DRIVING A BARGAIN Lawler stiffened.

There was no mistaking the deadly threat of the rifle and the man's menacing manner.

Lawler's face was pale, but his eyes were unwavering as they looked into those that glared out at him through the aperture in the door.
Guilt and fear were the emotions that had driven Hamlin to this rather hysterical threat.

Lawler resisted an impulse to laugh, though he felt a pulse of grim humor shoot through him.
To his knowledge--excepting Hamlin's predilection to rustle cattle--the man was harmless.

He never had been known to draw a gun, even in self-defense, and Lawler was convinced that there was not sufficient provocation for him to break one of the rules that had governed him until now.