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  Sanderson looked long at the Bransford letter, considering the situation. He was tempted to destroy that, too, but he reflected, permitting a sentimental thought to deter him.

  For Mary undoubtedly treasured that letter, and when the day came that he should tell her the truth, the letter would be the only link that would connect her with the memory of her brother.

  Sanderson could not destroy it. He had already offended Mary Bransford more than he had a right to, and to destroy her brother’s letter would be positively heinous.

  Besides, unknown to him, there might be more letters about with Will Bransford’s signature on them, and it might be well to preserve this particular letter in case he should be called upon to forge Will Bransford’s signature.

  So he retied the letters in the packet and restored the packet to its place, retaining his own letter to Bransford. Smiling grimly now, he again sought the chair near the window, lit a match, applied the blaze to the letter, and watched the paper burn until nothing remained of it but a crinkly ash. Then he smoked a cigarette and got into bed, feeling more secure.

  Determined not to submit to any more of Mary’s caresses, and feeling infinitely small and mean over the realization that he had already permitted her to carry her affection too far, he frowned at her when he went into the kitchen after washing the next morning, gruffly replying when she wished him a cheery, “Good morning,” and grasping her arms when she attempted to kiss him.

  He blushed, though, when her eyes reproached him.

  “I ain’t used to bein’ mushed over,” he told her. “We’ll get along a heap better if you cut out the kissin’.”

  “Why, Will!” she said, her lips trembling.

  She set them though, instantly, and went about her duties, leaving Sanderson to stand in the center of the room feeling like a brute.

  They breakfasted in silence—almost. Sanderson saw her watching him—covert glances that held not a little wonder and disappointment. And then, when the meal was nearly finished, she looked at him with a taunting half-smile.

  “Didn’t you sleep good, Will?”

  Sanderson looked fairly at her. That “Will” was already an irritation to him, for it continually reminded him of the despicable part he was playing. He knew what he was going to say would hurt her, but he was determined to erect between them a barrier that would prevent a repetition of any demonstrations of affection of the brother and sister variety.

  He didn’t want to let her continue to show affection for him when he knew that, if she knew who he really was, she would feel more tike murdering him.

  “Look here, Mary,” he said, coldly, “I’ve never cared a heap for the name Bransford. That’s why I changed my name to Sanderson. I never liked to be called ‘Will.’ Hereafter I want you to call me Sanderson—Deal Sanderson. Then mebbe I’ll feel more like myself.”

  She did not answer, but her lips straightened and she sat very rigid. It was plain to him that she was very much disappointed in him, and that in her mind was the contrast between her brother of today and her brother of yesterday.

  She got up after a time, holding her head high, and left the room, saying as she went out:

  “Very well; your wishes shall be respected. But it seems to me that the name Bransford is one be proud of!”

  Sanderson grinned into his plate. He felt more decent now than he had felt since arriving at the Double A. If he could continue to prevent her from showing any affection for him—visible, at least—he would feel that the deception he was practising was less criminal. And when he went away, after settling the differences between Mary Bransford and Dale, he would have less to reproach himself with.

  He did not see Mary again that morning. Leaving the dining-room, he went outside, finding Barney Owen in the bunkhouse in the company of several other Double A men.

  Owen introduced him to the other men—who had ridden in to the ranchhouse the previous night, and were getting ready to follow the outfit wagon down the river into the basin to where the Double A herd was grazing.

  Sanderson watched the men ride away, then he turned to Owen.

  “I’m ridin’ to Las Vegas, to get a look at the will, an’ see what the records have got to say about the title to the Double A. Want to go?”

  “Sure,” the little man grinned.

  CHAPTER VIII

  THE PLOTTERS

  Riding down the gentle slope of the basin, Alva Dale maintained a sullen silence. He rode far in advance of the two men who accompanied him, not listening to their voices, which occasionally reached him, not seeming to be aware of their presence.

  Defeat had always brought bitterness to Dale; his eyes were glowing with a futile rage as he led his men homeward.

  Dale’s scheme to dispose of Ben Nyland had been carefully planned and deftly carried out. He had meant to hang Nyland, take possession of his property, and force Peggy to accept whatever conditions he cared to impose upon her.

  The unlooked-for appearance of Mary Bransford’s brother had disturbed his plans. As a matter of fact, the coming of Bill Bransford would make it necessary for Dale to make entirely new plans.

  Dale was puzzled. During the elder Bransford’s last days, and for a year or more preceding the day of Bransford’s death, Dale had professed friendship for him. The pretense of friendship had resulted profitably for Dale, for it had enabled him to establish an intimacy with Bransford which had made it possible for Dale to learn much of Bransford’s personal affairs.

  For instance, Dale had discovered that there was in Las Vegas no record of Mary Bransford’s birth, and though Bransford had assured him that Mary was his child, the knowledge had served to provide Dale with a weapon which he might have used to advantage—had not Bill Bransford returned in time to defeat him.

  Dale had heard the story of the trouble between Bransford and his son, Will; it was the old tale of father and son not agreeing, and of the son leaving home, aggrieved.

  Dale had made it his business to inquire often about the son, and when one day Bransford told him he had received a letter from his boy, Dale betrayed such interest that the elder Bransford had permitted him to read the letter.

  That had been about a year before Mary had written the letter that Sanderson had found in one of Will Bransford’s pockets. The letter told of the writer’s longing to return home. The elder Bransford declared that his heart had not softened toward the boy and that he would not answer him. Leaving Dale, Bransford had dropped the letter, and Dale had picked it up.

  Dale still had the letter, and because of his pretended friendship for the father he had been able to insinuate himself into Mary’s good graces. He had advised Mary to write to her brother, and he had seen the letter from the younger Bransford in which the latter had told his sister that he would return.

  After reading Will Bransford’s letter, and learning from Mary that she was sending a thousand dollars to her brother, Dale wrote to a friend in Tucson. Dale’s letter accompanied Mary’s to the latter town, and the evil-visaged fellow who received it grinned widely in explaining the circumstance to two of his friends.

  “We’ll git him, sure as shootin’,” he said. “A thousand dollars ain’t a hell of a lot—but I’ve put men out of business for less!”

  Dale knew the man to whom he had written, and he had received a reply, telling him that the job would be done. And that was why, when Sanderson had calmly announced that he was Will Bransford, Dale had been unwilling to believe his statement.

  Dale did not believe, now, that the man who had interfered to save Nyland was Will Bransford. Dale rode slowly homeward, scowling, inwardly fuming with rage, but unable to form any decided plan of action.

  It was several miles to the Bar D, Dale’s ranch, and when he arrived there he was in an ugly mood. He curtly dismissed the two men who had accompanied him and went into the house. Opening the door of the room he used as an office, he saw a medium-sized man of fifty sitting in a big desk chair, smoking a cigar.

  The man
smiled at Dale’s surprise, but did not offer to get up, merely extending his right hand, which Dale grasped and shook heartily.

  “Dave Silverthorn, or I’m a ghost!” ejaculated Dale, grinning. “How in thunder did you get here?”

  “Rode,” smiled the other, showing a set of white, flashing teeth. “I saw you pass the window. You looked rather glum, and couldn’t see my horse, I suppose. Something gone wrong?”

  “Everything,” grunted Dale; “that confounded young Bransford has showed up!”

  The smile left the other’s face. His eyes glowed and the corners of his mouth took on a cruel droop.

  “He has, eh?” he said, slowly. His voice was expressionless. “So that lead has petered out.”

  He puffed slowly at his cigar, studying Dale’s face, while the latter related what had occurred.

  “So Nyland is still at large, eh?” he remarked, when Dale had finished. “Why not set a gunman on him?”

  Dale scowled. “There ain’t a gunman in this section that would take a chance on Nyland—he’s lightning!” Dale cursed. “Besides, there ain’t no use in goin’ after Nyland’s place unless we can get the Double A.”

  “Then there wasn’t any use of going after it yesterday, or today, as you did,” said the other. “Unless,” he added, looking intently at Dale, “the sister has been on your mind some.”

  Dale reddened.

  “I don’t mind admittin’ she is,” he grinned.

  “Look out, Dale,” warned the other; “there’s danger there. Many a big project has been ruined by men dragging a woman into it. You have no right to jeopardize this thing with a love affair. Peggy Nyland is desirable to a man of your intense passion, I suppose; but this project is bigger than any woman’s love!”

  “Bah!” sneered Dale. “I can ’tend to her without losin’ sight of the main object.”

  “All right, then,” laughed the other. “The success of this thing depends largely on you. We can’t do a thing with the Legislature; these sagebrush fools are adamant on the question of water-rights, They won’t restrict an owner’s right and title to possession of all the water on his land.

  “And he can dam the stream as much as he pleases, providing he don’t cut down the supply that normally flows to his neighbors; and the gorge doesn’t supply any water to the basin, so that Bransford would be justified in directing the gorge stream.

  “In other words, old Bransford’s title to the land that the gorge runs through is unassailable. There is only one way to get at him, and that is in some way to get possession of the title.”

  “That’s tied up tighter than blazes,” said Dale. “Record and all are clear. An’ there ain’t no judge we can get at. But if young Bransford hadn’t come—”

  “Yes,” smiled Silverthorn. “It’s too bad. We had a man, ready to come on at the word, to impersonate young Bransford. He would have stayed here long enough to get a clear title to the Double A, and then he would have turned it over to us for a consideration. It rather looks as though we are stumped, eh?”

  Dale frowned. Then he got up, went to a drawer in the desk before which Silverthorn sat, and drew out a letter—the letter young Bransford had written to his father about a year before.

  “We’ve still got a chance,” he told Silverthorn. And then he told the latter of his suspicions about Sanderson.

  Silverthorn’s eyes gleamed. “That’s possible,” he said, “but how are you going to prove it?”

  “There’s a way,” returned Dale. He went to the door, and shouted the names of two men, standing in the doorway until they came—the two men who had accompanied him that morning. He spoke to them, briefly:

  “You’re ridin’ straight to Tucson as fast as your cayuses can take you. You ought to make it in a week. I’ll give you that long. Find Gary Miller. Tell him I sent you, an’ find out what he knows about young Bill Bransford. Then hit the breeze back. If it takes you more than two weeks I’ll knock your damned heads off!”

  CHAPTER IX

  THE LITTLE MAN TALKS

  Mary Bransford spent the first day of Sanderson’s absence in the isolation of the parlor, with the shades drawn, crying. Her brother had bitterly disappointed her.

  He had sent word by one of the men that he was going to Las Vegas to look up the title to the property. She thought he might at least have brought her the message personally.

  Mary told herself that she had not been unduly demonstrative, as Sanderson had intimated by his actions. She had merely been glad to see him, as any sister would be glad to see a brother whom she had not seen for many years; and she assured herself that if he loved her as she loved him he would not have resented her display of affection.

  That affection, though, troubled Mary. To be sure, she had never had a brother about, to fuss over, and therefore she could not tell just how deeply she should be expected to love the one whom Providence had given her; but she was certain that she did not love him too much.

  For Sanderson was worthy of the full measure of any sister’s love. Big, handsome, vigorous, with a way about him that any woman must admire, Mary felt he deserved all the affection she could bestow.

  Her wonder and perplexity came over a contemplation of the quality of that love. Was it right that she should thrill so delightfully whenever he came near her? And was it entirely proper for her to feel that queer tingle of delight over the strangeness of it all?

  And did that strangeness result from the fact that she had not seen him for years; or was there some truth in Dale’s assertion that she was merely an adopted daughter, and her love for Sanderson not merely the love of a sister for a brother, but the love of a woman for a man?

  Had Sanderson taken that view of it? She thought he had; for she had told him about Dale’s assertion, and his constraint had begun shortly after.

  She did not blame him a great deal—after she had thought it over. He had done the manly thing, she divined, in not taking advantage of the situation, and she believed she loved him more than ever because of his attitude. But she felt that she had lost something, and the second day had gone before she succeeded in resigning herself to the new state of affairs.

  Nothing happened. Dale did not come near the ranchhouse. Mary rode over to the Nyland ranch and had a long talk with Peggy, and Peggy told her that she had not seen Dale.

  Ben Nyland had driven the Double A cattle over to their own range, and so far as he was concerned the incident with Dale was closed. But, Peggy told Mary, Ben was bitterly resentful, and had sworn that if Dale bothered Peggy any more he would kill him.

  Mary, however, was not greatly interested in Peggy’s recital. She sat on a chair in the kitchen of the Nyland cabin, listening to Peggy, but making no replies. And it was not until she was ready to go that Mary revealed the real reason for her visit—and then she did not reveal it to Peggy, but to her own heart.

  For she reddened when she asked the question: “I wonder if you feel about Ben as I feel about my brother—that when you kiss him you are kissing a strange man?”

  Peggy laughed. “You would feel that way, of course. For your brother is almost a stranger to you.”

  “And do you kiss Ben often?” asked Mary.

  “Ben doesn’t like it,” smiled Peggy. “He is like most other men—he likes to kiss the daughters of other men, but he gets sulky and balky when I want to kiss him. So I don’t try very often. Your brother is a fine, big fellow, but you will find before you have been around him very long that he wants to do his kissing away from home.”

  Mary laughed, and blushed again. “I have already discovered that,” she said. “But, Peggy,” she added seriously, “I love him so much that believe I should be jealous if I thought he kissed another girl!”

  Mary rode homeward, rather comforted over her visit. And during the remaining days of Sanderson’s absence she succeeded in convincing herself that Sanderson’s attitude toward her was the usual attitude of brothers toward sisters, and that she had nothing of which to complain.
r />   On the seventh day Sanderson and Owen returned.

  Mary saw them ride in and she ran to the door and waved a hand to them. Owen flourished his hat at her, but Sanderson only grinned.

  When Sanderson came in Mary did not attempt to kiss him, but she wanted to when he seized her hand and squeezed it warmly. For it seemed to her that he was troubled over something.

  She watched him narrowly for signs that would tell her of the nature of the trouble, but when he went to bed she had learned nothing.

  At breakfast the next morning she asked him what he had discovered at Las Vegas. He looked straight at her.

  “There is no record of your birth,” he said.

  She paled. “Then Dale has grounds for his suspicion,” she said in a weak voice.

  “Because your birth was not recorded is no sign you are not a Bransford,” he said. “I’ll tell you this,” he added gruffly: “as a sister you suit me from the ground up; an’ I’ll stick to you until hell freezes over!”

  Not until that instant did she realize that she had entertained a fear that Sanderson would believe as Dale believed, and in an excess of joy over the discovery that he did believe in her she got up, ran around the table, seized Sanderson by the shoulders and laid her cheek against his.

  “You’re a dear,” she said, “and I don’t care whether you like it or not, I am going to kiss you!”

  “Just once,” he said, blushing.

  She kissed him, and then leaned back, looking at him reprovingly.

  “You haven’t returned a kiss I have given you!” she said. “And I want you to!”

  “All right,” he agreed, and this time the warmth of his response made her draw a long, deep breath.

  Sanderson made his escape as soon as he decently could, and walked to a corner of the pasture fence where he stood, one arm resting on the top rail, his gaze on the basin.

  At the court in Las Vegas he had discovered that Bransford had made a will, bequeathing the ranch to his son. The document had been recorded only a few months before Bransford died, showing that he had at last forgiven the boy.