The uneasy wait continued for a moment or more. The whisper of Joe Pollard to his daughter barely reached the ear of Terry.
"Cut in between 'em, girl. You can handle 'em. I can't!"
 
She responded instantly, before Terry recovered from his shock of surprise.
 
"Slim, keep away from your gun!"
 
She spoke¹ as she whirled from her chair to her feet. It was strange to see her direct all her attention to Slim, when Phil Marvin seemed the one about to draw.
 
"I ain't even nearin' my gun," asserted Slim truthfully. "It's Phil that's got a strangle hold on his."
 
"You're waiting for him to draw," said the girl calmly enough. "I know you, Slim. Phil, don't be a fool. drop your hand away from that gat!"
 
He hesitated; she stepped directly between him and his enemy of the moment and jerked the gun from its holster. Then she faced Slim. Obviously Phil was not displeased³ to have the matter taken out of his hands; obviously Slim was not so pleased. He looked coldly up to the girl.
 
"This is between him and me," he protested. "I don't need none of your help, Kate."
 
"Don't you? You're going to get it, though. Gimme that gun, Slim Dugan!"
 
"I want a square deal," he complained. "I figure Phil has been crooking⁴ the dice⁵ on me."
 
"Bah! Besides, I'll give you a square deal."
 
She held out her hand for the weapon.
 
"Got any doubts about me being square, Slim?"
 
"Kate, leave this to me!"
 
"Why, Slim, I wouldn't let you run loose now for a million. You got that ugly look in your eyes. I know you, partner!"
 
And to the unutterable astonishment⁶ of Terry, the man pulled his gun from its holster and passed it up to her, his eyes fighting hers, his hand moving slowly. She stepped back, weighing the heavy weapons in her hands. Then she faced Phil Marvin with glittering eyes.
 
"It ain't the first time you been accused of queer stunts⁷ with the dice.
What's the straight of it, Phil? Been doing anything to these dice?"
"Me? Sure I ain't!"
 
Her glance lingered on him the least part of a second.
 
"H'm!" said the girl. "Maybe not."
 
Slim was on his feet, eager. "Take a look at 'em, Kate. Take a look at them dice!"
 
She held them up to the light—then dropped them into a pocket of her skirt. "I'll look at 'em in the morning, Slim."
 
"The stuff'll be dry by that time!"
 
"Dry or not, that's what I'm going to do. I won't trust lamplight."
 
Slim turned on his heel and flung himself sulkily down on the blanket, fighting her with sullen⁸ eyes. She turned on Phil.
 
"How much d'you win?"
 
"Nothin'. Just a couple of hundred."
 
"Just a couple of hundred! You call that nothing?"
 
Phil grunted⁹. The other men leaned forward in their interest to watch the progress of the trial, all saving Joe Pollard, who sat with his elbows braced¹⁰ in sprawling¹¹ fashion on the table, at ease, his eyes twinkling contentedly¹² at the girl. Why she refused to examine the dice at once was plain to Terry. If they proved to have been gummed, it would mean a gun fight with the men at a battling temperature. In the morning when they had cooled down, it might be a different matter. Terry watched her in wonder. His idea of an efficient woman was based on Aunt Elizabeth, cold of eye and brain, practical in methods on the ranch¹³, keen with figures. The efficiency of this slip of a girl was a different matter, a thing of passion, of quick insight, of lightning guesses. He could see the play of eager emotion in her face as she studied Phil Marvin. And how could she do justice? Terry was baffled.
 
"How long you two been playing?" "About twenty minutes."
 
"Not more'n five!" cut in Slim hotly.
 
"Shut up, Slim!" she commanded. "I'm running this here game; Phil, how many straight passes did you make?"
 
"Me? Oh, I dunno. Maybe—five."
 
"Five straight passes!" said the girl. "Five straight passes!"
 
"You heard me say it," growled¹⁴ big Phil Marvin.
 
All at once she laughed.
 
"Phil, give that two hundred back to Slim!"
 
It came like a bolt from the blue, this decision. Marvin hesitated, shook his head.
 
"Damned if I do. I don't back down. I won it square!"
 
"Listen to me," said the girl. Instead of threatening, as Terry expected, she had suddenly become conciliatory. She stepped close to him and dropped a slim hand on his burly shoulder. "Ain't Slim a pal¹⁵ of yours? You and him, ain't you stuck together through thick and thin? He thinks you didn't win that coin square. Is Slim's friendship worth two hundred to you, or ain't it? Besides, you ain't lying down to nobody. Why, you big squarehead, Phil, don't we all know that you'd fight a bull with your bare hands? Who'd call you yaller? We'd simply say you was square, Phil, and you know it."
 
There was a pause. Phil was biting his lip, scowling¹⁶ at Slim. Slim was sneering¹⁷ in return. It seemed that she had failed. Even if she forced Phil to return the money, he and Slim would hate each other as long as they lived. And Terry gained a keen impression that if the hatred¹⁸ continued, one of them would die very soon indeed. Her solution of the problem was a strange one. She faced them both.
 
"You two big sulky babies!" she exclaimed. "Slim, what did Phil do for you down in Tecomo? Phil, did Slim stand by you last April—you know the time? Why, boys, you're just being plain foolish. Get up, both of you, and take a walk outside where you'll get cooled down."
 
Slim rose. He and Phil walked slowly toward the door, at a little distance from each other, one ............