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Venters looked quickly from the fallen rustlers to the canyon where the others had disappeared He calculated on the ti horses to return to the open, if their riders heard shots He waited breathlessly But the estian presently to believe that the rifle reports had not penetrated into the recesses of the canyon, and felt safe for the immediate present

He hurried to the spot where the first rustler had been dragged by his horse The --a sight that sickened Venters The first h the heart With the claed the rustler in a some boulders and covered him with slabs of rock Then he se

The rustler's horse had stopped a quarter of a

When Venters rapidly strode toward the Masked Rider not even the cold nausea that gripped hi's infamous lieutenant, whose face had never been seen Venters experienced a grim pride in the feat What would Tull say to this achievement of the outcast who rode too often to Deception Pass?

Venters's curious eagerness and expectation had not prepared hiht, dark figure The rustler wore the black iven hilanced at the drooping horse, there were no gun-sheaths on the saddle

"A rustler who didn't pack guns!" uns in that rigStrange!"

A low, gasping intake of breath and a sudden twitching of body told Venters the rider still lived

"He's alive!I've got to stand here and watch him die And I shot an unarmed man"

Shrinkingly Venters removed the rider's wide soht chestnut hair, inclined to curl, and a white, youthful face Along the lower line of cheek and jaas a clear demarcation, where the brown of tanned skin met the white that had been hidden fro's Masked Rider?"

The boy showed signs of returning consciousness He stirred; his lips moved; a small brown hand clenched in his blouse

Venters knelt with a gathering horror of his deed His bullet had entered the rider's right breast, high up to the shoulder With hands that shook, Venters untied a black scarf and ripped open the blood-wet blouse