Ordinarily repressed and inscrutable, this crisis had thrown him so far off his balance that, as often happens, he had fallen to the other extreme.  Sniffling and half-sobbing, like a punished schoolboy, he dragged himself to where his revolver lay forgotten in the dust.  Taking as deliberate aim as his condition permitted, he pulled at the trigger.  The hammer refused to rise, or the cylinder to revolve.  Abandoning the self-cocking feature of the arm, he tried to cock it by hand.  The mechanism grated sullenly against the grit from the road.  Oldham worked frantically to get the hammer to catch.  By the time he had succeeded, his antagonist was out of reach.  With a half-scream of baffled rage, he hurled the now useless weapon in the direction of the young man’s disappearance.  Then, as Oldham stood militant in the dusty road, a change came over him.  Little by little the man resumed his old self.  A full minute went by.  Save for the quicker breathing, a spectator might have thought him sunk in reverie.  At the end of that time the old, self-contained, reserved, cynical Oldham stepped from his tracks, and set methodically to repair damages.

First he searched for and found his glasses, fortunately unbroken.  At the nearest streamlet he washed his face, combed his hair, brushed off his clothes.  The saddle horse browsed not far away.  Finally he walked down the road, picked up the revolver, cleaned it thoroughly of dust, tested it and slipped it into his pocket.  Then he resumed his journey, outwardly as self-possessed as ever.

Near the upper dam he had another encounter.  The dust of some one approaching warned him some time before the traveller came in sight.  Oldham reined back his horse until he could see who it was; then he spurred forward to meet Saleratus Bill.

The gun-man was lounging along at peace with all the world, his bridle rein loose, his leg slung over the pommel of his saddle.  At the sight of his employer, he grinned cheerfully.

Oldham rode directly to him.

“Why aren’t you attending to your job?” he demanded icily.

“Out of a job,” said Saleratus Bill cheerfully.

“Why haven’t you kept your man in charge?”

“I did until he just naturally had one of those unavoidable accidents.”

“Explain yourself.”

“Well.  I ain’t never been afraid of words.  He’s dead; that’s what.”

“Indeed,” said Oldham, “Then I suppose I met his ghost just now; and that a spirit gave me this cut lip.”

Saleratus Bill swung his leg from the saddle horn and straightened to attention.

“Did he have a hat on?” he demanded keenly.

“Yes—­no—­I believe not.  No, I’m sure he didn’t.”

“It’s him, all right.”  He shook his head reflectively, “I can’t figure it.”

Oldham was staring at him with deadly coldness.

“Perhaps you’ll be good enough to explain,” he sneered—­“five hundred dollars worth at any rate.”