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opinion of such men as a whole. Yet none of those he had known ever struck him as being the sort to make trouble for folks who couldn’t fight back.
    ‘We ought to head over and see if this English hombre’s to home, Dusty,’ growled the Kid, sounding Comanche-mean.
    ‘It’ll wait until we’ve a few more men,’ Dusty replied.
    ‘Hell, after they come here today—’
    Lasalle stared at the Kid. This had been the first time Tring’s visit received a mention. Freda hurriedly told of the arrival of the Double K men, their threat to the property and their departure. The rancher’s face lost some of its colour, then set in grim lines as he thought of what might have happened had Dusty, Mark and the Kid not been on hand. His attempts to thank the three young Texans met with no success for they laughed it off and, the way they told it, Freda did the running off wielding a broom to good effect on the hard-case crew.
    All in all Dusty seemed far more interested in the closing of the trail than in being thanked for a very necessary piece of work.
    ‘Lon,’ he said. ‘Reckon you could find Bent’s Ford, happen you was looking for it?’
    ‘Likely, but I’m not looking.’
    ‘You are. Just as soon as you’ve thrown a saddle on that white goat out back.’
    ‘Be late tonight when I get there,’ drawled the Kid.
    ‘Happen that fool Nigger hoss makes it,’ grinned Mark.
    ‘Ole Nigger’ll run hide ‘n’ tallow off that brown wreck you ride,’ scoffed the Kid. ‘I’ll make Bent’s tonight all right, only I might find the hard boys have been here and took off with your guns.’
    ‘I’m here to protect them, Lon,’ Freda put in.
    ‘Sure, with birdshot in both barrels. Say, reckon you can throw up a bite of food to eat on the way, something I can carry easy.’
    She sniffed. ‘I’ll flavour it with birdshot. Just remember that I’ve nothing in the house, except for what’s in your greasy-sack.’
    ‘Do what you can,’ Dusty suggested. ‘Then Mark and I’ll take you into town and buy supplies.’
    ‘Mallick won’t let us buy anything on credit,’ Lasalle pointed out.
    ‘We never said anything about credit.’
    An indignant flush came to Lasafle’s cheeks as he caught the meaning of Dusty’s words. He thrust back his chair and came to his feet, facing the small Texan across the table.
    ‘I can’t accept charity—’
    ‘And none’s being offered. Man, you’re the touchiest gent I’ve come across in many a year. This’s a loan until Stone Hart arrives and you can sell some stock.’
    ‘And any way you look at it Dusty and I’m going to eat our fair share of that same food.’
    Freda stepped to her father’s side and laid a hand on his sleeve, her fingers biting into the bicep.
    ‘We accept,’ she said and her voice once more warned her father not to argue. ‘Thank you all for helping.’
    ‘There’s another thing though,’ Lasalle said, surrendering the field to his daughter. ‘Mallick has told the storekeepers they won’t serve any small ranch folk unless they bring a note from him. He keeps a deputy in each store to make sure the owner obeys.’
    ‘Well now,’ drawled Mark idly, ‘reckon we could do something about that, don’t you, Dusty?’
    While agreeing with his big amigo on the point that they could do something about it, Dusty did not want to make war in Barlock until he had a fighting force at his back. While he and Mark could likely go into town and make Elben’s deputies sing low, they might also have to do it to the tune of roaring guns and that could blow things apart at the seams. Dusty wished to avoid starting hostilities if he possibly could. It was not fear of odds which worried Dusty, odds could be whittled down and hired gunmen did not fight when the going got too stiff. With the Wedge at his elbow Dusty could make the hired hard-cases of Double K think the going had got too stiff, then likely put its new owner where he must make his peace.
    Every instinct