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occasion turned up an ace. He looked at Belle.
    ‘Convex aces. So there wasn’t any gamble.’
    ‘Pour me a drink, Luke. I feel like I’ve been in the middle of a stampede. There was a little gamble but not much. I’ve noticed that Donovan sometimes spreads that big hand of his across the length of the pack when he takes a cut.’
    Carter handed her a glass of whiskey. ‘Suppose he’d done it this time and perhaps lifted the ace of spades? Belle, you took a hell of a risk.’
    She gulped down her drink. ‘I had to. Ever since the day you lost this place to Donovan I’ve had those packs of cards waiting for him.’ She got to her feet and gave a slightly hysterical laugh. ‘You nearly spoiled the whole thing when you dragged that gun out of the drawer. But I’m glad you had a try, Luke. Yes, I’m darned glad you had a try.’
    ‘Almost wish I’d succeeded,’ Carter said moodily.
    ‘What, and have Hennesey hang you for murder?’
    ‘It would have been that way, Belle, if you’d lost the gamble. I’d have got Donovan some way rather than let him have you.’
    Belle gripped his arm tightly. ‘We’ve got the saloon back and that’s all that matters and we’ll go places together like we’ve always done. Now, I’m going to show up in the saloon. Suppose you put those packs of cards into the stove and burn them? Every last one of them.’

CHAPTER THREE
    Two months with Sam and Lucy put much needed flesh on to Johnnie’s bony frame. He acquired, clumsily at first but with increasing dexterity, some skill in rounding up stray cattle and in the running down and roping of unbranded calves. He worked willingly from sunup to sundown and at the end of the day slept alone in the bunkhouse that had been built to hold a dozen men. He was entirely content with his life and had no yearnings or ambitions. Or at least, it was that way with him for most of the time. There were other times, brief and fleeting, when he thought of Josh Manders and the way he had left him. Then, he had the beginnings of a fear. The fear that this contentment, this period of regular eating, sleeping and working, would be snatched away from him by the arrival of the marshal to arrest him for the killing of Manders. There were times, too, when either Sam or Lucy spoke to him that he wondered if he shouldn’t tell them that they harboured a killer. The feeling came to him mostly when he was talking to Lucy. She, somehow, had the capacity of making it seem to him that her clear, brown eyes looked right into his thoughts.
    She had him feeling that way this morning when she said:
    ‘Johnnie, harness the light rig, will you? Then you can drive me into town. Sam isn’t going this time, he wants tofinish some accounts.’
    Johnnie said: ‘Yes, ma’am,’ and was about to move towards the barn when Lucy said:
    ‘Just a minute, Johnnie. I’ve your pay here, or don’t you want it?’ Her brown eyes smiled at him.
    ‘Pay! No, I guess I don’t need it, ma’am. I’ve got shirts and jeans and such. Maybe you wouldn’t mind saving it until I get around to needing it?’
    ‘What! No drink at the end of the month? No tobacco and papers? Johnnie, you do live hard.’
    Johnnie grinned. ‘I reckon it’s kinda soft living, ma’am. Besides, I ain’t used to drinking and smoking.’ He paused then went on seriously. ‘Perhaps I ought to learn to smoke, though. Most grown men does it.’
    Lucy turned away. ‘You’ll be man enough one day, Johnnie, without either drinking or smoking.’
    Puzzled as to her meaning, Johnnie went to the barn, dragged out the light rig and put a pair of horses to it. Still pondering her last remark, he drove towards town without speaking. Three miles of the rutted trail were covered when a little cloud of dust showed a rider coming towards them. Johnnie put the rig over to the right-hand side of the trail to give the approaching rider room to pass, then at a word from Lucy reined the team to a halt.
    The rider drew