"What I said, Benny. I've come to stop a killin' here to-day. I thank God I was in time!" His old assurance, his poise, which had been missing on his arrival, had returned and he stepped forward, reaching out a hand to rest on Benny's shoulder, gripping through the flannel shirt with his long, stout fingers. "You told me your trouble with Lytton in confidence. I thought once this mornin' maybe I'd have to break that confidence. I thought when I started up this trail that I must be too late to do any good, but now I'm here I know you'll understand, old timer, I know you'll understand!" He shook Lynch gently with his hand and smiled, but no responsive light came from the miner's eyes in return; hostility was there, along with the fever of waiting. "No, I don't understand," he said, sharply. "I don't understand why you're throwin' in with that scum." "Don't think that! It's not for him I'm doin' this. I wouldn't ask my Abe to run himself sick for _him_! It's for my own peace of mind an' yours, Benny." "My mind'll be at peace when I've squared my dad's account with Lytton an' not before!"--with a significant gesture toward his gun. "But mine won't, an' neither will yours when you know that by comin' to me with your story you tied me hand an' foot! Hand an' foot, Benny, that's what! I've never been helpless before, but I am this time; if Lytton comes to any harm from you here to-day, his blood'll be on my hands. I know he's a snake, I know he knifed your daddy in th' back,"--growing more intense, talking faster, "But he's wrong, Benny, wrong in th' head. A man can't get so lowdown as he is an' not be wrong. "Oh, I know him. I know him better than you or anybody else does! I've been nursin' him for weeks. He's been at my ranch--" "At your--" "Yes, at my ranch. I took him there a month ago, Benny, to make a man of him for his wife, the sweetest woman that God ever made live to make us men better. I've been groomin' him up for her, workin' with him, hatin' him, but doin' my best to make a man of him. Now, he's bringin' her here by force because of me, an' she sent back for me ... asked me to help her. She knows there's danger here. I didn't tell her why, but I told her that much, told her never to let him come back. Now he's forcin' her to come with him an' she sent for me. "Don't you see? I can't let you shoot him down! Can't you see that, Benny?" He shook him again and leaned forward, face close to face. "No, I don't see that it makes any difference," Lynch said slowly, a hard calm covering his roused emotions. Bayard drew back a step and a quick flush swept into his cheeks. "But I sent him here, Benny; knowin' you were waitin'. It's my fault if he--" "You sent him?"