As he sat at the table he drew out the paper the men had signed and read their names: "_Lay Givens._" "_Ben Link._" Their confession would convict Gary Warden of a crime that--if it did not open the doors of the penitentiary to him--would bring upon him the condemnation of every honest man in the state.

In his anxiety to inflict damage upon Lawler, Warden had overstepped himself.
Lawler had betrayed no passion that day when he had got off the train at Willets with his men and Blondy Antrim.

He had not permitted any of them to suspect that the incident of the attempted theft of a portion of the trail herd had affected him.

But it had affected him.

It had aroused him as he never had been aroused before; it had filled him with a passionate hatred of Gary Warden so intense that when his thoughts dwelt upon the man he felt a lust to destroy him.