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 Alma to talk with Dale Findlay; he didn't want her to go to a dance with him at Four Corners, or any corner of the earth at all, far or near. It was too much to pay for anything they might learn. He knew a shorter cut to the desired end. He had come to the hay-ranch that day for no other purpose than to lay his plans and follow them to a speedy conclusion.

Now Fred Grubb had put the key into the lock, opening the subject that brooded in his breast.

"It doesn't take a man long to harden," Barrett said.

"You don't want to show up too soon, old feller," Dan advised. "Let that shoulder of yours limber up, practice up on your shootin' a little. A man gets off mighty fast when he's laid up in bed a while."

"He sure does," said Fred.

"Take a week or two, and lay low," Dan counseled. "When you're ready we'll all go over to Bonita some night and clean 'em up. You can lay hands on him over at Cattle Kate's any Saturday night."

"When me and Dan goes anywhere we go together these times," said Fred. "We ain't a takin' no chances. After this we'll make it three."

"I sure appreciate it," Barrett said.

"If we happen to run into'm on the road, it'll be three to four," Dan figured, "not such long chances for us. They run in fours now, right along."

"It's generous of you boys to come into this scrap with me, but I've got no right to let you do it. It's my fight, boys; he was only after me."

"Your fight!" Dan discounted, cutting Barrett's