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This man who had boldly entered the outlaw camp, after first defying Deveny in Lamo, had made a stirring appeal to the good in Rogers; and he foresaw that trouble, in which Harlan had a chance to emerge victorious, was certain. And he had decided to align himself with the Pardo gunman.
Thinks he can match your gunplay itchin' for trouble bound to have it out with you. We was at the Cache last night, an' I heard him an' Deveny yappin' about it. Deveny's back of him he's sore about the way you handed it to him in Lamo. Keep your eyes peeled; they're pullin' it off pretty soon. Latimer's doin' the shootin' he's tryin' to work himself up to it. Be careful." "I'm thankin' you."
"I've been waitin' for this day waitin' for it, waitin' to get you alone waitin' for the boys to go so's I could tell you somethin'. "You know what it is. You ain't guessin', eh? Listen while I tell you somethin'. The day 'Drag' Harlan got in Lamo he brought news that Lane Morgan had been killed out in the desert. I heard the boys sayin' you had a hand in it. But I thought that was just talk.
That mixup at Lamo slipped me. But I seen you an' Barbara come back, an' I heard the boys talkin' about what happened at Lamo. I'd heard of you, too; an' when I seen you come back with Barbara I watched you. An' I seen you was square, so I trusted you a heap.
Half an hour later, with Barbara Morgan, on "Billy" a piebald pinto riding beside him, Harlan loped Purgatory out of Lamo. They took a trail faint and narrow that led southward, for Barbara had said that the Rancho Seco lay in that direction. Harlan had not seen Deveny or Rogers or Lawson after the scene in front of the sheriff's office.
He grinned again. "Why, I'm preachin'!" And now into his gaze as he looked at Morgan, came cold reproach. "You wasn't figurin' to let Barbara play it a lone hand?" he said. "Hell's fire no!" denied Morgan, his eyes blazing. "I've been watchin' the Rancho Seco as I told Haydon. I saw Barbara set out for Lamo. There was no one followin' her, an' so I thought she'd be all right.
What was odd about the incident was that Morgan should attempt to cross to Pardo to have his gold assayed at just about the time Harlan had decided to begin his trip to the Rancho Seco. Harlan smiled as his gaze rested on the ranchhouse. He was glad he had met Lane Morgan; he was glad he had headed straight for Lamo after leaving Morgan.
He remembered Lane Morgan's words: "John Haydon is dead stuck on Barbara;" and he had wondered ever since the meeting in Lamo if Barbara returned Haydon's affection, or if she trusted Haydon enough to confide in him. Barbara's attitude toward Haydon would affect Harlan's attitude toward the girl.
Because he felt that trouble would result from the meeting, Deveny had thrown Barbara from him. He had instantly forgotten the girl. For when Harlan came up Deveny saw a gleam in his eyes that sent his brain to throbbing with those unmistakable impulses of fear which had seized him the day, in Lamo, when Harlan had faced him.
During those intervals in which Barbara kept her gaze straight ahead on the trail, Harlan regarded her with a grave intentness that betrayed the soberness of his thoughts. In all his days he had seen no woman like her; and when she had come toward him in Lamo, with Higgins close behind her, he had been so astonished that he had momentarily forgotten Deveny and all the rest of them.
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