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They had been informed by Red Linton regarding the situation that had developed at the Rancho Seco fully informed before they had begun their trip westward Linton scrupulously and faithfully presenting to them the dangers that confronted them. And though some of them were still curious, and sought a word with Harlan in confirmation, they seemed to be satisfied to trust to Harlan's judgment.
"From New York," answered the guest, taking a plate of fried chicken from Harlan's shaky hand. "I know," said Dorothy sweetly. "We come from New York, too." Then she took a bold, daring plunge. "I have often heard my husband speak of you." "Of me, Mrs. Carr? Surely not! It must have been some other Elaine." "Perhaps," smiled Dorothy, shrugging her shoulders.
But Harlan followed him, grasping him by a shoulder and gripping it with iron fingers, so that Laskar screamed with pain. "Who is that man?" Harlan motioned toward the rock. "Lane Morgan. He owns the Rancho Seco about forty miles south of Lamo," returned Laskar after a long look into Harlan's eyes. "Who set you guys onto him what you wantin' him for?" "I don't know," whined Laskar.
The smile held as his glance went to Harlan's face, and for an instant as the eyes of the two men met, appraisal was the emotion that ruled in them. Harlan detected in Rogers' eyes a grim scorn of Deveny, and a malignant satisfaction; Rogers saw in Harlan's eyes a thing that not one of the men who had faced the man had seen cold humor.
The girl had determined to remain where she was, to return the piece of chain to Haydon in the presence of Harlan in order to learn what she could of the depth of Harlan's dislike for Haydon when in the presence of the latter. And so a silence came between them as they watched Haydon ride toward them.
Deveny had heard from a Star man the story of Harlan's coming to the Star and when a day or so later Haydon rode into the Cache, Deveny was in a state of furious resentment. There had been harsh words between Haydon and Deveny; the men of the Cache had no difficulty in comprehending that Deveny's rage was bitter.
She thought, though, that the laugh might have been a jeer for Harlan's action in turning the chain over to her instead of returning it directly to the owner. She did not catch the searching inquiry of Haydon's glance at Harlan, nor did she see Harlan's odd smile at Haydon, and the slow wink that accompanied it.
Watching the man narrowly, the rider noted his nervous glance, and his shrinking, dreading manner. Harlan's eyes gleamed with suspicion, and in a flash he was off the black and standing before Laskar, forbidding and menacing. "Take off your gun-belt an' chuck it under my horse!" he directed sharply. "There's somethin' goin' on here that ain't been mentioned. I'm findin' out what it is."
Elaine had been deeply touched by Harlan's solicitude and Dorothy's kindness, seeing in it nothing more than the manifestation of a beautiful spirit toward one who was helpless and ill. A modest wardrobe and a few hundred dollars, saved from the wreck of her mother's estate, and the household furniture in storage, represented Elaine's worldly goods.
"That's right," laughed Dick. "All those things Uncle Israel has called us, he is, but it makes him a pretty tough old customer." A blessed peace had descended upon the house and its occupants. Harlan's work was swiftly nearing completion, and in another day or two, he would be ready to read the neatly typed pages to the members of his household.
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