Devil," muttered Stubbins. He 発射 a ちらりと見ること at Lilly. "My boy, you ain't scarin' me, understand? I do this of my own 良心. No man's big enough to 脅す me."

"Have it yore own way," said Lilly. Joe Breedlove dropped a wink at his partner, which Lilly answered.

"井戸／弁護士席, then, Trono took Jill Breck, the night before lost. I told him to stop at a line rider's cabin." He marched to a 調書をとる／予約する 事例／患者 and 設立する a 地図／計画する of the country, running his finger along its surface and pointing for Lilly's 利益. "There you are. It's twenty miles southeast. In the fringe of 激しく揺する and trees. Welcome, my lad."

"And you let that lout take her off!" cried Lilly, his temper rising. "If she's 害（を与える）d I'll kill you for it!"

Stubbins returned a hard, obstinate 星／主役にする, growing red around his 激しい neck. He was about to make some rousing answer when he caught Joe Breedlove's usually 穏やかな 注目する，もくろむs 錨，総合司会者d on him with such an 意図, 重さを計るing ちらりと見ること that he forebore. Instead, he asked a question.

"You mean to kill him?"

"One of us goes 負かす／撃墜する," retorted Lilly.

"It's all the same to me," said Stubbins. "You or him." With that he dropped in a 議長，司会を務める and smoked furiously.

"Moses," said Lilly, "find me a fresh horse." He walked into the pale light of 誤った 夜明け, Joe Breedlove の近くに behind. The big man's arm 残り／休憩（する）d lightly on Lilly's shoulder.

"井戸／弁護士席, this is yore fight, Red, so I ain't goin'. But watch yore 後部. An' say, yuh wouldn't have hung Stubbins, even if he'd 辞退するd to talk."

"I guess not," said Lilly, "but I shore would've done somethin'. He's 悪賢い, that boy. Know why he told on Trono? Because he knew one of us won't come 支援する, which is just 権利 for him."

"Like hell it is," growled Breedlove. Moses was returning with a saddled paint horse. "If yuh don't show up in five-six hours, Mr. Stubbins is like to have an 事故. 一方／合間, we'll take care o' this 乗組員."

Lilly swung up, gripped Joe's outstretched arm, and spurred away. 夜明け was just below the eastern 縁; toward it he traveled, going as 急速な／放蕩な as the horse would stand.

The sun rose in its arc, glowered from zenith, and fell 西方の, growing more wrathful, more 蒸し暑い. The 広大な plain shimmered under the heat and above the undulating barren spaces queer, phantasmic 形態／調整s formed and 解散させるd. To all this Tom Lilly was unconscious. He traveled with Stubbins' 地図／計画する 堅固に 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in his 長，率いる, and an unreasoning 憎悪 in his heart. It was Trono, always Trono who interposed his unlovely, 殺し屋's 直面する into the 2000481h-images/ that passed and re-passed Tom Lilly's 見通し. Trono was a bad Indian; and never would be a good one until dead. Where had the man got all this vindictiveness of spirit? What could he hope to 利益（をあげる） from his course of lawlessness? 井戸／弁護士席, he was an 無法者 by nature; made the more so by his training under old Jim Breck in the days when the Octopus had given him hard chores to do. Evidently, he had formed 関係s with Stubbins—probably would be a 長，指導者 相続人 of the 略奪するing of the JIB.

"Even if there wasn't a cent to be made he'd be a renegade, though," opined Lilly. Reviewing the course of events he slapped one 手渡す against the saddle skirts, 説, "It's him or me. If he's laid one o' his dirty paws on Jill—"

He could not, for all the glaring sun, keep her （疑いを）晴らす oval 直面する from his 注目する，もくろむs. She was like no other woman he had ever known. Old Jim Breck had given her a good 手段 of his sturdy spirit and some of his uncomplaining fortitude. Never, in that long night of flight, had she whimpered. Never had she 貿易（する）d on the fact that she was a woman; seemed, in fact, 気が進まない to 収容する／認める that she couldn't do all a man could do. And she had smiled at him in such a manner when she rolled up in the 一面に覆う／毛布s, the rosy color tinging her cheeks and some unfathomable emotion moving in the sleepy 注目する，もくろむs.

He swerved, climbed the （法廷の）裁判 on his left and presently was threading his way の中で the pines. Shade here, but no coolness. He struck a 追跡する that slanted 上向き into deeper 休会s of the forest and of a sudden all things immaterial to the chase left his 長，率いる. The 跡をつけるs of two horses were in the sandy course before him. Not fresh 跡をつけるs, but 最近の enough to still show a （疑いを）晴らす imprint. These he followed, 訴える手段／行楽地ing to 追跡するing 策略, for he had followed men before and understood their slyness.

At intervals he left the 追跡する and dived into the trees, going a hundred yards or more before 再現するing. いつかs, 直面するd by a 障壁 of 激しく揺する or deadfall, he made a かなりの detour and （機の）カム to a 停止（させる）, 広範囲にわたる the vistas, listening for out of the way sounds. But the forest was silent, save for the drone of heat and small insects. So, he 押し進めるd on until his 注目する，もくろむs saw a thinning of the pines 直接／まっすぐに ahead and when he dismounted and はうd 今後 flat on his stomach, he saw a miniature meadow in which sat a cabin and a small corral. Lush grass stood ankle-high; a small path was beaten through it from the trees to the door. And on the threshold of the door, squatted 負かす／撃墜する like a 大規模な, sullen spider, was Theed Trono. The sun slanted against his 直面する, bringing into bold 救済 the cleft chin, the columnar neck; shaded by the wide hat-brim his upper features were obscured. A cigarette dangled from one corner of his mouth and he played idly with his lariat, making 宙返り飛行s on the ground.

He seemed so much off guard, so little 推定する／予想するing danger that Tom Lilly tarried a while in his covert, 狙撃 ちらりと見ることs to all corners of the （疑いを）晴らすing, 捜し出すing some manner of a 罠（にかける）. But though he waited a good ten minutes, he could find nothing to 正当化する his 警告を与える. The girl was not to be seen; doubtless she was inside the cabin.

He parted the grass before him, gun 今後, and rose to one 膝. "Trono," said he, in a 静かな 発言する／表明する, "you'll stay 権利 there. Hoist yore 手渡すs."

Trono's 団体／死体 強化するd. The 手渡す 持つ／拘留するing the lariat stopped its circular movement and the Stetson jerked 上向き, 明らかにする／漏らすing the flash of his green 注目する，もくろむs. By and by he dropped the rope and hunched his shoulders, moving his big 武器 above his 長，率いる. Lilly stepped from his 避難所 and walked half way across the meadow. The burly one watching him from half の近くにd 注目する，もくろむs; an almost lifeless トン 現れるd from his enormous chest—the トン of a man discouraged and 敗北・負かすd.

"Knew yuh'd git here soon er late. Shore a 執拗な fella, ain't yuh, Red?"

"Expectin' me?"

"Yeh." The green 注目する，もくろむs ゆらめくd. "I've had too much time to think. Thinkin' ain't good fer a critter. A fack. 破産した／（警察が）手入れする outa 刑務所，拘置所?"

"That's 権利," agreed Lilly, watching his man closely "No fooling, now. You know what I'll do."

"I reckon," said Trono, wearily. "Nex' time Stubbins c'n do his own chores. What a hell of a time I've had. 井戸／弁護士席, le's git this over with."

Looking beyond the man, Lilly saw Jill Breck half-risen, dimly 明白な, in the 半分-不明瞭 of the cabin. He saw some movement of her lips and shook his 長，率いる at her; その結果 she disappeared, leaving him with his 広大な／多数の／重要な problem. Trono was smiling わずかに. "Don't yuh know what to do with me, kid?"

"I see trouble in yore 直面する, Trono. Turn around, 直面する against the スピードを出す／記録につけるs. I （機の）カム here to get you—耐える it in mind, amigo. If you want to take the chance, all 権利. I'm just warnin' you."

Trono turned, muttering, "Oh, I've had plenty. I been thinkin' Stubbins 二塁打 crossed me. What would I do with this gal, anyhow? Ain't it a hell of a chore fer a man? Him a-sittin' 支援する an' lettin' me run the danger. No, I won't raise a rumpus. I'm a- goin' 支援する with you an' turn 明言する／公表する's 証拠 on that beef- eatin', mealy-mouth fool. A fack."

"Change of heart, eh?" grunted Lilly, moving closer, 不信ing all this talk. Trono was a bundle of dynamite; a vicious cross-穀物d man who liked to なぎ an 対抗者 and strike unawares. So he moved 慎重に, arm reaching out for Trono's revolver.

"井戸／弁護士席, call it that," said Trono, his 広大な／多数の／重要な 団体／死体 as straight and rigid as he could carry it. The 大規模な shoulders seemed to fill and 脅す the seams of his coat. "But what'd happen to me when a posse got on my 追跡する? I'll go with yuh, an' be thankful it ain't a worse proposition. That gun don't slide out 平易な, Red. Pull hard. Oh, pull harder!"

Lilly, his fingers touching Trono's gun felt the big 団体／死体 tremble. He had jammed his own 武器 into Trono's 支援する. But the feeling （機の）カム over him all of a sudden that the man meant to make a play; desperate as the 事例／患者 was, Trono had decided to fight. And so, dropping his fingers, Lilly stepped 支援する. Trono waited an instant then swung about. The change in his 直面する was striking. Sweat 注ぐd 負かす／撃墜する his swart cheeks and the glitter of evil was in those green, sparkling 注目する，もくろむs. Once more he carried the high, 勝利を得た, gloating grin.

"神経 a-failin' yuh, Red? Caught on to my leetle trick, eh? All 権利, I'm a-tellin' yuh, I won't go."

"I can't shoot you in the 支援する, Trono," said Lilly. "And I'd have to if you turned on me like that."

"I knew yuh didn't have no 神経," said Trono. "What yuh goin' to do?"

Lilly nodded his 長，率いる. "Walk over there ten yards. I'll give you an even break."

"Fight it square?" bellowed Trono.

"Fight it square, or 減少（する） yore gun belt," 発表するd Lilly.

Trono, without a word, 支援するd away from the スピードを出す／記録につける house and stopped. "Red, I shore take my hat off to yuh. But I ain't goin to go 支援する, see? Say when."

"減少（する） yore 武器, slow, until they're to yore belt. All 権利, that's good. Now I'm puttin' my gun in the holster. We're even." Lilly's 手渡す rose （疑いを）晴らす of the gun butt. "Last warnin', amigo. You'd better give in."

Trono only shook his 長，率いる. He was a 悪意のある 人物／姿／数字, this man, with his thin lips but a white line in the dark 直面する and the nostrils 契約d from inner excitement. Beads of sweat stood out on his upper lip; he was swaying わずかに, leaning 今後, 武器 spreading away from his 団体／死体. Lilly felt the 十分な 衝撃 of that deadly gaze and there flashed across his mind the picture of a rattlesnake coiled and about to strike. Trono the 殺し屋 stood 前へ／外へ in 十分な panoply.

"No signal," said Lilly. His own 神経s had jangled a moment and then stopped. He was 冷淡な—very 冷淡な in this 有望な sun- drenched （疑いを）晴らすing. 冷淡な with the premonition of death. All his senses 焦点（を合わせる）d themselves on the bulky 人物／姿／数字 ten yards away; he heard nothing but the drone of his own words; saw nothing but a patch of Trono's shirt where his 注目する，もくろむs had 中心d; felt nothing but the flexing of his 権利 arm. "No signal," he repeated. "Go to it when yore ready."

The world was remote. Time 中止するd to be. Trono seemed to grow larger, 本体，大部分／ばら積みの tremendously against the light. The patch of shirt wrinkled and the man's 権利 arm dropped. Lilly had no notion what his own gun arm was doing; it appeared to be detached from whatever mental モーター guided it. Fretfully, he wondered why he wasn't matching that swift, cat-like draw. The blue metal バーレル／樽 gleamed in the afternoon sun. As from a distance he heard a 激しい 爆発—no, there was a 二塁打 爆発 and 即時に the world and all its bustling noises, its cheerful warmth, its 感謝する light, flooded 支援する. Trono was squinting across the space, the tip of his gun わずかに deflected. Lilly, watching the 武器 with a queer fascination, saw it 下落する, jerk 上向き, and 下落する again. It dropped to the ground and Trono began to droop. The starch of life was going out of him; やめる slowly at first he sagged, then, as if his will 力／強力にする had snapped, he 崩壊（する）d and lay sprawled, 直面する turned toward Lilly. His thin lips were fashioning words.

"I'll cash my 半導体素子s, mister. Yuh c'n never tell—what a redhead will do."

He was dead. It seemed altogether ridiculous to Lilly until he looked 負かす／撃墜する and saw his own gun in his 手渡す. Why, he never knew he had drawn, never had felt the recoil of 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing! He returned it to his holster and in a moment of thoughtfulness 延長するd his arm to 十分な length. It seemed ice-冷淡な; not a （軽い）地震 moved his fingers.

"Tom Lilly didn't 解雇する／砲火／射撃 that 発射," he murmured. "I guess the Lord shorely is providin' 保護."

Jill Breck's 発言する／表明する 問題／発行するd from the cabin, high and 電気の. "Red—Red, did he touch you?"

Tom was at the door at one stride. "Lord bless you, no. I'm a fool meant for a different end. Why, what's the 事柄 with you?" 激怒（する） jumbled his words together. "Did that swine 傷つける you?"

Her 発言する／表明する was of a sudden faint. For a moment he saw only an 輪郭（を描く） in the 半分-不明瞭. "No, Red. I'm all 権利. All 権利. But he's kept me tied to this bunk most of the time."

His 注目する，もくろむs, becoming accustomed to the 影をつくる／尾行するs, saw that she was half sitting, half lying on the bunk. Her feet were loosely tied to the でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる and her 手渡すs were bound behind her. She could move two or three feet, no more. Lilly got his knife and 削減（する） the rope, his 手渡す beginning to tremble. Her 武器 went around him and he 解除するd her up as if she were an 無効の. It was then his 適切な時期 （機の）カム and again his guiding angel helped him to do something that he would never have been able to do さもなければ. In short, he kissed her, called her "Jill kid!"

Her 団体／死体 quivered. She was 説 over and over again, "I thought you'd never come. I knew you would, but it was so long waiting. It was so long waiting!"

Dusk had settled around the 3Cross. の近くに harmonies 現れるd from the bunkhouse, that is to say, harmonies as の近くに as the ensembled 発言する／表明するs of the happy H-H 乗組員 could manage. It had been a 十分な day and a 満足させるing one; now they reclined on 外国人 bunks, 支えるd by 3Cross chuck. In the main house Joe Breedlove was playing a 接戦 of checkers with Lancelot Stubbins, his 穏やかな 注目する，もくろむs 持つ／拘留するing no greater care than a 関心 for the next move. Stubbins seemed to have forgotten his own 絡まるd, troubled 事件／事情／状勢s. 麻薬を吸う smoke curled high in the room and the mellow light of the fireplace shimmered over the 床に打ち倒す. Remington's bighorn looked 負かす／撃墜する from his high perch with a smug, 反抗的な ちらりと見ること of safety.

"Checkers," 観察するd Joe Breedlove, "is a pastime from which 予定 観察s regardin' life might be made. Yuh 前進する, then yuh stop. Mebbe yuh are taken. But yuh don't go 支援する unless yuh reach the king 列／漕ぐ／騒動. Same in a man's life—only they ain't no king 列／漕ぐ／騒動."

"Mr.," said Lancelot Stubbins. "D'ye know, you're a queer cuss."

"It's been told me before," replied Joe, "only in いっそう少なく elegant 条件. Don't I hear hawsses?"

He abandoned his game and went to the door. And when he saw Jill and Tom 前進するing out of the night he began to smile that rare, 甘い smile. He saw them dismount and 観察するd the careful manner in which Lilly 解除するd 負かす／撃墜する the girl. At that he turned 支援する. "Guess JIB will have good 管理／経営 今後."

The pair （機の）カム into the room. Tom Lilly walked straight over to Stubbins. "I'll keep my 約束, amigo. Yore 解放する／自由な as the 空気／公表する. But I'm yore nex' door neighbor 今後 and you'll shoot square with the JIB."

"I guess," said Joe, "us boys won't have much more to do in these parts."

"Oh yes, you will," replied Tom. "Yore goin' to 行為／行う a 一斉検挙 on 3Cross an' ketch JIB critters. Also I'll be needin' a man to go to 砕く an', have the sher'ff come out. He'll find Trono in the line rider's cabin."

"Is that all?" asked Joe.

"No, you son o' Satan, it ain't. Yore 雇うd 永久の as foreman o' the JIB. I'd like the boys to stay with us, too. We got to run the 現在の 乗組員 off the 範囲. Then we got to make a skookum ranch of it. What'd you do with Mr. Stubbins' men?"

Stubbins slammed 負かす／撃墜する the handful of checkers he carried and rose, 爆発するing a 簡潔な／要約する word. "Ran them to the 郡 line, by Gad!"

"Fair enough."

"Is that all?" 固執するd Joe, smiling.

Tom Lilly looked to Jill soberly; she had nothing to say. "井戸／弁護士席, you can be best man," he replied.

Joe's arm fell across his partner's shoulder. Nothing was said, but a ちらりと見ること passed between the two of them such as only loyal がまんするing friends would 交流.

THE END

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