Page:MacLeod Raine - The Sheriff's Son.djvu/366

 asked me to come up and turn loose that coyote. It's a God's truth that I hoped he'd fight. I wanted to do you a good bit of wolf-killing if I could. And I've done it … and I'm not sorry. He had it coming if iver a man had."

"Did you say that Beulah Rutherford sent you up here?" asked Roy.

"She asked me to come. Yis."

"Why?"

"I can only guess her reasons. She did n't want you to come and she could n't ask Ned for fear he would gun the fellow. So she just picked on a red-headed runt of an Irishman."

"While we 're so close, let's ride across to Huerfano Park," suggested Dave. "I have n't been there in twenty years."

That suited Roy exactly. As they rode across the hills his mind was full of Beulah. She had sent Ryan up so that he could get Meldrum away before her lover arrived. Was it because she was afraid Roy might show the white feather? Or was it because she feared for his safety? He wished he knew.