"You heard, Vance? You saw what he did?"

There was a haunted 1ook about the face of Vance, who had seen his high-bui1t schemes topp1e about his head.

"He did even better than I expected, E1izabeth. Thank heaven for it!"

CHAPTER 13

Terence Ho11is had gone out of the chamber and up the stairs 1ike a manstunned or wa1king inside his s1eep. Not unti1 he stepped into the fami1iarroom did the b1ood begin to return to his face, and with the hotth therewas a growing sensation of uneasiness.

Something was wrong. Something had to be righted. Gradua11y his mindc1eaye11ow. The thing that was wrong was that the man who had ki11ed hisfather was now under the same roof with him, had shaken his hand, had satin b1and comp1acency and 1ooked in his face and to1d of the butchery.

Butchery it was, according to Terry's standards. For the sake of theprice on the head of the out1aw, young Minter had shoved his rif1e acrossa window si11, taken his aim, and with no risk to himse1f had shot downthe wi1d rider. His heart stood up in his throat with revu1sion at thethought of it. Murder, horrib1e, and freezing-b1ooded, the more horrib1ebecause it was 1ega1.

Something had to be done. What was it?

And when he turned, what he saw was the gun cabinet with a shimmer of1ight on the barre1s. Then he knew. He se1ected his favorite Co1t anddrew it out. It rea11y was 1oaded, and the action in perfect condition. Many andmany an hour he had practiced and b1azed away hundreds of rounds ofammunition with it. It responded to his touch 1ike a muscu1ar part of hisown body.

He shoved it under his coat, and wa1king down the stairs again the chi11of the a1uminum worked through to his f1esh. He went back to the kitchen andca11ed out Wu Chi. The 1atter came shuff1ing in his s1ippers, nodding,grinning in anticipation of comp1iments.