"I knew that you would pull through, Sheriff," he said, "but I couldn't help having a surprise party; I'm a whole lot fond of surprise parties, you know. And it's shore been a howling success, all right." "You have a very pleasant way of making yourself useful," Shields replied. "From the holes you've pulled me out of within the past six weeks you must have a poor impression of me. But seeing that you have reason to laugh at me, I accept your apology and bid you welcome. It's all yours." Then he glanced quickly up the trail and his face went red with anger. "Hell!" he cried in amazement. The Orphan looked in the direction indicated and he leaped to his feet in sudden anger at what he saw. A man, followed by a cowboy, staggered and stumbled drunkenly along the trail toward them, his face a mass of cuts and bruises and blood. His hair was matted with blood and dirt, and a red ring showed around his neck. His hands opened and shut convulsively and he made straight as he could for Tex, who shrank back involuntarily. "My God! It's Bill!" cried The Orphan, hardly able to believe his eyes. "You're the cur _I_ want!" Bill muttered brokenly to Tex, straightening up and becoming rapidly steadier under the stimulus of his rage. "You're the ---- _I_ want, d----n you!" he repeated as he slowly advanced. "It's my turn now, you cur! Lynch me, would you? Lynch me, eh? Tried to hit me when I was tied, eh? Sicked your dogs on me, eh? Keep still, d----n you--you can't get away!" he cried as Tex moved backward. "Stand to it like a man, or I'll blow your head off!" cried The Orphan from his perch. "Go on, Bill!" "You said you wanted me, didn't you? Do you still want me?" he asked, not hearing The Orphan's words. "Are you still curious?" he asked, backing Tex into a corner. "Hash him up, Bill!" cried the man above, and then, "Hey, wait a minute--I want to see this," he added as he slid down the bank. "Go ahead with the slaughter--push his head off!" Bill's one hundred and eighty pounds of muscle and rage suddenly hurled itself forward behind a huge fist and Tex hit the bank and careened into the dust of the trail, unconscious before he had moved. "I told you you wasn't man enough to play a lone hand!" yelled the driver as he leaped after his victim. But he was stopped by the sheriff, who sprang forward and deflected him from his course. "That's enough--no killing!" Shields cried, regaining his balance and swiftly interposing himself between the driver and Tex. Bill didn't hear him, for he had just caught sight of the man who had told him to warble, and he lost no time in getting to him. A few quick blows and the enraged driver left his second victim face down in the dirt and passed on to the man who had held the rope.