She seemed to be drifting off into a place which was peopled with demons that schemed and planned for her honor and her life; and not one of them who planned and schemed against her gave the slightest indication of mercy or manliness. The world became chaotic with swirling objects--then a blank, aching void into which she drifted, feeling nothing, seeing nothing. CHAPTER XXX THE ULTIMATE TREACHERY When Barbara regained consciousness she was lying in some long, dusty grass beside the trail where she seemed to have been thrown, or where she had fallen. For she was lying on her right side, her right arm doubled under her, and she felt a pain in her shoulder which must have been where she had struck when she had fallen. She twisted around and sat up, bewildered, almost succumbing to the hideous terror which instantly gripped her when she remembered what had happened. Deveny's horse stood near her, nipping the tips of the grass that grew at her feet. Beyond the animal--a little to her right, and perhaps fifty feet from her--were other horses, with riders. As she staggered to her feet she recognized the men who had been with Deveny. They were on their horses--all facing away from her. Facing Deveny's men were all the T Down boys--she recognized them instantly. Pistols glittered in their hands; they seemed to be in the grip of some strong passion, which wreathed their faces into grim, bitter lines. Near the T Down men--flanking them--were other men. Among them she saw faces she knew--Colver, Strom Rogers, and others. There must have been twenty-five or thirty men, altogether, and they were all on a little level beside the trail. It seemed to Barbara that they all appeared to have forgotten her; seemed not to know that she was in the vicinity. She saw Deveny standing on the little level. His profile was toward her; there was a wild, savage glare in his eyes. Not more than a dozen feet from him was Harlan. She saw Harlan's face from the side also. There was a grin on his lips--bitter, mirthless, terrible. She stood for what seemed to her a long time, watching all of them; her heart throbbing with a dread heaviness that threatened to choke her; her body in a state of icy paralysis. She thought she knew what had happened, for it seemed to her that everything in the world--all the passions and the desires of men--centered upon her. She felt that there were two factions--one headed by Deveny, and the other by Harlan, representing Haydon--and that they were about to fight for her. The T Down men seemed to be standing with Harlan--as, of course, they would, since he had sent for them to come to the Rancho Seco. Oddly, though, they apparently seemed to pay no attention to her; not one of them looked at her. If they were to fight it made no difference to her which faction won, for her fate would be the same, if she stayed.