"Damn it," he shouted, "whose fight is this but mine and Lee's? If he wants a fight, let him come and get it; a man's fight and rules and rounds and time be damned! Am I to dance around here and sidestep and fence just for you to look on? . . . Carson!" "Well?" said Carson. "Lee challenges me, doesn't he? Then I'm the man to name the sort of fight, am I not? Is that fair?" "Meaning just what?" asked Carson. "Meaning that I am going to get him, get him any way I can! You let us fight this out our way, any way, and no interference!" "Talk to Bud there," rejoined the old cattleman calmly. "It ain't my scrap." "Then, Lee," snapped Trevors, "come on if you want such a fight as you'd get if you and I were alone in the mountains, with no man to watch, a fight where a man can use what weapons God gave him, any weapon he can lay his mind to, his eye to, his hand to! Or," and at last the sneer came, "do you want a pair of padded gloves and somebody to fan you?" Carson shifted his glance to Bud Lee's face. Lee merely nodded. "Then," cried Carson sternly, "go to it! No man steps in, an' you two can fight it out like coyotes or mountain-lions for all of me." "Your word there will be no interference?" asked Trevors. "For you're just a fool and not a liar, Carson." "My word," was the answer. XXX THE FIGHT Bayne Trevors slipped out of his coat and vest, tossing them to the pile of chairs on the table. He loosened his soft shirt-collar and was ready. All of Bud Lee's simple preparations had been made when he threw his broad hat aside. Then came the little pause which is forerunner to the first blow, when two men measure each other, seeking each to read the other's purpose. "It ought to be a pretty even break," muttered Melvin, his interest obviously that of a sporting man who would travel a thousand miles to see a fight for a champion's belt. "Trevors has the weight by forty pounds; Lee has the reach by a hair; both quick-footed; both hard; Lee, maybe a little harder. Don't know. Even break. The sand will do it--sand or luck." The two men drew slowly together. Their hands came up, their fists showed glistening knuckles, their jaws were set, their feet moved cautiously. Then suddenly Bud Lee sprang in and struck.