[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: In many older texts, the character combination "oe"
was tied together with a ligature. Such instances are represented in
this ASCII text by enclosing them in brackets. Hence in words
such as Oedipus, for example, when the 'O' and the 'e' are connected with a
ligature, they will be shown as [Oe]dipus. In addition, the text contains
a ranch brand consisting of the characters J and H connected (no space
between). This brand is shown in the text as [JH].]




[Illustration: He had been shot through the body and was dead. His
rifle lay across a rock trained carefully on the trail.]




THE KILLER

BY

STEWART EDWARD WHITE

AUTHOR OF
THE BLAZED TRAIL,
THE RIVERMAN,
ARIZONA NIGHTS, ETC.