“Mr. Rutherford, I’ve been thinking of my father a good deal these last few days.  I want to do as he would have me do about this thing.  I’m not going to chop my words.  He gave his life to bring law and order into this country, The men who killed him were guilty of murder.  That’s an ugly word, but it’s the true one.”

The grim face of the big hillman did not twitch.  “I’ll take the word from you.  Go on.”

“But I’ve been thinking more and more that he would want me to forget that.  Tighe and Meldrum are gone.  Sheriff Beaudry worked for the good of the community.  That is all he asked.  It is for the best interest of Washington County that we bury the past.  If you say so, I’ll shake hands on that and we’ll all face to the future.  Just as you say.”

Dingwell grinned.  “Hooray!  Big Chief Dave will now make oration.  You’ve got the right idea, son.  I knew Jack Beaudry.  There wasn’t an atom of revenge in his game body.  His advice would have been to shake hands.  That’s mine, too.”

The hillman and Roy followed it.

Upon the porch a young woman appeared.

“I’ve written those letters for you, dad,” she called.

Roy deserted the peace conference at once and joined her.

“Oh!  I didn’t know it was you,” she cried.  “I’m so glad you came this way.  Was it . . . all right?”

“Right as the wheat.  Why did you send Pat up Del Oro?”

She looked at him with eyes incredibly kind and shy.  “Because I . . . didn’t want to run any chance of losing my new beau.”

“Are you sure that was your only reason?”

“Certain sure.  I didn’t trust Meldrum, and . . .  I thought you had taken chances enough with him.  So I gave Mr. Ryan an opportunity.”

“He took it,” her lover answered gravely.

She glanced at him quickly.  “You mean—?”

“Never mind what I mean now.  We’ve more important things to talk about.  I haven’t seen you for eight hours, and thirty-three minutes.”

Rutherford turned his guests over to Ned, who led the way to the stable.  The ranchman joined the lovers.  He put an arm around Beulah.

“Boots has done told me about you two, Mr. Beaudry.  I’m eternally grateful to you for bringing back my little girl to me, and if you all feel right sure you care for each other I’ve got nothing to say but ‘God bless you.’  You’re a white man.  You’re decent.  I believe you’ll be kind to her.”

“I’m going to try to the best I know, Mr. Rutherford.”

“You’d better, young man.”  The big rancher swallowed a lump in his throat and passed to another phase of the subject.  “Boots was telling me about how it kinder stuck in yore craw to marry the daughter of Hal Rutherford, seeing as how things happened the way they did.  Well, I’m going to relieve yore mind.  She’s the one that has got the forgiving to do, not you.  She knew it all the time, too, but she didn’t tell it.  Beulah is the daughter of my brother Anse.  I took her from the arms of her dying mother when she was a little trick that couldn’t crawl.  She’s not the daughter of the man that shot yore father.  She’s the daughter of the man yore father shot.”