“Oh, you’re there, are you?  Put up that gun.  I ain’t going to do you any harm.”

“What’s the matter with you putting yours up first?” asked the Texan amiably.

“I tell you I ain’t going to hurt you.  Soon as I stepped out of the house I seen your horse.  All I had to do was to say so, and they would have had you slick.”

“What did you get your gun for, then?”

“I ain’t taking any chances till folks’ intentions has been declared.  You might have let drive at me before I got a show to talk to you.”

“All right.  I’ll trust you.”  Fraser dropped his revolver, and the other came across to him.

“Up in this country we ain’t in mourning for Billy Faulkner.  Old man Dillon told me what you done for him.  I reckon we can find cover for you till things quiet down.  My name is Speed.”

“Call me Fraser.”

“Glad to meet you, Mr. Fraser.  I reckon we better move you back into the timber a bit.  Deputy sheriffs are some thick around here right now.  If you have to lie hid up in this country for a spell, we’ll make an arrangement to have you taken care of.”

“I’ll have to lie hid.  There’s no doubt about that.  I made my jail break just in time to keep from being invited as chief guest to a necktie party.”

“Well, we’ll put you where the whole United States Army couldn’t find you.”

They had been walking across the field and now crawled between the strands of fence wire.

“I left my saddle on top of the stack,” the ranger explained.

“I’ll take care of it.  You better take cover on top of this ridge till I get word to Dillon you’re here.  My wife will fix you up some breakfast, and I’ll bring it out.”

“I’ve ce’tainly struck the good Samaritan,” the Texan smiled.

“Sho!  There ain’t a man in the hills wouldn’t do that much for a friend.”

“I’m glad I have so many friends I never saw.”

“Friends?  The hills are full of them.  You took a hand when old man Dillon and his girl were sure up against it.  Cedar Mountain stands together these days.  What you did for them was done for us all,” Speed explained simply.

Fraser waited on the ridge till his host brought breakfast of bacon, biscuits, hard-boiled eggs, and coffee.  While he ate, Speed sat down on a bowlder beside him and talked.

“I sent my boy with a note to Dillon.  It’s a good thirty miles from here, and the old man won’t make it back till some time to-morrow.  Course, you’re welcome at the house, but I judge it wouldn’t be best for you to be seen there.  No knowing when some of Brandt’s deputies might butt in with a warrant.  You can slip down again after dark and burrow in the haystack.  Eh?  What think?”

“I’m in your hands, but I don’t want to put you and your friends to so much trouble.  Isn’t there some mountain trail off the beaten road that I could take to Dillon’s ranch, and so save him from the trip after me?”