"But an educated man can't claim ignorance when he aims to mistreat a woman. That's how it figures up, ain't it?" She laughed. "It would seem to point to that conclusion." "So you've knowed Haydon about a year? I reckon he's educated?" "Yes." She watched him closely, wondering at his meaning--why he had brought Haydon's name into the discussion. She was marveling at the subtle light in his eyes. "Your father liked Haydon--he told me Haydon was the only square man in the country--besides himself an' Sheriff Gage." "Father liked Haydon. I'm beginning to believe you really _did_ have a talk with father before he died!" He smiled. "Goin' back to Haydon. I had a talk with him a little while ago. I sort of took a shine to him." He drew from a pocket the section of gold chain he had found on the desert, holding it out to her. "Here's a piece of Haydon's watch chain," he said slowly, watching her face. "The next time Haydon comes to see you, give it to him, tellin' him I found it. It's likely he'll ask you where I found it. But you can say I wasn't mentionin'." He turned, looking back over his shoulder at her as he walked toward the gate. She stood, holding the glittering links in the palm of one hand, doubt and suspicion in her eyes. "Why," she called after him; "he was just here, and you say you talked with him! Why didn't you give it to him?" "Forgot it, ma'am. An' I reckon you'll be seein' him before I do." Then he strode out through the gate, leaving her to speculate upon the mystery of his words and his odd action in leaving the chain with her when he could have personally returned it to Haydon. Harlan, however, was grinning as he returned to the bunkhouse. For he wanted Barbara to see Haydon's face when the section of chain was returned to him, to gain whatever illumination she could from the incident. He did not care to tell her--yet--that Haydon had killed her father; but he did desire to create in her mind a doubt of Haydon, so that she would hesitate to confide to him everything that happened at the Rancho Seco. For himself, he wanted to intimate delicately to Haydon his knowledge of what had really occurred at Sentinel Rock; it was a message to the man conveying a significance that Haydon could not mistake. It meant that for some reason, known only to himself, Harlan did not intend to tell what he knew. CHAPTER XVII FORGING A LETTER The impulse which had moved Harlan to send Red Linton to the T Down ranch to enlist the services of some of his old friends had resulted from a conviction that he could not depend upon those men of the Rancho Seco outfit who had seemed to him, to be unfriendly to Stroud, the straw-boss. He knew nothing about them, and their loyalty to Barbara Morgan might be of a quality that would not endure through the sort of trouble that seemed to be imminent. The T Down men--those who would come--would stand with him no matter what happened--they would do his will without question.