She turned to him with a half smile, resting one hand confidingly upon his arm. "Syd, dear, I don't care a bit about the whole concern, really, but please don't mention it to anyone, will you?" "You mean not to tell Livingston," he smiled. "I mean not _anyone_. I shouldn't want my father to hear such talk. Neither would you. What wouldn't he do!" "Of course not," he agreed. "You'd get special summons, immediately, if not sooner. But there's something more I wanted to ask you about. How was it you happened to shoot old Peter?" "How did you know?" she asked quickly. "Now I promised I wouldn't mention the matter," he replied. She studied for a moment. "There's only one way you could have heard it," she finally decided in some anger. "That person had no right to tell you." "It was told with the best intentions, and for your own good, Hope, so that I could look after you more carefully in the future." "Look after me!" she retorted. "Well, I guess he found out there was one time I could look out for myself, didn't he?" "He seemed to think that more a miracle or an accident than anything else, until I told him something about how quick you were with a gun. He told me the old man was crazy, and had pulled his gun on you, but that you had in some remarkable manner shot it out of his hand, shattering the old fellow's arm. I assured him that I would see that the proper authorities took care of old Peter, as soon as he had recovered sufficiently. Now what'll we do with him, Hope?" She did not reply. Then he continued: "I knew in a minute that you'd kept the real facts of the case from Livingston. But you're not going to keep them from me." "Now that you know as much as you do, I suppose I've got to tell you or you'll be getting yourself into trouble, too," she replied. Then impulsively, "Sydney, they're a lot of cattle thieves!" "Why, of course! What did you expect?" he laughed. "And I actually _caught_ them in the very act of branding calves that didn't belong to them!" The young man's face paled perceptibly. "You didn't do anything as reckless as that, Hope!" he cried in consternation. "It's a wonder they didn't kill you outright in self-protection! Didn't you know that you have to be blind to those things unless you're backed up by some good men!" "You talk like a coward!" she exclaimed. "Not much! You know I'm not that," he replied. "But I talk sense. Now, if they know that you have positive proof of this, you'd better watch them!" "They all need watching up here. I believe they're all just the same. And, Syd, I wanted to know the truth for myself, I wanted to _see_." Then she reviewed to him just what had happened at old Peter's. "I'll have them locked up at once," said Carter decisively. "That's just where they belong." "You won't do anything of the kind, Syd--not at present, anyway, for I refuse to be witness against them." "You're foolish, then," he replied, "for they're liable to do something."