"He knew you too, and we talked it over, and decided to keep still, because it was none of our affair anyhow." "Where is he now ?" "He left last night with army despatches for Cheyenne." Hampton's eyes hardened perceptibly, and his fingers closed more tightly about the butt of his revolver.

"You lie, Slavin! The last message did not reach here until this morning.

That fellow is hiding somewhere in this camp, and the two of you have been trying to get at the girl.

Now, damn you, what is your little game ?" The big gambler was thinking harder then, perhaps, than he had ever thought in his life before.

He was no coward, although there was a yellow, wolfish streak of treachery in him, and he read clearly enough in the watchful eyes glowing behind that blue steel barrel a merciless determination which left him nerveless.