Sanderson smiled, and Dale's eyes gleamed. "You know what's become of him!" he charged. "That's where you got that thousand you give to Mary Bransford--an' the papers, showin' that young Bransford was due here. Ain't it?" "I ain't sayin'," said Sanderson. "Well," declared Dale, "Barney Owen is Will Bransford. The night Morley got him drunk we went the limit with Owen, an' he talked enough to make me suspicious. That's why I sent to Tombstone to find out how he looked. We had the evidence to show the court at Las Vegas. We was goin' to prove you wasn't young Bransford, an' then we was goin' to put Owen out of the--" Dale gasped, caught his breath, and stiffened. Sanderson stayed with him until the dawn, sitting, quietly beside him until the end. Then Sanderson got up, threw the body on Dale's horse, mounted his own, and set out across the basin toward Okar. CHAPTER XXXV A DEAL IN LOVE A few days later Mary Bransford, Sanderson, and Barney Owen were sitting on the porch of the Double A ranchhouse, near where they had sat on the day Mary and Owen and the Dale men had seen Sanderson riding along the edge of the mesa in his pursuit of Williams and the others. Mary and Sanderson were sitting rather close together at one end of the porch; Barney Owen was sitting near them, on the porch edge, his elbows resting on his knees. There had been a silence between the three for some time, but at last Sanderson broke it. He smiled at Mary. "We'll build that dam--an' the irrigation plant now, mebbe," he said. "But it's goin' to be a big job. Williams says it will take a year, or more." "There will be difficulties, too, I suppose," said Mary. "Sure." "But difficulties do not worry you," she went on, giving him a glowing look. He blushed. "We promised each other not to refer to that again," he protested. "You are breaking your promise." "I just can't help it!" she declared. "I feel so good over your victory. Why, it really wasn't your affair at all, and yet you came here, fought our fight for us; and then, when it is all over, you wish us to say nothing about it! That isn't fair!" He grinned. "Was you fair?" he charged. "You told me the other day that you knew, the day after I ordered Dale away from the Double A--after tellin' you that I wasn't what I claimed to be--that Barney Owen wasn't Barney Owen at all, but your brother. "An' you let me go on, not tellin' me. An' he didn't do a heap of talkin'. I ain't mentioned it until now, but I've wondered why? Barney knew from the first day that I wasn't what I pretended to be. Why didn't you tell me, Barney?" Mary was blushing, and Barney's face was red. His eyes met Mary's and both pairs were lowered, guiltily. Barney turned to Sanderson.