"Oh, God!" The low cry burst from Juliet's pale lips before she could recover herself, and Stelton lay back in his chair, feeding his unspeakable nature upon the girl's torture. "Shall I tell you about it?" Caldwell, seeing his former chief was pleased, now took the initiative. "Oh, no, no!" she cried frantically. "I don't want to hear. I never want to hear!" For a few moments there was silence in the low, bare room while Juliet recovered herself. Then she said: "And about that other thing in the letter. Why are the officers after Bud?" "For forgery, ma'am. That is, I mean, they would be after him if they knew everything." A cunning smirk crossed Smithy's countenance. "Why don't they know everything?" asked the girl. "Because I haven't told 'em," was the reply. "And so you blackmailed him under threat of telling, did you?" "Well, he seemed to be willin'," countered Smithy evasively, "or he wouldn't have paid." "Why did you write me that letter, Caldwell?" "The boss here told me to," motioning toward Stelton. "What reason did he give for telling you?" Caldwell did not like this question. He turned and twisted in his seat without replying, and shot a quick glance at Stelton, uncertain what reply was expected of him. But he got no help there. Stelton was relishing the fear and anxiety of his tool and watched to see which way the other's cowardice would lead him. He was quite unprepared for the answer that came. "It is a long worm that has no turning," someone has remarked, and Caldwell had reached his length. The pure cruelty of Stelton's conduct revolted him, and now, sure that Stelton could do him no harm because of his tied hands, he took a vicious dig at his former leader. "He wanted to marry you himself," he said, "and offered me a hundred dollars to write you that letter." Stelton sat for a moment open-mouthed at the temerity of his subordinate and then leaped up with a roar like the bellow of a bull. Juliet pounded hastily on the floor, and the sheepmen appeared just as Stelton fetched Caldwell a kick that sent him half-way across the room. "Take them both away," ordered the girl, suddenly feeling faint and ill after the mental and physical struggle of the interview. When the two had gone she sank back in her chair and faced the awful facts that these men had given her. "Bud! Bud! My lover!" she cried brokenly to herself. "I want you, I need you now to tell me it is all a lie!" She remained for several minutes sunk in a kind of torpor. Then, as though she had suddenly arrived at some great decision, she rose slowly, but determinedly, and left the room. Finding one of the men, she ordered her horse saddled and retired to change her clothes. Her mother came in and asked if she were going riding alone.