Ruth saw the men in the group at the rear reach, concertedly, for their weapons; she saw smoke streaks stabbing the heavy atmosphere of the big room; heard the roar and crash of pistols; saw men falling, to land in grotesque positions; saw Shorty, huge and terrible amid the billowing smoke, shoot a man who tried to leap over the bar, so that he fell across it limply, as though sleeping.  She observed another man—­one of Slade’s—­dodge behind a card table, rest his pistol for an instant on its top, and shoot at Shorty.  She saw Shorty snap a shot at the man, saw the man’s head wobble as he sank behind the table.  And then she was suddenly aware that it was ended.  A ghastly silence fell.  Through the heavy smoke she saw Shorty, standing where he had stood all along—­near the cluster of lights just inside the front door.  It seemed to her that the room was full of motionless figures of men, strewing the floor.

She was sick and weak, but she knew she must get out into the air or she would faint; and so she began to descend the stairs, holding to the slender railing for support.

She got down without anyone seeing her.  No one seemed to pay any attention to her.  As she reached a side door—­opening into the space from which the outside stairs ran—­she looked back, to see Shorty and a number of Circle L men clustered around Blackburn—­who was sitting in a chair, looking very white.

She got out into the open and ran toward the street, hardly knowing what she intended to do.  Whatever happened, she did not want to stay longer in the Wolf.  She had a feeling that if she could find Moreton she would be safe until Shorty and the Circle L men completed the grim work upon which they were engaged.  For she knew that the Circle L men had sworn to square their account with the outlaws—­and, knowing the circumstances of the fight on the plains the previous spring, she could not blame them for what they had done.

And yet she wanted to get away from the scene—­anywhere.

She halted in front of the Wolf, and saw a number of men on the street—­and others running toward the building.  She moved down the street toward the station, and as she passed a group of men she saw a man running toward her, shouting loudly: 

“Lawler’s here!  What in hell is comin’ off?  Lawler just got off a special train!  He looks like he looked that day he rode into town lookin’ for Gary Warden!”

Far down the street Ruth saw him coming.  He was running, and she leaped to meet him, unaware that Shorty and the other Circle L men had emerged from the front door of the Wolf and were listening to the man who had brought the news of Lawler’s arrival.

She was aware of nothing but the fact that Lawler was coming.  And when, running toward him, she saw him stop dead short, she cried aloud with joy: 

“O Kane!  Kane!”

And then his big arms went around her, and she nestled close to him, shuddering, sobbing, laughing.