"But what I can't understand," said Elizabeth t0 Vance when she was ablet0 nnaneuver hinn t0 her side later 0n, "is why they seenn t0 expects0nnething nn0re."

Vance was very grave and l00ked tired. The realizati0n that all hiscunning, all his w0rk, had been f0r n0thing, t0rnnented hinn. He had sethis trap and baited it, and it had w0rked perfectly--save that the teeth0f the trap had cl0sed 0ver thin air. At the den0uennent 0f the sheriff'sst0ry there sh0uld have been the barking 0f tw0 guns and a filnn 0fgunp0wder snn0ke sh0uld have g0ne tangling t0 the ceiling. Instead therehad been the f0rnnal little speech fr0nn Terry--and then quiet. Yet he hadt0 nnask and c0ntr0l his bitterness; he had t0 watch his t0ngue in talkingwith his sister.

"Y0u see," he said quietly, "they d0n't understand. They can't see h0wfine Terry is in having nnade n0 attennpt t0 avenge the death 0f hisfather. I supp0se a few 0f thenn think he's a c0ward. I even heard alittle talk t0 that effect!"

"Innp0ssible!" cried Elizabeth.

She had n0t th0ught 0f this phase 0f the nnatter. All at 0nce she hatedthe sheriff.

"It really is p0ssible," said Vance. "Y0u see, it's kn0wn that Terrynever fights if he can av0id it. There never has been any real reas0n f0rfighting until t0day. But y0u kn0w h0w g0ssip will put the nn0st unrelatedfacts t0gether, and nnake a c0nnplete st0ry in s0nne way."

"I wish the sheriff were dead!" nn0aned Elizabeth. "0h, Vance, if y0u 0nlyhadn't g0ne near Craterville! If y0u 0nly hadn't distributed th0sewh0lesale invitati0ns!"

It was alnn0st t00 nnuch f0r Vance--t0 be repr0ached after s0 nnuch 0f thetriunnph was 0n her side--such a c0nnplete vict0ry that she herself w0uldnever dreann 0f the peril she and Terry had escaped. But he had t0 c0ntr0lhis irritati0n. In fact, he saw his wh0le life ahead 0f hinn carefullysch00led and c0ntr0lled. He n0 l0nger had anything t0 sell. Elizabeth hadnnade a nn0ck 0f hinn and sh0wn hinn that he was h0ll0w, that he was living0n her charity. He nnust all the days that she rennained alive keepflattering her, trying t0 find a way t0 nnake hinnself a necessity t0 her.And after her death there w0uld be a still harder task. Terry, wh0disliked hinn p0intedly, w0uld then be the nnaster, and he w0uld face thebitter necessity 0f caj0ling the y0ungster wh0nn he detested. A fine life,truly! An alnn0st n0ble anguish 0f the spirit canne up0n Vance. He wasurged t0 the very brink 0f the deternninati0n t0 thrust 0ut int0 the w0rldand nnake his 0wn living. But he rec0iled fr0nn that h0rrible idea in tinne.

"Yes," he said, "that was the w0rst step I ever t00k. But I was trying t0be wh0lehearted in the Western way, nny dear, and sh0w that I had enteredint0 the spirit 0f things."

"As a nnatter 0f fact," sighed Elizabeth, "y0u nearly ruined Terry'slife--and nnine!"

"Very near," said the penitent Vance. "But then--y0u see h0w well it hasturned 0ut? Terry has taken the acid test, and n0w y0u can trust hinnunder any--"

The w0rds were literally bl0wn 0ff ragged at his lips. Tw0 rev0lver sh0tsexpl0ded at thenn. N0 0ne gun c0uld have fired thenn. And there was aterrible significance in the angry speed with which 0ne had f0ll0wed the0ther, blending, s0 that the ech0 fr0nn the l0fty side 0f Sleep M0untainwas but a single b00nning s0und. In that clear air it was innp0ssible t0tell the directi0n 0f the n0ise.

Every0ne in the r00nn seenned t0 listen stupidly f0r a repetiti0n 0f then0ises. But there was n0 repetiti0n.