Barbara wheeled and faced Deveny. Rage, furious and passionate, had overwhelmed the grief she felt over the death of her father. The shock had been tremendous, but it had come while she had been leaning out of the window listening to Rogers and Lawson--when she had lain for many minutes unconscious on the floor of the room. Therefore the emotion she experienced now was not entirely grief, it was rather a frantic yearning to punish the men who had killed her father. "You charged this man with murdering my father?" she demanded of Deveny as she walked to him and stood, her hands clenched, her face dead white and her eyes blazing hate. "You know better. I heard Strom Rogers tell Meeder Lawson that it was Dolver and Laskar and somebody he called the 'Chief,' who did it. I want to know who those men are; I want to know where I can find them! I want you to tell me!" "You're unstrung, Barbara," said Deveny slowly, coolly, a faint smile on his face. "I know nothing about it. I merely repeated to Gage the word Laskar brought. Laskar said this man Harlan shot your father. It happened about a day's ride out--near Sentinel Rock. If Laskar lied, he was paid for his lying. For Harlan has----" Deveny paused, the sentence unfinished, for the girl turned abruptly from him and walked to Harlan. "That was Laskar--the man you killed just now?" "Laskar an' Dolver," relied Harlan. "There was three of them your father said. One got away in the night, leavin' Dolver an' Laskar to finish the job. I run plumb into them, crossin' here from Pardo. I bored Dolver, but I let Laskar off, not havin' the heart to muss up the desert with scum like him." The girl's eyes gleamed for an instant with venomous satisfaction. Then she said, tremulously: "And father?" "I buried him near the rock," returned Harlan, lowly. Soundlessly, closing her eyes, Barbara sank into the dust of the street. Harlan broke the force of her fall with his left hand, supporting her partially until she collapsed; then, his eyes alight with a cold flame, he called, sharply, his gaze still on the group of men: "Get her, Gage! Take her into your place!" He waited until Gage carried the slack form inside. Then, his shoulders sagging, the heavy pistol in his right hand coming to a poise, the fingers of the left hand brushing the butt of the weapon in the holster at his left hip, the vacuous gleam in his eyes telling them all that his senses were alert to catch the slightest movement, he spoke, to Deveny: "I seen that desert deal. It wasn't on the level. I ain't no angel, but when I down a man I do it fair an' square--givin' him his chance. I sent that sneak Dolver out--an' that coyote Laskar. It was a dirty, rotten deal, the way they framed up on Morgan. It's irritated me--I reckon you can hear my rattles right now. I'm stayin' in Lamo, an' I'm stickin' by this Barbara girl until you guys learn to walk straight up, like men!"