"If you hadn't come when you did, I would have earned my keep, and Alva Dale would be where he wouldn't bother Miss Bransford any more," he said. Sanderson straightened. "You'd have shot him, you mean?" Owen did not speak, merely nodding his head. Sanderson smiled. "Then I'm sort of sorry come when I did. But do you think shootin' Dale would have ended it?" "No; Dale has friends." Owen leaned toward Sanderson, his face working with passion. "I hate Dale," he said hoarsely. "I hate him worse than I hate any snake that I ever saw. I hadn't been here two days when he sneered at me and called me a freak. I'll kill him--some day. Your coming has merely delayed the time. But before he dies I want to see him beaten at this game he's tryin' to work on Miss Bransford. And I'll kill any man that tries to give Miss Bransford the worst of it. "You've got a fight on your hands. I know Dale and his gang, and they'll make things mighty interesting for you and Miss Bransford. But I'll help you, if you say the word. I'm not much for looks--as you can see--but I can sling a gun with any man I've ever met. "I'd have tried to fight Dale alone--for Miss Bransford's sake--but I realize that things are against me. I haven't the size, and I haven't the nerve to take the initiative. Besides, I drink. I get riotously drunk. I can't help it. I can't depend on myself. But I can help you, and I will." The man's earnestness was genuine, and though Sanderson had little confidence in the other's ability to take a large part in what was to come, he respected the spirit that had prompted the offer. So he reached out and took the man's hand. "Any man that feels as strongly as you do can do a heap--at anything," he said. "We'll call it a deal. But you're under my orders." "Yes," returned Owen, gripping the hand held out to him. "Will!" came Mary's voice from the kitchen, "supper is ready!" Owen laughed lowly, dropped Sanderson's hand, and slipped away into the growing darkness. Sanderson got up and faced the kitchen door, hesitating, reluctant again to face the girl and to continue the deception. Necessity drove him to the door, however, and when he reached it, he saw Mary standing near the center of the kitchen, waiting for him. "I don't believe you are hungry at all!" she declared, looking keenly at him. "And do you know, I think you blush more easily than any man I ever saw. But don't let that bother you," she added, laughing; "blushes become you. Will," she went on, tenderly pressing his arm as she led him through a door into the dining-room, "you are awfully good-looking!" "You'll have me gettin' a swelled head if you go to talkin' like that," he said, without looking at her.