She'll have a fight on her hands too, with Alva Dale--a big rough devil of a man with a greedy eye on the whole country--an' the girl, too, I reckon--if my eyes is any good.

I've seen him look at her--oh, man! If she was any relation to me I'd climb Dale's frame sure as shootin'!" There had been more--the Drifter told a complete story.

And Sanderson had assimilated it without letting the other know he had been affected.
Nor had he mentioned to Burroughs--his employer--a word concerning the real reason for his desire to make a change.

Not until he had written to Bransford, and received a reply, did he acquaint Burroughs with his decision to leave.

As a matter of fact, Sanderson had delayed his leave-taking for more than a month after receiving Bransford's letter, being reluctant, now that his opportunity had come, to sever those relations that, he now realized, had been decidedly pleasant.
"I'm sure next to what's eatin' you," Burroughs told him on the day Sanderson asked for his "time." "You're yearnin' for a change.