Mavericks

The shock of it swung Healy half round. The man hung in silhouette against the sky line, then the body plunged to the turf at full length. Buck moved forward cautiously, fearing a trick, his eyes fastened on the other. But as he drew nearer he knew it was no ruse. The body lay supine and inert, as lifeless as the clay upon which it rested.

Once sure of this Buck turned immediately to Phyllis. A faint crackling of bushes stopped him. He waited, his eyes fixed on the edge of the precipice from which the sound had come. Next there came to him the slipping of displaced rubble. He was all eyes and ears, tense and alert in every pulse.

From out of the gulf a hand appeared and groped for a hold. Weaver stepped noiselessly to the edge and looked down. A torn and bleeding face looked up into his.

"Good heavens, Keller!"

Buck was on his knees instantly. He caught the ranger's hand with both of his and dragged him up. The rescued man sank breathless on the ground and told his story in gasped fragments.

"--caught on a ledge--hung to some bushes growing there--climbed up--lay still when Healy looked over--a near thing--makes me sick still!"

"It was a millionth chance that saved you--if it was a chance."

"Where's Healy?"

Weaver pointed to the body. "We fought it out. The luck was with me."

A faint, glad, terrified little cry startled them both. Phyllis was staring with dilated eyes at the man restored to her from the dead. He got up and walked across to her with outstretched hands.

"My little girl."

"Oh, Larry! I don't understand. I thought----"

He nodded. "I reckon God was good to us, sweetheart."

Her arms crept up and round his neck. "Oh, boy--boy--boy. I thought you were--I thought you were----"

She broke down, but he understood. "Well, I'm not," he laughed happily. Catching sight of Buck's grim, set face, Larrabie explained what scarce needed an explanation. "You'll have to excuse us, I reckon. It's my day for congratulations."

Phyllis freed herself and walked across to her other lover. "My friend, I know the answer now," she told him.

"I see you do."

"Don't--please don't be hurt," she begged. "I have to care for him."

The hard, leathery face softened. "I lose, girl. But who told you I was a bad loser? The best man wins. I've got no kick to register."

"Not the best man," Keller corrected, shaking hands with his rival.

Phyllis summed it up in woman fashion: "My man, whether he is the best or not. It's just that a girl goes where her heart goes."