"Don't!" said Ten Spot coldly and sharply. Then he grinned with feline cordiality. "I reckon I ain't scared of anyone," he said, "but I ain't likin' to go back to the Circle Cross after puttin' Yuma out of business. I've done some mean things in my time, but I ain't dealin' double with no man, an' I couldn't go back to the Circle Cross an' work for Dunlavey when I ain't sympathizin' with him none." "I'm shy of good cowhands," offered Hollis quietly. "If forty a month would be----" Ten Spot's right hand was suddenly gripping Hollis's. "You've hired a man, boss!" he said, his eyes alight with pleasure. "Ever since you clawed me that day in the _Kicker_ office I've had a hankerin' to work for you. I was wonder in' if you'd ast me. There ain't no damn----" "Then it's a bargain," laughed Hollis, interrupting. "You can start right now." He pointed to the ridge upon which he had been riding when he heard the shot that had brought him to the cabin. "Some of Ed Hazelton's cattle are in the basin on the other side of that ridge," he said. "You go over there and keep an eye on them until I can get a chance to send some one here to help you drive them back up the river toward the Circle Bar." As he came to the edge of the porch to mount his pony his gaze fell on Yuma's horse, still hitched to one of the columns. "What are we going to do with Yuma's horse?" he questioned. Ten Spot grinned. He walked over to the pony, unhitched it, and with a vicious slap on the flank sent it loping down the trail toward the river. "That'll be my message to Dunlavey that Yuma ain't here any more," he said grimly. Hollis mounted and rode a short distance, but halted and turned in the saddle when he heard Ten Spot call to him. "Boss," he said with a grin, "I ain't exactly blind, an' mebbe you've got your eyes with you, too. But I saw that there Hazelton girl lookin' at you sorta----" He saw a smile on Hollis's face, but the rest of his speech was drowned in a clatter of hoofs as the "boss's" pony tore down the Coyote trail. Then Ten Spot smiled, mounted his pony, and rode away toward the ridge. CHAPTER XXIV CAMPAIGN GUNS Of course Yuma had been amply punished for his part in the attack on Nellie Hazelton, but there still remained Dunlavey--who had instigated it. Hollis was aware of the uselessness of bringing a charge against Dunlavey--he had not forgotten his experience with Bill Watkins when he had attempted to have Greasy brought to justice. He believed that he would not have brought such a charge had there been any probability of the sheriff taking action. He felt that in inciting Yuma to attack Nellie, Dunlavey had also contemplated a blow at him. The man's devilish ingenuity appalled him, but it also aroused a fierce anger in his heart that, in the absence of a powerful will, would have moved him to immediate vengeance.