"Look at me!" he said. "Do I look like a man who could fight Dale, Silverthorn, and Maison--and the gang they had--with any hope of victory? When I got here--after escaping Gary Miller and the others--I was all in--sick and weak. It didn't take me long to see how things were. But I knew I couldn't do anything. "I was waiting, though, for Gary Miller and his friends to come, to claim the Double A. I would have killed them. But they didn't come. You came. "At first I was not sure what to think of you. But I saw sympathy in your eyes when you looked at Mary, and when you told Dale that you were Will Bransford, I decided to keep silent. You looked capable, and when I saw that you were willing to fight for Mary, why--why--I just let you go. I--I was afraid that if I'd tell you who I was you'd throw up the whole deal. And so I didn't say anything." Sanderson grinned. "That's the reason you was so willin' to sign all the papers that wanted Will Bransford's signature. I sure was a boxhead for not tumblin' to that." He laughed, meeting Mary's gaze and holding it. "Talkin' of throwin' up the deal," he said. "That couldn't be. Dale an' Silverthorn an' Maison an' their gang of cutthroats couldn't make me give it up. There's only one person could make me do that. She'd only have to say that she don't think as much of me as I think she ought to. And, then----" "She'll keep pretty silent about that, I think," interrupted Owen, grinning at the girl's crimson face. "I wouldn't be takin' your word for it," grinned Sanderson, "it wouldn't be reliable." "Why--" began Mary, and looked at Owen. "Sure," he laughed, "I'll go and take a walk. There are times when three can't explain a thing as well as two." There was a silence following Owen's departure. Then Mary looked shyly at Sanderson, who was watching her with a smile. "Does it need any explaining?" she began. "Can't you see that----" "Shucks, little girl," he said gently, as he leaned toward her, "words ain't--well, words ain't so awful important, are they?" Apparently words were not important. For within the next few minutes there were few spoken. And progress was made without them. And then: "I believe I never was so happy as when I saw you, that morning, coming in to Okar with Dale's body, and you said you had not killed him. And if Barney--Will, had killed him that day--if he had really hanged him, and Dale had died from it--I should have kept seeing Dale as he was hanging there all my life." "It was Dale's day," said Sanderson. "And Okar's!" declared the girl. "The town has taken on a new spirit since those men have left. And the whole basin has changed. Men are more interested and eager. There is an atmosphere of fellowship that was absent before. And, oh, Deal, how happy I am!" "You ain't got anything on me!" grinned Sanderson.