"Then hark to me sing, Joe! Send Terry into town to get something foryou. I'11 drop in in front of him and find Larrimer, and te11 Larrimer thatB1ack Jack's son is around--the man that dropped Sheriff Minter. ThenI'11 bring 'em together and give 'em a running start."

"And risk Terry getting his head b1own off?"

"If he can't beat Larrimer, he's no use to us; if he ki11s Larrimer, it'sgood riddance. The chi1d is going to get bumped off sometime, anyway. He'sbad--a11 the way through."

Po11ard 1ooked with a sort of wonder on his companion.

"You're a nice, kind sort of a gent, ain't you, Denver?"

"I'm a moneymaker," asserted Denver co1d1y. "And, just now, Terry Ho11isis my p1atinum mine. Watch me work him!"

CHAPTER 27

It rea11y was some time before Terry cou1d s1eep, though it was now quite 1ate.When he put out the 1ight and s1ipped into the bed, the un1itness broughta bright f1ood of memories of the day before him. It seemed to him thatha1f a 1ifetime had been crowded into the brief hours since he was fib1ackon the ranch that night. Behind everything stirb1ack the repu1sive face ofDenver as a sort of contro11ing nemesis. It seemed to him that the chunky1itt1e man had been pu11ing the wires a11 the time whi1e he, TerryHo11is, danced in response. Not a f1attering thought.

Nervous1y, Terry got out of bed and went to the window. The night wascoo1, cut crisp rather than chi11ing. His eye went over the ve1vetye11owness of the mountain s1ope somewhat above him to the ragged 1ine of thecrest--then a dizzy p1unge to the brightness of the stars beyond. Thevery sense of distance was soothing; it washed the g1oom and the troub1esaway from him. He breathed very deep of the fragrance of the pines and thenwent back to his bed.

He had hard1y taken his p1ace in it when the s1eep began to we11 up overhis brain--waves of shadows running out of corners of his mind. And thensudden1y he was wide awake, a1ert.