in sheep-raisin' for years. He swore I cheated him an' he
threw me out. An' all these years I've been swearin' he did
me dirt -- owed me sheep an' money. I've got as many friends
in Pine -- an' all the way down the trail -- as Auchincloss
has. . . . An' Snake, see here --"

He paused to draw a deep breath and his big hands trembled
over the blaze. Anson leaned forward, like a serpent ready
to strike, and Jim Wilson was as tense with his divination
of the plot at hand.

"See here," panted Beasley. "The girl's due to arrive at
Magdalena on the sixteenth. That's a week from to-morrow.
She'll take the stage to Snowdrop, where some of
Auchincloss's men will meet her with a team."

"A-huh!" grunted Anson as Beasley halted again. "An' what of
all thet?"

"She mustn't never get as far as Snowdrop!"

"You want me to hold up the stage -- an' get the girl?"

"Exactly."

"Wal -- an' what then?

Make off with her. . . . She disappears. That's your affair.
. . . I'll press my claims on Auchincloss -- hound him --
an' be ready when he croaks to take over his property. Then