“Huh,” he snorted, “he’s got plenty of friends scattered around these parts, and I have been tipped off that Nick Cover’s cousin is going to get me on sight; his cousin works on a small ranch that joins Gaylor’s boundary line, and they say he is dead sore because Nick was jailed on my account.” Tex was fingering his gun as he talked, and Mason could see the hot blood mount into his cheeks and his voice grew hard and stern. The raw deal he had received at the hands of one of Ricker’s men had left a bitter hatred in his soul. As he slowly recovered from his wound he vowed revenge for the cowardly shot that laid him low. “I’m telling you, Jack,” the lanky cowboy continued impressively, “that you ain’t seen the last of Ricker’s gang of cut-throats, and you want to pack a gun when you’re riding this range. I’ve got it straight that you are a marked man since the raid, and the friends of Ricker will get you if they have to shoot from ambush.” Mason was a bit startled at Tex’s vehement manner. Waneda had kept silent up to this point, but Tex’s words had seemed to cause her great agitation. “Tex is right, Signor,” she said earnestly, her great eyes full of entreaty, “you must be very careful, for while I was at Ricker’s he had many people call on him. His place is a sort of rendezvous, and I have seen all sorts of people gather there from all parts of the country.” Mason was about to answer her when Tex announced that the Gaylor brothers were coming back from the ranch. He waited for them to pass by, but to his surprise they dismounted and asked Tex where they could find Jack Mason. “Jack’s inside there working on his machine,” the lanky cowboy answered, as he proceeded in his quaint way to introduce Waneda and Mason to the Gaylor boys. They were well set-up men and about Mason’s own age. He took to them at once and liked their straightforward manner and jovial dispositions. Bruce, the elder, did most of the talking, his brother being a little more reticent. “We rode over here this morning to invite the Bar X boys to a dance at our ranch the last of this week,” Bruce explained to Mason, “and as to-day is Wednesday you have until Saturday to make up your mind. I know what your outfit has been through with in cleaning out some of the Ricker gang, and my sister insisted on this party to liven up the boys of the Bar X. It is all her own arrangement, and you know how woman folks are when they get set on an idea. I think it is a good plan to get the boys together once in a while. “Miss Josephine seemed to be taken up with the idea, and told me to get you to promise to visit us Saturday. I guess she is pretty near the boss of this ranch, and as I have her on my side I have hopes that she will be able to persuade you to come to our party, Jack.”