For all of the old man’s talk there was plenty to do on the Diamond-Bar. The men were back from the Rock, but early the following morning big Hobe had sent them off on various tasks so that life on the ranch moved as usual.

Before noon Tony arrived. Molly’s eyes opened as she saw who it was that led her pony into the yard. A dozen questions leaped to her mind. She even looked about for Johnny. What could the Basque be doing here?

Five minutes of heated conversation with Tony told her what she wanted to know.

“As long as I live,” she advised him, “I shall never again trust a Basque. That Johnny wronged you unintentionally doesn’t enter into it. He thought so much of you. You were pals. Humph, pals! A pal sticks right or wrong.” Molly turned back to the house. “I hope your horse throws you and breaks your wretched neck,” she hurled at him for a parting shot.

Tony winced. He had received more than he had bargained for, but he was game. He clucked his tongue to show his utter contempt for Johnny Dice.

Infuriated, Molly slammed the door behind her. The old man had seen this pass-at-arms, and although he had heard no word of it, he could guess what had been said. He promised himself that it was only the beginning. Before he was through Molly would be thoroughly disillusioned as far as Johnny Dice was concerned.

Noontime brought two visitors to the Diamond-Bar—Aaron Gallup and his “man Friday,” Tobias Gale.

Aaron made a business of loaning money at six or seven per cent on first mortgages. Tobias saw to the details, such little matters as the rate, for instance. He was a Dickensian character, humble to self-effacement, but always driving a hard bargain. More than one rancher in Ruby Valley had cause to regret Tobias.

The man moved in an aura of gloom. His was a funereal appearance, clothes of ancient cut, once black, but long since faded to a dull bottle-green. His coming to a ranch-house was equivalent to the visit of the undertaker. No one knew his age, but if it were to be guessed from his wrinkled, mummified face one would have put him down for eighty.

Tobias was a usurer, intended from birth for his present calling. Old Aaron had given him his opportunity and he rewarded the coroner with faithful service.

Gallup no longer rode in a saddle. He had a weatherbeaten old buckboard and a pair of mean-eyed mustangs to get him about. This turnout, when not in use by Aaron, served Tobias. So the rig and its span of ponies came to be associated with bad luck, hard times and overdue interest money. That is, it did when only one of the precious pair adorned it. Whenever Aaron and Tobias appeared together it meant more than overdue payments; it spelled foreclosure!

Jackson Kent thought of this as he caught sight of the two men.

“Howdy!” Gallup called as he pulled up his team.

“What are you two birds of prey doin’ here today?” Kent called jestingly as he walked out to the rig. “Ain’t come to foreclose?”

Tobias cackled at his pleasantry. Gallup chose to be more serious. “Wouldn’t be so bold as that about it,” he said. “Just come to talk things over a little. Saw some of your boys a ways back. I seen Madeiras as we turned in. What’s he doin’ here?”

“Back on his job,” Kent grinned. “He had more sense than you allowed him.”

“Glad to hear it,” Gallup answered. “Where’s that rearin’, tearin’ Dice person? Bet he ain’t back.”

“He’ll never git back! Where he is or what he’s doin’ don’t interest me. Hey, you, Charlie Paul!” Kent called to his Piute teamster. “Take care of this team.”

The three men entered Kent’s office as the Indian led away the horses.

“Well, what you got on your mind, Aaron?” the cowman asked when they were seated.

“Two or three things. Come to think of it, that remark of yours about foreclosin’ wa’n’t so wide of the mark, only it ain’t a matter of money—that is, not exactly—that I’m thinkin’ about. To be right truthful, Jackson, it’s a promise of yours I came to foreclose on.”

“In regard to the notes?”

“No-o-o. In regard to the girl.”

“Molly?”

“You guessed it. Last time I was here, some four months ago, you promised me you’d talk to her. I ain’t forgot how she treated me, but I don’t carry no grudges. I’m here today to ask her again.”

Kent’s face fell as he heard the man declare himself.

“Ain’t been four months, has it?” he asked.

“Four months to the day,” Gallup stated. “That’s correct, ain’t it, Toby?”

Aaron’s factotum nodded his head.

“Don’t seem so long as that to me,” Jackson said unhappily. “Maybe we’d better talk this over just between the two of us,” he suggested.

“No-o-o. Toby knows my dark side. I ain’t got no secrets from him.”

“Your dark side, eh?” Kent queried. “I’ve heard tell as how you were pretty well tanned all over, Aaron.”

“No doubt. When a man owes you money, he can find a lot to tell about you. I don’t mean that personal. You know how it is—men borrow money and then they don’t want to pay it back. Makes a hard name for the folks what does the lendin’. Speakin’ of money, it just reminds me that I’ve got close to a hundred thousand dollars out on interest now. Toby can give you the exact figgers. That ought to make a little difference with the girl.”

“Won’t make no difference with her,” Kent declared. “She’s always known her own mind; but even so, she’s changed since you saw her last. She defied me yesterday for the first time in her life. The girl’s bewitched. She thinks she’s in love with Johnny Dice.”

“You ain’t tellin’ me any news,” Gallup muttered. “I been suspectin’ that this long time—another reason why I’m here today. You better tell her I’ve come. I want to talk to her.”

Kent got to his feet uneasily. Biting the ends of his mustache he took a turn around his desk.

“Man, I can’t do it!” he exclaimed at last. “This, on top of what we were through yesterday, will turn her against me for life.”

“Well, Jackson, a promise is a promise. You don’t want to forget that in more ways than one you owe this ranch to me. It was me who gave you a start. Whenever you needed help you’ve always come to me. I’m old, I know. I ain’t askin’ her to love me. Love is for young bucks.

“I’m a man of means, now. Mrs. Aaron Gallup will be a somebody in this country long after I’ve cashed in. She’s got youth, she’s pretty, and that’s what I want. When we run down to Frisco folk’ll turn and look twice at her; like as not they’ll have pictures in the papers, too, of her and me. We’ll let ’em know we’re somebody. And that’s what I want. It’s what I’ve been wantin’ all the years I’ve been savin’ pennies and cheatin’ myself out of things no man should be without.”

“But it’s sellin’ her,” Kent groaned. “Sellin’ her like she was a slave. Maybe I’ve been dreamin’ my dreams too. What’s goin’ to happen to me, an old man, without her? I’ve slaved and cheated myself even as you have. It was for her. Don’t smile at me like that. You’re hearin’ the truth. Damn it, I tell you, I’ll let you cut off my right arm before I’ll see her your wife.”

“Well, now, I don’t know about that,” Gallup drawled menacingly. “Right arms ain’t so precious. Maybe you’re forgettin’ that I’m holding your paper for thirty thousand dollars. It’s overdue, too. The way the market is, don’t seem as if there’d be much chance of your payin’ up right off.”

“The ranch is worth five times the amount I owe you.”

“Of course, of course. Tobias consented to the loans, didn’t he? Toby don’t get over his head.”

“Are you puttin’ it flat to me, then, that you git my girl, or else you foreclose on my paper?”

“You understand me perfectly, Jackson.”

“Well, then, foreclose, and to hell with you!” Kent roared, supreme for the moment.

Gallup did not move, neither did his eyes leave Jackson’s face. A minute passed before he spoke.

“Yes? You’re goin’ to make a pauper out of her, eh, so Dice can put himself in her class and run off with her? You’d better reconsider. Toby and me’ll go outside and look around the place while you do.”