A match flared inside as Harris lighted the lantern. Carpenter stirred and sat up, moving one hand along the gash in his scalp. The sheriff stooped and snapped a pair of handcuffs on Slade's wrists. They splashed water on his face and he opened his eyes. He regarded the steel bracelets at his wrists as he was helped to his feet and turned to Harris. "Don't forget that I'll kill you for this," he said. It was a simple statement, made without heat or bluster, and aside from this one remark he failed to speak a syllable until the sheriff rode away with him. The sheriff waved the lantern outside the door and before he lowered it two deputies rode up, leading his horse. "We started at that shot," one of them announced in explanation of their prompt arrival. Alden motioned Slade to his horse and helped him up. "Shoot him out of the saddle if he makes a break," he ordered briefly. "Now you can move against those men I've sworn out complaints for," Harris said to Alden. "Public sentiment has turned against them to such an extent that they won't get any help--and there won't be any to fill their places, once we've cleaned them up. Deputize the whole Three Bar crew when you're ready to start." The sheriff nodded and led the way with the two deputies riding close behind, one riding on either side of Slade. XIV The freight wagons rattled away from the Three Bar as the first light showed in the east, and the grind of wheels on gravel died out in the distance as Harris and Billie finished their breakfast. They walked to the mouth of the lane and watched the light driving the shadows from the valleys. A score of times they had stood so, never tiring of the view afforded from this spot, a view which spoke of Three Bar progress and future prosperity. The hands had come in from the round-up the night before, prior to the return of Harris and Waddles from their mysterious two-day trip in response to the sheriff's message, and Evans had led them to Brill's for a night of play. They were due back at the ranch in the early forenoon and Harris had allowed the freighters to depart before the others arrived. "We'll be short of guards for the next hour or two," he said. "Till the boys get back from Brill's--but they'll be rocking in most any time now." "What did Alden want?" she asked, referring to the trip from which he and Waddles had returned late the night before. "We made a call on Carp," he said. "He had some good news we've been waiting for." "Then Carp is a Three Bar plant," she said. "He's a U. S. plant," Harris corrected. "But he's been working in with us to get something on Slade--to gather proof that he's behind these squatter raids of the last few years and the ones they've aimed at us up to date. He couldn't get a shred that would hold in court. But Slade is almost through. His claws are clipped."