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diff --git a/31512.txt b/31512.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b3b704 --- /dev/null +++ b/31512.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8774 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Coming of the Law, by Charles Alden Seltzer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Coming of the Law + +Author: Charles Alden Seltzer + +Illustrator: R. W. Amick + +Release Date: March 5, 2010 [EBook #31512] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMING OF THE LAW *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "What have you done with Hollis?" demanded Norton, +thrusting his big six-shooter against Ten Spot's stomach. _Page 165_ +_The Coming of the Law_] + + + + +THE COMING OF THE LAW + +BY CHARLES ALDEN SELTZER + +Author of "The Range Riders," "The Two-Gun Man," +"The Triangle Cupid," etc. + +With Frontispiece in Colors by R. W. AMICK + +A. L. BURT COMPANY + +Publishers--New York + + + + +Copyright 1912, By + +OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY + +All Rights Reserved + +First Printing, August, 1912 + +Second Printing, September, 1912 + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. The Arrival of the Man 9 + II. The Rule of Cattle 25 + III. Norton Makes a Discovery 42 + IV. At the Circle Bar 53 + V. The Girl of Dry Bottom 73 + VI. Hollis Renews an Acquaintance 87 + VII. The "Kicker" Becomes an Institution 107 + VIII. Concerning the "Six O'Clock" 119 + IX. How a Bad Man Left the "Kicker" Office 127 + X. The Lost Trail 151 + XI. Picking Up the Trail 161 + XII. After the Storm 169 + XIII. "Woman--She Don't Need No Tooter" 177 + XIV. The Coalition 187 + XV. To Support the Law 198 + XVI. The Bearer of Good News 209 + XVII. The Rustler 224 + XVIII. The Tenth Day 238 + XIX. How a Rustler Escaped 246 + XX. The "Kicker's" Candidate 257 + XXI. Dunlavey Plays a Card 267 + XXII. Proof of Gratitude 280 + XXIII. Ten Spot Uses His Eyes 289 + XXIV. Campaign Guns 294 + XXV. Handling the Law 314 + XXVI. Autumn and the Gods 327 + XXVII. The Sear and Yellow Days 336 + XXVIII. In Defiance of the Law 342 + XXIX. The Arm of the Law 354 + XXX. Forming a Friendship 364 + XXXI. Afterward 375 + + + + +THE COMING OF THE LAW + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ARRIVAL OF THE MAN + + +If the passengers on the west-bound train that pulled up at the little +red wooden station at Dry Bottom at the close of a June day in 18--, +were interested in the young man bearing the two suit cases, they gave +no evidence of it. True, they noted his departure; with casual glances +they watched him as he stepped down upon the platform; but immediately +they forgot his athletic figure and his regular featured, serious face +as their thoughts returned to the heat, the dust, and the monotony of +travel. + +There was the usual bustle and activity which always follows the arrival +of a train. A mail bag was dumped out of the mail car, another thrown +in; some express packages were unceremoniously deposited near the door +of the station by the agent; the conductor ran to the telegrapher's +window to receive an order; ran back, signaling as he ran; the engine +bell clanged, the drivers clanked, the wheels ground, the passengers +sighed, and the train departed on its way. + +The young man who had alighted stood motionless for a moment, listening +to the clatter of the wheels over the rail-joints, watching the smoke +from the engine-stack befoul the clear blue of the sky. Then he smiled +grimly, threw a rapid glance toward a group of loungers standing at a +corner of the station, and walked over to where the station agent stood +examining some newly arrived packages. + +"Do you mind directing me to the courthouse?" said the young man. + +The agent looked up, turned, and ran a measuring, speculative eye over +the new arrival. He noted the Eastern cut of the young man's clothing +and beneath the dust of travel the clear, healthy white skin of his +face. "Stranger here?" observed the agent, with a slight, humorous +narrowing of the eyes. + +"Yes." + +"No, I don't mind," resumed the agent, answering the young man's +question. "You won't have any trouble findin' the courthouse. There's +only one street in this town an' the courthouse is down to the other end +of it--you couldn't miss it if you tried." He grinned with some +amusement at the young man's back as the latter with a cordial "thank +you," returned to his suit cases, gripped them firmly by the handles, +and strode down the wooden platform toward the street, ignoring the +group of loungers at the corner of the station. + +"'Nother tenderfoot," remarked one of the loungers as the young man +passed out of hearing; "they're runnin' this country plum to hell!" + +The young man strode slowly down the board sidewalk that paralleled the +buildings on one side of the street, mentally taking in the dimensions +of the town. It was not an inviting picture. Many buildings of various +descriptions snuggled the wide, vacant space which the station agent had +termed a "street." Most of the buildings were unpainted and crude, +composed of rough boards running perpendicularly, with narrow battens +over the joints. There were several brick buildings two stories in +height, bearing the appearance of having been recently erected, and +these towered over the squat, one-story frames in seeming contemptuous +dignity. There were many private dwellings, some stores, but the young +man's first impression was that there was an enormous number of saloons. + +He saw few people; those who came within range of vision were apparently +cowboys, for they were rigged in the picturesque garb that he had +studied many times in the illustrations of Eastern magazines. He had +admired them afar, for there was something about them, something in the +free, wild life they led, that appealed to him; something that struck at +the primitive in his heart. He had heard tales of them; travelers +returning from these regions had related sundry stories of these wild +men of the plains; stories of their hardihood, of their recklessness, of +their absolute fearlessness--clothing them with a glamor and romance +that had deeply impressed the young man. His own life had been rather +prosaic. + +He saw some cowponies hitched to rails in front of several of the +saloons; in front of a store he observed a canvas-covered wagon which he +recognized (from sketches he had seen) as a "prairie schooner"; in front +of another store he saw a spring wagon of the "buckboard" variety. That +was all. The aroma of sage-brush filled his nostrils; the fine, +flint-like, powdered alkali dust lay thick everywhere. It was +unattractive and dismal. + +The town, as it lay before him, began in desolation and ended in +desolation. Except that it was a trifle larger it differed in no +important particular from many others that littered the face of the +world through which he had passed during the last twenty-four hours. It +was a mere dot in the center of a flat grass country covering a vast +area. It sat, serene in its isolation, as far from civilization as +Genesis from Revelation. In the stifling heat of the lazy June afternoon +it drowsed, seemingly deserted except for the ponies and the two wagons, +and the few incurious cowboys who had rewarded the young man with their +glances. Apparently whatever citizens were here were busy in the +saloons. As this thought flashed upon the young man his lips +straightened grimly. But he continued slowly on his way, giving much +attention to objects that came within his range of vision. The more he +saw of the town, the less pleased he was with it. + +The suit cases were heavy; he paused in front of a building and set them +down, while with his handkerchief he mopped the dust and perspiration +from his forehead. He saw a flaring sign on the roof of the building in +front of which he had stopped and he read the legend with a smile of +derision: "The Fashion Saloon." Several ponies were hitched to the rail +in front of the building; the bridle of one was gaily decorated with a +bow of ribbon. Only a woman would have decorated a pony thus, the young +man decided with a smile. Yet what sort of woman would hitch her pony in +front of a saloon? He looked about him for some explanation and saw a +vacant space beside him and beside the vacant space a store. There was +no hitching rail in front of the store, therefore here was the +explanation. He heard a sound behind him and turning he beheld the +figures of a man and a woman in the vacant space between the two +buildings. + +The woman seemed to be little more than a girl, for as the young man +watched she turned slightly toward him--though not seeing him--and he +saw youth pictured on her face, and innocence, though withal she gave +the young man an impression of sturdy self-reliance that awakened +instant admiration for her in his mind. + +She was attired in picturesque costume, consisting of short riding +skirt, boots, felt hat, woolen blouse with a flowing tie at the throat, +gloves, and spurs. It was not the sort of thing to which the young man +was accustomed, but she made an attractive picture and he took in every +detail of her appearance with eager eyes. + +It was some time before he noticed the man. The latter stood facing the +girl and he could not get a view of his face. He had a gigantic frame, +with huge shoulders that loomed above the girl, dwarfing her. The young +man remained motionless, watching the two, for there was something in +the big man's attitude that held him. The man turned presently and the +young man had a glimpse of his face. It was heavy featured, coarse, and +an unmistakable brutality was betrayed in it. The young man's lips +curled. He did not like the type, and it was the girl's face that held +him now that he had seen the man's. + +He leaned easily against the front of the building, not over fifteen +feet distant from the two, trying to appear uninterested, but not +concealing his interest. He believed the girl had not seen him, for +though she had looked in his direction he was sure that her glance had +passed him to rest on the pony at the hitching rail. Swift as the glance +had been the young man had seen in her face an expression that caused +him to decide to remain where he was until the girl mounted her pony, no +matter how long that time might be. So he relaxed, leaning against the +building--attentive, listening, though apparently entirely unconcerned +over their conversation. + +The girl seemed moved with some deep emotion over something the big man +had said, for her slight figure had stiffened and she stood looking at +him with an angry, intense gaze. The big man had been taunting her, for +his teeth showed in a mocking grin as he hovered near her, apparently +sure of her. It was like a lion playing with a mouse. Then the young man +heard the big man's voice: + +"So you don't take kindly to my courting? Don't want anything to do with +me at all?" His forced laugh had a harshness in it that caused the young +man's muscles to stiffen. He took a sly glance at the girl and saw her +chin uplift with disdain. + +"Do you think it necessary for me to tell you that--again?" she said. + +A strange satisfaction thrilled the young man; sympathy for her drew his +mouth into a peculiarly grim smile. But he had no time to enjoy his +satisfaction for the big man spoke and this time he did not laugh. + +"Well," he said shortly, "you're going to have something to do with me. +You're going to hook up with me or I'm putting that crazy brother of +yours out of business!" + +The girl was suddenly rigid and a deep red as suddenly suffused her +cheeks. The young man's face paled at the threat, his teeth came +together with a snap, and he leaned forward, wishing to hear some more +of this extraordinary conversation. More of it came quickly. The girl +spoke, her voice even and well controlled, though burdened with a biting +sarcasm: + +"What a terrible man you are, to be sure, to threaten to make war upon a +defenseless girl and her afflicted brother. But I'm not afraid of you!" + +She took a step toward him, standing very close to him and looking +straight into his eyes. She was fighting bravely for her composure, but +the young man had seen that her lips had quivered pitifully during her +brief speech. He stiffened with sympathy. He could not, of course, +understand this strange conversation, but he could discern its drift, +and the suggestive underplay in the big man's words. But plainly he had +not been mistaken in his estimate of the young woman--she seemed +entirely able to take care of herself. + +He crowded a little closer, though he knew that this conversation was +none of his affair further than that he was interested--as any man would +be interested--in seeing that the young woman received decent treatment. +Certainly so far she had not received that, yet neither had the big man +said anything to warrant interference by a stranger. Stealing another +glance, the young man saw a heavy revolver at the man's hip, and he did +not doubt, from what he had thus far seen of him, that he would use the +weapon should he turn and discover that there was a listener to his +conversation. Such an action would accord perfectly with tales that the +young man had heard of this section of the country. But he edged closer. + +The big man's face had become poisonously bloated. The girl's defiance +seemed to have enraged him. + +"Hell!" he said venomously. "You're talking damn brave!" He leaned +closer to her. "And you think you'd be disgraced if folks knowed you was +a friend of mine?" He laughed harshly. "Most folks are tickled to be +known as my friend. But I'm telling you this: If I ain't a friend I'm an +enemy, and you're doing as I say or I'm making things mighty unpleasant +for you and your poor, 'afflicted' brother!" + +The young man saw the girl's hands clench, saw her face grow slowly +pale. Twice now had the big man taunted her about her brother, and +plainly his words had hurt her. Words trembled on her lips but refused +to come. But for an instant she forced her eyes to meet those of the man +and then they suddenly filled with tears. She took a backward step, her +shoulders drooping. The big man followed her, gloating over her. Again +the young man's thoughts went to the lion and the mouse. + +"Hurts, does it?" said the big man, brutally. "Well, you've brought it +on yourself, being such a damn prude!" + +He reached out and grasped her by the shoulder. She shrank back, +struggling with him, trying to grasp the butt of an ivory-handled +revolver that swung at her right hip. The big man pinned her arms and +the effort was futile. + +And then retribution--like an avalanche--struck the big man. He heard +the movement, sensed the danger, and flung his right hand toward his +pistol butt. There was a silent struggle; a shot, one of the young man's +arms swung out--flail like--the clenched hand landing with a crash. The +big man went down like a falling tree--prone to the ground, his revolver +flying ten feet distant, a little blue-white smoke curling lazily upward +out of its muzzle. The big man was raised again--bodily--and hurled down +again. He lay face upward in the white sunlight--a mass of bruised and +bleeding flesh. + +The young man's anger had come and gone. He stood over the big man, +looking down at him, his white teeth gleaming through his slightly +parted lips. + +"I think that will do for you," he said in an even, passionless voice. + +For an instant there was a tense silence. The young man turned and +looked at the girl, who was regarding him with surprised and bewildered +eyes. + +The young man smiled mirthlessly. "I think I waited rather too long. But +he won't bother you again--at least for a few minutes." + +He saw the girl's gaze directed to a point somewhere behind him and he +turned to see that a door in the side of the Fashion Saloon was vomiting +men. They came rushing out, filling the space between the two +buildings--cowboys mostly, with a sprinkling of other men whose +appearance and attire proclaimed them citizens. The young man stood +silent while the newcomers ranged themselves about him, others giving +their attention to the big man who still lay on the ground. The girl had +not moved; she was standing near the young man, her face pale, her +slight figure rigid, her eyes wide and flashing. The young man looked +from her to the men who had crowded about him and he became aware that +one of the men--a slender, olive-skinned cowboy--evidently a +half-breed--was speaking to him. He stood looking at the man, saw menace +in his eyes, heard his voice, writhing in profane accusation: + +"So you've shot Beeg Beel, you tenderfoot----!" said the man. His right +hand was hooked in his cartridge belt, near the butt of his six-shooter. + +The young man had been coldly scrutinizing the face of the half-breed; +he had seen a sneering insolence on the thin, snarling lips, and he knew +instantly that this man was a friend of his fallen adversary. He had +smiled grimly when the man had begun speaking, being willing to argue +the justice of his action in striking the big man, but at the man's vile +insult his white teeth gleamed again and his right arm flew out--like a +flail--the fist crashing against the half-breed's jaw. Like the big man +the half-breed collapsed in a heap on the ground. There was a sudden +movement in the crowd, and pistols flashed in the sunlight. The young +man took a backward step, halted, drew himself up and faced them, his +lips curling. + +"Of course you'll shoot now," he said bitterly. + +He heard a rustle beside him, and turned to see the girl standing within +a foot of him, the ivory-handled pistol in hand, her eyes flashing +coldly. + +"I don't think that any of them are going to shoot," she declared +evenly, her voice resounding in the sudden silence that had fallen; "Big +Bill got just what he deserved, and this gentleman will not be molested. +He isn't armed," she said, with a dry laugh; "shooting him would be +murder, and if he is shot I promise to avenge him immediately." She +turned slightly, speaking to the young man while keeping her eyes on the +men around her. During the pause that followed her words several of the +men stealthily sheathed their weapons and stepped back. + +"I think Big Bill is able to fight his own battles," continued the girl, +taking advantage of the evident reluctance of the men to force trouble. + +Her face became slightly paler as she saw the big man sit up and stare +about him. He got to his feet and stood, swaying dizzily for an instant, +and then his gaze sought out the young man and was fixed on him with +foreboding malignance. His right hand fell to his holster, and finding +no weapon there he turned and sought it, finding it, and returning to a +point near the young man, the weapon in hand. As he halted there was +another movement and the half-breed was on his feet and dragging at his +revolver. The young man crouched, prepared to spring, and the big man +spoke sharply to the half-breed. + +"Quit it!" he said, snarling. "Mind your own business!" Then he seemed +to realize that the half-breed had been worsted also, for he looked at +the latter, saw the dust on his clothing and grinned expressively. + +"So he got you too, did he, Yuma?" His heavy features wreathed into a +mocking sneer as he faced the young man. + +"Knocked me down!" he said in a silky, even voice. "Knocked me cold with +a punch. Knocked Yuma Ed down too!" He took another step toward the +young man and surveyed him critically, his eyes glinting with something +very near amusement. Then he stepped back, laughing shortly. + +"I ain't shooting you," he said. "I've got an idea that you and me will +meet again." There was an ominous threat in his voice as he continued: +"Shooting you wouldn't half pay you back. Mark that, young man--shooting +you wouldn't half pay you back." + +He stepped away from the young man, motioning the other men into the +door through which they had emerged to come to his assistance, and they +filed slowly in without protest. The big man paused long enough to look +again at the young man. + +"Knocked me down!" he said as though scarcely able to realize the truth; +"knocked me cold with a punch!" He laughed, his coarse features twisting +into an odd expression. "Well, I'll be damned!" He turned abruptly and +disappeared through the door through which the other men had gone. + +For an instant the young man stood, looking after him. Then he turned +and saw the young woman, standing near her pony, regarding him with +grave eyes. + +"Thank you," she said. He caught a flashing smile and then she was in +the saddle, loping her pony down the street toward the station. For a +moment the young man looked after her and then with a smile he returned +to his suit cases and was off down the street toward the courthouse, +which he saw in the distance. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE RULE OF CATTLE + + +The courthouse was a low, one-story redbrick building, sitting well back +from the street. It was evidently newly built, for an accumulation of +debris, left by the workmen, still littered the ground in the vicinity. +A board walk led from the street to the wide, arched entrance. From the +steps one could look down the street at the station and the other +buildings squatting in the sunlight, dingy with the dust of many dry +days. Except for the cowponies and the buckboard and the prairie +schooner there was a total absence of life or movement, offering a +striking contrast to the bustling cities to which the young man had been +accustomed. + +He walked rapidly down the board walk, entered the courthouse, and +paused before a door upon which appeared the legend: "United States +District Court. J. Blackstone Graney." The young man set his suit cases +down, mopped his forehead with his handkerchief, making a wry face at +the dust that appeared on the linen after his use of it, and then +knocked lightly, but firmly, on the door. A voice inside immediately +admonished him to "come in." The young man smiled with satisfaction, +turned the knob and opened the door, standing on the threshold. A man +seated at one of the windows of the room was gazing steadily out at the +vast, dry, sun-scorched country. He turned at the young man's entrance +and got slowly to his feet, apparently waiting for the visitor to speak. +He was a short man, not heavily, but stockily built, giving a clear +impression of stolidity. Yet there was a certain gleam in his eyes that +gave the lie to this impression, a gleam that warned of an active, +analytical mind. Judicial dignity lurked all over him. + +The young man bowed respectfully. "Are you Judge Graney?" he questioned. + +The judge nodded and the young man smiled slightly. "I am Kent Hollis," +he said. + +The judge had been approaching a big table that stood in the center of +the room and at the young man's words he took a second glance at him, +but did not hesitate in his walk toward the table. However, he smiled +when he reached it, sinking into a chair and motioning the young man to +another. + +"I have been expecting you," he said after he had become seated. "Take a +chair." He waited until the young man had drawn a chair opposite him and +then he leaned over the table and stretched out his hand in greeting. +"I'm glad to see you," he continued cordially. He held the young man's +hand for an instant, peering steadily into the latter's unwavering eyes, +apparently making a mental estimate of him. Then he dropped the hand and +sat back, a half smile on his face. "You look like your father," he +said. + +The young man's face clouded. "Poor dad," he said slowly. + +For a moment there was a silence; the judge studied the young man's +face. Something that he saw in it must have pleased him, for he smiled, +becoming serious instantly. + +"I am sorry you could not get here in time," he said. "We buried your +father yesterday." + +"I couldn't make it," returned the young man regretfully. "I should have +liked to see him before he died. Where did you bury him?" + +"We took him out to his ranch--the Circle Bar," returned the judge, +"where he said he wanted to be buried when he died. You'll find that the +Circle Bar boys have done their best for him--which was little enough. +Poor fellow, he deserved something better." He looked keenly at the +young man. + +Lines of pain came into the latter's face; he bowed his head, nodding at +the Judge's words. + +"I have always thought that it was his own fault," he said gently. "It +might have been different." He looked slowly up at the judge, his face +reddening with embarrassment. "Of course you know something of his +life," he said. "You were his friend--he wrote me a while back, telling +me that. I don't pretend to know what came between him and mother," he +continued; "mother would never tell and father never mentioned it in his +letters. I have thought it was drink," he added, watching the judge's +face closely. He caught the latter's slight nod and his lips +straightened. "Yes, it must have been drink," he continued; "I have +inferred that from what mother has hinted now and then. But----" and a +wistful gleam came into his eyes--"I have hoped that it would not be +drink that would cause his----" + +He caught the judge's slow, grave nod and he broke off abruptly, his +eyes filling with an expression of resignation. "Well," he said, "it is +ended, no matter what did it." He shoved back his chair. "I thank you +for what you did for him," he added, rising; "I assure you that if it is +possible for me to repay----" + +"Sit down," said the judge, waving a hand to the young man's chair. "No +thanks are due me. I did only what any friend would do for another. I +have arranged for you to go out to the Circle Bar," he informed Hollis +as the latter hesitated over resuming his chair. "Neil Norton, your +range boss, is to be here at six o'clock with the buckboard." He +consulted his watch. "He ought to be here in half an hour--if he is on +time. Meantime there are some things I would like to say to you." + +Hollis smiled. "Fire away," he directed. + +The judge leaned his elbows on the table and narrowed his eyes at +Hollis. "Don't think my questions impertinent," he said gravely, "for I +assure you that nothing is further from my mind than a desire to pry +into your affairs. But I take it you will need some advice--which, of +course, you may disregard if you wish. I suppose you don't make a secret +of your age?" + +"No," was the instant reply, given with a grin, "I am twenty-six." + +The judge smiled dryly. "We have great ambitions at twenty-six," he +said. "I remember that at twenty-six I was rather determined on making +the Supreme bench. You can see for yourself how far I missed it. I do +not say that we never realize our ambitions," he added quickly as he saw +a flash light up the young man's eyes; "I merely wish to show that in my +case they were rather extravagant." He grimaced, continuing with a +smile: "You are a college man, of course--I can see that." + +Hollis nodded. The judge continued, with an admiring glance at the young +man's muscular frame and broad shoulders. + +"Went in for athletics--football, and such?" he said. "Well," he added, +catching the young man's nod, "it didn't hurt you a particle--it doesn't +hurt anybody. Rather prepares a man for hard knocks--which he is sure to +get sooner or later. If you have decided to live in this country you +must expect hard knocks. And I presume you are going to live here?" + +"That depends." returned Hollis. "If father has left his affairs in such +shape that it is necessary for me to stay here and straighten them out, +why of course I shall stay. Otherwise----" He hesitated and laughed +quietly, continuing: "Well, I also have an ambition, and if I am +compelled to remain here it will have to be sacrificed. It is a rather +humble ambition compared to yours," he laughed. "It is journalism," he +continued, suddenly serious; "I want to own a newspaper. I am city +editor now and in a few years----" He laughed. "I am not going to +prophesy, but I have been working hard." + +The judge's eyelashes flickered, but his face remained grave. "I am +afraid that you will have to remain here. That is"--he added dryly--"if +you expect to realize anything from the property." + +"I expect there can't be much property," observed Hollis. + +The judge smiled. "A thousand acres of good grass land, some buildings, +and"--here the judge's eyes gleamed and he drawled his words--"a +newspaper." + +Hollis sat erect. "A newspaper!" he gasped. "A newspaper in this +country? Why, man, a newspaper----" + +The judge laughed. "So you will not have to go back East in order to be +able to realize your ambition--you can own a newspaper here--your +father's newspaper--the Dry Bottom _Kicker_. It was quite a recent +venture; I believe it appeared about a dozen times--intermittently. +Ostensibly it was a weekly, but in reality it was printed at those times +when your father's affliction sat least heavily upon him. He used to +hire a compositor from Las Vegas to set the type,--a man named Potter--a +worthless sort of fellow, but a genius in his way--when sober. I suspect +that much of the matter that went into the _Kicker_ emanated from +the brain of Dave Potter." + +Hollis's smile revealed just a trace of derision. "You don't happen to +know how father happened to think that a newspaper would pay--in this +place?" he asked. + +The judge looked at him meditatively, a gleam of quiet amusement in his +eyes. "I don't remember to have said that the paper made any money for +your father," he returned slowly; "nor do I remember hearing your father +say that he expected it to make any money. As I understand the +situation, your father founded the paper on principle. He expected to +use it as a weapon." + +"Please go on," urged Hollis. "That strikes me as a rather Quixotic +proceeding." + +"It was, rather," admitted the judge; "that is, it would seem Quixotic +as viewed by an Eastern newspaper man. But out here people are apt to +ignore money and methods in considering results. After you have been +here a while you will be able to see the force and truth of that +statement. Your father was after results and he seized upon the idea of +founding a newspaper as a means by which to obtain them. And I feel +certain that had he lived he would have succeeded." + +"I plead ignorance," said Hollis, watching the judge closely. "What +particular result did my father desire?" + +Judge Graney's eyes gleamed with earnestness. He leaned forward, +speaking slowly and distinctly. + +"I am going to illustrate my point by giving you a brief history of your +father's experiences out here--as I had it from him. He came out here +about fifteen years ago and took up a quarter-section of land over on +Rabbit-Ear Creek, the present site of the Circle Bar ranch. For quite a +few years he was a nester--as the small owner is called in this country, +but he was unmolested for the reason that there were few large owners in +the vicinity and each man was willing that his neighbor should succeed. +Your father prospered and after a few years began to buy land. He +finally acquired a thousand acres; he told me that at one time he had +about five thousand head of cattle. Of course, these cattle could not +live on your father's thousand acres, but the ranges are free and the +thousand acres answered very well as a headquarters. + +"Eight years ago some men in Santa Fe organized what is known as the +Union County Cattlemen's Association. This company secured a section of +land adjoining your father's property, on the other side of Rabbit-Ear +Creek. The company called its ranch the Circle Cross. Perhaps it strikes +you as peculiar that the Association should have chosen a brand so +closely resembling your father's. I will digress long enough to explain +the action." + +The judge drew out a pencil and picked up a piece of paper that lay near +him on the desk, making some crude hieroglyphics and poising his pencil +above them. + +"Here," he explained, indicating a sketch which he had drawn, "is the +Circle Bar brand--a bar within a circle. And this--" indicating another +sketch, "--is the Circle Cross--a cross within a circle. It is of course, +perfectly obvious that all the Circle Cross company had to do when it +desired to appropriate one of the Circle Bar cattle was to add a +vertical bar to the Circle Bar brand and the brand became the Circle +Cross. From a mechanical standpoint it was a very trifling operation, +the manipulator of the brands having merely to apply the hot iron +through a piece of wet blanket--that gives a new brand the appearance of +age. + +"To get back to the main subject. The new company called its ranch the +Circle Cross and it erected new buildings within a few miles of the +Circle Bar buildings. Not long after the advent of the new company it +tried to buy the Circle Bar, but your father refused to sell. Bill +Dunlavey, the Circle Cross manager, attempted to negotiate the purchase +of the Circle Bar and when he was met with refusal hard words passed +between him and your father. Not long after that your father began to +miss cattle--rustlers began a systematic attack upon his herds. Your +father recognized this thievery as the work of the Cattlemen's +Association and he fought back. + +"A number of times he changed his brands but each time the company +checkmated him. To illustrate: Your father changed his brand to appear +thus:" The judge drew again on the paper. "That is the 'Wine-Glass' +brand. You can see that it resembles a wine glass when held up +vertically, though of course as it appeared on the Circle Bar cattle it +lay on its side. But this move was futile, for among the Circle Cross +cattle now appeared many branded with the sign of the 'Hour-Glass,' +thus:" The judge drew again. "This was achieved by merely adding a +semi-circle to the wine-glass, closing over the bowl." + +"As I have said your father altered his brand a good many times. But the +Circle Bar cattle continued to disappear. Years of warfare followed. The +Cattlemen's Association lost no opportunity to harass your father or, +for that matter, all the other small owners in the vicinity. Desperate, +dissolute men were imported from Texas and Arizona, men who took delight +in the shedding of human blood. These men roamed the ranges, stealing +the Circle Bar cattle and killing Circle Bar cowboys. Your father had +trouble in keeping men; in order to surround himself with enough men to +protect his cattle and resist the aggressions of Dunlavey's hired +assassins he was forced to pay ruinous wages. + +"Even then he could not prevent rustling. Dunlavey bribed his men; his +herds dwindled; he saw that he was facing ruin if he did not devise some +means to successfully cope with his enemies. He went over to Santa Fe to +see the governor--a piffling carpet-bagger. He was told that the +government was powerless; that the same condition existed all over the +country, and that the government was unable to combat it. The Law had +not come. + +"Your father returned home, discouraged but not beaten. He approached +the several other small owners in the vicinity, asking for co-operation +and assistance. Fearful of Dunlavey's wrath, the small owners refused to +organize. But your father decided to carry on the fight alone. He +recognized the fact that nothing but the Law could defeat the +association's aims, and he determined to force the Law into the +Territory. With this end in view he established his newspaper. He +succeeded in arousing public interest with the result that a court was +established here." + +The judge smiled dryly, continuing: "Yes, the Law is here. Or what is +more to the point, a representative of the Law is here. 'I am the Law,'" +he quoted, ironically. "But my hands are tied; this court is a mere +travesty upon justice. The government at Washington has seen fit to send +me here--alone. I can't go out and get evidence; I couldn't secure a +conviction if I did. The people here who are not Dunlavey's friends were +afraid of him. I can't get a jury. Dunlavey elects the sheriff--controls +the election machinery. I am powerless--a mere figurehead. This is the +situation in a nutshell. I could go into detail, but I imagine it is +plain enough as it is." + +Hollis's face had become gravely serious; his lips were straightened +with an expression that hinted at the conflict that was going on in his +mind. + +"Isn't there an army post near?" he questioned. + +"Over at Fort Union--a hundred miles or so southwest. I have pleaded for +a detail, but have been informed that it can't be had; that the soldiers +are needed to keep the Indians in order. Independent cattlemen are +supposed to fight it out alone. At least that is the inference, if we +are to consider the attitude of the government." + +Hollis was gravely silent. The judge leaned back in his chair, watching +him with a queer expression. He realized that he had said enough to +discourage the average young man from remaining in the country a moment +longer than was absolutely necessary. He would not have been surprised +had Hollis told him that he did not intend to remain. But from what he +had seen of the young man he felt sure that his decision, when it did +come, would be final. More than once since Hollis had been in the office +had the judge observed the serene, steady gleam in his eyes, and he had +catalogued him with the rare class of men whose mental balance is so +perfect that nothing disturbs it. The judge had met a few such men in +the West and he knew the type. As he sat looking at the young man he +decided that Providence had made a mistake in allowing him to waste his +time in the East. The West teemed with opportunities for men of his +kind. + +He was not surprised at Hollis's next question; it showed that he was +considering the situation from many angles before committing himself. + +"What is the condition of Circle Bar ranch at present?" he asked. + +"The title to the land is intact and cannot be assailed. But Norton +informs me that there are not above two hundred head of cattle on the +range, and that the buildings are run down. Not a very cheerful +prospect?" + +He had told the truth about the land and the cattle, but he had +purposely exaggerated concerning the condition of the buildings, being +grimly determined to place the situation in its most unfavorable light +that he might be the better able to test the young man's mettle. He +smiled as Hollis thoughtfully stroked his chin. + +"Well, now," admitted the latter, flashing a queer smile at the judge, +"I quite agree with you that the prospect isn't cheering. But so long as +the condition is such as it is there is no need to grumble. I didn't +come out here expecting to fall into a bed of roses." + +"Then you won't be disappointed," returned the judge dryly. He filled +and lighted a pipe, smoking meditatively, his eyes on the younger man +with a curious expression. He had determined to push the test a little +farther. + +"You could probably sell the Circle Bar," he said finally. "Your father +told me before he died that he had been offered ten dollars an acre for +his land. That would total to a tidy sum." + +Hollis looked quickly at the judge, his eyes flashing with grim +amusement. "Would you advise me to sell?" he questioned. + +The judge laughed quietly. "That is an unfair question," he equivocated, +narrowing his eyes whimsically. "If I were heir to the property and felt +that I did not care to assume the danger of managing it I should sell, +without doubt. If, on the other hand, I had decided to continue my +father's fight against an unscrupulous company, I would stay no matter +what the consequences. But"--He puffed slowly at his pipe, his voice +filling with unmistakable sarcasm--"it would be so much easier to sell +and return at once to a more peaceful atmosphere. With ten thousand +dollars you could go back East and go on with your newspaper work, well +equipped, with a chance of realizing your ambition--and not be troubled +with continuing a fight in which, no doubt, there would be many blows to +be taken." + +"Thank you," returned Hollis quietly. He looked steadily into the +judge's eyes, his own glinting with a grim humor. "You have succeeded in +making it very plain," he continued slowly. "But I am not going to +run--I have decided on that. Of course I feel properly resentful over +the way my father has been treated by this man Dunlavey and his +association." His eyes flashed with a peculiar hardness. "And I would +stay here and fight Dunlavey and his parcel of ruffians if for no other +reason than to secure revenge on personal grounds. + +"But there is one other reason. There is a principle at stake. I don't +care very much about the personal side of the question; little as I knew +my father, I believe he would have ignored personalities were he +confronted with the condition that confronts me. It is my belief that as +an American citizen he chafed under conditions that prevented him from +enjoying that freedom to which we are all entitled under the +Constitution. Judging from your conversation you are in entire sympathy +with that sentiment." He smiled at the judge. "Of course I am not +mistaken?" he added. + +The tobacco in the bowl of the judge's pipe spluttered; he brought his +right fist heavily down upon the table, rattling the pens and ink +bottles that littered its top. "No, young man; you are not mistaken--you +have hit the nail squarely on the head. If you are going to stay here +and fight Dunlavey and his crew, Blackstone Graney is with you +until----" + +"Until the Law comes," suggested Hollis. + +"Yes, by thunder!" declared the judge. "You can go further than that and +say: 'until the Law rules!'" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +NORTON MAKES A DISCOVERY + + +Judge Graney rose and leaned over the table, taking the young man's hand +and holding it tightly. Then he sat down again and resumed smoking. +Neither man said a word during the hand-clasp and yet both knew that +their hearts and minds were united in a common cause. Words would have +been unnecessary and futile. + +Hollis's path of duty lay straight and open before him. There was no +by-way that would lead him around the dangers that were sure to beset +him. Nor had he thought to search for any. Long before the judge had +concluded his recital of conditions in the county Hollis had decided to +meet the issue squarely. He had been able to see beyond the petty, +personal side of the question; had even ignored it to get at the big, +pithy principle of equal rights. The Law must come. If he could assist +in bringing it he would be accomplishing something real and tangible and +he would be satisfied. He did not believe that Destiny had anything to +do with his appearance upon the scene at this particular time; rather he +felt that his coming was merely a result of a combination of +circumstances such as might have occurred to any man. And like any man +with courage and deeply settled convictions he was prepared to move +forward to the issue, trusting himself. He had no thought of appearing +heroic. + +Yet to the judge he appeared so. The latter had been prepared to hear +excuses from him; had been prepared to resist a natural inclination to +berate the young man soundly for lack of parental loyalty, though +conscious that he could advance no valid reason for the young man +sacrificing himself upon the altars of an old feud. It was against human +nature for any man to so sacrifice himself, he had assured himself when +trying to build up a defense for the young man. + +And now that Hollis had shown that he needed no defender; that he was +willing to take up the cudgels in behalf of his father, the judge was +scarcely able to restrain himself. To state calmly that he intended to +fight the Cattlemen's Association when there was a life of comparative +safety awaiting him in another section of the country was an heroic +decision. Many another man would have cringed--would have surrendered +without striking a blow. + +Judge Graney had long known that the action of his government in sending +him to Union County was an ironical surrender on the part of the +government to the forces in the West which had been long demanding the +Law. He had been sent here, presumably to enforce the law, but in +reality to silence the government's critics. He was not expected to +convict anyone. Theoretically he was supposed to uphold the majesty of +the law in Union County, but in reality he merely remained and drew his +salary. There was no law to enforce. + +In the fight that had been waged between the elder Hollis and the +Cattlemen's Association his sympathies had been with Hollis, though he +had never been able to assist him in a legal way. But the judge knew +that eventually the Law must come, and so he encouraged Hollis, assuring +him that victory would be his in the end. + +And then Hollis had died--suddenly. The Las Vegas doctor who had +attended him had shaken his head sagely when the judge had questioned +him regarding his patient and had pointed significantly to one of Dry +Bottom's saloons. The doctor had told the judge there was no hope, and +the latter had telegraphed East. The appearance of young Hollis had been +the result. The judge's heart had warmed toward the young man. + +"What are your intentions regarding the newspaper--the _Kicker_?" +he questioned. + +Hollis looked up quickly, his face grave. "Perhaps if there had been no +_Kicker_ here my decision might have been different," he said. "But +so long as it is here it is in business to stay!" + +"I expect that decision won't please Dunlavey a whole lot," the judge +returned. + +"Perhaps not," drawled Hollis; "still, we can't aim to please everybody. +I expect I might be able to get hold of that printer--Potter I believe +you called him?" + +"Potter won't be hard to find," assured the judge; "a search of the +saloons would uncover him, I imagine." He smiled. "When you get ready to +get the _Kicker_ out just let me know; I promise to have Potter on +hand." + +To the ears of the two men came a rattle of wheels and a voice. The +judge leaned back in his chair and looked out through the window. His +face wreathed into a broad smile as he resumed his former position and +looked at Hollis. "Your range boss is here," he said. + +They heard a step on the board walk, and a man stood in the doorway +looking at them. + +The newcomer gave an instant impression of capability. He stood on the +threshold, entirely composed, saturnine, serene eyed, absolutely sure of +himself. He was arrayed in high heeled boots, minus spurs; the bottoms +of a pair of dust-covered overalls were tucked into the boot legs; a +woolen shirt, open at the throat, covered a pair of admirable shoulders; +a scarlet handkerchief was knotted around his neck; and a wide brimmed +hat, carelessly dented in the crown, was shoved rakishly back from his +forehead. Sagging from his slim waist was a well filled cartridge belt +and at the right hip a heavy revolver. + +"Howdy, judge!" he said with a smile, in response to Judge Graney's +cordial greeting. + +"Just come in?" questioned the judge. + +"Been in town an hour," returned Norton. + +He flashed a searching glance at Hollis, which that young man met +steadily. The thought crossed Hollis's mind that the buckboard that he +had seen in front of a store soon after leaving the station must have +been Norton's. But now Norton was speaking again and Hollis listened. + +"Dropped into the Fashion to see my friend Red Eggers," resumed Norton, +smiling broadly. "Same old crowd--Dunlavey, Yuma Ed, Ten Spot, +Greasy--most of the bunch which has been makin' things interestin' for +us hereabouts." + +At the mention of "Yuma Ed" Hollis looked up. That was the name of the +second man he had struck in the affair near the Fashion Saloon. He +wondered if Norton knew. He did not remember to have seen the latter +among the men who had surrounded him in the space between the two +buildings. But the judge was now introducing him to Norton and he stood +up, holding the latter's hand and meeting his inspecting gaze fairly. He +found that the range boss was fully as tall as he; indeed, Hollis +discovered that he was compelled to look up slightly in order to meet +the latter's level gaze. Norton smiled peculiarly; there was a friendly +expression in his eyes, but mingled with it was a reserved, appraising, +speculative gleam, which drew a smile to Hollis's lips. + +"So you're Jim Hollis's boy?" said Norton. "My new boss?" He grinned, +evidently willing to go more than half way in forming a friendship with +his "new boss". "I don't reckon that you're much stuck on this here +country--much as you've seen of it?" + +"I've been used to keeping busy," laughed Hollis, "and my impression is +that it seems rather dull out here." + +Norton's eyelashes flickered. He deliberately closed one eye at the +judge, carefully averting his face so that Hollis could not see. + +"So you're lookin' for action?" he said to Hollis in a grave voice. +"Mebbe it ain't none of my business," he added, his eyes gleaming, "but +I'm askin' you if you're thinkin' to stay in this country--keepin' your +dad's ranch an' his newspaper?" + +Hollis nodded. Norton's eyes gleamed with a savage delight. "Bully!" he +declared. "If you stay here you'll get plenty of action. I was afraid +you wouldn't stay." He turned to Judge Graney, a grin of satisfaction on +his face. "I'm tellin' you somethin' that will tickle you a heap," he +said. "I told you that I had stopped in Red Egger's saloon. I did. +Dunlavey's bunch was feelin' mighty sore over somethin'. I stayed there +a while, tryin' to find out what it was all about, but there wasn't none +of them sayin' anything to me. But pretty soon I got Red over into a +corner an' he told me. Accordin' to him Dunlavey had corraled that +Hazelton girl outside an' was tellin' her somethin' pretty strong when a +tenderfoot, which hadn't any regard for Dunlavey's delicate feelin's, up +an' lambasted him in the jaw!" + +"Struck him?" queried the judge, grinning delightedly. + +"Knocked him cold," affirmed Norton, his eyes dancing. "Pasted him so +hard that he thought it was night an' went to sleep. Then Yuma busted in +an' thought to work his guns. He got his'n, too. That there tenderfoot +didn't have no respect for guns. Red says he never thought any man could +hit so hard. It must have been sumptuous!" He laughed delightedly. "I'd +like to shake hands with that tenderfoot--he's my friend!" + +Hollis pulled out a cigar case, selected a cigar, lighted it, and smoked +in silence. + +So her name was Hazelton. Admiration over the manner in which she had +held the men at bay before Dunlavey got to his feet still lingered; she +had impressed him deeply. But a deeper satisfaction overshadowed his +thoughts of the girl, for he had slugged Dunlavey, his father's enemy. +His satisfaction grew to amusement. Did Dunlavey know who had slugged +him? He must have suspected, for Hollis recalled the man's significant +expression when, after he had risen from the ground he said: "I've got +an idea that you an' me will meet again." + +Hollis's thoughts flitted rapidly from Dunlavey to the girl. Now that he +had decided to stay he had determined to search her out. He remembered +that Dunlavey had spoken slightingly of her brother and he assured +himself that he would not be entirely satisfied until he had uncovered +the mystery. He might have questioned Norton or the judge, for both men +evidently knew the girl, but he was reluctant to betray his interest in +her to either man. + +He heard Norton make an exclamation of surprise, and looking up he saw +him holding his right hand out, the palm upward, examining it. There was +a splotch of blood on the palm and another on the under side of the +thumb. + +"Shucks!" Norton was saying. "Now where in thunder did I get that?" He +looked again at the hand and then suddenly dove forward to Hollis's +side, seized his right hand, peered at the knuckles and held the hand +triumphantly aloft. + +"I reckon this is where I got it!" he grinned. + +Hollis looked ruefully down at his knuckles. The skin was +gashed--evidently where it had come in contact with a bone in either +Dunlavey's or Yuma's jaw. He had intended to keep the story of adventure +to himself. But he saw that Norton had stepped back and was gazing +soberly at the suitcases, which Hollis had deposited near the door. +Norton suddenly let out a chirp of delight. + +"Two of them!" he said, suppressing his excitement; "Two grips! Red +Eggers said there was two an' that the tenderfoot had come down toward +the court house!" He walked to Hollis and halted in front of him, +looking at him with admiration and satisfaction. + +"Own up now!" he said. "You ain't tellin' us that it wasn't you, durn +you! Oh, say!" He uttered a whoop that must have startled the horses in +front of the building. Then he sobered down, speaking in a low, +regretful voice: "You durn tenderfoot! Here I've been waitin' for years +to get a crack at that big four-flusher, an' here you come, a-fannin' +along from your little old East an' get ahead of me!" He stifled a +cackle of mirth. "An' so you're lookin' for action? Lordy! If you don't +call what you done to Dunlavey an' Yuma action this country's goin' to +set up an' take notice when you get to goin' in earnest!" + +Judge Graney loomed somberly over the table. "I suppose it must have +been you?" he said gravely. + +Hollis nodded. "I may as well confess," he said. "I saw a man giving a +young lady a mighty bad moment and I slugged him. Another man called me +a vile name and I slugged him, too. That was all." + +The judge sat down again, his face slightly pale. A significant glance +passed between him and Norton, but the latter laughed grimly. + +"I reckon he's opened the ball, right off the reel," he suggested. + +Judge Graney drew a deep breath. "Yes," he returned. "I suppose that way +is as good as any other. It was bound to come anyway. It will be war to +the finish now!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AT THE CIRCLE BAR + + +In the two weeks that followed his arrival at Dry Bottom, Hollis had +much time to meditate upon the great change that had come into his life. +His conclusion that there was nothing in common between cattle raising +and journalism was not a result of an involved process of reasoning, and +had he not been endowed with a sense of humor he might have become +embittered. Though a sacrifice be made cheerfully, there lingers always +its ghost to draw mental pictures of "what might have been." Hollis +would have been more than human had he not felt some little regret over +his sacrifice. + +It had seemed to him, as two weeks before he had ridden away from the +court house--sitting on the seat of the buckboard beside Neil Norton, +his suitcases tucked snugly away underneath--that he was once and for +all severing his connection with the big, bustling world in which he had +moved; in whose busy scenes he had been so vitally interested. His had +been a big work; seated at his desk in the "city" room of his newspaper +he had many times likened himself unto an argus-eyed recording angel +whose business it was to keep in view each of the many atoms of a busy +multitude and to accord to them that amount of space that their +importance seemed to demand. He had loved his work; it had broadened +him, had provided him with exactly the proportion of mental exercise +needed to keep him on edge and in a position to enjoy life. He had lived +in the East--really lived. Out here he would merely exist, though, he +assured himself grimly, his enemies would have to pay dearly for his +sacrifice. + +The picture of his journey to the Circle Bar ranch was still fresh in +his mind as he rode slowly away from Neil Norton, whom he had left +sitting in his saddle on a ridge, watching him. The long twilight had +brought its lengthening shadows that night before Norton had struck the +Circle Bar trail, and before they had traveled a mile of the ten that +lay before them night had come. Hollis had been little inclined to talk +and Norton did not disturb him, but gave his attention to the horses. +There had been no moon and few stars, and darkness, as under a blanket, +had settled over them before they were many miles from Dry Bottom. + +The country seemed nothing more than a vast plain, broken here and there +by ridges and depressions. Occasionally a low hill loomed out of the +darkness, the shadows deepening around it; now and then the buckboard +passed through a draw, the wheels sinking hub-deep in the loose sand. +Several dry arroyos crossed the trail, but with a knowledge that seemed +almost marvelous Norton cleverly avoided these pitfalls. Hollis could +not see a foot ahead, but the location of the trail seemed to be no +mystery to the range boss, for he drove the horses steadily on, +hesitating for nothing. + +Once during the ride Norton broke the silence with a subdued cackle of +mirth, and at another time he laughed aloud. + +"I'd liked to have seen Big Bill when you hit him!" he observed, regret +in his voice. "I reckon he might have been just a little surprised!" + +To which Hollis made no reply. At another time Norton broke the silence +long enough to inquire: + +"I reckon mebbe you wouldn't have hit him so hard if you'd knowed who he +was?" + +"I think I should have hit a little harder," returned Hollis quietly. + +"Why, hell!" declared Norton with a laugh; "I reckon you would have done +just that!" + +About ten o'clock they came in sight of some straggling posts, and +Norton assured Hollis that the posts were strung with wire, forming a +fence which skirted one side of the Circle Bar pasture. A few minutes +later a dog barked and at Norton's call came bounding up to the +buckboard, yipping joyously. Hollis could make out his shape as he +cavorted about. + +"My dog," offered the range boss. "Half wolf, the other half just dog." +He chuckled over his joke. "Best dog you ever see," he boasted; "money +couldn't buy him. Like dogs?" + +Hollis nodded and then realizing that Norton could not see him in the +darkness, voiced a quick "yes". + +In the distance Hollis saw a sudden square of light illuminate the wall +of darkness into which they had been driving; a door had been opened. +Evidently the dog's barking had aroused the inmates of the building, for +as the buckboard drew nearer Hollis saw several figures flit out of the +door-way. Norton drove the horses close to the building and brought them +to a halt with a sonorous "whoa"! Then he turned to Hollis and spoke +with a drawl: "This here building is the Circle Bar bunkhouse; them's +some of your men." + +Hollis remarked the size of the building and Norton laughed grimly. +"There was a time when it wasn't any too big," he said. "Five years ago +your dad had twenty-seven men on the pay-roll. If Dunlavey an' his damn +association hadn't showed up he'd have had them yet." He turned toward +three men who were lounging in the doorway. "Hey, you guys!" he yelled; +"this here's your new boss. If you-all ain't glued there you might grab +his grips an' tote them up to the ranchhouse. Tell the missus that I'll +be along directly with the boss." + +Amusement over the Southern twang that marked Norton's speech filled +Hollis. He had noticed it before and it had made plain to him the reason +of Norton's unhurried movements, his slow humor, his habit of quiet +scrutiny. + +But he had little time for reflection. At Norton's words two men sprang +forward to the buckboard and he saw his suitcases disappear into the +darkness in the direction of a light that he now saw flickering from +some little distance. He jumped out of the buckboard and saw another man +spring to the horses' heads and lead them away into the darkness. Then +he followed Norton into the light from the open doorway. Presently he +was shaking hands with a man who stood there, whose chief articles of +raiment were overalls, boots, and a woolen shirt. Almost instantly, it +seemed, two of the others had returned and Norton was introducing them +as "Ace," "Lanky," and "Weary." These pseudonyms were picturesque and +descriptive, though at the time Hollis was in a state of pained +incomprehension concerning them. Later he was informed that Ace had been +so named on account of having once been caught slipping a playing card +of that character into his bootleg during a game of poker. +Incidentally--Hollis was told--gun-play had resulted. That Ace was still +active proved that the other man might have profited by keeping his +knowledge to himself. Obviously, Lanky deserved his appellation--he was +a trifle over six feet tall and proportioned like a young sapling. Weary +had been born tired--so Hollis was told by the latter's defamers; +defamers, for later Hollis discovered that no man in the outfit could +show more surprising agility on occasion than this same Weary. + +Hollis found himself inside the bunkhouse, where he was critically +inspected by the three men--and before he left, by the fourth, who +answered to the name of "Bud." Norton told him that these four comprised +his outfit--Bud acting as blacksmith. Hollis remained with the men only +long enough to announce that there would be no change; that he intended +to hang on and fight for his rights. When Norton told them that Hollis +had already begun the fight by slugging Dunlavey and Yuma Ed, the +enthusiasm of the four men was unbounded. They assured him profanely +that they were with him to the "finish"--whatever it might be. After +which Hollis departed to the ranchhouse. + +He found Mrs. Norton to be a pleasant faced woman of twenty-seven or +eight, who had--according to Norton--"bossed him for seven years." +Norton grinned hugely over his wife's embarrassed protest. + +"I haven't 'bossed' him," she told Hollis, while Norton looked on with +amusement, "though there have been times when he richly deserved it." +There was a spirited flash in the lady's eyes as she looked at her lord. + +"I don't wish to take sides in any marital controversy," Hollis told +them. "I don't care to parade my ignorance. However," he smiled, with a +wink at Norton, "most men need a boss, if for no other reason than to +teach them the value of discipline." + +"There!" said Mrs. Norton with a triumphant laugh, and immediately left +the two men and went into the kitchen. + +After partaking of a hearty meal Hollis and Norton went out on the porch +for a smoke and a talk, and it was near midnight when Hollis tumbled +into bed, distinctly pleased with the range boss and his admirable wife. +He was asleep within five minutes. + +The sun was streaming into his window when he hopped out of bed the next +morning, refreshed and eager to make a trip of inspection over his +property. He came down stairs lightly, in the hope of being able to slip +outside without disturbing anybody, but upon opening the stair door he +was surprised to find the cloth on the table in the dining room already +spread and hot food steaming upon it. Mrs. Norton was bustling about +from the kitchen to the dining room. Evidently the Nortons had been +astir for hours. + +Mrs. Norton smilingly directed him to a wash basin on a bench just +outside the door and stood in the opening a moment, watching him as he +drenched his face with the cold water. There was in her manner only the +solicitous concern of the hostess whose desire is to place a guest at +ease. Hollis decided that Norton had been most fortunate in his choice +of a "boss." + +"Neil has gone down into the big basin to look after the men," she told +him from the doorway. "I don't expect him to return for some little +time. Come in to breakfast when you are ready." + +To his protest that he would wait until Norton's return before +breakfasting she replied with a smile that her husband had already +breakfasted, telling him also that in this part of the country everyone +rose with the sun. + +He stood on the edge of the porch for a moment after washing, drinking +in the air that came to him from the plains--a breeze laden with the +clear aroma of the sage-brush moist with the dew of the night. When he +entered the house Mrs. Norton was nowhere to be seen and he drew up a +chair and breakfasted alone. + +A little later he embarked upon a tour of inspection. All of the +buildings, with the exception of the ranchhouse, which was constructed +of logs, with a gable roof and plastered interstices--were built of +adobe, low, squat structures with flat roofs. There were six of +them--the bunkhouse, mess house, blacksmith shop, the range boss's +private shack (from which Norton and his wife had removed after the +death of the elder Hollis), the stable, and one other building for the +storing of miscellaneous articles. Hollis inspected them all and was not +quite convinced that they had reached the stage of dilapidation +suggested by Judge Graney. + +During his inspection Hollis had seen a patch of garden, some chickens, +and down in a small pasture some cows that he supposed were kept for +milking. He was leaning on the top rail of the corral fence after he had +concluded his trip of inspection when he heard a clatter of hoofs behind +him and turned to observe Norton, just riding up to the corral gate. The +range boss wore a grin of pleasure. + +"How you findin' things?" he questioned. + +"In better shape than I expected--after listening to Judge Graney," +smiled Hollis. + +Norton looked critically at him. "Then you ain't changed your mind about +stayin' here?" he inquired. + +"No," returned Hollis; "I believe I shall get used to it in time." + +Norton dismounted, his eyes alight with satisfaction. "That's the +stuff!" he declared. He threw the reins over his pony's head and seized +Hollis by an arm. "Come along with me--down to my shack," he said; "I've +got somethin' to show you." + +Without further words he led Hollis toward a building--the one he had +occupied previous to the death of the elder Hollis. There were three +rooms in the building and in the front one were several articles of +furniture and some boxes. One of these boxes Norton opened, taking +therefrom several articles of wearing apparel, consisting of a pair of +corduroy trousers, a pair of leathern chaps, boots, spurs, two woolen +shirts, a blue neckerchief, a broad felt hat, and last, with a grin of +amusement over Hollis's astonished expression, a cartridge belt to which +was attached a holster containing a Colt .45. + +"I bought this outfit over at Santa Fe two months ago," he informed +Hollis, who was gravely contemplating the lay-out, "expectin' to wear +them myself some day. But when I got home I found they didn't quite +fit." He surveyed Hollis with a critical eye. "I've been thinkin' ever +since you come that you'd fit pretty snug in them." He raised a +protesting hand as Hollis was about to speak. "I ain't givin' them to +you," he grinned. "But you can't wear no tenderfoot clothes out here. +Some day when we're together an' we've got time you can blow me to +another outfit; I won't hesitate about takin' it." He leaned over and +tapped the butt of the Colt. "You ever handle one of them?" he +questioned. + +Hollis nodded. Once during a shooting tournament he had done good work +with a pistol. But Norton laughed at his nod. + +"Mebbe we do it a little different out here," he smiled. "You hop into +them duds an' we'll go out into the cottonwood yonder an' try out your +gun." He pointed through the door to a small clump of cottonwoods beyond +the bunkhouse. + +He went out and fifteen minutes later Hollis joined him, looking +thoroughly at home in his picturesque rigging. An hour later they +returned to the corral fence, where Norton caught up his pony and +another, saddling the latter for Hollis. He commented briefly upon the +new owner's ability with the six-shooter. + +"You use your fists a little better than you use a gun," he remarked +with his peculiar drawl, "but I reckon that on the whole you'll be able +to take care of yourself--after you've had a little practise gettin' +your gun out." He laughed with a grim humor. "More men have been killed +in this country on account of bein' slow on the draw than for any other +reason. Don't never monkey with it unless you intend to use it, an' then +see that you get it out middlin' rapid. That's the recipe," he advised. + +The pony that he had selected for Hollis was a slant-eyed beast, larger +than the average, with rangy limbs, black in color with a white muzzle +and fetlocks. Hollis voted him a "beaut" after he had ridden him a mile +or two and found that he had an easy, steady stride. + +Together they made a round of the basin, returning to the ranchhouse for +dinner. Hollis was saddle weary and when Norton proposed another trip +during the afternoon he was met with the response that the new owner +purposed enjoying the cool of the ranchhouse porch for the remainder of +the day. + +The next morning Hollis was up with the dawn and out on the porch +splashing water over his face from the wash basin that stood outside the +door. For a long time after washing he stood on the porch, looking out +over the big basin at this new and strange world. Endless it seemed, +lying before him in its solemn silence; a world of peace, of eternal +sunlight, smiling skies, and infinite distance. It seemed unreal to him. +Did this same planet hold the busy cities to which he had been +accustomed? The stuffy room, with its smell of damp ink, its litter of +papers--his room in the newspaper offices, filled with desks and the +clatter of typewriters? Through whose windows came the incessant clamor +that welled up from the streets below? He laughed at the thought and +turned to see Norton standing in the doorway looking at him with a +smile. + +"Comparin' her with your little old East?" inquired the latter. + +Hollis confessed that he had been doing something of that sort. + +"Well," returned Norton, "there ain't any way to compare this country +with anything else. Seems as though when the world was made the Lord had +a few million miles left which he didn't know what to do with an' so he +just dumped it down out here. An' then, havin' business somewhere else +about that time he forgot about it an' left it to get along as best it +could--which wasn't none too rapid." + +This conversation had taken place just twelve days ago, yet Norton's +words still remained fresh in Hollis's mind. Yet he did not altogether +agree with Norton. The West had impressed him far more than he cared to +admit. + +This morning, directly after breakfast Hollis and Norton had saddled +their horses and ridden out of the basin toward the river, into a +section of the country that Hollis had not yet explored. Emerging from +the basin, they came to a long, high ridge. On its crest Norton halted. +Hollis likewise drew in his pony. From here they could see a great +stretch of country, sweeping away into the basin beneath it, toward a +mountain range whose peaks rose barren and smooth in the white sunlight. + +"This here's 'Razor-Back' ridge," explained Norton as the ponies halted; +"called that on account of bein' so unusually narrow on the top." He +pointed to some buildings which Hollis had seen but to which he had +given very little attention, thinking they were those of the Circle Bar. +"Them's the Circle Cross buildings," resumed Norton. "They're about +three miles from the Circle Bar ranchhouse, directly north through that +cottonwood back of the bunkhouse where you tried your gun the day after +you come out here. Down below there--where you see them two big +cottonwood trees--is 'Big Elk' crossin'. There's another somethin' like +it back up the crick a ways, on the other side of the ranchhouse, called +the 'Narrows.'" He laughed grimly. "But we don't use them crossins' +much--they're dead lines; generally you'll find there's a Circle Cross +man or so hangin' around them--with a rifle. So it don't pay to go +monkeyin' around there unless you've got pressin' business." + +He made a grimace. "It's my opinion that a good many Circle Bar cattle +have crossed the crick in them two places--never to come back." He swept +a hand up the river, indicating the sentinel like buttes that frowned +above the bed of the stream. "The crick is pretty shallow," he +continued, "but Big Elk an' the Narrows are the only two places where a +man can cross in safety--if we consider that there wouldn't be any +Circle Cross man hangin' around them two places. But there ain't no +other place to cross an' so we don't go on the other side much." + +He turned to Hollis, looking at him with a quaint smile. "From here you +can see everything that amounts to anything in this section--which ain't +a heap. Of course over there are some mountains--where we was a few days +ago lookin' up the boys"--he pointed to some serrated peaks that rose +somberly in the southwestern distance--"but as you saw there ain't much +to them except rocks an' lava beds. There's some hills there"--pointing +to the south--"but there ain't nothin' to see in them. They look a heap +better from here than they do when you get close to them. That's the way +with lots of things, ain't it?" + +Hollis smiled. "I like it," he said quietly, "much better than I did +when I came." He turned to Norton with a whimsical smile. "I suppose it +will strike you as peculiar, but I've got a notion that I would like to +ride around a while alone. I don't mean that I don't like your company, +for I do. But the notion has just struck me." + +Norton laughed indulgently. "I reckon I won't consider that you're +trying to slight me," he returned. "I know exactly how you feel; that +sort of thing comes over everybody who comes to this country--sooner or +later. Generally it's later, when a man has got used to the silence an' +the bigness an' so on. But in your case it's sooner. You'll have to have +it out with yourself." + +His voice grew serious. "But don't go ridin' too far. An' keep away from +the river trail." + +In spite of his ready acquiescence he sat for some time on his pony, +watching Hollis as the latter urged his pony along the ridge. Just +before Hollis disappeared down the slope of the ridge he turned and +waved a hand to Norton, and the latter, with a grim, admiring smile, +wheeled his pony and loped it over the back trail. + +Once down the slope of the ridge Hollis urged his pony out into the +level of the basin, through some deep saccatone grass, keeping well away +from the river trail as advised by the range boss. + +In spite of his serious thoughts Hollis had not been dismayed over the +prospect of remaining at the Circle Bar to fight Dunlavey and his crew. +He rather loved a fight; the thought of clashing with an opposing force +had always filled him with a sensation of indefinable exultation. He +reveled in the primitive passions. He had been endowed by nature with +those mental and physical qualities that combine to produce the perfect +fighter. He was six feet of brawn and muscle; not an ounce of +superfluous flesh encumbered him--he had been hammered and hardened into +a state of physical perfection by several years of athletic training, +sensible living, and good, hard, healthy labor. Circumstances had not +permitted him to live a life of ease. The trouble between his +parents--which had always been much of a mystery to him--had forced him +at a tender age to go out into the world and fight for existence. It had +toughened him; it had trained his mind through experience; it had given +him poise, persistence, tenacity--those rare mental qualities without +which man seldom rises above mediocrity. + +Before leaving Dry Bottom to come to the Circle Bar he had telegraphed +his mother that he would be forced to remain indefinitely in the West, +and the sending of this telegram had committed him irrevocably to his +sacrifice. He knew that when his mother received a letter from him +explaining the nature of the work that required his presence in Dry +Bottom she would approve his course. At least he was certain that she +would not advise surrendering. + +After riding for more than an hour he came to a shallow draw and urged +his pony through the deep sand of its center. On the other side of the +draw the country became suddenly rocky; great boulders were strewn +indiscriminately about, as though some giant hand had distributed them +carelessly, without regard to their final resting place. A lava bed, +looming gray and dead under a barren rock hill, caught his attention, +and he drew his pony to a halt and sat quietly in the saddle examining +it. From the lava bed his gaze went to a weird mineral shape that rose +in the distance--an inverted cone that seemed perfectly balanced on its +narrowest point. He studied this long without moving, struck with the +miraculous stability of the thing; it seemed that a slight touch would +send it tumbling down. + +He realized that he had stumbled upon a spot that would have provided +pleasure to a geological student. To him it was merely a source of +wonder and awe. Some mighty upheaval of nature had created this, and he +continued to gaze at it, his mind full of conjecture. + +To his right rose a precipitous rock wall surmounted by a fringe of +thick shrubbery. On the left was another wall, perpendicular, flat on +its top and stretching away into the distance, forming a grass plateau. +Directly in front of him was a narrow canyon through which he could see +a plain that stretched away into the unknown distance. + +It was a magnificent country; he did not now regret his decision to +remain here. He pulled out his watch, noting that its hands pointed to +ten, and realized that he must be off if he expected to reach the Circle +Bar by noon. + +He sat erect in the saddle, about to wheel his pony toward the draw +through which he had entered, when he heard a sharp sound. Startled, he +glanced swiftly to his right, searching the immediate vicinity for the +agency which had created sound in this vast silence. He stiffened slowly +in the saddle, his face gradually paling. Not over a hundred feet from +him, partly concealed by a big boulder, stood a man with a rifle, the +muzzle of the weapon trained fairly on him. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GIRL OF DRY BOTTOM + + +Hollis was not frightened, though he was in a position that might have +aroused fear or apprehension in any man's mind. He was alone, the man +had him covered with the rifle, and assuredly this was one of Dunlavey's +hirelings. + +Hollis glanced swiftly around. Certain signs--some shrubbery that he saw +through the canyon, a bald butte or two rising in the distance--told him +that he was near the river. And Norton had told him to keep away from +the river trail. In his eagerness to explore the country he had +forgotten all about Norton's warning. + +The prospect was not a hopeful one, yet Hollis could not have admitted +to feeling any alarm. He realized that had the man intended any +immediate harm he would have shot him down long before this--while he +had sat motionless in the saddle inspecting the place. Concerning the +man's intentions he could only speculate, but assuredly they were not +peaceful. + +For a little time the man remained motionless and Hollis sat quiet, +looking at him. The weapon had not moved; its muzzle still menaced him +and he watched it closely, wondering whether the man would give him any +warning when about to pull the trigger. + +Many minutes dragged and the man did not move. A slow anger began to +steal over Hollis; the man's inaction grated on his nerves. + +"Well!" he challenged sharply. "What do you want?" + +There was no answer. Hollis could see only the man's head and shoulders +projecting above the boulder, and the rifle--steady and level--menacing +him. With an exclamation of rage and disdain he seized the bridle rein +and pulled sharply on it, swinging the pony's head around. The rifle +crashed venomously; Hollis felt the right sleeve of his shirt flutter, +and he pulled the pony abruptly up. + +"Just to show you!" came the man's voice, mockingly. "If you move again +until I give the word you won't know where you've been hit!" + +Hollis was satisfied--the man undoubtedly meant business. He settled +back into the saddle and looked down at his shirt sleeve. The bullet had +passed very close to the arm. If the man had meant the bullet for that +particular spot he was a deadly marksman. In the face of such marvelous +shooting Hollis did not care to experiment further. But his anger had +not yet abated. + +"No doubt you are enjoying yourself!" he said with bitter sarcasm. "But +the pleasure is all yours. I am not enjoying myself a bit, I assure you. +And I don't like the idea of being a target for you to shoot at!" + +A laugh came back to Hollis--a strange, unnatural, sardonic cackle that, +in spite of his self-control, caused his flesh to creep. And then the +man's voice: + +"No, you don't like it. I knew that all along. But you're going to stay +here for seven weeks while I shoot holes in you!" He laughed again, his +voice high and shrill, its cackling cadences filling the place. + +"Seven weeks in Devil's Hollow!" came the voice again. "Seven weeks! +Seven weeks!" + +Hollis felt his heart thumping heavily against his ribs, while a sinking +sensation in the pit of his stomach told him that his courage was +touched. He realized now why the man had not shot him down immediately. +He was a maniac! + +For a few terrible seconds Hollis sat in the saddle while the world +reeled around him; while the rocks and cliffs danced fantastically. +Courage he had to be sure; he had already become resigned to death +before the man's rifle, but he had imagined the man to be in full +possession of his senses; imagined his death to have been planned out of +the deliberate coolness of reason. Such a death would have been bad +enough, but to meet death at the hands of a man mentally unbalanced! +Somehow it seemed different, seemed horribly unreal--like a terrible +nightmare. + +It was some seconds before he regained control of himself, and then he +steadied himself in the saddle, assuring himself in a burst of bitter, +ironic humor that death at the hands of a crazy man could be no worse +than death at the hands of a rational one. + +He looked up again, a defiant smile on his lips, to see that both man +and rifle had disappeared. In a flash he saw his chance and took +advantage of it. In an instant he was off his pony; in another he was +behind a convenient rock, breathing easier, his senses alert. For some +little time he remained in the shelter of the rock, awaiting the other +man's movements. He did not doubt that acting upon some freakish +impulse, the man had left his boulder and was even now stalking him from +some other direction. He peered carefully about him. He had no thought +of shooting the man--that would be murder, for the man was not mentally +responsible for his actions. His efforts must be centered solely upon +some plan for saving his own life. + +To do this he realized that he must be careful. In view of the man's +unerring marksmanship it would be certain death for him to expose +himself for an instant. But he must take some chances. Convinced of this +he peered around the edge of his rock, taking a flashing glance around +him. The man was nowhere to be seen. Hollis waited some little time and +then taking another glance and not seeing the man, rose slowly to his +feet and crouched. Then, filled with a sudden, reckless impulse, he +sprang for another rock a dozen feet distant, expecting each instant to +hear the crash of the man's rifle. But he succeeded in gaining the +shelter of the other rock intact. Evidently the man was looking for him +in some other direction. + +Emboldened with his success he grimly determined on advancing to another +rock some twenty or thirty feet farther on. As in the first instance he +succeeded in gaining it in safety. His maneuvering had been circuitous, +bringing him into a position from which he could see partly behind the +rock where the man had been concealed. + +And now, having gained the second rock in safety, Hollis decided to take +no more chances. Sooner or later, he was convinced, the man was sure to +see him as he jumped. He did not like the picture that his imagination +conjured up. Therefore his actions were now marked with more caution. It +took him a long time to gain a position where he could peer over the +upper edge of the rock behind which he was concealed. But he gained it +finally and then dropped back with an exclamation of surprise. He had +caught a glimpse of the man. He was lying face upward behind the +boulder, his arms outstretched, his rifle lying in the dust near him. + +Hollis was tempted to make a run for his pony, mount, and race out of +the hollow. But a second thought restrained him. He had considered the +man's action merely a ruse, but why should he attempt it after he had +once had an opportunity to make use of his rifle? Still for an instant +Hollis hesitated, for he knew there was no rule by which a maniac's +actions might be judged. Then with a grim laugh he sprang over the few +feet that separated him from the man, approaching him carefully, still +slightly doubtful. + +But the man was not shamming; Hollis could see that when he had +approached close enough to see his face. It bore a curious pallor, his +eyes were wide open and staring, and some foam flecked his lips. +Evidently he had been overcome by a paroxysm of his malady at about the +moment Hollis had discovered it. + +Hollis stepped back and heaved a sigh of relief. Then he stepped over to +where the man's rifle lay, taking it up and removing the cartridges. +Returning to the man he removed the cartridges from his belt and drew +his six-shooter from its holster, determined that when the man recovered +from his stupor there would be no danger of a recurrence of the previous +incident. Then he leaned against the boulder to await the man's +recovery. + +Ten minutes later, while he still watched the man, he heard a clatter of +hoofs. Determined not to be taken by surprise again he drew his own +six-shooter and peered cautiously around the edge of the boulder. What +he saw caused him to jam the weapon back into its holster very +hurriedly. Then he stepped out of his concealment with a red, +embarrassed face to greet a young woman whose expression of doubt and +fear was instantly replaced by one of pleasure and recognition as she +caught sight of him. It was the girl of Dry Bottom. + +"Oh!" she said. "Is it you? I was afraid----" And then she saw the man +and was off her pony in a flash and at his head, supporting it and +pouring something down his throat from a bottle. + +She rose presently, embarrassment crimsoning her face. Hollis saw her +lips quiver when she turned and spoke to him. + +"He will be all right--now," she said, facing Hollis, her eyes drooping +as though ashamed to meet his. "He has had another attack of his--his +trouble." She looked suddenly up at Hollis, bravely trying to repress +her emotion--but with little success. + +"You heard what he--Big Bill Dunlavey--said about my brother?" she +questioned, her eyes full and moist. Hollis nodded and she continued +rapidly, her voice quavering: "Well, he told the truth." Her voice +trailed away into a pitiful wail, and she stepped over and leaned +against the boulder, sobbing quietly into her hands. "That's why it +hurts so," she added. + +Hollis yielded to a sudden wave of sympathy. He stood close to her, +aware of his inability to cope with this strange situation. She looked +so small, so out of place, he felt that whatever he did or said would +not help matters. What he did say, however, assisted in restoring her +composure. + +"I am glad I slugged him!" he said heatedly. + +She turned suddenly to him, her eyes flashing spiritedly through the +moisture in them. + +"Oh, it was great!" she declared, her hands clenching at the +recollection. "I could have shaken hands with you--with the hand that +struck him!" + +Hollis smiled whimsically. "I've still got the hand," he said +significantly, extending it toward her--"if you have not reconsidered." +He laughed as she took it and pressed it firmly. "I rather think that +we've both got a shake coming on that," he added. "I didn't understand +then about your brother or I would have added a few extra pounds to that +punch." + +Her face clouded as he mentioned her brother. "Poor Ed," she said in a +low voice. She went over to the man, leaning over him and smoothing back +the hair from his forehead, Hollis looking glumly on, clenching his +teeth in impotent sympathy. + +"These attacks do not come often," she volunteered as she again +approached Hollis. "But they do come," she added, her voice catching. +Hollis did not reply, feeling that he had no right to be inquisitive. +But she continued, slightly more at ease and plainly pleased to have +some one in whom she might confide. + +"Ed was injured a year ago through a fall," she informed Hollis. "He was +breaking a wild horse and a saddle girth broke and he fell, striking on +his head. The wound healed, but he has never been the same. At intervals +these attacks come on and then he is irresponsible--and dangerous." She +shuddered. "You were watching him," she added, looking suddenly at him; +"did you find him as he is or did he attack you? Frequently when he has +these attacks he comes here to Devil's Hollow, explaining that he +expects to find some of Dunlavey's men. He doesn't like Dunlavey," she +added with a flush, "since Dunlavey----" She hesitated and then went on +determinedly--"well, since Dunlavey told him that he wanted to marry me. +But Ed says that Dunlavey has a wife in Tucson and--well, I wouldn't +have married him anyway--the brute!" + +"Exactly," agreed Hollis gravely, trying to repress a thrill of +satisfaction; "of course you couldn't marry him." He understood now the +meaning of Dunlavey's words to her in Dry Bottom. "If you wasn't such a +damn prude," he had said. He looked at the girl with a sudden, grim +smile. "He said something about running you and your brother out of the +country," he said; "of course you won't allow him to do that?" + +The girl's slight figure stiffened. "I would like to see him try it!" +she declared defiantly. + +Hollis grinned. "That's the stuff!" he sympathized. "I rather think that +Dunlavey is something of a bluffer--that folks in this country have +allowed him to have his own way too much." + +She shook her head doubtfully. "I don't know about that," she returned. +Then she smiled. "You are the new owner of the Circle Bar, aren't you?" + +Hollis startled, looking at her with a surprised smile. "Yes," he +returned, "I am the new owner. But how did you know it? I haven't told +anyone here except Neil Norton and Judge Graney. Have Norton and the +Judge been talking?" + +"They haven't talked to me," she assured him with a demure smile. "You +see," she added, "you were a stranger in Dry Bottom, and after you left +the Fashion you went right down to the court house. I knew Judge Graney +had been your father's friend. And then I saw Neil Norton coming into +town with the buckboard." She laughed. "You see, it wasn't very hard to +add two and two." + +"Why, no," Hollis agreed, "it wasn't. But how did you happen to see me +go down to the court house?" + +"Why, I watched you!" she returned. And then suddenly aware of her +mistake in admitting that she had felt an interest in him at their first +meeting, she lowered her gaze in confusion and stood, kicking with her +booted toe into a hummock, her face suddenly very red. + +The situation might have been embarrassing for her had not her brother +created a diversion by suddenly sighing and struggling to sit up. The +girl was at his side in an instant, assisting him. The young man's +bewilderment was pitiful. He sat silent for a full minute, gazing first +at his sister and then at Hollis, and finally at his surroundings. Then, +when a rational gleam had come into his eyes he bowed his head, a blush +of shame sweeping over his face and neck. + +"I expect I've been at it again," he muttered, without looking up. + +The girl leaned over him, reassuring him, patting his face lovingly, +letting him know by all a woman's arts of the sympathy and love she bore +for him. Hollis watched her with a grim, satisfied smile. If he had had +a sister he would have hoped that she would be like her. He stepped +forward and seized the young man by the arm, helping him to his feet. + +"You are right now," he assured him; "there has been no harm done." + +Standing, the young man favored Hollis with a careful inspection. He +flushed again. "You're the man that rode through the draw," he said. "I +saw you and thought you were one of Dunlavey's men. I shot at you once, +and was going to shoot again, but something cracked in my head. I hope I +didn't hit you." Embarrassment again seized him; his eyes drooped. "Of +course you are not one of Dunlavey's men," he added, "or you wouldn't be +here, talking to sis. No friend of Dunlavey's could do that." He looked +at the girl with a tender smile. "I don't know what I'd do if it wasn't +for her," he added, speaking to Hollis. "But I expect it's a good thing +that I'm not crazy all the time." He looked searchingly at Hollis. "I've +never seen you before," he said. "Who are you?" + +"I am Kent Hollis." + +The young man's eyes lighted. "Not Jim Hollis's son?" he asked. + +Hollis nodded. The young man's face revealed genuine pleasure. "You +going to stay in this here country?" he asked. + +"I am going to run the Circle Bar," returned Hollis slowly. + +"Bully!" declared the young man. "There's some folks around here said +you wouldn't have nerve enough to stay." He made a wry face. "But I +reckon you've got nerve or you'd have hit the breeze when I started to +stampede." He suddenly held out a hand. "I like you," he said +impulsively. "You and me are going to be friends. Shake!" + +Hollis saw a smile of pleasure light up the girl's face, which she tried +to conceal by brushing the young man's clothing with a gloved hand, +meanwhile keeping him between her and Hollis. + +Hollis stood near the boulder, watching them as they prepared to depart, +the girl telling her brother that he would find his pony on the plains +beyond the canyon. + +"I am glad I didn't hit you," the young man told Hollis as he started +away with the girl. "If you are not scared off you might take a run down +to the shack some time--it's just down the creek a ways." + +Hollis hesitated and then, catching the girl's glance, he smiled. + +"I can't promise when," he said, looking at the girl, "but you may be +sure that I will look you up the first chance I get." + +He stood beside the boulder until he saw them disappear around the wall +of the canyon. Then with a satisfied grin he walked to his pony, +mounted, and was off through the draw toward the Circle Bar ranchhouse. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +HOLLIS RENEWS AN ACQUAINTANCE + + +Rumor, that mysterious disseminator of news whose tongues are legion, +whispered that the Dry Bottom _Kicker_ was to come to life. +Wherefore curiosity led many of Dry Bottom's citizens past the door of +the _Kicker_ office to steal covert glances at the young man whose +figure was bent over the desk inside. Many passed in silence after +looking at the young man--he did not see them. Others commented gravely +or humorously according to their whim--the young man did not hear them. +Seated at the desk he gave his attention to the tasks before him--he was +not concerned with rumor; the curiosity of Dry Bottom's citizens did not +affect him. Seriously, methodically, steadily, he worked at his desk, +while rumor wagged her tongues and curiosity lounged past the window. + +It was Hollis's first visit to the _Kicker_ office; he had come to +work and there was much that he could do. He had found the _Kicker_ +installed in a one story frame building, verging upon dilapidation, +unpainted, dingy. The appearance of its exterior had given Hollis a +queer sensation in the pit of the stomach. He was cheered a little by +the businesslike appearance of the interior. It was not what he had been +used to, but he felt that it would answer very well in this locality, +and--well, he planned to make improvements. + +About twenty by forty, he estimated the size of the interior. Originally +there had been only one room. This had been divided into three sections +by partitions. An old, flat-topped desk sat near the front window, a +swivel chair before it. Along the wall above the desk were several rows +of shelving with paste-board boxes and paper piled neatly up. Calendars, +posters, and other specimens of the printer's art covered the walls. In +the next room was another desk. Piles of advertising electrotypes, empty +forms, and papers filled the corners. The composing room was in the +rear. Everything was in order here; type cases, stands, forms. There +were a proof press, some galley racks, a printing press, with a +forlorn-looking gasolene engine near it. A small cast-iron stove stood +in a corner with its door yawning open, its front bespattered with +tobacco juice. A dilapidated imposing stone ranged along the rear wall +near a door that opened into the sunlight. A man stood before one of the +type cases distributing type. He did not look up at Hollis's entrance. + +"Hello!" greeted Hollis. + +The man hesitated in his work and looked up. "Hello," he returned, +perfunctorily. + +"I suppose your name is Potter?" Hollis inquired cordially. Judge Graney +had told him that if he succeeded in finding the compositor he would +have him at the _Kicker_ office this morning. Potter had gone to +work without further orders. + +"Yes," said the man. He came forward. + +"I am the new owner of the _Kicker_," Hollis informed him with a +smile. + +"Jim Hollis's boy?" inquired Potter, straightening. At Hollis's nod he +stepped quickly forward and grasped the hand the latter offered him, +squeezing it tightly. "Of course you are Jim Hollis's boy!" he said, +finishing his inspection. "You are the living image of him!" He swept +his hand around toward the type case. "I am working, you see. Judge +Graney wrote me last week that you wanted me and I came as soon as I +could. Is it true that the _Kicker_ is going to be a permanent +institution?" + +"The _Kicker_ is here to stay!" Hollis informed him. + +Potter's face lighted with pleasure. "That's bully!" he said. "That's +bully!" + +He was of medium height, slender, lean faced, with a magnificent head, +and a wealth of brown hair thickly streaked with silver. His thin lips +were strong; his chin, though a trifle weak, was well formed; his eyes +slightly bleared, but revealing, in spite of this defect, unmistakable +intelligence. In the first flashing glance which Hollis had taken at him +he had been aware that here was a person of more than ordinary mental +ability and refinement. It was with a pang of pity that he remembered +Judge Graney's words to the effect that he was a good workman--"when +sober." Hollis felt genuinely sorry for him. + +"I have had a talk with Judge Graney," volunteered Potter. "He tells me +that you are a newspaper man. Between us we ought to be able to get out +a very respectable paper." + +"We will," calmly announced Hollis; "and we'll get the first issue out +Saturday. Come in here and we'll talk about it." + +He led the way to the front room and seated himself at the desk, +motioning Potter to another chair. Within the next hour he knew all +about the _Kicker_. It was a six-column sheet of four pages. The +first page was devoted to local news. The second carried some local +advertisements, exchange clippings, and two or three columns of +syndicate plate matter. On the third page two columns were devoted to +editorials, one to advertisements, and three to local news in large +type. The fourth, and last page was filled with more plate matter and a +litter of "foreign" advertising--patent-medicines, soaps, hair-dye. + +At the first glance it appeared that the paper must be a paying +proposition, for there were a goodly proportion of advertisements. Yet +Hollis had his suspicions about the advertisements. When he had spoken +to Potter about them he discovered that quite a number of them were what +is known to the craft as "dead ads"--which meant advertisements upon +which payment had ceased and which were carried either for the purpose +of filling up the paper or because it was found cheaper to run them than +to set type for the space which would be left by their absence. + +"We won't carry any dead ads!" announced Hollis. + +"Several of these are big merchants," said Potter, pointing them out +with inky forefinger; "though the contracts have run out the appearance +of their ads lends the _Kicker_ a certain moral support--the little +fellows don't know that they are not paid for and it draws their +business." + +"We don't care for that kind of business," smiled Hollis; "we're going +to run a real newspaper. We're going to get paid ads!" + +"I hope so," hesitatingly replied Potter. + +"Of course you do," laughed Hollis; "but whether we get paid ads or not +this newspaper is coming out regularly and on time. Furthermore, we're +going to cut down on this plate stuff; we don't want a paper filled with +stale articles on snakes, antedated ocean disasters, Egyptian monoliths, +and the latest style in opera hats. We'll fill the paper with local +news--we'll ginger things up a little. You are pretty well acquainted +here--I'll leave the local items to you. What town near here compares +with Dry Bottom in size?" + +"There's Lazette," returned Potter; "over in Colfax County." + +"How far from here?" + +"Eighty miles." + +"Got a newspaper?" + +"Yes; the _Eagle_." + +"Bully! Step on the _Eagle's_ toes. Make the _Eagle_ scream. +Get into an argument with it about something--anything. Tell Lazette +that as a town it's forty miles behind Dry Bottom. That will stir up +public spirit and boom our subscription list. You see, Potter, civic +pride is a big asset to a newspaper. We'll start a row right off the +reel. Furthermore, we're going to have some telegraph news. I'll make +arrangements for that to-day." + +Hollis's enthusiasm was infectious; a flash of spirit lighted up +Potter's eyes as he rose from his chair. "I'm going to set up the head +for the first page," he said. "Probably you'll want a slogan; that sort +of thing is the style out here." + +"We'll have one," returned Hollis briskly. "Set this in triple leads: +_'We Herald the Coming of the Law! The Kicker is Here to Stay!'_" + +"Good!" declared Potter. He went into the composing room and Hollis saw +his fine old head bent over a type case. Hollis turned to his desk. + +He sat there long, his tall, lithe body slack, grim, serious lines in +his lean face. He had thought of his conversation with Judge Graney +concerning ambition--his ambition, the picture upon which his mind had +dwelt many times. A little frame printing office in the West was not one +of its features. He sighed with resignation and began methodically to +look over the papers in the desk, finding many things to interest him. +He discovered that in spite of his father's one great fault he had been +a methodical man. He smiled regretfully, wishing that he might have been +able to have seen more of him. Among the papers he hoped to find a +personal note--a word--from his father. He found nothing of that +character. + +After a time he took up a pen and began to write. Long ago he had +decided that in the first issue of the paper he would attack the +Cattlemen's Association. Judge Graney had ridden out to the Circle Bar +on the previous Saturday afternoon, remaining over Sunday, and +accompanying Hollis on the return trip Monday morning. + +While at the ranch the Judge had spent much of his time in communicating +to Hollis his views of the situation in Union County and in acquainting +him with the elder Hollis's intentions regarding the newspaper. Hollis +had made some inquiries on his own account, with the result that when he +reached the _Kicker_ office this morning he felt that he had +acquired a good and sufficient knowledge of the situation. + +Looking over the old copy of the _Kicker_ he studied some of the +advertisements. Evidently some Dry Bottom merchants had been brave +enough to antagonize Dunlavey by advertising in the _Kicker_. With +this copy of the _Kicker_ in hand Hollis rose from his desk, told +Potter he was going out, and proceeded to visit some of the merchants +whose advertisements appeared in the paper, hoping that their bravery +still abided with them. He made a good solicitor. Some of the merchants +flatly refused, saying they did not care to risk Dunlavey's anger. +Others demurred, confidentially announcing that they had never +considered the paper seriously and that there was really no good in +advertising in Dry Bottom anyway--the town wasn't big enough. Half a +dozen listened quietly while he told them that the _Kicker_ was in +Dry Bottom to stay and then smiled and told him to run their +advertisements. They rather admired his "nerve" and were not afraid of +Dunlavey. + +At noon Hollis stepped into a restaurant called the Alhambra. While he +ate he was critically inspected; the Alhambra swarmed with customers, +and the proprietor quietly informed him that he was a "drawin' card" and +hoped he'd "grub" there regularly. In return for his promise to do so +Hollis secured his advertisement. + +Leaving the Alhambra he returned to the _Kicker_ office, seating +himself again at his desk. The sun came slantwise through the window +full upon him; the heat was oppressive; the flint-like alkali dust +sifted through the crevices in the building and settled over everything +in the room; myriad flies droned in the white sunlight before the open +door. He heard nothing, felt nothing, saw nothing--for his thoughts were +miles away, in an upper story of a big office building in the East from +whose windows he even now looked down upon a bustling city. + +Life would be so different here. He heard a sound behind him and turned. +Dunlavey was standing just inside the door, his great arms folded over +his chest. He had been watching Hollis, his eyes narrowed with a +cynically humorous expression. + +Hollis knew that by this time Dunlavey must have discovered his +identity. He swung slowly around in his chair, his face wearing an +expression of whimsical amusement as he greeted his victim of a few days +previous. + +"Welcome to the _Kicker_ office," he said quietly. + +Dunlavey did not move. Evidently he had expected another sort of +greeting and was slightly puzzled over Hollis's manner. He remained +motionless and Hollis had an opportunity to study him carefully and +thoroughly. His conclusions were brief and comprehensive. They were +expressed tersely to himself as he waited for Dunlavey to speak: "A +trickster and a cheat--dangerous." + +Dunlavey's eyes flashed metallically for an instant, but immediately the +humorous cynicism came into them again. "I don't think you mean all of +that," he said evenly. + +Hollis laughed. "I am not in the habit of saying things that I do not +mean," he said quietly. "I am here to do business and I am ready to talk +to anybody who wants to do business with me." + +Dunlavey's hands fell to his sides and were shoved into his capacious +trousers' pockets. "Right," he said tersely: "that's what I'm here +for--to talk business." + +He pulled a chair over close to Hollis and seated himself in it, moving +deliberately, a certain grim reserve in his manner. Hollis watched him, +marveling at his self-control. He reflected that it required will power +of a rare sort to repress or conceal the rage which he surely must feel +over his humiliation of two weeks before. That Dunlavey was able to so +mask his feelings convinced Hollis that he had to deal with a man of +extraordinary character. + +"I recollect meeting you the other day," said Dunlavey after he had +become seated. He smiled with his lips, his eyes glittering again. "I'll +say that we got acquainted then. There ain't no need for us to shake +hands now." He showed his teeth in a mirthless grin. "I didn't know you +then, but I know you now. You're Jim Hollis's boy." + +Hollis nodded. Dunlavey continued evenly: "Your father and me wasn't +what you might call bosom friends. I reckon Judge Graney has told you +that--if he ain't you've heard it from some one else. It don't make any +difference. So there won't be any misunderstanding I'll tell you that I +ain't figgering on you and me hitching up to the mutual friendship wagon +either. I might say that we wasn't introduced right." He grinned evilly. +"But I ain't letting what happened interfere with the business that's +brought me here to-day. I've heard that you're intending to start the +_Kicker_ again; that you're figgering on staying here and running +the Circle Bar. What I'm here for is to buy you out. I'm offering you +fifteen thousand dollars for the Circle Bar and this damn newspaper." + +Dunlavey had lost a little of the composure which had characterized his +actions since entering the office and the last words of his speech had +writhed venomously through his lips. + +Hollis's face betrayed absolutely no emotion. Though Dunlavey's visit to +the _Kicker_ office had surprised him he was not surprised at his +offer for the ranch and the newspaper, for according to Judge Graney he +had made some such offer to the elder Hollis. Coming now, with an +addition of five thousand dollars, Dunlavey's offer seemed to advertise +his reluctance to continue the war that he had waged. Hollis appreciated +the situation. If Dunlavey were to buy him off now there would come an +end to the warfare that had already been an expensive one for the +interests represented by Dunlavey. Likewise, the acceptance of the offer +would give Hollis an opportunity to withdraw gracefully. Dunlavey had +placed the issue squarely before him. The young man held his future in +his hands and he did not reply at once. + +He sat silent for a few moments, studying the coarse, brutal face of the +man seated before him, noting that his under jaw had come forward +slightly, and that the cold, hard glitter had come again in his eyes. +However, Hollis's silence meant nothing beyond the fact that he was +going slowly over the history of the fight between his father and the +man who sat there representing the interests which had begun the war. He +had no thought of surrendering--that would be dishonorable. He was +merely revolving the situation in his mind, considering how best to word +his refusal. He did not want to appear belligerent; he did not want to +precipitate war. But he did want Dunlavey to know that he purposed to +have his rights; he wanted Dunlavey to know that he could not be +frightened into surrendering them. He clasped one hand over his knee and +leaned back in his chair, his gaze meeting Dunlavey's steadily. + +"Dunlavey," he said quietly, "what is the actual value of the Circle Bar +ranch?" + +Dunlavey smiled blandly. "You couldn't find any man around these parts +to take it at any price," he returned. + +"Why?" questioned Hollis. + +Dunlavey grinned mysteriously. "I reckon you know why," he returned; +"you're pretty much of a tenderfoot, but I reckon Judge Graney has put +you wise to the situation. There ain't nobody wants to buy the Circle +Bar except me." + +"Why?" persisted Hollis. + +"I reckon you know that too," laughed Dunlavey. "It ain't no secret. The +Cattlemen's Association is running things in this here county and it +ain't wanting anyone to buy the Circle Bar except me. And nobody is fool +enough to antagonize the Association. That's the why, if you want to +know real bad." + +"You are frank about it at any rate," conceded Hollis smiling slightly. +"But that doesn't get us anywhere. What I am trying to get at is this: +what would the Circle Bar bring in cash if the Cattlemen's Association +ceased to be a factor in the county?" Dunlavey grinned broadly. "For a +tenderfoot you're real amusing," he derided. "There ain't nobody out +here crazy enough to think that the Cattlemen's Association will ever be +put out of business!" + +Hollis's lips curled a little, but his gaze was still steady. + +"That's evasion, Dunlavey," he said quietly. "You will remember that I +asked you what the Circle Bar would bring 'if' the Association ceased to +be a factor." + +Dunlavey favored Hollis with a perplexed grin. "I don't know what +difference that makes," he returned. "We're dealing with what's before +us now--we ain't considering what might be. But if you want to know my +personal opinion it's that the Circle Bar might bring thirty thousand." + +"Thanks," said Hollis dryly; "that's getting somewhere. And now we'll be +able to talk business. We've got thirty thousand to start with. I am +told that when the Association began its war against my father he was +rather prosperous. Usually he rounded up about two thousand head of +cattle. But we'll call it a thousand. We'll say that they brought about +thirty dollars a head, which would make an income of thirty thousand +dollars a year, gross. We'll deduct fifty per cent for operating +expenses, losses, and so on. That would leave about fifteen thousand. +You've been fighting the Circle Bar for several years. We'll call it +five. Five times fifteen thousand is seventy-five thousand. That +represents the sum which my father would have made from the Circle Bar +if you had not fought him. Add to that the thirty thousand which you +admit would be a fair figure for the ranch if the Association were +eliminated as a factor, and we have a total of one hundred and five +thousand dollars." He smiled and leaned a little farther back in his +chair, narrowing his eyes at Dunlavey. "Now we have reached a point +where we can get somewhere. I'll take one hundred thousand dollars for +the Circle Bar." + +The calm announcement had no effect upon Dunlavey except to cause him to +grin derisively. + +"For a tenderfoot you're pretty slick," he allowed, his teeth showing. +"You've figgered it out so that it sounds right reasonable. But you've +forgot one thing. The Cattlemen's Association ain't eliminated. It says +that the Circle Bar is worth fifteen thousand. You'll take that or----" +He smiled grimly, holding back the threat. + +"I think I know what you mean," said Hollis quietly, without changing +color. "You mean that the Cattlemen's Association will continue its +fight and eventually ruin the Circle Bar. Perhaps it will--no man can +tell what lies in the future. But I can tell you this: you can't retard +progress." + +"No?" said Dunlavey with an irritating drawl. + +Hollis smiled composedly. He spoke without bitterness. "Dunlavey," he +said, "I'm going to tell you something which you perhaps know but will +not admit. Your Association has been successful in pulling the strings +which make the politicians at Washington jump to do your bidding. I +don't accuse you of buying them, but in any event they have greased the +ways over which your Association has slipped to power. And now you think +that the impetus you have gained will carry you along indefinitely. It +won't. Everything in this world runs its natural course and when it does +there comes an end. + +"If you were endowed with the average foresight you would be able to see +that things cannot always go on the way they have. The law must come. It +is inevitable. Its coming will be facilitated by such organizations as +the Cattlemen's Association and by such men as you. Back in the East the +forces of Good and Bad are battling. The forces of Good will be +victorious. The government at Washington is familiar with the conditions +that exist here and sooner or later will be compelled to act. When it +does the small cattle owner will receive protection." + +"We're holding tight till the law comes," sneered Dunlavey; "which won't +be soon." + +"Perhaps not," admitted Hollis dryly; "good things come slowly. +Meanwhile, if you don't care to accept my figure for the Circle Bar I +shall follow your example and hold tight until the law comes." + +"Meaning that you won't sell, I suppose?" sneered Dunlavey. + +"Meaning just that," returned Hollis quietly. "I am going to fight you. +I have offered the Circle Bar at a fair figure and you have responded +with threats. I wouldn't sell to you now if you offered one hundred and +fifty thousand. The Circle Bar is not for sale!" + +Dunlavey had not moved. He sat quiet, leaning a little forward, his +hands resting on his knees, his eyes narrowed to glittering pin-points +as he watched Hollis. When the latter had concluded he leaned back, +laughing hoarsely. + +"What are you going to do with this damn newspaper?" he demanded. + +"The newspaper will be used as a weapon against you," returned Hollis. +"It will kick loud and long against such organizations as the +Cattlemen's Association--against such men as you. Ostensibly the +_Kicker_ will be a Dry Bottom newspaper, but it will appear in +every city in the East; the matter that appears in it will be reprinted +in Chicago, in Washington, in New York--in fact in every city in which I +have a friend engaged in the newspaper business--and I have a number. I +am going to stir up sentiment against you. I am going to be the Law's +advance agent!" + +Dunlavey rose, his lips curling with contempt. "You make me sick!" he +sneered. He turned his back and walked to the door, returning and +standing in front of Hollis, ominously cool and deliberate. "So that's +the how of it?" he said evenly. "You've come out here looking for fight. +Well, you'll get it--plenty of it. I owe you something----" + +"Wait, Dunlavey," Hollis interrupted, without excitement; "I want you to +understand that there isn't anything personal in this. I am going to +fight you because you are a member of the Cattlemen's Association and +not because you were my father's enemy. I am not afraid of you. I +suspect that you will try to make things decidedly interesting for me +from now on and I suppose I ought to be properly troubled. But I am not. +I shall not be surprised at anything you do. I think that is all. Please +close the door when you go out." + +He turned to the desk, ignoring Dunlavey. Sitting there, his senses +alert, he heard the door slam. From beyond it came a curse. Silence +again reigned in the office; Hollis was alone with the dust and the +heat--and some very original thoughts. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE "KICKER" BECOMES AN INSTITUTION + + +It was mid-July--and hot. The sun shone continually; the nights were +uncomfortable, stifling. The dust was everywhere and grew deeper and +lighter as the days passed. Water grew scarce; cattle suffered, lowing +throughout the night, during the day searching the bogs and water holes +for drops of moisture. Men looked up at the clear, cloudless sky and +prayed--and cursed--for rain. The rain did not come. It was one long, +continuous nightmare of heat. + +The _Kicker_ had appeared four times--on Saturdays--on time. +Telegraphic communication with the outside world had been established. +Potter had taken up his residence at the Circle Bar. War had been +declared between the _Kicker_ and the Lazette _Eagle_. Hollis +had written an argumentative essay on the virtues of Dry Bottom as a +town, dwelling upon its superiority over Lazette. The editor of the +_Eagle_ had replied with some bitterness, setting forth in detail +why Dry Bottom did _not_ compare with Lazette. As the editor of the +_Eagle_ mentioned population and civic spirit in his bill of +particulars the war promised to be of long duration--questions of +superiority between spirited persons are never settled. And Hollis had +succeeded in arousing the spirit of Dry Bottom's citizens. They began to +take some interest in the _Kicker_. Many subscribed; all read it. + +From the "local" columns of the paper one might have discovered that +many public and private improvements were contemplated. Among these the +following items were of the greatest interest: + + Steps are being taken by the government toward the erection of a + fence around the court house grounds. Judge Graney is + contemplating a lawn and flowers. When these improvements are + completed there will be no comparison between our court house and + the dilapidated hovel which disgraces the county seat of Colfax. + The Lazette _Eagle_ please notice. + + * * * * * + + William Dunn, the proprietor of the Alhambra eating house, + announces that in the near future he will erect a new sign. + Thereafter the Alhambra will be known as the Alhambra + Restaurant. This is a step forward. We have been informed that + there is no restaurant in Lazette. Good boy, Dunn. + + * * * * * + + Chet Miller's general merchandise store is to be repainted + throughout. Chet is public spirited. + +Everybody of any importance in Dry Bottom received weekly mention of +some sort in the _Kicker_. Chet Miller was heard to say that the +_Kicker_ was a "hummer," and no one ascribed his praise of the +paper to thanks for the appearance of his name therein, for all who +would have criticized were silenced by the appearance of their own +names. + +In the fourth issue of the paper appeared several new advertisements. +Judicious personal mention and lively news locals had aroused public +spirit to a point where it ignored thoughts of Dunlavey's displeasure. + +Upon the Saturday which had marked the first issue of the _Kicker_ +under Hollis's ownership he had employed a circulation manager. That +afternoon on the street near the _Kicker_ office he had almost +collided with a red haired youth of uncertain age who had bounded out +through the door of a private dwelling. In order to keep from knocking +the youth over Hollis was forced to seize him by the arms and literally +lift him off his feet. While in the air the youth's face was close to +Hollis's and both grinned over the occurrence. When Hollis set the youth +down he stood for an instant, looking up into Hollis's face and a grin +of amusement overspread his own. + +"Shucks!" he said slowly. "If it ain't the tenderfoot editor!" + +"That's just who it is," returned Hollis with a smile. + +The youth grinned as he looked critically at Hollis. "You gittin' out +that there paper to-day, mister?" he questioned. + +"Right now," returned Hollis. + +"Bully!" exclaimed the youth. He surveyed Hollis with a frank +admiration. "They said you wouldn't have the nerve to do it," he said; +"but, say! I reckon they ain't got you sized up right!" + +Hollis smiled, remembering that though the paper had been printed it was +not yet distributed. He placed a hand on the youth's shoulder. + +"Have you got nerve enough to pass the _Kicker_ around to the +people of this town?" he questioned. + +"I reckon," grinned the youth. "I was comin' down to ast you for the job +when you bumped into me. I used to peddle them for your dad. My name's +Jiggs Lenehan--mebbe you've heard of me?" + +Hollis smiled. "The question of delivering the _Kicker_ was one of +the details that I overlooked," he said. "But fortunately it is arranged +now. Henceforth, Jiggs, you are the _Kicker's_ official circulation +manager. Likewise, if you care to add to your income, you can help +Potter around the office." + +So it had been arranged, and Jiggs entered upon his duties with an +energy that left little doubt in his employer's mind that he would prove +a valuable addition to the force. + +In Hollis's "Salutatory" to the people of Dry Bottom he had announced in +a quiet, unostentatious paragraph that while he had not come to Dry +Bottom for a free fight, he would permit no one to tread on his toes. +His readers' comprehension of the metaphor was complete--as was +evidenced by the warm hand-clasps which he received from citizens who +were not in sympathy with the Dunlavey regime. It surprised him to find +how many such there were in town. He was convinced that all this element +needed was a leader and he grimly determined to step quietly into that +position himself. + +The second issue of the _Kicker_ was marked by a more aggressive +spirit--a spirit engendered by the sympathetic reception of the first +issue. In it he stated concisely his views of the situation in Union +County, telling his readers that the best interests of the community +demanded that Dunlavey's evil influence be wiped out. This article was +headed: "Dry Bottom's Future," and won him many friends. + +The third issue contained stronger language, and the fourth was +energetically aggressive. As he had decided before the first appearance +of the paper, he took a certain number of copies of each issue, folded +them neatly, stamped and addressed them, and mailed them to a number of +newspapers throughout the country whose editors he knew. He also +directed copies to a number of his friends in the East--to the president +of his college, and last, to the Secretary of the Interior at +Washington, who had formerly resided near him in Boston, and with whom +he had a long acquaintance. There had been a change of administration +the fall previous and he was certain that the new administration would +not ignore the situation. To the Secretary, and also to a number of his +friends, he wrote personal letters, explaining in detail the exact +condition of affairs in Union County. + +He had not seen Dunlavey since the day the latter had come to the +_Kicker_ office to negotiate for the purchase of the paper. On +several of his rides to and from the Circle Bar ranch he had seen signs +of life at the Circle Cross; once or twice he thought he saw someone +watching him from a hill on the Circle Cross side of the Rabbit-Ear, but +of this he was not quite certain, for the hill-top was thickly wooded +and the distance great. + +He had been warned by Norton not to ride too often over the same trail +lest Dunlavey send someone to ambush him. + +Hollis had laughed at the warning, though thanking Norton for it. He +told his range boss that he did not anticipate any immediate trouble +with Dunlavey. + +"It all depends on how Big Bill feels," returned Norton with a grim +smile. "If you've got him mad there's no telling. And there are plenty +of places between here and Dry Bottom where a man might be shot from +ambush. And nobody'd ever know who done it. I wouldn't ride the Dry +Bottom trail every day. There's the old Coyote trail, that takes you +past the Razor-Back and through Devil's Hollow to Little Canyon an' +along the hills to the other side." + +He laughed. "There's only one thing you need to be afraid of if you take +the Coyote trail, an' that's Ed Hazelton. Ed gets spells when he's plum +crazy. He's Nellie Hazelton's brother--her that Dunlavey was pesterin' +when you slammed him." He laughed again, significantly. "Though if Ed +knowed you was the man who took his sister's part you wouldn't need to +be much scared of him--I've heard that he's got a pretty good memory for +his friends--even when he's off." + +Hollis had not told Norton of his experience in Devil's Hollow, nor did +he tell him now. But he followed his advice about taking the Coyote +trail, and the following day when he made the trip to Dry Bottom he +returned that way. About half way between Dry Bottom and the Circle Bar +he came upon a little adobe cabin snuggling an arroyo through which +trickled a small stream of water. + +It was an ideal location for a small rancher, and Hollis observed that +the buildings were in order--evidently Nellie Hazelton and her brother +were provident. He saw some cattle grazing on the edge of a small grass +plateau which began at the slope of the arroyo through which the stream +of water ran. A shout reached his ears as he sat motionless in the +saddle looking about him, and he saw Ed Hazelton on the plateau among +the cattle, waving a hand to him. The young man began to descend the +side of the plateau, but before he had fairly started Nellie Hazelton +had come out of the front door of the cabin and stood on the edge of the +small porch, smiling at him. + +"So you did come, after all?" was her greeting. + +Hollis spurred his pony closer and sat smiling down at her. "I don't +think anything could have stopped me after your invitation," he returned +quickly. + +"Oh!" she said. The sudden color that came into her face told of her +confusion. It betrayed the fact that she knew he had come because of +her. Her brother's invitation in Devil's Hollow had been merely formal; +there had been another sort of invitation in her eyes as she and her +brother had left him that day. + +"Won't you get off your horse?" she said while he still sat motionless. +"It's quite a while before sundown and you have plenty of time to reach +the Circle Bar before dark." + +He had determined to discover something of the mystery that surrounded +her and her brother, and so he was off his pony quickly and seating +himself in a chair that she drew out of the cabin for him. By the time +her brother had reached the porch Hollis was stretched comfortably out +in the chair and was answering several timid questions concerning his +opinion of the country and his new responsibilities. + +She was glad he liked the country, she said. It was wonderful. In the +five years they had been here they had enjoyed it thoroughly--that was, +of course, barring the trouble they had had with Dunlavey. + +Of their trouble with Dunlavey Hollis would hear much later, he told +himself. At present he was more interested in discovering something +about her and her brother, though he did not wish to appear inquisitive. +Therefore his voice was politely casual. + +"Then you are not a Westerner?" he said. + +She smiled mournfully. "No," she returned; "we--Ed and I--were raised in +Illinois, near Springfield. We came out here five years ago after--after +mother died." Her voice caught. "Sometimes it seems terribly lonesome +out here," she added; "when I get to thinking of--of our other home. +But"--she smiled bravely through the sudden moisture that had come into +her eyes--"since Ed got hurt I don't have much time to think of myself. +Poor fellow." + +Hollis was silent. He had never had a sister but he could imagine how +she must feel over the misfortune that had come to her brother. It must +be a sacrifice for her to remain in this country, to care for a brother +who must be a great burden to her at times, to fight the solitude, the +hardships, to bear with patience the many inconveniences which are +inevitable in a new, unsettled country. He felt a new admiration for her +and a profound sympathy. + +"I think that you must be a very brave young woman," he said earnestly. + +"Oh!" she returned with a sudden, illuminating smile. "It isn't hard to +be brave. But at times I find it hard to be patient." + +"Patience is one of the cardinal virtues," declared Hollis, "but it +takes bravery of a rare sort to remain in this country, surrounded with +the care----" + +Her fingers were suddenly over her lips warningly, and he saw Ed +Hazelton nearing the porch. + +"I wouldn't have him know for the world," she said rapidly. "It isn't a +care to look after someone you love." + +Hollis smiled grimly at the reproach in her voice and rose to greet her +brother. + +The latter seemed to be quite recovered from the attack he had suffered +in Devil's Hollow and talked freely and intelligently of affairs in the +country. Hollis found that on the whole he was a well informed young +man--quiet, modest, and apparently well able to give a good account of +himself in spite of his affliction. He was bitter against Dunlavey and +thanked Hollis warmly for his defense of his sister. + +At sundown Hollis departed, telling the Hazeltons that since he was +their neighbor he would not neglect to see them occasionally. As he rode +away into the dusk Nellie Hazelton stood on the porch smilingly waving +her hand at him. As he threaded his way through the rapidly growing +darkness he felt an unaccountable satisfaction over the fact that he had +elected to remain in Union County; that henceforth his fortunes were to +be linked with those of a brave young woman who had also accepted the +robes of sacrifice and who was committed to war against their common +enemy--Dunlavey. Curiously, during the past few days he had felt a +decided change in his attitude toward life. His old ambition was no +longer uppermost in his mind--it had been crowded out of his existence. +In its place had been erected a new pinnacle of promise. A seat among +the mighty was a worthy goal. Yet the lowly bench of sacrifice was not +without its compensations. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CONCERNING THE "SIX-O'CLOCK" + + +On Friday evening previous to the Saturday on which the _Kicker_ +was to be issued for the fifth consecutive time by Hollis, Potter did +not ride out to the Circle Bar. There still remained some type to be set +and Potter had declared his intention of completing the work and staying +overnight in town. Hollis had acquiesced and had departed for the Circle +Bar alone. + +When he reached Dry Bottom the following morning he found a small crowd +of people in front of the _Kicker_ office. During the night someone +had posted a written notice on the front door, and when Hollis +dismounted from his pony there were perhaps a dozen interested citizens +grouped about the door, reading the notice. There were several of the +town's merchants and a number of cowboys--new arrivals and those who had +remained overnight to gamble and participate in the festivities that +were all-night features of the dives. There were also the usual loafers, +who constitute an element never absent in any group of idlers in any +street. All, however, gave way before Hollis and allowed him to reach +the door without molestation, though in passing he observed significant +grins on several faces. + +The notice was written in a bold, legible hand. + +"Mr. Hollis:"--it read, the prefix under-scored--"The express leaves +town this afternoon at six o'clock--goin' east. Better be on it." + + Signed--"Y. Z." + +Hollis read the notice and then turned and quietly surveyed his +watchful, interested audience. He smiled grimly, seeing several faces +which, though plainly expressing amusement, seemed quietly sympathetic. +He felt that these were wishing him success, though doubting his ability +to cope with his enemies. Other faces were plainly antagonistic in +expression. He looked at both for an instant and then turned again to +the notice and producing a pencil printed boldly on its face the slogan +he had devised: + +_"We Herald the Coming of the Law! The Kicker is Here to Stay!"_ + +And below he indulged in this sarcasm: _"Don't hold the express on my +account!"_ + + Signed--"KENT HOLLIS" + +Leaving his audience to stare after him Hollis pushed open the door of +the office and entered. + +He found Potter bending over the imposing table, hard at work on one of +the forms. Three other forms, locked and ready for the press, stood in a +corner. Potter looked up and smiled as his chief entered. + +"See the notice on the door?" he inquired. + +"Some of Dunlavey's work, I suppose," returned Hollis. + +"Well, yes. I suppose Dunlavey is back of it. But Yuma tacked the sign +up." He smiled soberly as Hollis flashed a grin at him. "They tried hard +last night to get me to drink. Of course their purpose was to get me +drunk so that I wouldn't be able to get the paper out today. I am not +going to tell you how hard I had to fight myself to resist the +temptation to drink. But you can see for yourself that I succeeded. The +_Kicker_ will be ready to go to press in an hour." + +He felt Hollis's hand patting his shoulder approvingly and he continued, +a little hoarsely. "I took one drink at the Fashion last night after I +got through here. Then I came back and went to sleep. I am a light +sleeper and when some time after midnight I heard a sound at the door I +got up and peered out of the window. I saw Yuma tacking up the notice. I +suppose Dunlavey wrote it." He looked at Hollis with a whimsical +expression. "I suppose you are going to take the express?" he inquired. + +"Tried to get you drunk, did they?" shaking his head negatively to +Potter's question, a smile on his face. "I can't understand that game," +he continued, soberly. "Of course getting you drunk would have prevented +the appearance of the paper on scheduled time. But if they wanted to do +serious damage--of course I mean to the paper," he apologized with a +grim smile, "why didn't they come down here--some of them--during your +absence, and smash things up? That would have made the thing sure for +them." + +Potter laughed mirthlessly. "Of course they could have done that," he +said; "it would have been easy--will be easy any time. But it wouldn't +be artistic, would be coarse in fact. Dunlavey doesn't do things that +way. If they smash your stuff, destroy your plant here, ruin your type +and press, and so forth, they invite sympathy in your behalf. But if +they prevent the appearance of your paper without having done any damage +to your plant they accomplish something--they expose you to ridicule. +And in this country ridicule is a potent weapon--even if it involves +nothing more serious than a drunken printer." + +Hollis shook Potter's hand in silence. He had expected violence from +Dunlavey; long before this he had expected him to show his hand, to +attempt some covert and damaging action. And he had been prepared to +fight to get the _Kicker_ out. He had not expected subtlety from +Dunlavey. + +He went to his desk and sat in the chair, looking out through the window +at the crowd that still lingered in front of the office. Most of the +faces wore grins. Plainly they were amused, but Hollis saw that the +amusement was of a grim sort. They appreciated the situation and enjoyed +its humor but felt the tragedy behind it. Probably most of them were +acquainted with Dunlavey's methods; some of them probably knew of the +attempt that had been made to incapacitate Potter. Certainly those of +them that did know had seen the failure of the attempt and were now +speculating upon Dunlavey's next move. Looking out of the window Hollis +felt that some of his audience must be wondering whether the editor of +the _Kicker_ would pay any attention to the notice on the door. +Would he scare? + +Hollis had already decided that he would not "scare." He grinned at +several of the men who watched him and then turned and instructed Potter +to take down a column of type on the first page of the paper to make +room for an article that he intended to write. Then he seized a pen and +wrote a red hot defiance directed at the authors of the notice, which +Potter set up under the heading: + +"Why the Editor of the _Kicker_ Won't Take the Express." + +In clear, terse language he told his audience his reasons. This was +America; he was an American, and he didn't purpose to allow the +Cattlemen's Association--or any other association, gang, or +individual--to dictate the policy of his paper or influence his private +actions. Least of all did he purpose to allow anyone to "run him out of +town." He printed the notice entire, adding his answer, assuring readers +that he was sending copies of the _Kicker_ to every newspaper in +the East and that notices such as had been affixed to his door would +react against the authors. He ended with the prophecy that the law would +come into Union County and that meanwhile the _Kicker_ purposed to +fight. + +At noon Hollis took the usual number of copies to the station and mailed +them. Walking down the street on his return from the station he +attracted much attention. Men stood in the open doorways of saloons +watching him, a number openly jeered; others sent subtle jibes after +him. Still others were silent, their faces expressing amusement. + +But he looked at none of them. He swung along the board walk, his face a +little pale, his lips tightly closed, determined to pay no attention to +the jeers that reached his ears. + +When he passed the Fashion there were a number of men draped along its +front; and he was conscious of many grins. Passing the men he heard low +laughter and profane reference which caused his cheeks to redden. But he +walked steadily on. Near the _Kicker_ office he met Jiggs Lenehan. +Followed by the youth he reached the office to find that Potter had +completed the press work and that several hundred copies of the paper, +the ink still moist on its pages, were stacked in orderly array on the +imposing stone. In a very brief time Jiggs burst out of the office door, +a bundle of papers under his arm, and began the work of distribution. +Standing back from the window with Potter, Hollis watched Jiggs until +the latter reached the crowd in front of the Fashion saloon. Then all +that Hollis could see of him was his red head. But that trade was brisk +was proved by the press around Jiggs--the youth was passing out papers +at a rapid rate and soon nearly every man in the crowd about the Fashion +was engaged in reading, or,--if this important feature of his education +had been neglected--in questioning his neighbor concerning the things +that appeared in the paper. + +Presently Jigg's customers in front of the Fashion were all supplied. +Then other purchasers appeared. Soon the _Kicker_ was being read +by--it seemed--nearly every grown person in Dry Bottom. Business was +suspended. Down the street men were congregated about the doors of many +of the stores; others were sitting in doorways, still others leaned +against buildings; some, not taking time to search for support, read +while walking, or stood motionless on the board sidewalks, satisfying +their curiosity. + +Hollis watched through the window until he began to be certain that +every person in town was supplied with a paper. Then with a grim smile +he left the window and sought his chair beside the desk. He was +satisfied. Dunlavey had made the first aggressive movement and the fight +was on. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +HOW A BAD MAN LEFT THE "KICKER" OFFICE + + +It was about one o'clock in the afternoon when the _Kicker_ +appeared on Dry Bottom's street. At about five minutes after one, Potter +left the front of the office and walked to the rear room where he halted +at the imposing stone. There he proceeded to "take down" the four forms. +This done he calmly began distributing type. + +While Potter worked Hollis sat very quietly at his desk in the front +office, his arms folded, one hand supporting his chin, his lips forming +straight lines, his eyes narrowed with a meditative expression. +Occasionally Potter glanced furtively at him, his eyes filled with +mingled expressions of sympathy, admiration, and concern. + +Potter appreciated his chief's position. It meant something for a man of +Hollis's years and training to bury himself in this desolate sink-hole +of iniquity; to elect to carry on an unequal war with interests that +controlled the law machinery of the county and Territory--whose power +extended to Washington. No doubt the young man was even now brooding +over the future, planning his fight, pessimistically considering his +chances of success. Potter's sympathy grew. He thought of approaching +his chief with a word of encouragement. But while he hesitated, mentally +debating the propriety of such an action, Hollis turned quickly and +looked fairly at him, his forehead perplexed. + +"Potter," he remarked, "I suppose there isn't a good brain specialist in +this section of the country?" + +"Why--why----" began Potter. Then he stopped and looked at his chief in +wordless astonishment. His sympathy had been wasted. + +"No," laughed Hollis, divining the cause of the compositor's +astonishment, "personally I have no use for a brain specialist. I was +thinking of some other person." + +"Not me?" grinned Potter from behind his type case. He flushed a little +at the thought of how near he had come to offering encouragement to a +man who had not been in need of it, who, evidently, had not been +thinking of the big fight at all. "Perhaps I need one," he added, eyeing +Hollis whimsically; "a moment ago I thought you were in the dumps on +account of the situation here--you seemed rather disturbed. It surprised +me considerably to find that you had not been thinking of Dunlavey at +all." + +"No," admitted Hollis gravely, "I was not thinking of Dunlavey. I was +wondering if something couldn't be done for Ed Hazelton." + +"Something ought to be done for him," declared Potter earnestly. "I have +watched that young man closely and I am convinced that with proper care +and treatment he would recover fully. But I never heard of a specialist +in this section--none, in fact, nearer than Chicago. And I've forgotten +his name." + +"It is Hammond," supplied Hollis. "I've been thinking of him. I knew his +son in college. I am going to write to him." + +He turned to his desk and took up a pen, while Potter resumed his work +of distributing type. + +About half an hour later Jiggs Lenehan strolled into the office wearing +a huge grin on his face. "'Pears like everybody in town wants to read +the _Kicker_ to-day," he said with a joyous cackle. "Never had so +much fun sellin' them. Gimme some more," he added breathlessly; "they's +a gang down to the station howlin' for them. Say," he yelled at Hollis +as he went out of the door with a big bundle of _Kickers_ under his +arm, "you're cert'nly some editor man!" He grinned admiringly and widely +as he disappeared. + +Hollis finished his letter to Hammond and then leaned back in his chair. +For half an hour he sat there, looking gravely out into the street and +then, answering a sudden impulse, he rose and strode to the door. + +"Going down to the court house," he informed Potter. + +He found Judge Graney in his room, seated at the big table, a copy of +the _Kicker_ spread out in front of him. At his appearance the +Judge pushed back his chair and regarded him with an approving smile. + +"Well, Hollis," he said, "I see Dunlavey has played the first card." + +"He hasn't taken the first trick," was the young man's quick reply. + +"Fortunately not," laughed the judge. He placed a finger on a column in +the _Kicker_. "This article about the Cattlemen's Association is a +hummer--if I may be allowed the phrase. A straight, manly citation of +the facts. It ought to win friends for you." + +"I've merely stated the truth," returned Hollis, "and if the article +seems good it is merely because it defends a principle whose virtue is +perfectly obvious." + +"But only a man who felt strongly could have written it," suggested the +Judge. + +"Perhaps. I admit feeling a deep interest in the question of cattle." + +"Your ambition?" slyly insinuated the Judge. + +"Is temporarily in abeyance--perhaps permanently." + +"Then your original decision about remaining here has been--well, +strengthened?" + +Hollis nodded. The Judge grinned mysteriously. "There is an article on +the first page of the _Kicker_ which interested me greatly," he +said. "It concerns the six o'clock train--going east. Do you happen to +know whether the editor of the _Kicker_ is going to use the +express?" + +Hollis smiled appreciatively. "The editor of the _Kicker_ is going +to use the express," he admitted, "though not in the manner some people +are wishing. The usual number of copies of the _Kicker_ are going +to ride on the express, as are also some very forceful letters to the +President of the United States and the Secretary of the Interior." + +"Good!" said the Judge. He looked critically at Hollis. "I know that you +are going to remain in Dry Bottom," he said slowly; "I have never +doubted your courage. But I want to warn you to be careful. Don't make +the mistake of thinking that the notice which you found on the door of +the _Kicker_ office this morning is a joke. They don't joke like +that out here. Of course I know that you are not afraid and that you +won't run. But be careful--there are men out here who would snuff out a +human life as quickly as they would the flame of a candle, and with as +little fear of the consequences. I shouldn't like to hear of you using +your revolver, but if you do have occasion to use it, use it fast and +make a good job of it." + +"I don't like to use a gun," returned Hollis gravely, "but all the same +I shall bear your advice in mind." An expression of slight disgust swept +over his face. "I don't see why men out here don't exhibit a little more +courage," he said. "They all 'pack' a gun, as Norton says, and all are +apparently yearning to use one. I don't see what satisfaction there +could be in shooting a man with whom you have had trouble; it strikes me +as being a trifle cowardly." He laughed grimly. "For my part," he added, +"I can get more satisfaction out of slugging a man. Perhaps it isn't so +artistic as shooting, but you have the satisfaction of knowing that your +antagonist realizes and appreciates his punishment." + +Judge Graney's gaze rested on the muscular frame of the young man. "I +suppose if all men were built like you there would be less shooting +done. But unfortunately nature has seen fit to use different molds in +making her men. Not every man has the strength or science to use his +fists, nor the courage. But there is one thing that you will do well to +remember. When you slug a man who carries a gun you only beat him +temporarily; usually he will wait his chance and use his gun when you +least expect him." + +"I suppose you refer to Yuma Ed and Dunlavey?" suggested Hollis. + +"Well, no, not Dunlavey. I have never heard of Dunlavey shooting +anybody; he plays a finer game. But Yuma Ed, Greasy, Ten Spot, and some +more who belong to the Dunlavey crowd are professional gun-men and do +not hesitate to shoot. The chances are that Dunlavey will try to square +accounts with you in some other manner, but I would be careful of +Yuma--a blow in the face never sets well on a man of that character." + +An hour later, when Hollis sat at his desk in the _Kicker_ office, +Judge Graney's words were recalled to him. He was thinking of his +conversation with the Judge when Jiggs Lenehan burst into the office, +breathless, his face pale and his eyes swimming with news. He was +trembling With excitement. + +"Ten Spot is comin' down here to put you out of business!" he blurted +out when he could get his breath. "I was in the Fashion an' I heard him +an' Yuma talkin' about you. Ten Spot is comin' here at six o'clock!" + +Hollis turned slowly in his chair and faced the boy. His cheeks whitened +a little. Judge Graney had been right. Hollis had rather expected at +some time or other he would have to have it out with Yuma, but he had +expected he would have to deal with Yuma himself. He smiled a little +grimly. It made very little difference whether he fought Yuma or some +other man; when he had elected to remain in Dry Bottom he had realized +that he must fight somebody--everybody in the Dunlavey crew. He looked +at his watch and saw that the hands pointed to four. Therefore he had +two hours to prepare for Ten Spot's coming. He smiled at the boy, looked +back into the composing room and saw that Potter had ceased his labors +and was leaning on a type case, watching him soberly. He grinned broadly +at Potter and turned to Jiggs. + +"How many _Kickers_ did you sell?" + +"Two hundred an' ten," returned the latter; "everybody bought them." He +took a step forward; his hands clenching with the excitement that still +possessed him. "I told you Ten Spot was comin' down here to kill you!" +he said hoarsely and insistently. "Didn't you hear me?" + +"I heard you," smiled Hollis, "and I understand perfectly. But I don't +think we need to get excited over it. Just how much money did you +receive for the two hundred and ten papers?" + +"Six dollars an' two bits," responded the boy, regarding Hollis +wonderingly. + +"It is yours," Hollis informed him; "there was to be no charge for the +_Kicker_ to-day." + +The boy grinned with pleasure. "Don't you want none of it?" he inquired. + +"It is yours," repeated Hollis. He reached out and grasped the boy by +the arm, drawing him close. "Now tell me what you heard at the Fashion," +he said. + +Rapidly, but with rather less excitement in his manner than he had +exhibited on his entrance, the boy related in detail the conversation he +had overheard at the Fashion. When he had finished Hollis patted him +approvingly on the back. + +"The official circulation manager of the _Kicker_ has made good," +he said with a smile. "Now go home and take a good rest and be ready to +deliver the _Kicker_ next Saturday." + +The boy backed away and stood looking at Hollis in surprise. "Why!" he +said in an awed voice, "you ain't none scared a-tall!" + +"I certainly am scared," laughed Hollis; "scared that Ten Spot will +change his mind before six o'clock. Do you think he will?" + +"No!" emphatically declared the boy. "I don't reckon that Ten Spot will +change his mind a-tall. He'll sure come down here to shoot you!" + +"That relieves me," returned Hollis dryly. "Now you go home. But," he +warned, "don't tell anyone that I am scared." + +For an instant the boy looked at Hollis critically, searching his face +with all a boy's unerring judgment for signs which would tell of +insincerity. Seeing none, he deliberately stretched a hand out to +Hollis, his lips wreathing into an approving grin. + +"Durned if you ain't the stuff!" he declared. "I'm just bettin' that Ten +Spot ain't scarin' you none!" Then he backed out of the door and still +grinning, disappeared. + +After Jiggs had gone Hollis turned and smiled at Potter. "I suppose you +know this man Ten Spot," he said. "Will he come?" + +"He will come," returned Potter. His face was pale and his lips quivered +a little as he continued: "Ten Spot is the worst of Dunlavey's set," he +said; "a dangerous, reckless taker of human life. He is quick on the +trigger and a dead shot. He is called Ten Spot because of the fact that +once, with a gun in each hand, he shot all the spots from a ten of +hearts at ten paces." + +Hollis sat silent, thoughtfully stroking his chin. Potter smiled +admiringly. + +"I know that you don't like to run," he said; "you aren't that kind. But +you haven't a chance with Ten Spot--unfortunately you haven't had much +experience with a six-shooter." Potter's hands shook as he tried to +resume work at the type case. "I didn't think they would have nerve +enough for that game," he added, advancing again toward Hollis. "I +rather thought they would try some other plan--something not quite so +raw. But it seems they have nerve enough for anything. Hollis" he +concluded dejectedly, "you've got to get out of town before six o'clock +or Ten Spot will kill you! + +"You've got plenty of time," he resumed as Hollis kept silent; "it's +only a little after four. You can get on your horse and be almost at the +Circle Bar at six. No one can blame you for not staying--everybody knows +that you can't handle a gun fast enough to match Ten Spot. Maybe if you +do light out and don't show up in town for a week or so this thing will +blow over." + +"Thank you very much for that advice, Potter," said Hollis slowly. "I +appreciate the fact that you are thinking of my safety. But of course +there is another side to the situation. You of course realize that if I +run now I am through here--no one would ever take me seriously after it +had been discovered that I had been run out of town by Ten Spot." + +"That's a fact," admitted Potter. "But of course----" + +"I think that is settled," interrupted Hollis. "You can't change the +situation by argument. I've got to face it and face it alone. I've got +to stay here until Ten Spot comes. If I can't beat him at his game he +wins and you can telegraph East to my people." He rose and walked to the +window, his back to the printer. + +"You can knock off for to-day, Potter. Jump right on your pony and get +out to Circle Bar. I wouldn't say anything to Norton or anyone until +after nine to-night and then if I don't show up at the ranch you will +know that Ten Spot has got me." + +He stood at the window while Potter slowly drew off his apron, carefully +folded it and tucked it into a corner. He moved very deliberately, as +though reluctant to leave his chief. Had Hollis shown the slightest sign +of weakening Potter would have stayed. But watching closely he saw no +sign of weakness in the impassive face of his chief, and so, after he +had made his preparations for departure, he drew a deep breath of +resignation and walked slowly to the back door, where his pony was +hitched. He halted at the threshold, looking back at his chief. + +"Well, good-bye then," he said. + +Hollis did not turn. "Good-bye," he answered. + +Potter took one step outward, hesitated, and then again faced the front +of the office. + +"Damn it, Hollis," he said hoarsely, "don't wait for Ten Spot to start +anything; when you see him coming in the door bore him. You've got a +right to; that's the law in this country. When a man gives you notice to +leave town you've got a right to shoot him on sight!" + +For a moment he stood, awaiting an answer. None came. Potter sighed and +stepped out through the door, leaving his chief alone. + + * * * * * + +At one minute to six Hollis pulled out his watch. He sighed, replaced +the time-piece, and leaned back in his chair. A glance out through the +window showed him that the street was deserted except for here and there +a cow pony drooping over one of the hitching rails and a wagon or two +standing in front of a store. The sun was coming slantwise over the +roofs; Hollis saw that the strip of shade in front of the _Kicker_ +building had grown to wide proportions. He looked at his watch again. It +was one minute after six--and still there were no signs of Ten Spot. + +A derisive grin appeared on Hollis's face. Perhaps Ten Spot had +reconsidered. He decided that he would wait until ten minutes after six; +that would give Ten Spot a decent margin of time for delay. + +And then there was a sudden movement and a man stood just inside the +office door, a heavy revolver in his right hand, its muzzle menacing +Hollis. The man was tall and angular, apparently about thirty years old, +with thin, cruel lips and insolent, shifty eyes. + +"'Nds up!" he said sharply, swinging the revolver to a threatening +poise. "It's six o'clock, you tenderfoot ---- ---- ---- ----!" + +This was the vile epithet that had been applied to Hollis by Yuma Ed, +which had been the direct cause of Yuma's downfall the day of Hollis's +arrival in Dry Bottom. Hollis's eyes flashed, but the man was several +feet from him and out of reach of his fists. Had Hollis been standing he +would have had no chance to reach the man before the latter could have +made use of his weapon. Therefore Hollis remained motionless in his +chair, catching the man's gaze and holding it steadily with unwavering, +narrowed eyes. + +Though he had waited for the coming of Ten Spot, he had formulated no +plan of action; he had felt that somehow he would come out of the clash +with him without injury. He still thought so. In spite of his danger he +felt that some chance of escape would be offered him. Grimly confident +of this he smiled at the man, though still holding his gaze, determined, +if he saw the faintest flicker of decision in his eyes, to duck and +tackle him regardless of consequences. + +"I suppose you are Ten Spot?" he said slowly. He was surprised at the +steadiness of his voice. + +The man grinned, his eyes alert, shifty, filled with a chilling menace. +"You've got her right, tenderfoot," he said; "'Ten Spot's' m' handle, +an' if you're a-feelin' like criticizin' of her do her some rapid before +I starts dealin' out the lead which is in my pritty." + +Just how one man could be so entirely remorseless as to shoot another +when that other man was looking straight into his eyes Hollis could not +understand. He could readily realize how a man could kill when provoked +to anger, or when brooding over an injury. But he had done nothing to +Ten Spot--did not even know him--had never seen him before, and how Ten +Spot could deliberately shoot him--without provocation--was +incomprehensible. He was convinced that in order to shoot, Ten Spot must +work himself into an artificial rage, and he believed that the vile +epithet which Ten Spot had applied to him immediately upon his entrance +must be part of his scheme. He was convinced that had he shown the +slightest resentment over the application of the epithet Ten Spot would +have shot him down at once. Therefore he resolved to give the man no +opportunity to work himself into a rage. He smiled again as Ten Spot +concluded and carelessly twisted himself about in his chair until he was +in a position to make a quick spring. + +"'Ten Spot' is a picturesque name," he remarked quietly, not removing +his gaze from Ten Spot's eyes for the slightest fraction of a second; "I +have no criticism to make. I have always made it a point to refrain from +criticizing my visitors. At least I do not recollect ever having +criticized a visitor who carried a gun," he concluded with a smile. + +Ten Spot's lips curled sarcastically. Apparently he would not swerve in +his determination to provoke trouble. + +"Hell," he said truculently, "that there palaver makes me sick. I reckon +you're too damn white livered to criticize a man that's lookin' at you. +There ain't no tenderfoot (here he applied the unprintable epithet +again) got nerve enough to criticize nothin'!" + +Hollis slowly raised his hands and placed them on the arms of his chair, +apparently to steady himself, but in reality to be ready to project +himself out of the chair in case he could discern any indication of +action on Ten Spot's part. + +"Ten Spot," he said in a low, even, well controlled voice, conciliatory, +but filled with a manliness which no man could mistake, "at four o'clock +this afternoon I heard that you and Yuma Ed were framing up your present +visit. I am not telling who gave me the information," he added as he saw +Ten Spot's eyes brighten, "but that is what happened. So you see I know +what you have come for. You have come to kill me. Is that correct?" + +Ten Spot's eyes narrowed--into them had come an appraising, speculative +glint. He nodded. "You've got her right," he admitted gruffly. "But if +you knowed why didn't you slope?" He looked at Hollis with a half sneer, +as though unable to decide whether Hollis was a brave man or merely a +fool. + +Hollis saw the indecision in Ten Spot's eyes and his own brightened. At +last he had planned a form of action and he cooly estimated the distance +between himself and Ten Spot. While Hollis had been speaking Ten Spot +had taken a step forward and he was now not over four or five feet +distant. Into Ten Spot's eyes had come an amused, disdainful gleam; +Hollis's quiet, argumentative attitude had disarmed him. This was +exactly what Hollis had been waiting for. + +Ten Spot seemed almost to have forgotten his weapon; it had sagged, the +muzzle pointing downward--the man's mind had become temporarily diverted +from his purpose. When he saw Hollis move suddenly forward he remembered +his gun and tried to swing its muzzle upward, but it was too late. +Hollis had lunged forward, his left hand closing on Ten Spot's right +wrist, his right fist reaching Ten Spot's jaw in a full, sweeping, +crashing uppercut. + +The would-be killer did not have even time enough to pull the trigger of +his six-shooter. It fell from his hand and thudded dully to the floor as +his knees doubled under him and he collapsed in an inert, motionless +heap near the door. + +With a grim smile on his face Hollis picked up Ten Spot's weapon and +placed it on the desk. For an instant he stood at the window, looking +out into the street. Down near the Fashion he saw some men--Yuma Ed +among them. No doubt they were waiting the sound of the pistol shot +which would tell them that Ten Spot had disposed of Hollis. Hollis +grinned widely--Yuma and his gang were due for a surprise. For perhaps a +minute Hollis stood beside the desk, watching Ten Spot. Then when the +latter's hands began to twitch and a trace of color appeared in his +face, Hollis pulled out his own revolver and approached him, standing +within a few feet of him and looking down at him. + +There was no mark on Ten Spot's jaw to show where Hollis's blow had +landed, for his fist had struck flush on the point, its force directed +upward. Ten Spot's mouth had been open at the instant and the snapping +of his teeth from the impact of the blow no doubt had much to do with +his long period of unconsciousness. + +He stirred presently and then with an effort sat up and looked at his +conqueror with a glance of puzzled wonderment. Seeing Hollis's weapon +and his own on the desk, the light of past events seemed to filter into +his bewildered brain. He grinned owlishly, felt of his jaw and then +bowed his head, a flush of shame overspreading his face. + +"Herd-rode!" he said dismally. "Herd-rode, an' by a tenderfoot! Oh, +Lordy!" He suddenly looked up at Hollis, his eyes flashing with rage and +defiance. + +"Damn your hide, why don't you shoot?" he demanded. He placed his hands, +palm down, on the floor, preparatory to rising, but ceased his efforts +when he heard Hollis's voice, coldly humorous: + +"I shall shoot you just the instant you get to your feet. I rather think +that I am running things here now." + +Ten Spot sagged back and looked up at him. "Why I reckon you are," he +said. No method of action having suggested itself to him, he continued +to sit, watching Hollis narrowly. + +The latter retreated to his chair and dropped into it, moving +deliberately. When he spoke his voice was cold and metallic. + +"When you first came into the office," he said, "you applied a vile +epithet to me. Once after that you did it again. You have asked me why I +don't shoot you. If you really want me to shoot you you can keep your +mouth closed for just one minute. If you want to continue to live you +can tell me that you didn't mean a word of what you said on those two +occasions. It's up to you." He sat silent, looking steadily at Ten Spot. + +The latter fidgeted, shame again reddening his cheeks. "Why," he said +finally, "I reckon she don't go, tenderfoot. You see, she's only a noma +de ploom which we uses when we wants to rile somebody. I cert'nly didn't +mean nothin' by it." + +"Thanks," drawled Hollis dryly; "I'll call that sufficient. But you +certainly did 'rile' me some." + +"I reckon I must have done just that," grinned Ten Spot ruefully. +"You're shorely some she-wolf with them there claws of your'n. An' I +done laffed at Dunlavey an' Yuma after you'd clawed them." His face +sobered, his eyes suddenly filling with an expression of defiant +resignation. + +"I reckon when you're done triflin' with me you c'n start to pumpin' +your lead," he said. "There ain't no use of prolongin' the agony." He +looked steadily at Hollis, his eyes filling with decision as he again +placed his hands beside him on the floor to rise. + +"You c'n open the ball when you get damn good an' ready," he sneered, +"but I'm gettin' up right now. I ain't goin' to die off my pins like a +damn coyote!" + +He rose quickly, plainly expecting to be shot down the moment he reached +his feet. When he discovered that Hollis evidently intended to delay the +fatal moment he stiffened, his lips twitching queerly. + +"Ten Spot," said Hollis quietly, "by apologizing for what you said when +you came in you have shown that there is a great deal of the man left in +you despite your bad habits and associations. I am going to show you +that I think there is enough of the man left in you to trust you with +your gun." + +He turned abruptly to the desk and took up Ten Spot's weapon, holding it +by the muzzle and presenting it to the latter. Ten Spot looked from the +weapon to Hollis and back again to the weapon, blank amazement pictured +on his face. Then he reached out mechanically, taking the weapon and +holding it in his hands, turning it over and over as though half +inclined to believe that it was not a revolver at all. + +"Chuck full of cattridges, too!" he exclaimed in amazement, as he +examined the chambers. + +"Why, hell----" He crouched and deftly swung the six-shooter around, the +butt in his hand, his finger resting on the trigger. In this position he +looked at Hollis. + +The latter had not moved, but his own weapon was in his right hand, its +muzzle covering Ten Spot, and when the latter swung his weapon up Hollis +smiled grimly at him. + +"Using it?" he questioned. + +For an instant it seemed that Ten Spot would. An exultant, designing +expression came into his eyes, he grinned, his teeth showing tigerishly. +Then suddenly he snapped himself erect and with a single, dexterous +movement holstered the weapon. Then his right hand came suddenly out +toward Hollis. + +"Shake!" he said. "By ----, you're white!" + +Hollis smiled as he returned the hearty handclasp. + +"You're cert'nly plum grit," assured Ten Spot as he released Hollis's +hand and stepped back the better to look at the latter. "But I reckon +you're some damn fool too. How did you know that I wouldn't turn you +into a colander when you give me back my gun?" + +"I didn't know," smiled Hollis. "I just took a chance. You see," he +added, "it was this way. I never intended to shoot you. That sort of +thing isn't in my line and I don't intend to shoot anyone if there is +any way out of it. But I certainly wasn't going to allow you to shoot +me." He smiled oddly. "So I watched my chance and slugged you. Then when +I was certain that you weren't dangerous any more I had to face another +problem. If I had turned you loose after taking your gun what would you +have done?" + +"I'd have gone out an' rustled another gun an' come back here an' +salivated you." + +"That's just what you would have done," smiled Hollis. "I intend to stay +in this country, Ten Spot, and if I had turned you loose without an +understanding you would have shot me at the first opportunity. As it +stands now you owe me-----" + +"As it stands now," interrupted Ten Spot, a queer expression on his +face, "I'm done shootin' as far as you're concerned." He walked to the +door, hesitated on the threshold and looked back. "Mister man," he said +slowly, "mebbe you won't lick Big Bill in this here little mix-up, but +I'm telling you that you're goin' to give him a damn good run for his +money! So-long." + +He stepped down and disappeared. For a moment Hollis looked after him, +and then he sat down at the desk, his face softening into a satisfied +smile. It was something to receive a tribute from a man like Ten Spot. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LOST TRAIL + + +It was after seven o'clock when Hollis mounted his pony in the rear of +the _Kicker_ office and rode out over the plains toward the Circle +Bar. He was properly elated by the outcome of his affair with Ten Spot. +The latter had come to the _Kicker_ office as an enemy looking for +an opportunity to kill. He had left the office, perhaps not a friend, +but at least a neutral, sympathetic onlooker, for according to Hollis's +interpretation of his words at parting he would take no further part in +Dunlavey's campaign--at least he would do no more shooting. + +Hollis was compelled to make a long detour in order to strike the Circle +Bar trail, and when at seven-thirty o'clock he rode down through a dry +arroyo toward a little basin which he must cross to reach a ridge that +had been his landmark during all his trips back and forth from Dry +Bottom to the Circle Bar, dusk had fallen and the shadows of the +oncoming night were settling somberly down over the plains. + +He rode slowly forward; there was no reason for haste, for he had told +Potter to say nothing about the reason of his delay in leaving Dry +Bottom, and Potter would not expect him before nine o'clock. Hollis had +warmed toward Potter this day; there had been in the old printer's +manner that afternoon a certain solicitous concern and sympathy that had +struck a responsive chord in his heart. He was not a sentimentalist, but +many times during his acquaintance with Potter he had felt a genuine +pity for the man. It had been this sentiment which had moved him to ask +Potter to remove temporarily to the Circle Bar, though one consideration +had been the fact at the Circle Bar he would most of the time be beyond +the evil influence of Dry Bottom's saloons. That Potter appreciated this +had been shown by his successful fight against temptation the night +before, when postponement of the publication of the _Kicker_ would +have been fraught with serious consequences. + +Riding down through the little basin at the end of the arroyo Hollis +yielded to a deep, stirring satisfaction over the excellent beginning he +had made in his fight against Dunlavey and the interests behind him. +Many times he smiled, thinking of the surprise his old friends in the +East must have felt over the perusal of their copies of the +_Kicker_; over the information that he--who had been something of a +figure in Eastern newspaperdom--had become the owner and editor of a +newspaper in a God-forsaken town in New Mexico, and that at the outset +he was waging war against interests that ridiculed a judge of the United +States Court. He smiled grimly. They might be surprised, but they must +feel, all who knew him, that he would stay and fight until victory +rewarded him or until black, bitter defeat became his portion. There +could be no compromise. + +When he reached the ridge toward which he had been riding for the +greater part of an hour night had come. The day had been hot, but there +had been a slight breeze, and in the _Kicker_ office, with the +front and rear doors open, he had not noticed the heat very much. But +just as he reached the ridge he became aware that the breeze had died +down; that waves of hot, sultry air were rising from the sun-baked +earth. Usually at this time of the night there were countless stars, and +now as he looked up into the great, vast arc of sky he saw no stars at +all except away down in the west in a big rift between some mountains. +He pulled up his pony and sat motionless in the saddle, watching the +sky. A sudden awe for the grandeur of the scene filled him. He +remembered to have seen nothing quite like it in the East. + +Back toward Dry Bottom, and on the north and south, rose great, black +thunderheads with white crests, seeming like mountains with snowcapped +peaks. Between the thunder-heads were other clouds, of grayish-white, +fleecy, wind-whipped, weird shapes, riding on the wings of the +Storm-Kings. Other clouds flanked these, moving slowly and +majestically--like great ships on the sea--in striking contrast to the +fleecy, unstable shapes between the thunderheads, which, though rushing +always onward, were riven and broken by the irresistible force behind +them. To Hollis it seemed there were two mighty opposing forces at work +in the sky, marshalling, maneuvering, preparing for conflict. While he +sat motionless in the saddle watching, a sudden gust of cold wind +swirled up around him, dashed some fine, flint-like sand against his +face and into his eyes, and then swept onward. He was blinded for an +instant, and allowed the reins to drop on his pony's neck while he +rubbed his eyes with his fingers. He sat thus through an ominous hush +and then to his ears came a low, distant rumble. + +He touched his pony lightly on the flanks with his spurs and headed it +along the ridge, convinced that a storm was coming and suddenly +realizing that he was many miles from shelter. + +He had traveled only a little distance when clouds of sand and dust, +wind-driven, enveloped him, blinding him again, stinging his face and +hands and blotting out the landmarks upon which he depended to guide him +to the Circle Bar. The sky had grown blacker; even the patch of blue +that he had seen in the rift between the distant mountains was now gone. +There was nothing above him--it seemed--except inky black clouds, +nothing below but chaos and wind. He could not see a foot of the trail +and so he gave the pony the rein, trusting to its instinct. + +When Norton had provided him with an outfit the inevitable tarpaulin had +not been neglected. Hollis remembered that this was attached to the +cantle of the saddle, and so, after he had proceeded a little way along +the crest of the ridge, he halted the pony, dismounted, unstrapped the +tarpaulin, and folded it about him. Then he remounted and continued on +his way, mentally thanking Norton for his foresight. + +The pony had negotiated the ridge; had slowly loped down its slope to a +comparatively low and level stretch of country, and was traveling +steadily forward, when Hollis noticed a change in the atmosphere. It had +grown hot again--sultry; the heat seemed to cling to him. An ominous +calm had succeeded the aerial disturbance. From a great distance came a +slight sound--a gentle sighing--gradually diminishing until it died away +entirely. Then again came the ominous, premonitory silence--an absolute +absence of life and movement. Hollis urged the pony forward, hoping the +calm would last until he had covered a goodly part of the distance to +the Circle Bar. For a quarter of an hour he went on at a good pace. But +he had scarcely reached the edge of a stretch of broken country--which +he dreaded even in the daylight--when the storm was upon him. + +It did not come unheralded. A blinding flash of lightning illuminated +miles of the surrounding country, showing Hollis the naked peaks of +ridges and hills around him; gullies, draws, barrancas, the levels, lava +beds, fantastic rock shapes--mocking his ignorance of the country. He +saw them all for an instant and then they were gone and +darkness--blacker than before--succeeded. It was as though a huge map +had suddenly been thrust before his eyes by some giant hand, an intense +light thrown upon it, and the light suddenly turned off. Immediately +there came a heavy crash as though the Storm-Kings, having marshalled +their forces, had thrown them together in one, great, clashing onrush. +And then, straight down, roaring and shrieking, came the deluge. + +The wise little plains-pony halted, standing with drooping head, +awaiting the end of the first fierce onslaught. It lasted long and when +it had gone another silence, as ominous as the preceding one, followed. +The rain ceased entirely and the pony again stepped forward, making his +way slowly, for the trail was now slippery and hazardous. The baked +earth had become a slimy, sticky clay which clung tenaciously to the +pony's hoofs. + +For another quarter of an hour the pony floundered through the mud, +around gigantic boulders, over slippery hummocks, across little gullies, +upon ridges and small hills and down into comparatively level stretches +of country. Hollis was beginning to think that he might escape a bad +wetting after all when the rain came again. + +This time it seemed the Storm-Kings were in earnest. The rain came down +in torrents; Hollis could feel it striking against his tarpaulin in +long, stinging, vicious slants, and the lightning played and danced +along the ridges and into the gullies with continuing energy, the +thunder following, crashing in terrific volleys. It was uncomfortable, +to say the least, and the only consoling thought was that the deluge +would prove a God-send to the land and the cattle. Hollis began to wish +that he had remained in Dry Bottom for the night, but of course Dry +Bottom was not to be thought of now; he must devote all his energy to +reaching the ranch. + +It was slow work for the pony. After riding for another quarter of an +hour Hollis saw, during another lightning flash, another of his +landmarks, and realized that in the last quarter of an hour he had +traveled a very short distance. The continuing flashes of lightning had +helped the pony forward, but presently the lightning ceased and a dense +blackness succeeded. The pony went forward at an uncertain pace; several +times it halted and faced about, apparently undecided about the trail. +After another half hour's travel and coming to a stretch of level +country, the pony halted again, refusing to respond to Hollis's repeated +urging to go forward without guidance. For a long time Hollis continued +to urge the animal--he cajoled, threatened--but the pony would not +budge. Hollis was forced to the uncomfortable realization that it had +lost the trail. + +For a long time he sat quietly in the saddle, trying in the dense +darkness to determine upon direction, but he finally gave it up and with +a sudden impulse took up the reins and pulled the pony to the left, +determined to keep to the flat country as long as possible. + +He traveled for what seemed several miles, the pony gingerly feeling its +way, when suddenly it halted and refused to advance. Something was +wrong. Hollis leaned forward, attempting to peer through the darkness +ahead, but not succeeding. And now, as though having accomplished its +design by causing Hollis to lose the trail, the lightning flashed again, +illuminating the surrounding country for several miles. + +Hollis had been peering ahead when the flash came and he drew a deep +breath of horror and surprise. The pony had halted within a foot of the +edge of a high cliff whose side dropped away sheer, as though cut with a +knife. Down below, perhaps a hundred feet, was an immense basin, through +which flowed a stream of water. To Hollis's right, parallel with the +stream, the cliff sloped suddenly down, reaching the water's edge at a +distance of two or three hundred feet. Beyond that was a stretch of +sloping country many miles in area, and, also on his right, was a long, +high, narrow ridge. He recognized the ridge as the one on which he and +Norton had ridden some six weeks before--on the day he had had the +adventure with Ed Hazelton. Another flash of lightning showed him two +cotton-wood trees--the ones pointed out to him by Norton as marking Big +Elk crossing--the dead line set by Dunlavey and his men. + +Hollis knew his direction now and he pulled the pony around and headed +it away from the edge of the cliff and toward the flat country which he +knew led down through the canyon to Devil's Hollow, where he had taken +leave of Ed and Nellie Hazelton. He was congratulating himself upon his +narrow escape when a flash of lightning again illuminated the country +and he saw, not over a hundred feet distant, sitting motionless on their +ponies, a half dozen cowboys. Also on his pony, slightly in advance of +the others, a grin of derision on his face, was Dunlavey. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +PICKING UP THE TRAIL + + +At about the time that the storm had overtaken Hollis, Potter was +unsaddling his pony at the Circle Bar corral gate. A little later he was +on the wide lower gallery of the ranchhouse washing the stains of travel +from his face and hands. At supper he was taciturn, his face deeply +thoughtful. Had Ten Spot come? What had been the outcome of the meeting? +These questions preyed on his mind and brought furrows into his face. + +At supper he caught Norton watching him furtively and he flushed +guiltily, for he felt that in spite of Hollis's order to say nothing to +Norton he should have told. He had already informed Norton that Hollis +intended remaining in Dry Bottom until a later hour than usual, but he +had said nothing about the intended visit of Ten Spot to the +_Kicker_ office. Loyalty to Hollis kept him from communicating to +Norton his fears for Hollis's safety. It was now too late to do anything +if he did tell Norton; whatever had been done had been done already and +there was nothing for him to do but to wait until nine o'clock. + +After he finished his meal he drew a chair out upon the gallery and +placing it in a corner from where he could see the Dry Bottom trail he +seated himself in it and tried to combat the disquieting fears that +oppressed him. When Norton came out and took a chair near him he tried +to talk to the range boss upon those small subjects with which we fill +our leisure, but he could not hold his thoughts to these trivialities. +He fell into long silences; his thoughts kept going back to Dry Bottom. + +When the rain came he felt a little easier, for he had a hope that +Hollis might have noticed the approach of the storm and decided to +remain in town until it had passed. But after the rain had ceased his +fears again returned. He looked many times at his watch and when Mrs. +Norton came to the door and announced her intention of retiring he +scarcely noticed her. Norton had repeatedly referred to Hollis's +absence, and each time Potter had assured him that Hollis would come +soon. Shortly before nine o'clock, when the clouds lifted and the stars +began to appear, Potter rose and paced the gallery floor. At nine, when +it had become light enough to see quite a little distance down the Dry +Bottom trail and there were still no signs of Hollis, he blurted out the +story of the day's occurrences. + +The information acted upon Norton like an electric shock. He was on his +feet before Potter had finished speaking, grasping him by the shoulders +and shaking him roughly. + +"Why didn't you say something before?" he demanded. "Why did you leave +him? Wasn't there somebody in Dry Bottom that you could have sent out +here to tell me?" He cursed harshly. "Ten Spot's got him!" he declared +sharply, his eyes glittering savagely. "He'd have been here by this +time!" He was taking a hitch in his cartridge belt while talking, and +before concluding he was down off the gallery floor and striding toward +the corral. + +"Tell my wife that I've gone to Dry Bottom," he called back to Potter. +"Important business! I'll be back shortly after midnight!" + +Leaving Potter on the porch staring after him he ran to the corral, +roped his pony, threw on a saddle and bridle and mounted with the animal +on a run. + +The stars were shining brilliantly now and from the porch Potter could +see Norton racing down the Dry Bottom trail with his pony in a furious +gallop. For a time Potter watched him, then he disappeared and Potter +went into the house to communicate his message to his wife. + +The rain had been heavy while it lasted, but by the time Norton had +begun his race to Dry Bottom very little evidence of it remained and the +pony's flying hoofs found the sand of the trail almost as dry and hard +as before the storm. Indeed, there was now little evidence that there +had been a storm at all. + +Norton spared the pony only on the rises and in something over an hour +after the time he had left the Circle Bar he drew up in front of the +_Kicker_ office in Dry Bottom, dismounted, and bounded to the door. +It was locked. He placed a shoulder against it and crashed it in, +springing inside and lighting a match. He smiled grimly when he saw no +signs of Hollis; when he saw that the interior was in an orderly +condition and that there were no signs of a conflict. If Ten Spot had +killed Hollis he had done the deed outside the _Kicker_ office. + +Norton came out again, pulling the wreck of the door after him and +closing it as well as he could. Then, leaving his pony, he strode toward +the Fashion saloon. As he came near he heard sounds of revelry issuing +from the open door and he smiled coldly. A flashing glance through the +window showed him that Ten Spot was there, standing at the bar. In the +next instant Norton was inside, confronting Ten Spot, his big +six-shooter out and shoved viciously against Ten Spot's stomach. + +"What have you done with Hollis, you mangy son-of-a-gun?" he demanded. + +Several men who had been standing at the bar talking and laughing fell +silent and looked at the two men, the barkeeper sidled closer, crouching +warily, for he knew Norton. + +Ten Spot had spread his arms out on the bar and was leaning against it, +looking at Norton in unfeigned bewilderment. He did not speak at once. +Then suddenly aware of the foreboding, savage gleam in Norton's eyes, a +glint of grim humor came into his own and his lips opened a little, +curling sarcastically. + +"Why," he said, looking at Norton, "I don't reckon to be anyone's +keeper." He smiled widely, with a suddenly ludicrous expression. "If +you're talkin' about that tenderfoot noospaper guy, he don't need no +keeper. What have I done to him?" he repeated, his smile growing. "Why, +I reckon I didn't do a heap; I went down to call on him. He was right +sociable. I was goin' to be mean to him, but I just couldn't. When he +left he was sayin' that he'd be right glad to see me again--he'd been +right playful durin' my talk with him. I reckon by now he's over at the +Circle Bar laffin' hisself to sleep over the mean way I treated him. You +just ast him when you see him." + +A flicker of doubt came into Norton's eyes--Ten Spot's words had the +ring of truth. + +"You went down there to shoot him!" he said coldly, still unconvinced. + +"Mebbe I did," returned Ten Spot. "Howsomever, I didn't. I ain't tellin' +how I come to change my mind--that's my business, an' you can't shoot it +out of me. But I'm tellin' you this: me an' that guy has agreed to call +it quits, an' if I hear any man talkin' extravagant about him, me an' +that man's goin' to have a run in mighty sudden!" He laughed. "Someone's +been funnin' you," he said. "When he handed me back my gun after +sluggin'----" + +But he was now talking to Norton's back, for the range boss was at the +door, striding rapidly toward his pony. He mounted again and rode out on +the trail, proceeding slowly, convinced that something had happened to +Hollis after he had left Dry Bottom. It was more than likely that he had +lost his way in the storm, and in that case he would probably arrive at +the Circle Bar over some round-about trail. He was now certain that he +had not been molested in town; if he had been some of the men in the +Fashion would have told him about it. Hollis would probably be at the +ranch by the time he arrived, to laugh at his fears. Nevertheless he +rode slowly, watching the trail carefully, searching the little gullies +and peering into every shadow for fear that Hollis had been injured in +some accident and might be lying near unable to make his presence known. + +The dawn was just showing above the horizon when he rode up to the +ranchhouse to find Potter standing on the porch--apparently not having +left there during his absence. Beside Potter stood Ed Hazelton, and near +the latter a drooping pony, showing signs of hard riding. + +Norton passed the corral gate and rode up to the two men. A glance at +their faces told him that something had gone wrong. But before he could +speak the question that had formed on his lips Hazelton spoke. + +"They got him, Norton," he said slowly. + +"Dead?" queried Norton sharply, his lips straightening. + +"No," returned Hazelton gloomily; "he ain't dead. But when I found him +he wasn't far from it. Herd-rode him, the damned sneaks! Beat him up +so's his own mother wouldn't know him!" + +"Wait!" commanded Norton. "I'm going with you. I suppose you've got him +over to your shack?" He caught Hazelton's nod and issued an order to +Potter. "Go down to the bunkhouse and get Weary out. Tell him to hit the +breeze to Cimarron for the doctor. If the doc' don't want to come drag +him by the ears!" + +He spurred his pony furiously to the corral gate and in a short time had +saddled another horse and was back where Hazelton was awaiting him. +Without speaking a word to each other the two men rode rapidly down the +Coyote trail, while Potter, following directions, his face haggard and +drawn from loss of sleep and worry, hurried to the bunkhouse to arouse +Weary and send him on his long journey to Cimarron. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AFTER THE STORM + + +Hollis's tall figure lay pitifully slack on a bed in the Hazelton cabin. +Nellie Hazelton had given him what care she could out of her limited +knowledge and now nothing more could be done until the arrival of the +Cimarron doctor. Swathed in bandages, his clothing torn and soiled--as +though after beating him his assailants had dragged him through the +mud--one hand queerly twisted, his face swollen, his whole great body +looking as though it had received the maximum of injury, Hollis moved +restlessly on the bed, his head rolling oddly from side to side, +incoherent words issuing from between his bruised and swollen lips. + +Norton stood beside the bed, looking down at the injured man with a +grim, savage pity. + +"The damned cowards!" he said, his voice quivering. "There must have +been a dozen of them--to do him up like that!" + +"Seven," returned Ed Hazelton grimly. "They left their trail there; I +counted the hoof prints, an' they led down the slope toward Big Elk +crossin'." He looked at Norton with a frown. "We can't do anything +here," he said shortly, "until the doctor comes. I'll take you down +where I found him." + +They went out and mounted their ponies. Down the trail a mile or so they +came to a level that led away toward Rabbit-Ear Creek. From the level +they could see the Circle Cross buildings, scattered over a small +stretch of plain on the opposite side of the river. There was no life +around them, no movement. Norton grimaced toward them. + +Hazelton halted his pony in some tall grass near a bare, sandy spot on +the plains. The grass here grew only in patches and Norton could plainly +see a number of hoof prints in the sand. One single set led away across +the plains toward the Dry Bottom trail. Seeing the knowing expression in +Norton's eyes, Hazelton spoke quietly. + +"That's Hollis's trail. He must have took the Dry Bottom trail an' lost +it in the storm. Potter says he would probably take it because it's +shorter. Anyways, it's his trail; I followed it back into the hills +until I was sure. I saw that he had been comin' from Dry Bottom. He lost +his way an' rode over here. I remember there was an awful darkness, for +I was out scoutin' around to see if my stock was all right. Well, he got +this far--rode right up to the edge of the butte over there an' then +come back this way. Then he met--well, the men that did it." + +"They all stood there for a little while; you can see where their horses +pawed. Then mebbe they started somethin', for you can see where Hollis's +pony throwed up a lot of sand, tryin' to break out. The others were in a +circle--you can see that. I've figured it out that Hollis saw there +wasn't any chance for him against so many an' he tried to hit the breeze +away from here. I'll show you." + +They followed the hoof prints down the slope and saw that all the riders +must have been traveling fast at this point, for the earth was cut and +the hoof prints bunched fore and aft. They ran only a little way, +however. About a hundred yards down the slope, in a stretch of bare, +sandy soil, the horses had evidently come to a halt again, for they were +bunched well together and there were many of them, showing that there +had been some movement after the halt. + +Norton dismounted and examined the surrounding soil. + +"They all got off here," he said shortly, after the examination; +"there's the prints of their boots. They caught him here and handed it +to him." + +Hazelton silently pointed to a queer track in the sand--a shallow groove +running about fifty feet, looking as though some heavy object had been +drawn over it. Norton's face whitened. + +"Drug him!" he said grimly, his lips in two straight lines. "It's likely +they roped him!" He remounted his pony and sat in the saddle, watching +Hazelton as the latter continued his examination. "They're a fine, nervy +bunch!" he sneered as Hazelton also climbed into his saddle. "They must +have piled onto him like a pack of wolves. If they'd have come one at a +time he'd have cleaned them up proper!" + +They rode away down the trail toward the cabin. Norton went in and +looked again at Hollis, and then, telling Hazelton that he would return +in the afternoon, he departed for the Circle Bar. He stopped at the +ranchhouse and communicated the news to his wife and Potter and then +rode on up the river to a point about ten miles from the +ranchhouse--where the outfit was working. + +The men received his news with expressions of rage and vengeance. They +had come to admire Hollis for his courage in electing to continue the +fight against Dunlavey; they had seen that in spite of his ignorance of +the customs of their world he possessed a goodly store of common sense +and an indomitable spirit. Yet none of them expressed sympathy, though +their faces showed that they felt it. Expressions of sympathy in a case +such as this would have been unnecessary and futile. But their +expressions of rage showed how the news had affected them. Though they +knew that Dunlavey's forces outnumbered their own they were for striking +back immediately. But Norton discouraged this. + +"We're layin' low for a while," he said. "Mebbe the boss will get well. +If he does he'll make things mighty interestin' for Dunlavey--likely +he'll remember who was in the crowd which beat him up. If he dies----" +His eyes flashed savagely. "Well, if he dies you boys can go as far as +you like an' I'll go with you without doin' any kickin'." + +"What's goin' to be done with that noospaper of his'n?" inquired Ace. +"You reckon she'll miss fire till he's well again?" + +Norton's brows wrinkled; he had not thought of the newspaper. But he +realized now that if the paper failed to appear on scheduled time the +people in Union County would think that Hollis had surrendered; they +would refuse to believe that he had been so badly injured that he could +not issue the paper, and Dunlavey would be careful to circulate some +sort of a story to encourage this view. Now that Ace had brought the +matter to his attention he began to suspect that this had been the +reason of the attack on Hollis. That they had not killed him when they +had the opportunity, showed that they must have had some purpose other +than that of merely desiring to get him out of the way. That they had +merely beaten him showed that their wish was only to incapacitate him +temporarily. Norton's eyes flashed with a sudden determination. + +"I don't reckon that the _Kicker_ will miss fire," he declared; +"not if I have to go to Dry Bottom an' get her out myself!" + +Ace eyed him furtively and now spoke with an embarrassed +self-consciousness. + +"I've been considerin' this here situation ever since you told us about +the boss," he said diffidently, "an' if you're goin' to get that paper +out, a little poem or two might help out considerable." + +"Meanin'?" interrogated Norton, his eyelashes flickering. + +Ace's face reddened painfully. "Meanin' that I've got several little +pieces which I've wrote when I didn't have anything else to do an' that +I'd be right willin' to have them put into the _Kicker_ to help +fill her up. Some of the boys think they're right classy." + +Norton looked around at the other men for confirmation of the truth of +this modest statement. He caught Lanky's glance. + +"I reckon that's about right," said that sober-faced puncher; "Ace is +the pote lariat of this here outfit, an' he sure has got a lot of right +clever lines in his pomes. I've read them which wasn't one-two-three +with his'n." + +Norton smiled, a little cynically. He wasn't quite sure about it, he +said, but if Ace could write poetry he hadn't any doubt that during the +next few weeks there would be plenty of opportunity to print some of it +in the Kicker. He smiled when he saw Ace's face brighten. But he told +him he would have to see Hollis--if the latter got well enough to endure +an interview. If the boss recovered enough to be able to look at Ace's +poetry before it was printed, why of course it would have to be shown +him. He didn't want anything to go into the _Kicker_ which the boss +wouldn't like. But if he wasn't able to look at it, why he would leave +the decision to Potter, and if it suited the latter he would be +satisfied. He would keep the boys posted on the boss's condition. Then +he rode away toward the ranchhouse. + +Late in the afternoon he again visited the Hazelton cabin. He found the +Cimarron doctor already there. Hollis was still unconscious, though +resting easier. The doctor declared that he would remain with him +throughout the night. He followed Norton out on to the porch and told +him that at present he could not tell just how serious Hollis's injuries +were. There was a great wound in his head which he feared might turn out +seriously, but if not, Hollis would recover quickly and be as good as +ever within a few weeks--except for his left wrist--which was broken. He +praised Nellie Hazelton for the care she was giving the injured man. +Convinced that there was nothing more to be done, Norton returned to the +Circle Bar to give his attention to his work. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"WOMAN--SHE DON'T NEED NO TOOTER" + + +The Cimarron doctor's fears for the wound on Hollis's head had proved +unfounded and on the tenth day after his experience on the night of the +storm, Hollis was sitting on the Hazelton porch, his head still swathed +in bandages, his left wrist in a splint, but his spirit still untouched. +The marks on his face had all disappeared, except an ugly gash under his +right eye--which still showed a slight discoloration--and a smaller cut +on the chin. The Cimarron doctor had told him that the wound under his +eye would leave a permanent scar--the wound had been deep and in spite +of the doctor's care, had drawn together queerly, affecting the eye +itself and giving it an odd expression. Many times since becoming able +to move about had Hollis looked at his face in his mirror, and each time +there had come into his eyes an expression that boded ill for the men +who had been concerned in the attack on him. + +It was mid-afternoon and the sun was coming slant-wise over the roof of +the cabin, creating a welcome shade on the porch. Ed Hazelton had been +gone since morning, looking after his cattle, and Nellie was in the +house, busily at work in the kitchen--Hollis could hear her as she +stepped about the room. + +Norton had left the cabin an hour before and a little later Potter had +stopped in on his way over to Dry Bottom to set up an article that he +had written at Hollis's dictation. Hollis had told Norton of his +experiences on the night of the storm. + +After the flash of lightning had revealed Dunlavey and his men, Hollis +had attempted to escape, knowing that Dunlavey's intentions could not be +peaceable, and that he would have no chance in a fight with several men. +He had urged his pony toward the two buttes that he had seen during the +lightning flash, making a circuit in order to evade his enemies. He +might have succeeded, but unfortunately the darkness had lifted and they +had been able to intercept him. He could give no clear account of what +had happened after they had surrounded him. There had been no words +spoken. He had tried to break out of the circle; had almost succeeded +when a loop settled over his shoulders and he was dragged from his +pony--dragged quite a distance. + +The fall had hurt him, but when the rope had slackened he had regained +his feet--to see that all the men had surrounded him. One man struck at +him and he had immediately struck back, knocking the man down. After +that the blows came thick and fast. He hit several more faces that were +close to him and at one time was certain he had put three of his +assailants out of the fight. But the others had crowded him close. He +fought them as well as he could with the great odds against him, and +once was inspired with a hope that he might escape. Then had come a +heavy blow on the head--he thought that one of the men had used the butt +of a revolver. He could dimly remember receiving a number of other blows +and then he knew nothing more until he had awakened in the Hazelton +cabin. + +Hollis's opinion of Dunlavey's motive in thus attacking him coincided +with Norton's. They might easily have killed him. That they did not +showed that they must have some peculiar motive. Aside from a perfectly +natural desire on Dunlavey's part to deal to Hollis the same sort of +punishment that Hollis had inflicted on Dunlavey on the occasion of +their first meeting, the latter could have no motive other than that of +preventing the appearance of the _Kicker_ on its regular +publication day. + +Hollis was convinced that Dunlavey had been inspired by both motives. +But though Dunlavey had secured his revenge for the blow that Hollis had +struck him in Dry Bottom, Hollis did not purpose to allow him to prevent +the appearance of the _Kicker_. It had been impossible for him to +make the trip to Dry Bottom, but he had summoned Potter and had dictated +considerable copy, Potter had written some, and in this manner they had +managed to get the _Kicker_ out twice. + +Ace had not been able to get any of his poems into the _Kicker_. He +had submitted some of them to Potter, but the printer had assured him +that he did not care to assume the responsibility of publishing them. +Thereupon Ace had importuned Norton to intercede with Hollis on his +behalf. On his visit this morning Norton had brought the matter to +Hollis's attention. The latter had assured the range boss that he +appreciated the puncher's interest and would be glad to go over some of +his poems. Therefore Hollis was not surprised when in the afternoon he +saw Ace loping his pony down the Coyote trail toward the Hazelton cabin. + +Ace's approach was diffident, though ambition urged him on. He rode up +to the edge of the porch, dismounted, and greeted his boss with an +earnestness that contrasted oddly with his embarrassment. He took the +chair that Hollis motioned him to, sitting on the edge of it and +shifting nervously under Hollis's direct gaze. + +"I reckon Norton told you about my poems," he began. He caught Hollis's +nod and continued: "Well, I got a bunch of 'em here which I brung over +to show you. Folks back home used to say that I was a genyus. But I +reckon mebbe they was hittin' her up a little bit strong," he admitted, +modestly; "folks is that way--they like to spread it on a bit. But"--and +the eyes of the genius flashed proudly--"I reckon I've got a little +talyunt, the evidence of which is right here!" With rather more +composure than had marked his approach he now drew out a prodigious +number of sheets of paper, which he proceeded to spread out on his knee, +smoothing them lovingly. + +"Mebbe I ain't much on spellin' an' grammar an' all that sort of thing," +he offered, "but there's a heap of sense to be got out of the stuff I've +wrote. Take this one, for instance. She's a little oday to 'Night,' +which I composed while the boys was poundin' their ears one night--not +bein' affected in their feelin's like I was. If you ain't got no +objections I'll read her." And then, not waiting to hear any objections, +he began: + + The stars are bright to-night; + They surely are a sight, + Sendin' their flickerin' light + From an awful, unknown height. + + Why do they shine so bright? + I'm most o'ercome with fright---- + +"Of course I reely wasn't scared," he offered with a deprecatory smile, +"but there wasn't any other word that I could think of just then an' so +I shoved her in. It rhymes anyhow an' just about says what I wanted." + +He resumed: + + When I look up into the night, + An' see their flickerin' light. + +He ceased and looked at Hollis with an abashed smile. "It don't seem to +sound so good when I'm readin' her out loud," he apologized. "An' I've +thought that mebbe I've worked that 'night' an' 'light' rhyme over-time. +But of course I've got 'fright' an' 'sight' an' 'height' in there to +kind of off-set that." He squirmed in his chair. "You take her an' read +her." He passed the papers over to Hollis and rose from his chair. "I'll +be goin' back to the outfit; Norton was sayin' that he wanted me to look +up some strays an' I don't want him to be waitin' for me. But I'd like +to have one of them pomes printed in the _Kicker_--just to show the +folks in this here country that there's a real pote in their midst." + +"Why----" began Hollis, about to express his surprise over his guest's +sudden determination to depart. But he saw Nellie Hazelton standing just +outside the door, and the cause of Ace's projected departure was no +longer a mystery. He had gone before Hollis could have finished his +remonstrance, and was fast disappearing in a cloud of dust down the +trail when Hollis turned slowly to see Nellie Hazelton smiling broadly. + +"I just couldn't resist coming out," she said. "It rather startled me to +discover that there was a real poet in the country." + +"There seems to be no doubt of it," returned Hollis with a smile. But he +immediately became serious. "Ace means well," he added. "I imagine that +it wasn't entirely an ambition to rush into print that moved him to +submit his poems; he wants to help fill up the paper." + +Miss Hazelton laughed. "I really think," she said, looking after the +departing poet, "that he might have been fibbing a little when he said +that the 'night' had not 'scared' him. He ran from me," she added, +amusement shining in her eyes, "and I should not like to think that any +woman could appear so forbidding and mysterious as the darkness." + +Hollis had been scanning one of the poems in his hand. He smiled +whimsically at Miss Hazelton as she concluded. + +"Here is Ace's opinion on that subject," he said. "Since you have +doubted him I think it only fair that you should give him a hearing. +Won't you read it?" + +She came forward and seated herself in the chair that the poet had +vacated, taking the mass of paper that Hollis passed over to her. + +"Shall I read it aloud?" she asked with a smile at him. + +"I think you had better not," he returned; "it might prove +embarrassing." + +She blushed and gave her attention to the poem. It was entitled: +"Woman," and ran; + + "Woman she dont need no tooter, + be she skule mam or biscut shooter. + she has most curyus ways about her, + which leads a man to kinda dout her. + + Though lookin at her is shure a pleasur + there aint no way to get her measure + i reckon she had man on the run + a long while before the world begun. + + I met a biscut shooter in the chance saloon + when i was blowin my coin in ratoon + while the coin lasted i owned her an the town + but when it was gone she throwed me down. + + An so i say she dont need no tooter + be she skule mam or biscut shooter + she fooled me an my hart she stole + which has opened my eyes an hurt my sole." + +Miss Hazelton laid the manuscript in her lap and laughed heartily. + +"What a harrowing experience!" she declared. Hollis was grinning at her. + +"That was a bad thing to have happen to a man," he observed; "I suppose +it rather shattered Ace's faith in woman. At least you could observe by +his actions just a moment ago that he isn't taking any more chances." + +She fixed him with a defiant eye. "But he still admits that he takes +pleasure in looking at a woman!" she told him triumphantly. + +"So he does. Still, that isn't remarkable. You see, a man couldn't help +that--no matter how badly he had been treated." + +She had no reply to make to this, though she gave him a look that he +could not mistake. But he laughed. "I think Ace's effort ought to go +into the _Kicker_" he said. "I have no doubt that many who read the +poem will find in it a great deal of truth--perhaps a reflection of +their own personal experiences." + +Her face clouded and she regarded him a little soberly. "Of your own, +perhaps?" she suggested. + +"Not guilty," he returned laughing. "You see, I have never had any time +to devote to the study of women, let alone time to allow them to fool +me. Perhaps when I do have time to study them I may find some truth in +Ace's effort." + +"Then women do not interest you?" She was looking down the Coyote trail. + +"Well, no," he said, thinking of the busy days of his past, and not +being aware of the furtive, significant glance she threw toward him. +"You see, there have always been so many important things to engage my +attention." + +"How fortunate!" she said mockingly, after a pause during which he had +time to realize that he had been very ungracious. He saw Ace's +manuscript flutter toward him, saw her rise and heard the screen door +slam after her. During the remainder of the afternoon he was left alone +on the porch to meditate upon the evils that arise from thoughtless +speech. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE COALITION + + +Perhaps there were some persons in Union County who, acquainted with the +details of the attack on Hollis, expected to read an account of it in +the _Kicker_. If there were any such they were disappointed. There +was nothing about the attack printed in the _Kicker_--nor did +Hollis talk to any stranger concerning it. + +Ace's poem entitled "Woman" had gone into the paper, causing the +poet--for many days following the appearance of his composition--to look +upon his fellow punchers with a sort of condescending pity. On the +second day after his discussion with Miss Hazelton over Ace's poem +Hollis returned to the Circle Bar. He had succeeded in convincing Nellie +that he had answered thoughtlessly when he had informed her that he took +no interest in women, and though she had defiantly assured him that she +had not taken offense, there had been a light in her eyes upon his +departure which revealed gratification over his repentance. She stood +long on the porch after he had taken leave of her, watching him as he +rode slowly down the trail and disappeared around a turn. Then she +smiled regretfully, sighed, and went into the house. + +Hollis's return to the Circle Bar was unostentatious and quite in +keeping with his method of doing things. Within the next few days he met +several of the Circle Bar men and there were mutterings against +Dunlavey, but Hollis discouraged action, assuring the mutterers that his +differences with Dunlavey were entirely personal and that he intended +carrying on the fight alone. + +His wounds mended rapidly, and within two weeks--except for the broken +wrist--he was well as ever. Meanwhile Potter had succeeded in getting +the _Kicker_ out on time, though there had been a noticeable lack +of aggressiveness in the articles. Especially was this true of the +articles bearing upon the situation in Union County. Hollis had dictated +some of these, but even those which he had dictated had seemed to lack +something. + +Nothing had been heard of Dunlavey--it seemed that after the attack upon +Hollis he had withdrawn from the scene to await the latter's next move. + +But Hollis was in no hurry; he had lost some of the enthusiasm that had +marked his attitude in the beginning, but this enthusiasm had been +replaced by determination. He was beginning to realize that in Dunlavey +he had met a foe worthy of his most serious efforts. He had determined +that there would be no repetition of the attack upon him, and therefore +during his convalescence he had sent to Las Vegas for a repeating rifle, +and this he carried with him on his trips to and from Dry Bottom. + +Meanwhile the drought continued. The sky was cloudless, the desultory +breezes that swept the plains blighted growing things, raising little +whirlwinds of fine, flinty alkali dust and spreading it over the face of +the world. The storm that had caught Hollis on the Dry Bottom trail had +covered only a comparatively small area; it had lasted only a brief time +and after its passage the country was dry as before. + +Rabbit-Ear Creek of all the streams in the vicinity of Dry Bottom held +water. From all points of the compass cattle drifted to the Rabbit-Ear, +slaking their thirst and refusing to leave. Bronzed riders on drooping +ponies trailed them, cutting them out, trying to keep their herds +intact, but not succeeding. Confusion reigned. For miles in both +directions Rabbit-Ear Creek became one huge, long watering trough. +Temporary camps were made; chuck wagons rattled up to them, loaded with +supplies for the cowboys, and rattled back to distant ranches for more. +There had been other droughts, but this one was +unexpected--unprecedented. There had always been a little water +everywhere. Now Rabbit-Ear Creek held all there was. + +Only the small cattle owners suffered because of the drought. Riders +told of the presence of plenty of water in the Canadian, the Cimarron, +and the Ute. Carrizo held some. In fact, nearly all the streams held by +the large ranchers seemed to contain plenty. The smaller owners, whose +herds were smaller and whose complement of punchers was necessarily +limited, had apparently been selected by Providence for ruin. + +There were mutterings against the large owners, against Providence. +Particularly were there mutterings against Dunlavey when word came to +the owners of the herds that if the drought was not broken within the +next ten days the Circle Cross manager would drive all foreign cattle +from the Rabbit-Ear. He would not allow his own herds to suffer to save +theirs, he said. + +On the night following the day upon which the small owners had received +this word from Dunlavey a number of the former waited upon Hollis. They +found him seated on the lower gallery of the ranchhouse talking to +Norton and Potter. Lemuel Train, of the Pig-pen outfit, had been +selected as their spokesman. He stood before Hollis, a big man, +diffident in manner and rough in appearance, surrounded by his fellow +ranchers, bronzed, bearded, serious of face. Though the sun had been +down three hours the heat was frightful and the visitors shuffled their +feet and uncomfortably wiped the perspiration from their brows. + +"Sit down," invited Hollis. He rose and stood while the men draped +themselves on the edge of the gallery floor--all except the spokesman, +Lemuel Train. The latter faced Hollis. His face was grim in the dusk. + +"We've come to see what you've got to say about water," he said. + +Days before Norton had told Hollis that these men who were now herding +at the Rabbit-Ear were the small ranchers who had refused to aid the +elder Hollis in his fight against Dunlavey some years before. Therefore +Hollis did not answer at once. When he did his voice was dry and cold. +He too had heard of Dunlavey's ultimatum concerning the water. + +"Before I say anything on that subject I should like to know to whom I +am talking," he said. + +Train swept a ponderous hand toward his fellow visitors, pointing them +out in turn. "There's Truxton, of the Diamond Dot; Holcomb, of the Star; +Henningson, of the Three Bar; Yeager, of the Three Diamond; an' Clark, +of the Circle Y." + +"Correct," affirmed Norton, behind Hollis. + +Hollis smiled grimly; he had caught a belligerent note in Norton's +voice. Plainly, if the range boss were allowed a voice in the matter, +these visitors would have now received as little encouragement as they +had received from Dunlavey. But Hollis's smile showed that he held +different views. + +"I am Kent Hollis," he said to the men; "I suppose you know that." + +"I reckon we know you," said Train; "you're Jim Hollis's boy." + +"Then you know that Dunlavey and my father were not exactly bosom +friends," returned Hollis. + +Several heads bobbed affirmatively; others sat grimly silent. Hollis +smiled. + +"How many of you offered to help my father when he came to you asking +for assistance in his fight against Dunlavey?" + +Train fidgeted. "I reckon they wasn't much chance----" he began, and +then hesitated, looking around at his fellows. + +"Of course," returned Hollis quietly, after an embarrassed pause, "there +wasn't much chance for you to win then. And you had to take a big risk +to help my father. But he had to take a bigger risk to fight alone. +Still he fought. And he fought alone. He was almost ruined. And now you +men are facing ruin. And you have come to Jim Hollis's son to help you. +Do you think he ought?" + +The men sat silent; the spokesman was without words. + +"How many men can the six of you muster--in case Dunlavey should try to +carry out his decision to drive your cattle from the Rabbit-Ear--or +shoot them?" + +"Eighteen, I reckon," returned Train, looking at the others, who nodded +affirmatively to his question. + +Hollis turned to Norton. "How many men does Dunlavey employ?" he +questioned. + +"Thirty," snapped Norton. "But in case he needed them he c'n get a +hundred." + +"Big odds," smiled Hollis. "Why should I volunteer to help you fight +Dunlavey? My cattle are certain of getting enough water. Why should I +not be selfish, as you men were when my father went to you for +assistance?" + +There was no answer. The faces that surrounded Hollis in the +semi-darkness showed plainly that their owners had given up thoughts of +assistance. Grim, hard lines came into them; two or three sneered. Of +course they would fight Dunlavey; there was no alternative, for they +could not stand idly by and see their cattle slain--Dunlavey could not +drive them from water, they would have to be shot. They had reckoned on +securing help from Hollis; he held one side of the Rabbit-Ear and with +his support they were in a position to make things very unpleasant for +any of Dunlavey's men who might, from the opposite side of the river, +attempt to shoot their cattle. But with Hollis against them they would +be powerless; with Hollis against them Dunlavey's men could swarm both +sides of the river and the destruction of their cattle would be certain. + +All of the men knew this. Yet they did not answer Hollis's question. +They had not come to plead with him; they knew that the situation had +narrowed down to a point where they could depend only on their own +resources. They would not plead, yet as they silently started to file +off the gallery there were bitter smiles on several of their faces. +There were no threats; perhaps Hollis had succeeded in showing them the +similarity between his conduct and their own in the long ago, when his +father had gone to them for assistance. At least this was what he had +tried to show them. + +Lemuel Train was the last man down the gallery. He turned as he reached +the ground and looked back over his shoulder at Hollis. + +"So-long," he said shortly. "I reckon you're even now." + +Hollis had not moved. "Wait, Train!" he said. The visitors halted and +faced him. + +"Men," he said quietly, "you have not answered my question. I am going +to repeat it: Why should I not be selfish, as you men were when my +father went to you for assistance?" + +Lemuel Train smiled ironically. "Why, I reckon it's your trick, mister +man," he said; "you've got all the cards." + +"Come back here, men," said Hollis. "Since none of you care to answer my +question I will answer it myself." He stood silent while the men filed +back and resumed seats on the gallery edge. Darkness had come on while +he had been talking to the men and inside the ranchhouse Mrs. Norton had +lighted the kerosene lamp and its weak, flickering rays straggled out +into the darkness and upon Hollis's face and the faces of several of the +men who sat on the edge of the gallery. + +Hollis knew that he might readily become melodramatic in the few words +that he purposed to say to the men, and so when he began talking he +adopted a low, even tone, confidential, serious. He told them that the +things he had written in his salutatory in the _Kicker_, months +before, had been an honest declaration of the principles in which he +believed. This was America, he repeated; they were all Americans; they +were all entitled to that freedom of thought, speech, and movement for +which their forefathers had fought. For one, he purposed to fight, if +necessary, to retain his rights. + +He told them that he held no ill-feeling against them on account of +their refusal to assist his father. That was past history. But now they +were to look into the future; they were all facing ruin if they did not +combine in a common cause. So far as he was concerned their cattle might +remain at the Rabbit-Ear until the drought ended, or until the stream +went dry. And if Dunlavey fought them--well, he would be with them to +the finish. + +When he had concluded Lemuel Train stepped forward and shook his hand. +The others followed. There was no word spoken. The men filed down from +the gallery, sought their horses, mounted, and rode slowly away into the +darkness. When they had gone Hollis turned to resume his chair, but +found Norton standing near him, looking at him with a curious smile. + +"Shake!" said the latter. "I knowed you'd do it that way!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TO SUPPORT THE LAW + + +Hollis alone, of all the men whose cattle grazed on the Circle Bar side +of the Rabbit-Ear, really doubted that Dunlavey would have the courage +to inaugurate a war against the small owners. Lemuel Train was +particularly strong in his belief that Dunlavey would not hesitate to +shoot whatever cattle infringed on what he considered were his rights. +"I know the skunk!" he declared heatedly to Hollis a day or two after +the conversation on the porch at the Circle Bar. "He'll do it. I'm only +scared that he won't wait till the tenth day before beginnin'. Why in +hell don't it rain?" + +This remained the great, universal interrogation. But at the end of a +week it was unanswered. The sun swam in its endless circles, a great +ball of molten silver at which no man could look with the naked eye, +traveling its slow way through a blurred, white sky, sinking to the +horizon in the evening and leaving a scorched, blasted, gasping country +behind. The nights brought no relief. Clark, of the Circle Y, +sarcastically declared it to be his belief that some meddler in things +firmamental was paying the owner of the sun to work it overtime. + +Hollis's daily twenty mile ride from the Circle Bar to Dry Bottom and +return became a trial to him. At night, when he returned from the trip, +hot, dry, dusty, he would draw a chair out on the gallery floor and scan +the sky for signs of rain. To his recollection since his adventure on +the night of the storm there had not been a cloud in the sky. On the +trails the dust was inches deep and light as a feather. It rose in +stifling whirlwinds, filling the nostrils and the lungs, parching the +tongues of man and beast and accentuating the suffering caused by lack +of water. + +All the pleasure had been drawn from Hollis's rides because of the +dryness and heat. On a morning a week following the day upon which +Dunlavey had issued his warning to the cattle owners, Hollis made his +usual trip to Dry Bottom. Norton accompanied him, intending to make some +purchases in town. They rode the ten miles without incident and Hollis +left Norton at the door of the _Kicker_ office, after telling the +range boss to come back to the office when he had made his purchases as +he intended returning to the Circle Bar before noon. Hollis found Potter +inside. The latter had remained in Dry Bottom over night and was busy at +a type case when his chief entered. Hollis did not remain long in the +office. He looked over some letters that Potter had placed on his desk, +placed one in a pocket and rose, telling Potter that he would be back +and instructing him to tell Norton to await his coming should the latter +return before him. Then he went down to the court house. + +He found the door of Judge Graney's court room slightly ajar and without +knocking he pushed it open and entered. On the threshold he halted and +drew a deep breath. Judge Graney was seated at the big table, and +directly opposite him, leaning heavily on his elbows, his face inflamed +with anger, sat Dunlavey. Near a window at the side of the room stood a +grave faced man of medium height, slender and muscular, who was watching +the Judge and Dunlavey soberly. + +At Hollis's sudden appearance the Judge looked up and smiled, while +Dunlavey faced around, a derisive, mocking grin on his face. Hollis bore +no marks of the recent attack beyond the left wrist, still in splints. + +"Come in," invited Judge Graney, his smile growing, his eyes glinting +oddly. "I think, since you are responsible for the startling innovation +which we have been discussing, that you are entitled to a word." + +He gravely waved Hollis to a chair and stood silent while the latter +sank into it. Then he smiled, glancing furtively at Dunlavey and +addressing Hollis. + +"Perhaps you will remember that some time ago you printed an article in +the _Kicker_ urging upon the Government the necessity of bringing +the law into Union County?" + +Hollis nodded. "Yes," he said quietly; "I remember." + +"Well," resumed the Judge, "the article has borne fruit. But perhaps not +in the manner you expected." He laughed around at the three, +deliberately closing an eye at Hollis. "You know," he resumed, +addressing them all, his eyes twinkling as his gaze met Dunlavey's, +"that the law is an expensive institution. It is a fundamental +principle--at least of some governments," he smiled--"that a community +that desires the law must pay, and pay dearly--for it. In short, if it +wants the law it must pay taxes. I do not say that that is a principle +which our government is applying, but I do say that it is an eminently +fair proposition. + +"At all events I have received word from the Interior Department that if +we want the law to come out here we must pay for it. That is not said in +so many words, but that is the inference, if we are to consider the +instructions of the Secretary of the Interior--which are: 'I am informed +that several large ranch owners in Union County are inclined to evade +taxation. Especially is this true--I am told--of a man named Dunlavey, +who, if the report is correct, paid, during the last half year, taxes on +five hundred head of cattle, whereas it is claimed that his holdings +will amount to about five thousand, yearly average. In view of this +ridiculously low return it seems incumbent upon me to appoint an +inquisitor, whose duty----" + +Dunlavey laughed harshly, interrupting the Judge. Then he turned +suddenly to Hollis, his face inflamed with passion. + +"I reckon this is some of your work?" he snarled. + +Hollis met his gaze steadily. "I imagine it is," he said quietly. He +could not keep a flash of triumph from his eyes. "Nothing could please +me better than to discover that I had a hand in bringing the law to this +country. It needs plenty of law." + +Judge Graney cleared his throat. "This does not apply to you alone, +Dunlavey," he said, facing the latter. "Letters have been sent to every +cattleman in Union County, demanding their appearance before me. The +government is determined to re-adjust conditions out here--to enforce +this new law to the letter. Beginning on the first of next +month,--September--which will be the day after to-morrow, every cattle +owner in the county will be required to register his brand and return a +list of his cattle, for taxation. Any owner refusing to make a fair +return on his stock will make a grave mistake. Upon his failure to make +such return the government will seize his stock and dispose of it to the +highest bidder, deducting such an amount as will cover taxes, court +costs, and fines, and returning the remainder, if any, to the owner." +Judge Graney faced Hollis. "I suppose you have received your +notification to that effect?" he inquired. + +"I haven't paid much attention to my mail since--since I met Mr. +Dunlavey and several of his friends one night--some weeks ago." He +smiled grimly at Dunlavey, who met his gaze with a derisive grin. "I +haven't been very much interested in anything except getting well," +continued Hollis. "But whether I have been notified or not I shall take +pleasure in complying with the law. I shall have my list ready on +time--likewise I shall register my brand." + +Dunlavey sneered. "That won't be such an almighty big job--counting your +steers," he said. + +Hollis laughed shortly. "Perhaps not as big a job as it would have been +had conditions been different," he observed dryly. + +"Meaning?" snapped Dunlavey, stiffening in his chair. + +"You may draw your own inference," drawled Hollis. + +For an instant it seemed that Dunlavey contemplated attacking Hollis; he +placed both hands on the table before him, preparatory to rising, +evidently thought better of the idea and sank into the chair again, his +eyes flashing venomously as they met Hollis's. + +"This country's going plum to hell!" he sneered; "when tenderfeet and +half-baked lawyers get to running things it will be time for the +cattlemen to pull up stakes and hit the breeze! But I'm telling you one +thing!" He banged his fist heavily down upon the table in front of him +and scowled at the Judge, his voice vibrating with passion: "You let +your damned tenderfoot owners bring in their lists. Mebbe they don't +know any better. But I ain't bringin' in no list. It's one thing to pass +a law and another thing to enforce it!" He sat silent for an instant, +glaring at the Judge, who smiled quietly at him, then he turned to +Hollis. + +"You've been carrying on like you was intending to own this here country +some day," he sneered; "with your damned newspaper and your lawyer +friend here. What we handed you the other night was just a sample of +what you'll get if you don't hit the breeze out of this country!" He got +to his feet and stood beside the table, glaring around at the three men. + +For a moment neither of the three spoke. There was a saturnine, almost +mocking, smile on the face of the man who stood at the window. In his +expression one could discover much appreciation of the character of the +man at whom he was looking--it revealed the fact that he had met such +men before--and admired them little. There was no fear in the +expression, yet had one of the other men taken the trouble to look at +him they would have seen that his right hand was now lingering very +close to the butt of the revolver at his hip. + +Judge Graney cleared his throat. The smile was still on his face, but a +sudden brightness of the eyes and a flush in each cheek showed that +Dunlavey's defiance had affected him. Both he and the man at the window +watched closely as Hollis got to his feet and approached Dunlavey. + +Hollis's face was slightly pale, but there was a steady, unwavering +gleam in his eyes as he walked to within five feet of Dunlavey and stood +quietly beside the table looking at him. + +"Dunlavey," he began slowly, in a soft, even voice, in which there was +not a hint of excitement, "I haven't anything to do with enforcing the +law that seems to have come to Union County. You can defy the law if you +please. But I have something to say in reply to what you have said to +me. It is this: I haven't any ambition to own the entire country--such +talk from a grown man is childish. But I do intend to own the little +I've got in spite of you or anyone else. I am not in the least afraid of +you. I owe you something on account of the other night and some day I am +going to thrash you within an inch of your life!" + +Dunlavey's hand fell suggestively to his side. "There's no time like the +present," he sneered. + +"Of course I know that you carry a gun," said Hollis still evenly, +without excitement; "most of you folks out here don't seem to be able to +get along without one--it seems to be the fashion. Also, I might add, +every man that carries one seems to yearn to use it. But it has always +seemed to me that a man who will use a gun without great provocation is +a coward!" He smiled grimly into Dunlavey's face. + +For an instant Dunlavey did not move. His eyes glittered malevolently as +they bored into Hollis's. Then his expression changed until it was a +mingling of contempt, incredulity, and mockery. + +"So you're thinking of thrashing me?" he sniffed, backing away a little +and eyeing Hollis critically. "You slugged me once and you're thinking +to do it again. And you think that any man who uses a gun on another is +a coward?" He laughed sardonically. "Well, all I've got to say to you is +that you ain't got your eye-teeth cut yet." He deliberately turned his +back on Hollis and the others and walked to the door. On the threshold +he halted, looking back at them all with a sneering smile. + +"You know where I live," he said to Judge Graney. "I ain't bringing in +no list nor I ain't registering my brand. I don't allow no man to come +monkeying around on my range and if you come out there, thinking to run +off any of my stock, you're doing it at your own risk!" His gaze went +from the Judge to Hollis and his smile grew malignant. + +"I'm saying this to you," he said, "no man ain't ever thrashed Bill +Dunlavey yet and I ain't allowing that any man is ever going to. Put +that in your pipe and smoke it!" + +He slammed the door and was gone. Hollis turned from the door to see a +dry smile on the face of the man at the window. + +"Fire eater, ain't he?" observed the latter, as he caught Hollis's +glance. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE BEARER OF GOOD NEWS + + +Hollis smiled. The Judge got to his feet and approached the two men. + +"Hollis," he said, "shake hands with Mr. Allen, of Lazette." + +Allen's hand came out quickly and was grasped by Hollis's, both grips +being hearty and warm. + +"My name's Ben Allen," explained the stranger with a smile. "Tacking on +a handle like 'Mister' would sure make me feel like a stranger to +myself." + +"We'll not quarrel about that," remarked the Judge with a smile; "we'll +call you Ben." He looked soberly at Hollis, continuing: + +"Allen has been sent over here from Lazette to assist us in establishing +the law. He was formerly sheriff of Colfax County, having been defeated +by the Cattlemen's Association because he refused to become a party to +its schemes. On several occasions since severing his official connection +with Colfax County he has acted in a special capacity for the +government. He is an old acquaintance of the new Secretary of the +Interior and much trusted by him. He is to be the inquisitor mentioned +in the letter which I read in the presence of Dunlavey." + +Hollis looked at Allen with a new interest. After noting again the +steady, serene eyes, narrowed always with a slight squint; the firm +straight lips, the well set jaws, Hollis mentally decided that the +Secretary of the Interior could not have made a better choice. +Certainly, if he had served as sheriff of Colfax County, he had had some +excellent experiences, for from reading the _Lazette Eagle_, Hollis had +acquired considerable knowledge of the character of the inhabitants of +Colfax. The editor of the _Eagle_ had many times felicitated himself upon +the fact that his town (Lazette) had not been built ten miles farther +east--in which case he would have been a resident of Union--and ashamed +of it. + +"I think we need you," said Hollis simply. "But I imagine you will have +to concentrate your efforts upon one ranch only--the Circle Cross. If +you make Dunlavey bow to the law you may consider your work finished." + +"I think Dunlavey will change his views of things shortly," remarked +Allen, quietly, but significantly. He smiled at Hollis. "I have read +your paper regularly," he said. "You've got the editor of our paper +hopping mad--with your claims about Dry Bottom being superior to +Lazette. Also, you've stirred up the Secretary of the Interior some. I +was called to Washington three weeks ago and invited to tell what I knew +of conditions out here. I didn't exaggerate when I told the Secretary +that hell was a more peaceful place for a law loving man to live in. +Though," he added with a smile, "I wasn't ever in hell and couldn't be +positive. I was just accepting what I've heard preachers say about it. +The Secretary asked me if I knowed you and I told him that though I +didn't I would be right glad to if you was doing anything in my line. He +laughed and said he'd miss his guess if you wasn't making things +interesting. Told me to get you to one side and tell you to go to it." +He smiled dryly. "According to what I've read in the _Kicker_ you don't +need to be told that and so I'm keeping my mouth shut." + +He dropped his humor and spoke seriously, questioning Hollis about the +location of his ranch, listening quietly and attentively to the latter's +answers. Half an hour later after having arranged with Judge Graney for +the registering of his brand and the listing of his cattle, Hollis left +the court house and went to his office. In running through his mail he +came upon Judge Graney's notification and also another letter, +postmarked "Chicago," which drew a pleased smile to his face. A few +minutes later Norton came in, and though Hollis had done very little on +the paper he rose and smilingly announced his intention of returning to +the Circle Bar. + +"We'll take the Coyote trail," he informed Norton, after they had +mounted and were riding away from the _Kicker_ office; "I'm stopping for a +moment at the Hazelton cabin. Of course," he added, seeing a knowing +grin on Norton's face, "I expected you would be suspicious--married +folks have a habit of adopting a supercilious and all-wise attitude +toward those of us who have been unfortunate enough to remain in a state +of single blessedness." + +"Meanin' that you're some sore because you ain't got hooked up yet?" +grinned Norton. + +"Perhaps," laughed Hollis. "But I have been thinking seriously of trying +to reach your altitude." + +"Girl willin'?" queried Norton, as they rode down through a little +gully, then up to a stretch of plain that brought them to the Coyote +trail. + +"That's where I am all at sea," returned Hollis. He laughed. "I suppose +you've read Ace's poem in the Kicker?" He caught Norton's nod and +continued. "Well, Ace succeeded in crowding a whole lot of truth into +that effort. Of course you remember the first couplet: + + "'Woman--she don't need no tooter, + Be she skule ma'am or biscut shooter."' + +he quoted. + +"A woman seems to have an intuitive knowledge of man's mental processes. +At least she gauges him pretty well without letting him into the mystery +of how she does it. A man can never tell where he will land." Ace came +very near striking the nail on the head when he wrote in the second +couplet that: + + 'She has most curyus ways about her, + Which leads a man to kinda dout her.' + +"And then, knowing man so well, she absolutely refuses to let him know +anything of her thoughts. Which again, Ace has noted in this manner: + + 'Though lookin' at her is sure a pleasure; + There ain't no way to get her measure. + I reckon she had man on the run + A long while before the world begun.' + +"That seems to be the exact truth," he laughed. + +Norton grinned at him. "You single guys have certa'nly got a whole lot +to learn," he said, "for a fact. Of course if she's any kind of a woman +at all she's got him runnin'. But which way?" + +"Why, toward her, of course!" laughed Hollis. + +Norton's smile widened. "You've tumbled to that, then," he observed +dryly. "Then you're ready for the next lesson." + +"And that?" questioned Hollis. + +Norton smiled with ineffable pity. "Lordy!" he laughed; "you single guys +don't know a thing not a durned thing!" + +After that they rode on in silence. When they came in sight of the +Hazelton cabin Norton reined in his pony and sat motionless in the +saddle, grinning at Hollis. + +"You run along now," he advised. "I'll be hittin' her off toward the Dry +Bottom trail for the rest of the way--I sorta like that trail better +anyway." + +He urged his pony off at a tangent and Hollis continued on his way. He +found Nellie alone, her brother having gone out on the range. She came +out on the porch, hearing his pony's hoofs on the hard sand and rocks of +the trail, and there was a sincere welcome in her eyes. It was the first +time that he had visited the cabin since he had returned to the Circle +Bar. + +"Oh!" she said delightedly. And then, aware of the sudden light that had +come into Hollis's eyes at this evidence of interest, she blushed and +looked down at the hem of her skirt, nervously pushing it out with the +toe of her shoe. + +During the days of Hollis's convalescence at the Hazelton cabin he had +seen the young woman in many moods. In none of them, however, had she +seemed so attractive as now. Confusion became her, he decided, and he +regarded her with a new interest as he sat on his pony, awaiting her +invitation to dismount. It came presently. + +"It is frightfully hot," she said, moving over to where stood two +chairs--one in which he had passed many hours during the days of his +convalescence, the other in which she had sat quite often--near him. Not +until now did he realize how full and satisfying those days had been. As +he dismounted and tied his pony to one of the slender porch columns he +smiled--thinking of Norton's question during their discussion of Ace's +poem. "Of course"--the range boss had said--"if she's any kind of a +woman at all she's got him runnin'. But which way?" Of +course--literally--she did not have him running, but he knew that some +uncommon passion had gripped him and that he was unaccountably pleased. + +His smile grew when he remembered her sudden indignation over his +thoughtless statement that women had never interested him. Of course he +would not tell her that he felt a serious interest in _one_ woman. +When he dropped into his favorite chair, removing his hat and mopping +the perspiration from his forehead with his handkerchief, he caught her +looking swiftly at the scar under his right eye--which would always be a +reminder of his experience on the night of the storm. She saw his brows +contract in a frown. + +"You have quite recovered," she said; "except for that slight scar under +the eye you are the same as before the meeting with Dunlavey's men." + +He looked beyond her at the tawny mountains that rose in the +distance,--miles on the other side of the big basin--swimming in the +shimmering blur of white sky--somber guardians of a mysterious world. +What secret did they guard? What did they know of this world of eternal +sunlight, of infinite distance? Did they know as much of the world upon +which they frowned as he knew of the heart of the slender, motherly girl +whose eyes betrayed her each time he looked into them? + +A smile that lurked deep within him did not show in his face--it was +unborn and it gripped him strangely, creating a sensation in his breast +that he could not analyze, but which pleaded to be expressed. He could +not express it--now. He feared to trust himself and so he fought it +down, assuring himself that it was not yet time. But he knew that he was +not the same as before his experience with Dunlavey on the night of the +storm. Something had stolen into his heart and was enthroned there; +something deeper than a mere scar--a girl who had mothered him in his +extremity; who had hovered over him, attending to his bruises, binding +his wounds, tenderly smoothing his brow during the days and nights of +the fever; attending his wants during convalescence; erecting a citadel +in his heart which would stand as a monument to his gratitude. No, not +gratitude merely. The smile was born. He turned and looked at her, +meeting her eyes fairly, and hers dropped in confusion. + +"Do you think that I am the same as before?" he asked suddenly. + +She stood up, radiant, pointing a finger toward the Coyote trail. "Ed is +coming!" she declared. + +Before he could say another word she was down off the porch and running +toward her brother, holding his horse while he dismounted, kissing him, +patting him lovingly as they came toward the porch. + +The latter greeted Hollis warmly. "A fellow couldn't help but feel good +with a sister like that--now could he?" he inquired as he came upon the +porch and took the chair which Nellie had vacated. She had disappeared +into the cabin, not even looking at Hollis, but she could not have heard +Hollis's reply had she remained. For it was wordless. There are times +when men understand perfectly without speech. + +Hollis stayed for dinner. Nellie was radiantly silent during the meal, +attending to the wants of the two men, listening while they discussed +recent happenings in the county. Ed was much pleased to hear of the +coming of Ben Allen. + +"That guy is business--through and through," he assured Hollis. "He was +the best sheriff Colfax County ever had--and it's had some good ones. +Allen's quiet, but there ain't anyone going to herdride him. Some have +tried it, but they found it didn't pay and so they don't try it any +more." + +After dinner they went out on the porch for a smoke, leaving Nellie +inside. They could hear her singing as she washed the dishes. Hazelton +smiled as a particularly happy note reached his ears. "I don't know +what's got into Sis," he said, flashing a swift glance at Hollis. "I +don't know as I ever heard her sing that well before." + +Hollis made no reply and the conversation turned to the drought--as all +conversations did during that period. Word had come to Hazelton of +Dunlavey's warning to the cattle owners. He had heard also of Hollis's +announced intention of taking sides with the small owners. + +"Dunlavey's ten days is up the day after tomorrow," said Hazelton. "If +Dunlavey starts anything what are you going to do?" + +"That will depend on what Dunlavey starts," smiled Hollis. + +"H'm!" inexpressively grunted Hazelton. He flashed a glance at the face +of the young man beside him, noting the firm mouth, the steady eyes, and +the faint, grim smile. "H'm!" he said again. "I suppose you know who +you're going to give your water to?" he questioned. + +Hollis nodded. "To men who refused to help my father when he needed +help," he returned. + +Hazelton smiled oddly. "I've heard about that," he said. He laughed. "It +strikes me that I wouldn't give such men any water," he added. + +Hollis turned and looked at him, meeting his gaze fairly, and holding +it. + +"Yes, you would, Hazelton," he said, a broad smile on his face. + +"How do you know that?" queried the latter, slightly defiant. + +Hollis motioned toward the kitchen door. "I know," he said; "you're her +brother." + +"Well," began Hazelton hesitatingly,--"I----" + +The screen door opened--slammed, and Nellie Hazelton came out upon the +porch. She had found time to change her morning dress for a soft, fluffy +creation of some sort, and she stood before them, flushing slightly as +both looked at her, a picture that smote Hollis's heart with a sudden +longing. Only one glance did she give him and then she was over near +Ed's chair, leaning over him, stroking his hair. + +For a long time Hollis sat, watching them with sympathetic, appreciative +eyes. Then he thought of the letter in his pocket, the one postmarked +"Chicago," which he had discovered at the _Kicker_ office on +returning from the court house. He drew it from his pocket and read the +legend in the upper left hand corner: + +"Dr. J. J. Hammond, ---- Hospital, Chicago, Ill." + +He studied the legend for some little time, his thoughts busy with the +contents of the envelope. Fortunately, his letter to the great physician +had fallen into the hands of the son, Tom Hammond, and the latter, not +forgetting his old schoolmate, had appealed to his father. This was what +the surgeon had written in the letter--he would not have agreed to +accept the case had it not been for the fact that Hollis had been, and +was Tom's friend. He would be pleased if the patient would make the +journey to Chicago within a month, that he might be able to take up his +case before entering upon some scientific investigations which had been +deferred a long time, etc. + +Hollis had been reading the letter again. He finished it and looked up, +to see Ed and Nellie watching him. He flushed and smiled, holding out +the letter to Nellie. + +"I beg your pardon," he said. "I found this interesting. Perhaps you +will also find it so." + +He leaned back with a smile and watched them. But he did not, watch +long. He saw Nellie start, saw the color slowly recede from her face, +saw her hands clench tightly--as she began to read the letter. He turned +away, not caring to watch them during that sacred moment in which they +would read the line of hope that the great surgeon had written. He +looked--it seemed--for a long time down the Coyote trail, and when he +finally turned his head toward them he saw Ed Hazelton sitting erect in +his chair, apparently stunned by the news. But before him, close to him, +so close that he felt her breath in his face--her eyes wide with +delight, thankfulness--and perhaps something more--Nellie was kneeling. + +"Oh, thank you, Mr. Hollis!" she said earnestly, her lips all a-quiver; +"Thank you, and God bless you!" + +He tried to sit erect; tried to open his lips to tell her that he had +done only what any man would have done under the circumstances. But he +moved not, nor did he speak, for her arms had gone around his shoulders, +and her lips were suddenly pressed firmly and quickly to his. Then he +was released and she turned, crying: + +"Come and thank him, Ed!" + +But Ed had taken himself off--perhaps he did not care to allow anyone to +witness his joy. + +Some time during the evening Hollis took his departure from the Hazelton +cabin. Ed had come back, silently taking Hollis's hand and gripping it +earnestly. And before Hollis had departed Ed had taken himself into the +house. Perhaps he divined that there were other's joys beside his. + +That night before retiring Nellie stole softly into her brother's room +and kissed him lightly on the forehead. That same night also Hollis rode +up to the Circle Bar corral gate--singing. Norton and Potter were +sitting on the gallery, waiting for him. While Hollis was removing the +saddle from his pony Norton rose from his chair and smiled at Potter. + +"Well," he said to the latter, "I'm goin' to bed." He moved a few steps +toward the door and then turned and looked back at Potter, who had also +risen. He laughed. + +"Listen, Potter," he said. Then he quoted: + + "Woman--she don't need no tooter + Be she skule ma'am or biscuit shooter." + +He hesitated and looked again at Potter. "Why," said the latter, +puzzled, "that's from Ace's poem!" + +"Sure," laughed Norton; "that's just what it is!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE RUSTLER + + +The following day Hollis rode to town over the Dry Bottom trail. Had he +followed a perfectly natural inclination he would have taken the Coyote, +for it would have brought him to the Hazelton cabin. But he succeeded in +forcing himself to go the other way, arguing that Nellie and her brother +might wish to be alone to consider the great good fortune that had come +upon them. + +And so they did, though had Hollis appeared to them this morning as they +sat upon the porch he would have been assured of a royal welcome. +Indeed, during the early morning hours Nellie had cast many furtive, +expectant glances down the Coyote trail. When eight o'clock came and +Hollis did not appear she gave him up. + +The dawn found her kneeling beside her brother's bed. + +"Ed!" she said, leaning over him, waking him, her eyes alight with joy; +"Ed, he says you can be cured!" + +He struggled and sat up, rubbing his eyes. + +"Gosh, sis!" he said in an awed voice. "Then it's true! I was afraid I'd +been dreaming!" + +"It is no dream," she returned ecstatically; "it is reality--beautiful +reality! Wasn't it simply _great_ of him to take such an interest +in us?" + +"Us?" grinned Ed, noting her crimson, happy face. "Well, mebbe he did it +for _us_," he added subtly, "but I take it I've got a right to have +another opinion on that." + +She fled from him without answering and a little later he heard her +singing as she prepared breakfast. After the meal Ed made a short trip +out into the basin to look after his cattle and then returned to the +cabin. Sitting on the porch he and Nellie devoted several hours to a +grave discussion of the situation. They discovered that it had a serious +side. + +In the first place there was the dangerous nature of the operation. Here +Ed laughed away his sister's fears by assuring her that he had an +excellent constitution and that since the fall from the pony had not +killed him he was in no danger from the knife. If Nellie entertained any +doubt of this she wisely remained silent, though Ed could see that she +was not entirely reassured. He swept away her last objection to this +forbidding feature when he told her that he preferred taking the risk to +living in constant dread of a recurrence of an acute attack of his +malady--such as he had experienced when he had attacked Hollis in +Devil's Hollow. + +There were many other things to be discussed--chiefly the care of the +cattle and the cabin during his absence in Chicago. He would not listen +to her suggestion to accompany him--he would prefer to have her remain +at the cabin. Or he would try to arrange with Hollis for her to stay at +the Circle Bar. There she would have Mrs. Norton for a companion, and +she might ride each day to the cabin. He was certain that Hollis would +arrange to have his men care for the cattle. He assured her that he +would settle that question with Hollis when the latter passed the cabin +that night on his return to the Circle Bar. Of course Hollis would take +the Coyote trail to-night, he insinuated, grinning hugely at the blushes +that reached her face. + +But Hollis did not pass the cabin that night. He had taken the Dry +Bottom trail on his return to the Circle Bar. + +He had accomplished very little that day on account of the heat--and a +certain vision that had troubled him--taking his mind off his work and +projecting it to a little cabin in a small basin, to a porch where sat a +girl--the girl of his vision. She had voluntarily kissed him. Had it +been all on account of gratitude? Of course--though--Well, memory of the +kiss still lingered and he was willing to forgive her the slight lapse +of modesty because he had been the recipient. + +There had been one interesting development in Dry Bottom during the day. +All day the town had swarmed with ranch owners who had come in to the +court house to list their cattle for taxation and register their brands. +Shortly after noon Ben Allen had dropped into the _Kicker_ office +with the news that every owner in the county with the exception of +Dunlavey had responded to the law's demands. + +To Hollis's inquiry regarding the course he would pursue in forcing +Dunlavey to comply with the law, Allen remarked with a smile that there +was "plenty of time." He had had much experience with men of the +Dunlavey type. + +Potter and Hollis exchanged few words during the ride to the Circle Bar. +The heat--the eternal, scorching, blighting heat--still continued; the +dust had become an almost unbearable irritation. During the trip to the +ranch the two men came upon an arroyo over which Hollis had passed many +times. At a water hole where he had often watered his horse they came +upon several dead steers stretched prone in the green slime. The water +had disappeared; the spring that had provided it had dried and there was +nothing to tell of it except a small stretch of damp earth, baking in +the sun. The steers were gaunt, lanky creatures, their hides stretched +tight as drum-heads over their ribs, their tongues lolling out, black +and swollen, telling mutely of their long search for water and their +suffering. Coyotes had been at work on them; here lay a heap of bare +bones; there a skull glistened in the white sunlight. + +A few miles farther on they came upon one of the punchers from the +Circle Y with a calf thrown over the saddle in front of him. He was +driving several gaunt, drooping cattle toward the Rabbit-Ear. The calf +bellowed piteously at sight of Hollis and Potter. The puncher hailed +them. + +"You're Hollis, of the Circle Bar, ain't you?" he said when the latter +had spurred his pony close to him. At Hollis's nod he grinned +ironically. "Hot!" he said, coming quickly to the universal topic of +conversation; "I reckon this wouldn't be called hot in some places--in +hell, for instance. Say," he said as he saw Hollis's lips straighten, +"to-morrow the ten days is up. Mebbe it'll be hotter then. The damned +skunk!" + +Of course he referred to Dunlavey--the latter's threat to drive all +foreign cattle from the Rabbit-Ear had been carried far and wide by +riders--the whole country knew of it. There had been much condemnation +and some speculation, but there was nothing to be done until after the +tenth day. Even then much depended upon Hollis's attitude. Would he make +war upon Dunlavey in defense of the men who had refused aid to his +father in time of need? + +Hollis was still of the opinion that Dunlavey would not attempt to carry +out his threat. He smiled at the malevolent expression in the puncher's +eyes. + +"Somehow," he said quietly, "I have always been able to distinguish +between empty boast and determination. Dunlavey has done some foolish +things, no doubt, and is doing a foolish thing in defying the law, but I +don't anticipate that he will do anything quite so rash as to further +antagonize the small owners." + +The puncher sat erect and laughed harshly. "You don't?" he inquired in +an over-gentle, polite voice. "Mister Hollis," he added, as the latter +looked quickly at him, "you ain't heard nothin' from the Circle Bar +to-day, I reckon?" + +Hollis's answer was negative. The Circle Y man's face grew suddenly +serious. "You ain't! Well, then, that's the reason you're talkin' so. +The last I heard from the Circle Bar was that Norton an' some of your +men had captured one of Dunlavey's men--Greasy--rebrandin' some Circle +Bar steers an' was gettin' ready to string him up. I reckon mebbe you'd +call that doin' somethin'!" + +Hollis straightened. He had suddenly forgotten the heat, the dust, and +the problem of water. + +"How long ago did you hear this?" he demanded sharply. + +"'Bout an hour ago," returned the Circle Y man. "I was rustlin' up these +strays down in the basin an' headin' them toward the crick when I runs +plum into a man from the Three Bar outfit. He was plum excited over it. +Said they'd ketched Greasy down by the Narrows sometime after noon +an'----" + +But the Circle Y man finished to the empty air for Hollis's pony had +leaped forward into a cloud of dust, running desperately. + +The Circle Y man sat erect, startled. "Well, I'll be----" he began, +speaking to Potter. But the printer was following his chief and was +already out of hearing. "Now what do you suppose----" again began the +Circle Y man, and then fell silent, suddenly smitten with the +uselessness of speech. He yelled at his gaunt steers and shifted the +calf in front of him to a more comfortable position. Then he proceeded +on his way. But as he rode his lips curled, his eyes narrowed, and +speech again returned to him. "Now why in hell would a man get so damned +excited over hearin' that someone was goin' to string up a measly +rustler?" + +The interrogation remained unanswered. The Circle Y man continued on his +way, watching the fast disappearing dust clouds on the Circle Bar trail. + +When Hollis reached the Circle Bar ranchhouse there was no one about. He +rode up to the front gallery and dismounted, thinking that perhaps +Norton would be in the house. But before he had crossed the gallery Mrs. +Norton came to the door. She was pale and laboring under great +excitement, but instantly divined Hollis's errand. + +"They've taken him down to the cottonwood" she told Hollis, pointing +toward the grove in which Hollis had tried the six-shooter that Norton +had given him the first day after his arrival at the ranch. "They are +going to hang him! Hurry!" + +Hollis was back in the saddle in an instant and racing his pony down +past the bunk house at break-neck speed. He urged the little animal +across an intervening stretch of plain, up a slight rise, down into a +shallow valley, and into the cottonwood, riding recklessly through the +trees and urging the pony at a headlong pace through the +underbrush--crashing it down, scaring the rattlers from their +concealment, and startling the birds from their lofty retreats. + +For ten minutes he rode as he had never ridden before. And then he came +upon them. They stood at the base of a fir-balsam, whose gnarled limbs +spread flatly outward--three Circle Bar men, a half dozen from the +various outfits whose herds grazed his range, and the rustler--Greasy--a +rope knotted about his neck, standing directly under one of the +out-spreading limbs of the tree, his head bowed, but his face wearing a +mocking, defiant grin. The rope had been thrown over the limb and +several men were holding it, preparatory to drawing it taut. Norton was +standing near, his face pale, his lips straight and grim with +determination. Apparently Hollis had arrived just in time. + +None of the men moved from their places when Hollis dismounted, but all +looked at him as though expecting him to express approval of what they +were about to do. Several lowered their gaze with embarrassment when +they saw that he did not approve. + +"What is all this about, Norton?" he asked, speaking to the latter, who +had stepped forward and now stood beside Greasy. Whatever excitement had +resulted from the sudden discovery that his men had captured a rustler +and were about to hang him, together with the strain of his hard ride to +the cottonwood, had disappeared, and Hollis's voice was quiet as he +addressed his range boss. + +Norton smiled grimly. "We were roundin' up a few strays just the other +side of the Narrows this morning, and Ace and Weary were workin' down +the river. In that little stretch of gully just the other side of the +Narrows they came upon this sneak brandin' two of our beeves through a +piece of wet blanket. He'd already done it an' so we ketched him with +the goods. It's the first time we've ever been able to lay a hand on one +of Dunlavey's pluguglies, an' we was figgerin' on makin' an example of +him." + +Hollis met Norton's grim gaze and smiled. "I want to thank you--all of +you, for guarding my interests so zealously," he said. "There is no +doubt that this man richly deserves hanging--that is, of course, +according to your code of ethics. I understand that is the way things +have been done heretofore. But I take it none of you want to make me +appear ridiculous?" + +"Sure not," came several voices in chorus. + +Hollis laughed. "But you took the surest way of making me appear so," he +returned. + +He saw Norton's face flush and he knew that the latter had already +grasped the significance of his words. But the others, simpler of mind, +reasoning by no involved process, looked at him, plainly puzzled. He +would have to explain more fully to them. He did so. When he had shown +them that in hanging the rustler he would be violating the principle +that he had elected to defend, they stood before him abashed, thoroughly +disarmed. All except Ace. The poet's mind was still active. + +"I reckon you might say you didn't know nothin' about us hangin' him?" +he suggested. + +"So I might," returned Hollis. "But people would not think so. And there +is my conscience. It wouldn't be such a weight upon it--the hanging of +this man; I believe I would enjoy standing here and watching him stretch +your rope. But I would not be able to reconcile the action with the +principle for which I am fighting. I believe none of you men would trust +me very much if I advocated the law one day and broke it the next. The +application of this principle would be much the same as if I stole a +horse to-day and to-morrow had you arrested for stealing one." + +"That's so," they chorused, and fell silent, regarding him with a new +interest. + +"But what are you goin' to do with the cuss?" queried one man. + +"We have a sheriff in Dry Bottom, I expect?" questioned Hollis. + +Grins appeared on the faces of several of the men; the prisoner's face +lighted. + +"Oh, yes," said one; "I reckon Bill Watkins is the sheriff all right." + +"Then we'll take him to Bill Watkins," decided Hollis. + +The grins on the faces of several of the men grew. Norton laughed. + +"I reckon you ain't got acquainted with Bill yet, Hollis," he said. +"Bill owes his place to Dunlavey. There has never been a rustler +convicted by Watkins yet. I reckon there won't ever be any +convicted--unless he's been caught stealin' Dunlavey's cattle. Bill's +justice is a joke." + +Hollis smiled grimly. He had learned that much from Judge Graney. He did +not expect to secure justice, but he wished to have something tangible +upon which to work to force the law into the country. His duty in the +matter consisted only in delivering the prisoner into the custody of the +authorities, which in this case was the sheriff. The sheriff would be +held responsible for him. He said this much to the men. There was no +other lawful way. + +He was not surprised that they agreed with him. They had had much +experience in dealing with Dunlavey; they had never been successful with +the old methods of warfare and they were quite willing to trust to +Hollis's judgment. + +"I reckon you're just about right," said one who had spoken before. +"Stringin' this guy up would finish him all right. But that wouldn't +settle the thing. What's needed is to get it fixed up for good an' all." + +"Correct!" agreed Hollis; "you've got it exactly. We might hang a dozen +men for stealing cattle and we could go on hanging them. We've got no +right to hang anyone--we've got a law for that purpose. Then let us make +the law act!" + +The prisoner had stood in his place, watching the men around him, his +face betraying varying emotions. When it had been finally agreed to take +him to Dry Bottom and deliver him over to the sheriff he grinned +broadly. But he said nothing as they took the rope from around his neck, +forced him to mount a horse and surrounding him, rode out of the +cottonwood toward the Circle Bar ranchhouse. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE TENTH DAY + + +Dusk had fallen by the time Greasy had been brought to the bunkhouse, +and Mrs. Norton had lighted the kerosene lamps when Norton and Hollis, +assured of the safety of the prisoner, left the bunkhouse and went into +the house for supper. Potter had washed the dust of travel from him and +when Norton and Hollis arrived he was seated on the porch, awaiting +them. Mrs. Norton greeted them with a smile. Her eyes expressed +gratitude as they met Hollis's. + +"I am so glad you were in time," she said. "I told Neil not to do it, +but he was determined and wouldn't listen to me." + +"You might have tried 'bossing' him," suggested Hollis, remembering his +range boss's words on the occasion of his first meeting with Norton's +wife. He looked straight at Norton, his eyes narrowing quizzically. "You +know you told me once that----" + +"Mebbe I was stretchin' things a little when I told you that," +interrupted Norton, grinning shamelessly. "If a man told the truth all +the time he'd have a hard time keepin' ahead of a woman." + +"'Woman--she don't need no tooter,'" quoted Hollis. "It has taken you a +long time to discover what Ace has apparently known for years. And Ace +is only a bachelor." + +Norton's eyes lighted. "You're gettin' back at me for what I said to you +the day before yesterday--when you stopped off at Hazelton's," he +declared. "All the same you'll know more about women when you've had +more experience with them. When I told you that I'd been 'bossed,' I +didn't mean that I'd been bossed regular. No woman that knows just how +much she can run a man ever lets him know that she's bossin' him. Mebbe +she'll act like she's lettin' him have his own way. But she's bossin' +him just the same. He sort of likes it, I reckon. At least it's only +when a man gets real mad that he does a little bossin' on his own +account. And then, like as not, he'll find that he's made a big mistake. +Like I did to-day about hangin' Greasy, for instance." + +Hollis bowed gravely to Mrs. Norton. "I think he ought to be forgiven, +Mrs. Norton," he said. "Day before yesterday he presumed to lecture me +on the superiority of the married male over the unmarried one. And now +he humbly admits to being bossed. What then becomes of his much talked +of superiority? Shall I--free and unbossed--admit inferiority?" + +Mrs. Norton smiled wisely as she moved around the table, arranging the +dishes. "I couldn't decide that," she said, "until it is explained to me +why so many men are apparently so eager to engage a boss." + +"I reckon that settles that argument!" gloated Norton. + +Had this conversation taken place two months before Hollis might have +answered, Why, indeed, were men so eager to engage a boss? Two months +before he might have answered cynically, remembering the unhappiness of +his parents. That he did not answer now showed that he was no longer +cynical; that he had experienced a change of heart. + +Of course Mrs. Norton knew this--Norton must have told her. He could +appreciate the subtle mockery that had suggested the question, but he +did not purpose to allow Norton to sit there and enjoy the confusion +that was sure to overtake him did he attempt to continue the argument +with Mrs. Norton. He was quite certain that Norton anticipated such an +outcome. + +"Perhaps Norton can answer that?" he suggested mildly. + +"I ain't no good at guessin' riddles," jeered Norton. "But I reckon you +know--if you wanted to tell." + +But Hollis did not tell, and the conversation shifted to other subjects. +After supper they went out upon the porch. A slight breeze had sprung up +with the dusk, though the sky was still cloudless. At ten o'clock, when +they retired, the breeze had increased in velocity, sighing mournfully +through the trees in the vicinity of the ranchhouse, though there was no +perceptible change in the atmosphere--it seemed that the wind was merely +shifting the heat waves from one point to another. + +"A good, decent rain would save lots of trouble to-morrow," said Norton +as he and Hollis stood on the porch, taking a last look at the sky +before going to bed. + +"Do you really think Dunlavey will carry out his threat?" questioned +Hollis. "Somehow I can't help but think that he was bluffing when he +said it." + +"He don't do much bluffin'," declared Norton. "At least he ain't done +much up to now." + +"But there is plenty of water in the Rabbit-Ear," returned Hollis; +"plenty for all the cattle that are here now." + +Norton flashed a swift glance at him. "That's because you don't know +this country," he said. "Four years ago we had a dry spell. Not so bad +as this, but bad enough. The Rabbit-Ear held up good enough for two +months. Then she went dry sudden. There wasn't water enough in her to +fill a thimble. I reckon you ain't been watchin' her for the last day or +so?" + +Hollis admitted that he had not seen the river within that time. Norton +laughed shortly. + +"She's dry in spots now," he informed Hollis. "There ain't any water at +all in the shallows. It's tricklin' through in some places, but mostly +there's nothin' but water holes an' dried, baked mud. In two days more, +if it don't rain, there won't be water enough for our own stock. Then +what?" + +"There will be water for every steer on the range as long as it lasts," +declared Hollis grimly. "After that we'll all take our medicine +together." + +"Good!" declared Norton. "That's what I expected of you. But I don't +think it's goin' to work out that way. Weary was ridin' the Razor Back +this mornin' and he says he saw Dunlavey an' Yuma and some more Circle +Cross guys nosin' around behind some brush on the other side of the +creek. They all had rifles." + +Hollis's face paled slightly. "Where are the other men--Train and the +rest?" he inquired. + +"Down on Razor Back," Norton informed him; "they sneaked down there +after Weary told me about seein' Dunlavey on the other side. Likely +they're scattered by now--keepin' an eye out for trouble." + +"Well," decided Hollis, "there isn't any use of looking for it. It finds +all of us soon enough. To-morrow is the tenth day and I am sure that if +Dunlavey carries out his threat he won't start anything until to-morrow. +Therefore I am going to bed." He laughed. "Call me if you hear any +shooting. I may want to take a hand in it." + +They parted--Hollis going to his room and Norton stepping down off the +porch to take a turn down around the pasture to look after the horses. + +Hollis was tired after his experiences of the day and soon dropped off +to sleep. It seemed that he had been asleep only a few minutes, however, +when he felt a hand shaking him, and a voice--Norton's voice. + +"Hollis!" said the range boss. "Hollis! Wake up!" + +Hollis sat erect, startled into perfect wakefulness. He could not see +Norton's face in the dark, but he swung around and sat on the edge of +the bed. + +"What's up?" he demanded. "Have they started?" + +He heard Norton laugh, and there was satisfaction in the laugh. +"Started?" he repeated. "Well, I reckon something's started. Listen!" + +Hollis listened. A soft patter on the roof, a gentle sighing of the +wind, and a distant, low rumble reached his ears. He started up. "Why, +it's raining!" he said. + +Norton chuckled. "Rainin'!" he chirped joyously. "Well, I reckon it +might be called that by someone who didn't know what rain is. But I'm +tellin' you that it ain't rainin'--it's pourin'! It's a cloud-burst, +that's what it is!" + +Hollis did not answer. He ran to the window and stuck his head out. The +rain came against his head and shoulders in stinging, vicious slants. +There was little lightning, and what there was seemed distant, as though +the storm covered a vast area. He could dimly see the pasture--the +horses huddled in a corner under the shelter that had been erected for +them; he could see the tops of the trees in the cottonwood +grove--bending, twisting, leaning from the wind; the bunkhouse door was +open, a stream of light illuminating a space in which stood several of +the cowboys. Some were attired as usual, others but scantily, but all +were outside in the rain, singing, shouting, and pounding one another in +an excess of joy. For half an hour Hollis stood at the window, watching +them, looking out at the storm. There was no break anywhere in the sky +from horizon to horizon. Plainly there was to be plenty of rain. +Convinced of this he drew a deep breath of satisfaction, humor moving +him. + +"I do hope Dunlavey and his men don't get wet." he said. He went to his +trousers and drew forth his watch. He could not see the face of it and +so he carried it to the window. The hands pointed to fifteen minutes +after one. "It's the tenth day," he smiled. "Dunlavey might have saved +himself considerable trouble in the future if he had placed a little +trust in Providence--and not antagonized the small owners. I don't think +Providence has been looking out for my interests, but I wonder who will +stand the better in the estimation of the people of this +county--Dunlavey or me?" + +He smiled again, sighed with satisfaction, and rolled into bed. For a +long time he lay, listening to the patter of the rain on the roof, and +then dropped off to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HOW A RUSTLER ESCAPED + + +When Hollis got out of bed at six o'clock that same morning he heard +surprising sounds outside. Slipping on his clothes he went to the window +and looked out. Men were yelling at one another, screeching delightful +oaths, capering about hatless, coatless, in the rain that still came +steadily down. The corral yard was a mire of sticky mud in which the +horses reared and plunged in evident appreciation of the welcome change +from dry heat to lifegiving moisture. Riderless horses stood about, no +one caring about the saddles, several calves capered awkwardly in the +pasture. Norton's dog--about which he had joked to Hollis during the +latter's first ride to the Circle Bar--was yelping joyously and running +madly from one man to another. + +Norton himself stood down by the door of the bunkhouse, grinning with +delight. Near him stood Lemuel Train, and several of the other small +ranchers whose stock had grazed for more than two weeks on the Circle +Bar range without objection from Hollis. They saw him and motioned for +him to come down, directing original oaths at him for sleeping so late +on so "fine a morning." + +He dressed hastily and went down. They all ate breakfast in the mess +house, the cook being adjured to "spread it on for all he was +worth"--which he did. Certainly no one left the mess house hungry. +During the meal Lemuel Train made a speech on behalf of himself and the +other owners who had enjoyed Hollis's hospitality, assuring him that +they were "with him" from now on. Then they departed, each going his +separate way to round up his cattle and drive them back to the home +ranch. + +The rain continued throughout the day and far into the night. The dried, +gasping country absorbed water until it was sated and then began to shed +it off into the arroyos, the gullies, the depressions, and the river +beds. Every hollow overflowed with it; it seemed there could never be +another drought. + +Before dawn on the following day all the small ranchers had departed. +Several of them, on their way to their home ranches, stopped off at the +Circle Bar to shake hands with Hollis and assure him of their +appreciation. Lemuel Train did not forget to curse Dunlavey. + +"We ain't likely to forget how he stood on the water proposition," he +said. + +After Train had departed Norton stood looking after him. Then he turned +and looked at Hollis, his eyes narrowing quizzically. "You've got in +right with that crowd," he said. "Durned if I don't believe you knowed +all the time that it was goin' to rain before Dunlavey's tenth day was +over!" + +Hollis smiled oddly. "Perhaps," he returned; "there is no law, moral or +otherwise, to prevent a man from looking a little ahead." + +After breakfast Hollis gave orders to have Greasy prepared for travel, +and an hour later he and the range boss, both armed with rifles, rode +out of the corral yard with Greasy riding between them and took the Dry +Bottom trail. + +The earth had already dried; the trail was hard, level, and dustless, +and traveling was a pleasure. But neither of the three spoke a word to +one another during the entire trip to Dry Bottom. Greasy bestrode his +horse loosely, carelessly defiant; Norton kept a watchful eye on him, +and Hollis rode steadily, his gaze fixed thoughtfully on the trail. + +At ten o'clock they rode into Dry Bottom. There were not many persons +about, but those who were gave instant evidence of interest in the three +by watching them closely as they rode down the street to the sheriff's +office, dismounted, and disappeared inside. + +The sheriff's office was in a little frame shanty not over sixteen feet +square, crude and unfinished. There were a front and back door, two +windows--one in the side facing the court house, the other in the front. +For furniture there were a bench, two chairs, some shelves, a cast iron +stove, a wooden box partly filled with saw-dust which was used as a +cuspidor, and a rough wooden table which served as a desk. In a chair +beside the desk sat a tall, lean-faced man, with a nose that suggested +an eagle's beak, with its high, thin, arched bridge, little, narrowed, +shifting eyes, and a hard mouth whose lips were partly concealed under a +drooping, tobacco-stained mustache. He turned as the three men entered, +leaning back in his chair, his legs a-sprawl, motioning them to the +chairs and the bench. They filed in silently. Greasy dropped carelessly +into one of the chairs, Norton took another near him, but Hollis +remained standing. + +"You are the sheriff, I suppose?" inquired the latter. + +The official spat copiously into the wooden box without removing his +gaze from the three visitors. + +"Yep," he returned shortly, his voice coming with a truculent snap. "You +wantin' the sheriff?" + +Hollis saw a swift, significant glance pass between him and Greasy and +he smiled slightly. + +"Yes," he returned quietly; "we want you. We are delivering this man +into your custody." + +"What's he done?" demanded the sheriff. + +"I charge him with stealing two of my steers," returned Hollis. "Several +of my men discovered him at work the day before yesterday and----" + +"Hold on a minute now!" interrupted the sheriff. "Let's git this thing +goin' accordin' to the law." He spat again into the wooden box, cocked +his head sideways and surveyed Hollis with a glance in which there was +much insolence and contempt. "Who might you be?" he questioned. + +"My name is Hollis," returned the latter quietly, his eyes meeting the +other's steadily. "I own the Circle Bar." + +"H'm!" The sheriff crossed his legs and stuck his thumbs into the +arm-holes of his vest, revealing a nickle-plated star on the lapel of +the latter. "H'm. Your name's Hollis, an' you own the Circle Bar. Seems +I've heard of you." He squinted his eyes at Hollis. "You're Jim Hollis's +boy, ain't you?" His eyes flashed with a sudden, contemptuous light. +"Tenderfoot, ain't you? Come out here to try an' show folks how to run +things?" + +Hollis's face slowly paled. He saw Greasy grinning. "I suppose it makes +little difference to you what I am or what I came out here for," he said +quietly; "though, if I were to be required to give an opinion I should +say that there is room for improvement in this county in the matter of +applying its laws." + +The sheriff laughed harshly. "You'll know more about this country after +you've been here a while," he sneered. + +"Mebbe he'll know more about how to run a law shebang, too," dryly +observed Norton, "after he's watched Bill Watkins run her a little." + +"I don't reckon anyone ast you to stick your gab in this here affair?" +demanded the sheriff of Norton. + +"No," returned Norton, drawling, "no one asked me. But while we're +handin' out compliments we might as well all have a hand in it. It +strikes me that when a man's runnin' a law shop he ought to run her." + +"I reckon I'll run her without any help from you, Norton!" snapped the +sheriff. + +"Why, sure!" agreed the latter, his gaze level as his eyes met the +sheriff's, his voice even and sarcastic. "But I'm tellin' you that this +man's my friend an' if there's any more of them compliments goin' to be +handed around I'm warnin' you that you want to hand them out soft an' +gentle like. That's all. I reckon we c'n now proceed." + +The sheriff's face bloated poisonously. He flashed a malignant glance at +Hollis. "Well," he snapped, "what's the charge?" + +"I have already told you," returned Hollis. "It is stealing cattle." + +"How stealin' them?" demanded the Sheriff truculenty. + +"Changing the brand," Hollis informed him. He related how Ace and Weary +had come upon the prisoner while the latter was engaged in changing his +brand to the Circle Cross. + +"They see him brandin'?" questioned the sheriff when Hollis had +concluded. + +Hollis told him that the two men had come upon Greasy after the brand +had been applied, but that the cattle bore the Circle Bar ear-mark, and +that Greasy had built a fire and that branding irons had been found in +his possession--which which he had tried to hide when discovered by the +Circle Bar men. + +"Then your men didn't really see him doin' the brandin'?" questioned +Watkins. + +Hollis was forced to admit that they had not. Watkins smiled +sarcastically. + +"I reckon you're runnin' a little bit wild," he remarked. "Some of your +stock has been rebranded an' you're chargin' a certain man with doin' +it--only you didn't see him doin' it." He turned to Greasy. "What you +got to say about this, Greasy?" he demanded. + +Greasy grinned blandly at Hollis. "This guy's talkin' through his hat," +he sneered. "I ain't allowin' that I branded any of his cattle." + +Watkins smiled. "There don't seem to be nothin' to this case a-tall--not +a-tall. There ain't nobody goin' to be took into custody by me for +stealin' cattle unless they're ketched with the goods--an' that ain't +been proved so far." He turned to Hollis. "You got anything more to say +about it?" he demanded. + +"Only this," returned Hollis slowly and evenly, "I have brought this man +here. I charge him with stealing my cattle. To use your term--he was +caught 'with the goods.' He is guilty. If you take him into custody and +bring him to trial I shall have two witnesses there to prove what I have +already told you. If you do not take him into custody, it is perfectly +plain that you are deliberately shielding him--that you are making a +joke of the law." + +Watkins's face reddened angrily. "Mebbe I'm makin' a joke of it----" he +began. + +"Of course we can't force you to arrest this man," resumed Hollis, +interrupting Watkins. "Unfortunately the government has not yet awakened +to the fact that such men as you are a public menace and danger. I did +not expect you to arrest him--I tell you that frankly. I merely brought +him here to see whether it were true that you were leagued with Dunlavey +against the other ranchers in the country. You are, of course. +Therefore, as we cannot secure justice by appealing to you we will be +forced to adopt other means." + +The sheriff's right hand dropped to his gun-holster. He sneered, his +lips writhing. "Mebbe you mean----" he began. + +"I ain't lettin' this here situation get beyond my control," came +Norton's voice, cold and even, as his six-shooter came out and was +shoved menacingly forward. "Whatever he means, Watkins, he's my friend +an' you ain't runnin' in no cold lead proposition on him." He smiled +mirthlessly. + +Watkins's face paled; his right hand fell away from the pistol holster. +There was a sound at the door; it swung suddenly open and Dunlavey's +gigantic frame loomed massively in the opening. + +"I'm looking for Greasy!" he announced in a soft, silky voice, looking +around at the four men with a comprehending, appreciative smile. "I was +expecting to find him here," he added as his gaze sought out the +prisoner, "after I heard that he'd been nabbed by the Circle Bar men." + +Norton smiled coldly. "He's here, Bill," he said evenly. "He's stayin' +here till Mr. Hollis says it's time for him to go." + +He did not move the weapon in his hand, but a certain glint in his eyes +told Dunlavey that the pistol was not in his hand for mere show. The +latter smiled knowingly. + +"I'm not interfering with the law," he said mockingly. "And I certainly +ain't bucking your game, Norton." He turned to Watkins, speaking with +broad insinuation: "Of course you are putting a charge against Greasy, +Watkins?" he said. + +They all caught the sheriff's flush; all saw the guilty embarrassment in +his eyes as he answered that he had not. Dunlavey turned to Hollis with +a bland smile. + +"Have you any objection to allowing Greasy to go now, Mr. Hollis?" + +Hollis's smile was no less bland as his gaze met Dunlavey's. "Not the +slightest objection, Mr. Dunlavey," he returned. "I congratulate you +upon the manner in which you have trained your servants!" He ignored +Dunlavey and smiled at Norton. "Mr. Norton," he said with polite +mockery, "I feel certain that you agree with me that we have no wish to +contaminate this temple of justice with our presence." + +He bowed with mock politeness as he strode to the door and stepped down +into the street. Norton followed him, grinning, though he did not sheath +his weapon until he also was in the street. + +As they strode away from the door they turned to see Dunlavey looking +out after them, his face wreathed in a broad smile. + +"There is plenty of law in Union County, Mr. Hollis," he said, "if you +know how to handle it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE "KICKER'S" CANDIDATE + + +The next issue of the _Kicker_ contained many things of interest to +its readers. Now that the drought had been broken, Union County could +proceed with its business of raising cattle without fear of any future +lack of water, with plenty of grass, and no losses except those from the +usual causes. Dry Bottom merchants--depending upon the cattlemen for +their trade--breathed easier and predicted a good year in spite of the +drought. Their worries over, they had plenty of time--and +inclination--to discuss the _Kicker_. + +More advertisements were appearing in the paper. Dry Bottom merchants +were beginning to realize that it deserved their support, and with few +exceptions they openly began to voice their opinions that the editor +would "make good."' The advertisements began to take on a livelier tone +and the Lazette _Eagle_ grew more sarcastic. + +When the _Kicker_ appeared following the incident in the sheriff's +office, there was a detailed account of Dunlavey's now famous "ten day +edict," together with some uncomplimentary comments upon the latter's +action. This was signed by Hollis. He called attention to Dunlavey's +selfishness, to the preparations that had been made by him to shoot down +all the foreign cattle on the Rabbit-Ear. He made no reference to his +part in the affair--to his decision to allow the small ranchers to water +their cattle in the river at the imminent risk of losing his own. But +though he did not mention this, the small owners and his friends took +care that the matter received full publicity, with the result that +Hollis was kept busy assuring his admirers that the incident had been +much magnified--especially his part of it. Then his friends applauded +his modesty. + +In the same issue of the paper was also related the story of Greasy's +capture by the Circle Bar men. But in telling this story Hollis was not +so modest, for he spoke frankly of his part in it--how he had refused to +allow his men to hang the thief, telling his readers that though Greasy +deserved hanging, he did not purpose to violate the law while advocating +it. Following the story of the capture was a detailed report of the +incident in the sheriff's office and a scathing commentary upon the +subservience of the latter official to Dunlavey's will. The article was +entitled: "Handling the Law," and Dunlavey's exact words when he stood +in the door of the sheriff's office as Hollis and Norton departed were +repeated. + +Below this, under the rubric, "Union County Needs a New Sheriff," +appeared an article that created a sensation. This dwelt upon the +necessity of the county having a sheriff who would not permit his office +to be prostituted by any man or influence. The _Kicker_ named a man +who would not be bribed or cowed and declared that his name would appear +on the ballot at the next election--to be held on the first Monday in +November. At the end of the article he printed the man's name--Ben +Allen! + +He had made this announcement without authority, and therefore he was +not surprised, soon after the appearance of the issue containing the +article, to see Allen's tall figure darken the door of the _Kicker_ +office while he sat at his desk. + +"Durn your hide!" cried the latter as he stood in the doorway; "you're +the biggest disturber in seven states!" + +"Perhaps," smiled Hollis, motioning Allen to a chair. "Still, you don't +need to thank me. You see, I have decided to clean up this county and I +need some help. I supposed you were interested. Of course you may refuse +if you like." + +"Refuse!" Allen's eyes flashed as he took Hollis's hand and wrung it +heartily. "My boy," he declared earnestly, "you couldn't have done +anything to suit me better. I'm just yearning to take a big hand in this +game!" + +"Interesting, isn't it?" smiled Hollis. + +"Some," returned Allen. He grasped Hollis's hand and wrung it heartily. +"You're a winner and I'm mighty glad to be able to work with you." He +spoke seriously. "Do you think there's a chance for us to beat +Dunlavey?" + +Hollis laughed. "I flatter myself that a certain editor in this town +stands rather well with the people of this county since a certain thing +happened." + +"You sure do!" grinned Allen. "Lordy! how this county has needed a man +like you!" + +Hollis smiled. "Then you won't object to being the _Kicker's_ +candidate?" he inquired. + +"Object!" returned Allen with mock seriousness. "Say, young man, if you +don't keep my name at the head of your editorial column from now till +the first Monday in November I'll come down here and manhandle you!" + +And so it was arranged. Dry Bottom gasped in public but rejoiced in +secret. Many of the town's merchants personally congratulated Hollis. + +But for two days following the appearance of the issue of the +_Kicker_ containing these sensations, Hollis stayed away from Dry +Bottom. Now that he had launched Allen's campaign and placed the other +matters before his readers, he began to devote some attention to the +problem of arranging for Ed Hazelton's visit to the great Chicago +surgeon. Both Nellie and Ed had been disappointed because of his +continued absence, and when, on an afternoon a few days after his +activity in Dry Bottom, he rode up to the Hazelton cabin his welcome was +a cordial one. + +"It seems like a year since I've seen you!" declared Hazelton as he came +down from the porch to lead Hollis's pony into the shade at the rear of +the cabin. + +While he was gone with the pony Hollis stood looking up at Nellie, who +had remained seated in her chair on the porch and who was now regarding +him with eyes in which shone unconcealed pleasure. + +"It hasn't really been so long, you know," said Hollis, smiling at her. +"But then, I have been so busy that I may not have noticed it." + +Of course she could not tell him how many times she had sat on the porch +during Ed's absences watching the Coyote trail. But she blushed and made +room for him on the porch. Ed appeared presently and joined them there. +The young man was not able to conceal his joy over the prospect of his +ultimate recovery from the peculiar malady that afflicted him, and +gratitude mingled with it as he looked at his benefactor. He had not +recovered from an attack the day before. + +"We've got it all arranged," he told Hollis with a wan smile. "I'm going +to Chicago just as soon as I can get things fixed." He reddened with +embarrassment as he continued: "There's some things that I'd like to +talk to you about before I make up my mind when to start," he said; +"I've been worrying about what to do with my stock while I'm gone. I +wouldn't want it to stray or be run off by Dunlavey's gang." The appeal +in his eyes did not escape Hollis's keen observation. + +"I have thought of that too," smiled the latter. "In fact, I have talked +it over with Norton. He tells me that he won't have any trouble in +caring for your stock while you are away." + +"Thanks." Hazelton did not trust himself to say more at that moment. He +knew how great would be the task of caring for his stock during his +absence, and had not Hollis come to his aid with this offer he would +have had to give up the proposed trip. He sat silent until his composure +returned, and then he looked up at Hollis gratefully. + +"That will make things much easier for Nellie," he said. And then, +remembering that Hollis knew nothing of his intention to ask him for +permission to allow Nellie to remain at the Circle Bar during his +absence, he fell silent again. + +"Easier?" inquired Hollis, puzzled. He had supposed that Nellie would +accompany her brother to Chicago. He did not look at either of the two +for a time. He had been anticipating a period of lonesomeness and this +unexpected news came like a bright shaft of light into the darkness. + +"But you can't allow her to stay at the cabin alone!" he said when Ed +did not answer. And then the thought struck him that this peculiar +silence on Ed's part could mean only one thing--that he and Nellie had +decided that she was not to accompany him, and that the problem that was +now confronting them--since he had told them that his men would care for +the cattle--was the girl's welfare. He appreciated the situation and +smiled wisely into the yawning distance. But a deep sympathy made the +smile grim. + +"I have sometimes wondered how it were possible for a woman to live in +this country without having close at hand one of her sex with whom to +gossip," he remarked, looking at Ed and deliberately closing an eye at +him. "It doesn't bother a man so much--this being alone. If he is a +drinking man there are the saloons; if a poet he may write wise saws +concerning the inconstancy of women; he may punch cows, another man's +head--or run a newspaper. In any case his mind is occupied. + +"But a woman! Of course it is different with a woman. A woman must +talk--she simply can't help it. There's Mrs. Norton. Only this morning I +chanced to hear her remark to her lord and master that if he did not +soon provide her with a companion with whom she might discuss the things +which are dear to the feminine heart, he might as well make up his mind +to requisition the mourners. All of which suggests the thought that +perhaps it would not be a bad idea for Miss Hazelton to bundle up her +things and advance on the Circle Bar. Thus two ends will be served--Mrs. +Norton will secure her companion and Norton will find peace." He turned +to Nellie. "Of course if you are afraid that the cabin will stray during +your absence I could manage to ride the Coyote trail each morning and +evening--or you could ride over yourself occasionally." + +He could tell by the light in her eyes that she was pleased over the +suggestion. He was sure of it when she smiled at him. + +"If you really think that Mrs. Norton would like some one to talk +to----" she began, and then hesitated, her eyes suddenly widening as she +saw an odd light in his. "Oh!" she said, "it isn't true about Mrs. +Norton wanting to talk. You have guessed that I--that Ed--wanted me to +go----" But confusion descended upon her and she flushed crimson with +embarrassment. + +"If you think it isn't true, why don't you ride over to the Circle Bar +and inquire?" he smiled. + +"Perhaps I may," she replied, looking at him in mock defiance. + +As a precaution against the carrying out of this threat, Hollis that +night acquainted Mrs. Norton with the facts in the case, even going so +far as to inform the lady brazenly that he had deliberately lied about +her. But when she had been fully informed, she told Hollis that she did +not blame him very much, and that should Nellie carry out her threat to +come to her upon an errand having as its object a question of his +veracity, she would assure the young lady that he had spoken the plain +truth. Would that be sufficient? + +Hollis told her that it would, and the following morning on his way to +Dry Bottom, he took the Coyote trail and stopped off at the Hazelton +cabin, where he informed Ed that he had decided to send Weary with him +on his trip to Chicago. + +Nellie spoke a few words to him while he lingered beside the porch, but +her threat of the night before was not repeated and Hollis rightly +guessed that it would never be carried out. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +DUNLAVEY PLAYS A CARD + + +During the week following Ed Hazelton's departure for Chicago Hollis did +not see much of Nellie. In the few days preceding his departure she had +not allowed her brother to see how his refusal to allow her to accompany +him had hurt her, but once he had boarded the east-bound express at Dry +Bottom, she had yielded to the emotions that she had so far succeeded in +concealing. Hollis had ridden in to town with them, and not until Nellie +and he had seen Ed and Weary safely on the train--indeed, not until the +train was well under way and the two figures on the back platform could +no longer be discerned--did Nellie break down. Then Hollis turned to her +with a smile to see the sudden tears well up into her eyes. He had not +attempted to console her, feeling the awkwardness of the situation. + +He was much relieved when she refused his offer to make the return trip +with her, for he was certain that a few hours alone in which to meditate +over her loss would enable her to regain her composure. But before +leaving her he secured her promise not to stop at the cabin, but to go +on to the Circle Bar. On her arrival at the ranch she was to tell Norton +to send one of the men to the cabin after the few personal effects that +she had decided to transfer. But once out of Hollis's sight Nellie +forgot her promise through fear over the safety of her things. She took +the Coyote trail, riding slowly through the clear sunshine of the +morning. + +After taking leave of Nellie Hollis rode slowly down the street to the +_Kicker_ office. He looked in through the window and seeing that +Potter had not yet arrived, continued down to the court house. He talked +for a few minutes with Judge Graney. Nothing new had developed. Ben +Allen had gone to visit several small ranchers the day before and had +not returned. + +Hollis returned to the _Kicker_ office. At noon Potter had arrived, +bearing the news that he had seen Nellie Hazelton on the Coyote trail, +within a few miles of the Circle Bar. She had stopped at her cabin and +there were several bundles strapped to the cantle of her saddle. + +That night Hollis did not see her at all. He did not inquire for her, +but surmised that she was in her room. The next morning soon after he +had awakened and while he still debated the question of arising, he +heard her singing in the kitchen. He smiled, thinking how quickly she +had adapted herself to her new surroundings. + +At breakfast he looked closely at her several times, searching for +evidence of her grief of yesterday. There was none. Therefore he was not +surprised when, after breakfast, she told him that she intended riding +with him as far as the cabin for the purpose of bringing the remainder +of her effects. He gravely reminded her that she had broken her promise +of yesterday, and that as a punishment he contemplated refusing her +request. But when, an hour later, he urged his pony down the river trail +she was riding beside him. + +But she did not ride again that week. She did not tell Hollis the +reason; that returning that evening she had reached the Razor-Back and +was riding along its crest when she happened to glance across the +Rabbit-Ear toward the Circle Cross. On the opposite side of the river +she had seen two men, sitting quietly in their saddles, watching her. +They were Dunlavey and Yuma. She did not know what their presence there +meant, but the sight was disquieting and she feared to return to the +cabin for the few things that were still here. + +But as the days went her fears were dispersed. Time and the lure of her +old home had revived her courage, and on a day about a week following +her previous trip, she herself saddled and bridled her pony and set out +over the Coyote trail toward her cabin. + +She had not told Hollis of her intention to ride there, fearing that the +knowledge of what she had seen on the day of the other ride would be +revealed in her eyes. It was a good hour after noon when she stole out +of the house to her pony, mounted, and rode away toward the river. + +For many days she had been wondering at Dunlavey's continued inaction. +He had been known as an energetic enemy, and though at their last +meeting in Dry Bottom he had threatened her and her brother, he had so +far made no hostile move. Uusually he would go a considerable distance +out of his way to speak to her. Perhaps, she thought, at their last +meeting she had shown him that he was wasting his time. Yet she could +not forget that day when she had seen Yuma and Dunlavey on the Circle +Cross side of the Rabbit-Ear. The sight somehow had been significant and +forbidding. + +But when she reached her cabin she had forgotten Dunlavey and Yuma; her +thoughts dwelt upon more pleasant people. Had she done right in allowing +Hollis to see that she was interested in him? Would he think less of her +for revealing this interest? She could not answer these questions, but +she could answer another--one that brought the blushes to her cheeks. +Why had Hollis shown an interest in her? She had known this answer for a +long time--when she had read Ace's poem to him while sitting on the +porch beside him, to be perfectly accurate. She had pretended then to +take offense when he had assured her that Ace had succeeded in getting +much truth into his lines, especially into the first couplet, which ran: + + "Woman--she don't need no tutor, + Be she school ma'am or biscuit shooter." + +The language had not been graceful, nor the diction, yet she knew that +Ace had struck the mark fairly, for woman indeed needed no tutor to +teach her to understand man--woman had always understood him. + +She dismounted from her pony at the edge of the porch, hitching the +animal to one of the slender porch columns. Then she went into the house +to gather up the few things that still remained there. + +But for a long time after entering the cabin she sat on a chair in the +kitchen, sobbing softly, for now that Ed had gone she felt the +desolation of the country more than ever. Presently she rose and with a +start looked out of the door. The dusk had fallen; darkness was stealing +into the valley around the cabin! + +Flitting here and there, she hurriedly began packing things which she +took from shelves and racks. It was an engrossing task and she was much +interested in it, so much so that she did not hear a slight sound at the +door that led out to the front porch. But when she saw a shadow darken +the doorway of the room in which she was working she stood suddenly +erect and with rapidly beating heart stole softly forward and peered +around the door-jamb. Of course it could be no one but Hollis. He had +taken the Coyote trail to-night. He would be surprised to see her. + +But it was she who was surprised. Yuma stood near the table in the +center of the kitchen, looking straight at her, his insolent, evil face +drawn into a foreboding smile. + +After the first gasp of horror and surprise a righteous anger stiffened +her. + +"What are you doing here?" she demanded. + +Yuma's evil smile grew. She had seen him often, usually at a distance, +for she had abhorred him, with his olive skin, his thin, cruel lips and +small glittering eyes. He had always seemed like an animal to her, +though she could not have told why. She thought it must be something in +his attitude, in the stoop which was almost a crouch, in the stealthy, +cat-like manner in which he walked. She had spoken to Ed about him more +than once, conveying to him her abhorrence of the man, and he had told +her that he felt the same about him. She shuddered now, thinking of what +her brother had told her of the man's cruelty. Dunlavey had often +boasted that Yuma was the most venomous and bloodthirsty of his crew of +cut-throats. + +"What are you doing here?" she repeated, her anger growing. + +Yuma laughed softly. "I saw you ridin' the Razor Back the other day," he +said, showing his teeth as the words came--even, smooth, burdened with a +subtle mockery. "I saw you again thees afternoon--but you not see me +like the other day--I watch you thees long." He held up three fingers to +denote that he had watched her three hours. She shuddered, suddenly +realizing the significance of his attitude that day she had seen him +from the Razor Back. + +"Ed gone," he continued, watching her narrowly; "nobody here; I come. I +like you--much." He grinned, his eyes brightening. "I reckon you +know--you girl that understan'?" + +She drew a slow deep breath. Curiously enough, next to the horror and +doubt that she felt over Yuma's presence at the cabin was a wonder for +the idioms of cowboy speech that were interjected with his own. He had +caught them from association, she supposed. She made a pretense of +boldness, though she felt more like screaming. + +"Leave this cabin!" she commanded sharply. + +Yuma did not change his position. "Leave heem?" he laughed. "I theenk +not. Dunlavey says me come here--make um love me--same as tenderfoot +noospaper man!" He laughed again, exultantly. "Dunlavey say you spark +tenderfoot--you spark me!" + +She trembled, realizing that a crisis was at hand and that she must meet +it boldly. She thought of the ivory-handled weapon in the holster at her +hip and involuntarily her right hand dropped to its butt. She had +learned to shoot, but she had never yet shot at a man and she drew her +hand away from the butt of the weapon with a shudder. Yuma had been +watching her closely, his evil little eyes glittering, and when he saw +her hand drop away he laughed derisively. + +"You no shoot heem!" he said. "You 'fraid. Dunlavey say he reckon you no +shoot--say you make love to um right away!" + +He smiled significantly and took a step toward her. She made an +involuntary step backward and her right hand again sought the butt of +the revolver, the left closing on the edge of the door that opened into +her room. Terror had given her courage and as Yuma continued to advance +with a soft, cautious, cat-like sliding movement, she drew the revolver +and presented it, though her hand wavered a little. + +"If you take another step toward me, Yuma, I will kill you!" she +declared. + +She saw his little eyes glitter with decision, saw him measure the +distance between them, saw him crouch for a spring. + +She fired, aiming at the lower edge of the scarf that sagged at his +throat. The smoke from the pistol blinded her; she heard his laugh, +heard the rush of his feet as he hurled himself forward. Terror stricken +over her failure to hit him, she dropped the pistol and whirled, +grasping the edge of the door and slamming it shut in his face. She felt +his weight against it, but he had been taken by surprise by the +movement; there was the strength of desperation in her body and she held +the door closed against him while she shoved the fastenings into place. + +Then, suddenly overcome, she leaned weakly against the jamb, her heart +thumping hard, her nerves tingling. + +For a long time she did not move, and there came no sound from the other +side of the door to tell her of Yuma's movements. There was a wild hope +in her heart that he had gone, but presently, becoming a little calmer, +she pressed her ear against the door. There was no doubt of Yuma's +presence; she could hear him stepping softly about the room. Had there +been a window in the room in which she had imprisoned herself she might +have escaped, but unfortunately there was not. + +She fell to thinking of the revolver she had dropped when Yuma had +sprung upon her. It must have dropped very close to the door. Had Yuma +picked it up? There was a chance that he had not. If the weapon were +still there and she could open the door and secure it and close the door +again, she would be in a position to defend herself. She could not +defend herself without it. If Yuma should burst the door open she would +be at his mercy. She must get the revolver. + +Convinced of this she stood for some little time at the door, her ear +pressed against it, listening for any sound that might tell her of the +whereabouts of Yuma in the cabin. She heard nothing. Perhaps he had +gone? But she listened a while longer, determined to be certain before +loosening the fastenings of the door. Silence--a premonitory +silence--filled the room beyond the door. She could hear nothing except +her own rapid breathing. Presently she heard a horse whinny. Was Yuma at +the horses? It seemed incredible that any man should visit the cabin +purposely to attack her. Perhaps Yuma had only intended to frighten her; +he had said that Dunlavey had told him to follow her, but she believed +that Dunlavey, in spite of his reputation for lawlessness and trickery, +was not so unmanly as to incite the half-breed to attack her. He may +have told him to steal the horses--she could believe that of him! + +But for a long time, in spite of the quieting influence of these +thoughts, she kept her ear pressed against the door. Then, moved by a +sudden impulse--an accession of courage inspired by the continued +silence--she cautiously loosened the fastenings and swung the door +slowly open. + +Her revolver lay close and with a swift movement she reached for it. As +her fingers grasped its butt she heard a slight sound and Yuma was upon +her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. She felt his breath on +her neck, heard his laugh, exultant and derisive, mocking her. His right +hand, gripping hers tightly, was slipping slowly down toward the hand +that held the revolver. She struggled desperately, squirming and +twisting in his grasp, silently matching her strength against his. +Finding this hopeless and feeling his hand gradually slipping toward the +revolver, she suddenly raised her hand toward her face, bringing Yuma's +hand, still on her arm, with it. Then she dropped her head to his arm +near the wrist, and sank her teeth savagely into the flesh. + +Yuma howled in anguish, loosening his hold momentarily. In an instant +she had wrenched herself free and had bounded to the center of the room, +placing the kitchen table between herself and her assailant. + +But he was after her with a bound, his little eyes gleaming with a +venomous expression, his face contorted with passion. She raised the +revolver and fired. For a breathless instant she thought that she had +hit him, for he sank almost to the floor. But she saw that it was only a +trick for he was up again on the instant, a mocking smile on his face +and closer than ever. She fired again, and when she saw him sink to the +floor she pulled the trigger a second time. He had been very close to +the table when she fired the last time and before she could press the +trigger again he had lurched forward under it, raising it on his +shoulders and sending it crashing down behind him as he confronted her, +his evil face close to hers, his hands again gripping her arms. + +She fought him silently, and together they reeled around the cabin. She +bit him again, and then in an outburst of savage fury he brutally +twisted the arm in which she still held the revolver, sending the weapon +crashing to the floor. While twisting her arm he had been compelled to +loosen his grasp of the other slightly, and she again wrenched herself +free and darted toward the door leading to the porch. But he bounded +forward, intercepting her, and with a last, despairing effort she raised +both hands to his face and clawed furiously at his eyes. + +She heard a savage curse from him, saw the lust of murder in his little, +glittering eyes, felt his sinewy fingers at her throat. Then objects +within the cabin swam in a dizzy, blurring circle before her. She heard +a crash--seeming to come from a great distance; heard Yuma curse again. +And then, borne resistlessly forward by the weight of his body, she +tumbled to the floor in an inert heap. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +PROOF OF GRATITUDE + + +Shortly after noon on the same day Hollis, finding work irksome, closed +his desk with a bang, told Potter that he was going home, mounted his +pony, and loped the animal out the Dry Bottom trail. He remembered +hearing Norton tell one of the men that morning that he suspected that +several of Ed Hazelton's cattle were still in the vicinity of the basin +near the Hazelton cabin, and he determined to ride around that way and +try to turn them back toward the Circle Bar. It would be recreation for +him after a hot morning in the office. + +He also remembered another thing that had occurred that morning at the +ranch house. Mrs. Norton had assured him--with a sly, eloquent glance at +him--that he might do worse than to make arrangements to keep Nellie +Hazelton at the Circle Bar indefinitely. At the risk of being considered +obtuse Hollis had ignored the hint, broad though it had been. But Mrs. +Norton's words had shown him that Nellie stood high in her estimation +and he felt a queer, unaccountable elation. + +After striking the Dry Bottom trail he took a circuitous route and some +time later came out upon a high ridge overlooking a basin. There were +some cattle down there and he made a mental note of the locality so that +he would be able to tell Norton where to have the men look for the +cattle. Then he rode along the ridge until he could no longer see the +basin. He spent most of the afternoon exploring the surrounding country, +and then when the dusk began to fall he retraced his steps to the ridge +upon which he had ridden earlier in the afternoon. Something familiar in +the shape of the hills near him struck him and he halted his pony and +smiled. These were the hills that he had seen many times from the +Hazelton porch. He faced around, certain that if the hills could be seen +from the porch he would be able to discern the porch from some point on +the ridge, for he was satisfied that he must be nearly in line with it. +He rode back and forth a few moments, and then, coming out on a bald +spot on the ridge, he saw the cabin. + +It was about a mile away, snuggled comfortably down in a little basin, +with some trees and shrubbery flanking it on both sides. He smiled as he +looked at it, and then suddenly his face clouded, for he saw two ponies +hitched to the porch. His forehead wrinkled perplexedly over this. He +was certain that Nellie rode the same animal each time, because she +would not trust any of the others that were now with the remuda. One of +the horses belonged to her of course, for he could see the gay ribbon +with which she was accustomed to decorate her animal's bridle. But to +whom did the other horse belong? He gazed steadily toward the cabin, +searching for signs of life on the porch. But though he could see +clearly--even into the shadows from a rambling rose bush that clung to +the eaves of the roof--no human figure appeared on the porch. + +Certainly Nellie must have a visitor. But who? He was not aware that the +Hazeltons had made friends with anyone in the neighborhood besides +himself and the Nortons. He smiled. Probably some cowboy from the Circle +Bar had been in the vicinity looking for Hazelton's cattle, had met +Nellie, and had stopped at the cabin. He remembered to have heard Norton +say that he was sending a man in that direction some time that day. + +That must be the explanation. But while he sat, debating the propriety +of riding down to the cabin to satisfy his curiosity, the sound of a +pistol shot floated to his ears on the slight breeze that was blowing +toward him. + +He sat erect, his face paling. Then he smiled again. He had been in the +West long enough to become acquainted with the cowboy nature and he +surmised that Nellie's visitor was very likely exhibiting his skill with +the revolver. But he turned his pony and urged it down the sloping side +of the ridge, riding slowly in the direction of the cabin. + +After striking the bottom of the slope he rode cut upon a broad level +that stretched away for half a mile. He made better time here and had +almost covered half the width of the plain when two more reports reached +his ears. He was close enough now to hear them distinctly and it seemed +to him that they sounded muffled. He halted the pony and sat stiffly in +the saddle, his gaze on the cabin. Then he saw a thin stream of +blue-white smoke issue from the doorway and curl lazily upward. + +A grave doubt assailed him. No cowboy would be likely to exhibit his +skill with a weapon in the cabin! Nellie's visitor must be an unwelcome +one! + +The pony felt the sudden spurs and raced like a whirlwind over the +remaining stretch of plain. Hollis had become suddenly imbued with a +suspicion that brought an ashen pallor to his face and an awful rage +into his heart. He slid his pony down one side of a steep arroyo, sent +it scrambling up the other side, jumped it over some rocks that littered +the rise, spurred savagely through a little basin, and reaching the edge +of the porch, dismounted and bounded to the door. + +He saw two figures--Nellie Hazelton and a man. He saw the man's fingers +gripping the girl's throat and the lust of murder surged over and +blinded him. In the dusk that had fallen he could only dimly see the +man's head and he swung his right fist at it, putting every ounce of his +strength into the blow. He felt the fist strike, realized that it had +glanced, and tried to recover for a second blow. + +But the terrific swing had carried him off his balance. He whirled clear +around, slipped, and came down to the floor flat on his face. He was up +in an instant, however, his brain afire with rage, his muscles tingling +with eagerness. He did not think of the gun at his hip, for the lust of +murder was in his soul and he wanted only to hit the man--to seize him +and tear him apart--to crush and smash the vile hands that he had seen +at the girl's throat. + +Five feet from him, facing him, on his hands and knees and scrambling to +rise, was the man. He recognized Yuma, and even as he bounded forward +the latter gained his feet and tugged at his gun-holster. The weapon had +not yet cleared the holster when Hollis was upon him. He struck again +with his right fist and missed, crashing against Yuma in his eagerness +and carrying him down to the floor with a force that shook the cabin. As +they fell Hollis felt a sharp, agonizing pain in his left wrist, from +which the splints had been only recently removed, and the hand hung limp +at his side, entirely useless. + +For an instant after the fall Yuma lay still, breathing heavily. Then he +made a sudden movement with his right arm and Hollis caught a glint of +metal. He threw himself at the arm, catching it with his right hand just +above the wrist and jamming it tight to the floor. Yuma tried to squirm +free, failed, and with a curse drove his left fist into the side of +Hollis's face. Again he tried to squirm free and during the struggle +that followed the hand holding the pistol was raised from the floor. +Hollis saw it and wrenched desperately at the arm, twisting it and +dragging it furiously downward to the floor. Yuma shrieked with rage and +pain as the force of the impact cracked his knuckles and sent the weapon +clattering ten feet away. + +For an instant both men lay silent, panting from their exertions. Then +Yuma succeeded in getting one leg over Hollis's body and one arm around +his neck. With a quick motion--successful because of Hollis's injured +wrist--he turned the latter over on his back. His eyes alight with an +exultant, malevolent fire, he gripped Hollis's throat with one hand and +drove at his face with the other. A quick movement of the head served to +defeat Yuma's aim and his fist thumped heavily against the floor, +bringing a grimace of pain to his face. Disregarding his injured wrist, +Hollis wrenched savagely and succeeded in rolling free of Yuma and +reaching his feet. He had moved quickly, but the lithe, cat-like +half-breed was before him, bounding toward the pistol on the floor. He +was bending over it, his fingers gripping its butt, when Hollis, +throwing himself forward bodily, crashed into him and hurled him heavily +to the floor. + +This time Yuma lay face downward, his arms outstretched, and Hollis lay +sprawled out on top of him. But Yuma had succeeded in holding to the +pistol; it was grasped in his outstretched right hand, just out of +Hollis's reach. + +For an instant again both men lay silent, breathing rapidly. Then, +yielding to the rage that still possessed him, Hollis bounded to his +feet, striking Yuma a crashing blow in the face as he did so. While Yuma +reeled he brought his booted foot down on the hand holding the pistol, +grinding it under his heel. + +Yuma screamed with pain and rage and got to his feet, holding his +injured hand with the other. The pistol lay on the floor where Yuma had +dropped it when Hollis's boot had come in contact with his hand. For an +instant Yuma stood gripping his hand, his face hideous with passion. +Then with a snarl of rage and hate he drew a knife from the folds of his +shirt and sprang toward Hollis. + +Hollis tensed himself for the clash, rapidly measuring the distance, and +when Yuma came close enough caught him squarely on the side of the jaw +with a vicious right swing. But in some manner when Hollis stepped aside +to avoid Yuma's knife, his feet had become entangled with the legs of +the table that Yuma had previously overturned. As he struck he slipped, +the blow at Yuma's jaw not having the force he intended it to have. He +caught himself, slipped again and went down, turning completely over the +table top and falling face downward to the floor. He saw Yuma throw +himself forward and he tried to wriggle out of danger, but he failed. He +felt the half-breed's weight on his body, saw the knife flash in the +dull light. He tried to roll over and grasp the knife in its descent, +but could not, his left arm, now useless, being pinned to the floor by +Yuma's knee. + +A revolver roared spitefully--once--twice. Yuma's knife hissed past +Hollis's ear and struck the floor, its point sunk deep, its handle +swaying idly back and forth. Yuma himself--inert, limp, rolled from +Hollis's back and lay flat on his own, his eyes wide open and staring, +two huge bullet holes in his forehead. And in the open doorway of the +cabin stood Ten Spot. + +For an instant Hollis could not realize his escape. He looked at Yuma +and then again at Ten Spot. Slowly and painfully he got to his feet, +looking around at the wreck of the room. Staggering a little, he walked +to where Ten Spot stood, gripping the latter's hand silently, at a loss +for words with which to thank him. + +But apparently Ten Spot did not notice the omission, for he grinned +broadly. + +"I reckon there's folks which would call that a right clever bit of +shootin'," he said, "seem' a? there wasn't time to pull off no fancy +stuff!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +TEN SPOT USES HIS EYES + + +The crash of Ten Spot's pistols aroused Nellie Hazelton, and she sat up +and stared stupidly about--at Hollis, who was just rising from the +floor; at Ten Spot, who still stood in the doorway; and then at Yuma's +body, stretched out on the floor beside the overturned table. She +shuddered and covered her face with her hands. The next instant Hollis +was bending over her, helping her to her feet, leading her to the door +and assuring her in a low, earnest voice that everything was all right, +and that Yuma would never trouble her again, and that he wanted her to +get on her pony and go to the Circle Bar. She allowed herself to be led +out on the porch, but once there she looked at him with renewed spirit. + +"It was you who came first," she said; "I didn't see you, but I heard +Yuma curse, felt something strike him, and then--I must have fainted. +You see, I felt it must be you--I had been expecting you." + +As she spoke she seized his hands and pressed them tightly, her eyes +eloquent with thankfulness. "Oh, I am so glad!" she whispered. Then she +saw Ten Spot standing in the doorway and she ran over and seized his +hands also, shaking them hysterically. And Ten Spot stood, red of face, +grinning bashfully at her--like a big, awkward, embarrassed schoolboy. + +"That's the first time I've ever been thanked for shootin' anybody!" he +confided to Hollis, later. "An' it cert'nly did feel some strange!" + +In spite of Hollis's remonstrances the girl insisted on returning to the +interior of the cabin, to "bundle up her things." Feeling the futility +of further objection, Hollis finally allowed her to enter. But while she +was busy in one of the rooms he and Ten Spot carried Yuma's body +outside, around to the rear of the cabin. + +Then, when the girl had finally secured her "things" and they had been +securely tied to her pony, and she had started down the trail toward the +Circle Bar ranch, Hollis and Ten Spot returned to the rear of the cabin, +took up Yuma's body, carried it to a secluded spot at some little +distance from the cabin and there buried it deep and quickly. + +"I want to thank you again," said Hollis as he and Ten Spot stood on the +porch when Hollis was ready to depart; "it was a great stroke of luck +that brought you here just when you were needed." + +Ten Spot grinned. "I don't think it was just luck that brought me," he +said; "though mebbe it was luck that took me into the Fashion this +morning. Whatever it was, I was in there, an' I heard Dunlavey an' Yuma +cookin' this here deal. I wasn't feelin' entirely ongrateful for the way +you'd treated me after you'd got my gun that day in the _Kicker_ +office an' I wasn't intendin' to let happen what Dunlavey wanted to +happen. So I got out of the Fashion as soon as I could an' trailed Yuma. +I've been after him all day, but somehow or other I lost him an' didn't +find out where he'd gone till a little while ago--when I heard a gun go +off. Then I hit the breeze here--after Yuma. That's all. That's how I +come to get here so lucky." He stuck out a hand to Hollis. "Well, +so-long," he said; "I'm hittin' the breeze out of the country." He +stepped forward to his pony, but hesitated when he heard Hollis speak. + +"Then you're not going back to the Circle Cross--to work for Dunlavey?" +questioned the latter. + +"Well, no," grinned Ten Spot. "You see, it might not be so pleasant now +as it's been. I reckon when Dunlavey hears this he won't be exactly +tickled." + +Hollis contemplated him gravely. "So you're going to leave the country?" +he said slowly, his eyes twinkling. "I take it you are not afraid----" + +"Don't!" said Ten Spot coldly and sharply. Then he grinned with feline +cordiality. "I reckon I ain't scared of anyone," he said, "but I ain't +likin' to go back to the Circle Cross after puttin' Yuma out of +business. I've done some mean things in my time, but I ain't dealin' +double with no man, an' I couldn't go back to the Circle Cross an' work +for Dunlavey when I ain't sympathizin' with him none." + +"I'm shy of good cowhands," offered Hollis quietly. "If forty a month +would be----" + +Ten Spot's right hand was suddenly gripping Hollis's. "You've hired a +man, boss!" he said, his eyes alight with pleasure. "Ever since you +clawed me that day in the _Kicker_ office I've had a hankerin' to +work for you. I was wonder in' if you'd ast me. There ain't no damn----" + +"Then it's a bargain," laughed Hollis, interrupting. "You can start +right now." He pointed to the ridge upon which he had been riding when +he heard the shot that had brought him to the cabin. "Some of Ed +Hazelton's cattle are in the basin on the other side of that ridge," he +said. "You go over there and keep an eye on them until I can get a +chance to send some one here to help you drive them back up the river +toward the Circle Bar." As he came to the edge of the porch to mount his +pony his gaze fell on Yuma's horse, still hitched to one of the columns. +"What are we going to do with Yuma's horse?" he questioned. + +Ten Spot grinned. He walked over to the pony, unhitched it, and with a +vicious slap on the flank sent it loping down the trail toward the +river. + +"That'll be my message to Dunlavey that Yuma ain't here any more," he +said grimly. + +Hollis mounted and rode a short distance, but halted and turned in the +saddle when he heard Ten Spot call to him. + +"Boss," he said with a grin, "I ain't exactly blind, an' mebbe you've +got your eyes with you, too. But I saw that there Hazelton girl lookin' +at you sorta----" + +He saw a smile on Hollis's face, but the rest of his speech was drowned +in a clatter of hoofs as the "boss's" pony tore down the Coyote trail. +Then Ten Spot smiled, mounted his pony, and rode away toward the ridge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +CAMPAIGN GUNS + + +Of course Yuma had been amply punished for his part in the attack on +Nellie Hazelton, but there still remained Dunlavey--who had instigated +it. Hollis was aware of the uselessness of bringing a charge against +Dunlavey--he had not forgotten his experience with Bill Watkins when he +had attempted to have Greasy brought to justice. He believed that he +would not have brought such a charge had there been any probability of +the sheriff taking action. He felt that in inciting Yuma to attack +Nellie, Dunlavey had also contemplated a blow at him. The man's devilish +ingenuity appalled him, but it also aroused a fierce anger in his heart +that, in the absence of a powerful will, would have moved him to +immediate vengeance. + +But he contemplated no immediate action. Besides the attack on Nellie +Hazelton there was another score to settle with Dunlavey, and when the +time came for a final accounting he told himself that he would settle +both. He knew there would come such a time. From the beginning he had +felt that he and the Circle Cross manager were marked by fate for a +clash. He was eager for it, but content to wait until the appointed +time. And he knew that the time was not far distant. + +Therefore he remained silent regarding the incident, and except to +Norton and his wife, Nellie Hazelton, Ten Spot, and himself, the +disappearance of Yuma remained a mystery. + +Dunlavey, perhaps, might have had his suspicions, but if so he +communicated them to no one, and so as the days passed the mystery +ceased to be discussed and Yuma was forgotten. + +Hollis received a letter from Weary, dated "Chicago," announcing the +safe arrival of himself and Ed Hazelton. "Town" suited him to a "T," he +wrote. But Doctor Hammond would not operate at once--he wanted time to +study the symptoms of Ed's malady. That was all. Hollis turned this +letter over to Nellie, with another from Ed, addressed to her--whose +contents remained a mystery to him. + +Ben Allen had returned from his visit to the small ranchers in the +vicinity, had confided to Hollis that he had "mixed a little politics +with business," and then, after receiving a telegram from the Secretary +of the Interior, had taken himself off to Santa Fe to confer with the +governor. + +After several days he returned. He entered the _Kicker_ office to +greet Hollis, his face wreathed in smiles. + +"You've got 'em all stirred up, my boy!" he declared, placing his hand +on Hollis's shoulder with a resounding "smack"; "they're goin' to +enforce the little law we've got and they've passed some new ones. +Here's a few! First and foremost, cattle stealing is to be considered +felony! Penalty, from one to twenty years! Next--free water! Being as +the rivers in this Territory ain't never been sold with what land the +government sharks has disposed of, any cattleman's got the right to +water wherever he wants to. The governor told me that if it's necessary +he'll send Uncle Sam's blue coats anywhere in the Territory to enforce +that! Third: after a man's registered his brand he can't change it +unless he applies to the district judge. Them that ain't registered +their brand ain't entitled to no protection. I reckon there's trouble +ahead for any man which monkeys with another man's brand! + +"Say!" Allen eyed Hollis whimsically; "that new governor's all het up +over you! Had a copy of the _Kicker_ in front of him on his desk +when he was talkin' to me. Says you're a scrapper from the word go, an' +that he'd back you up long as there was a blue coat anywhere in the +Territory!" + +Allen's speech was ungrammatical, but its message was one of good cheer +and Hollis's eyes brightened. The Law was coming at last! He could not +help but wonder what Dunlavey's feelings would be when he heard of it. +For himself, he felt as any man must feel who, laboring at a seemingly +impossible task, endless and thankless, sees in the distance the +possible, the end, and the plaudits of his friends. + +Yes, he could see the end, but the end was not yet. He looked gravely at +Allen. + +"Did you happen to hear when these laws become effective?" he inquired. + +"On the first day of October!" returned Allen, triumphantly. + +Hollis smiled. "And election day is the third of November," he said. +"That gives Dunlavey, Watkins and Company a month's grace--in case you +are elected sheriff." + +Allen grinned. "They can't do a heap in a month," he said. + +"No," returned Hollis, "but in most elections that have come under my +observation, I have noticed that the winning candidate does not assume +office for a considerable time after the election. What is the custom +out here?" + +Allen grinned grimly. "Usually it's two weeks," he said, "but if I'm +elected it will be the next day--if I have to go down to the sheriff's +office and drag Bill Watkins out by the hair!" + +"That belligerent spirit does you credit," dryly observed Hollis. "It +will afford me great pleasure to participate in the festivities. But +there is another matter to be thought of--which we seem to have +overlooked. Usually before an election there is a primary, or a +convention, is there not?" + +"There is," grinned Allen. "It's to-night, and I'm ready for it!" His +grin expanded to a wide, whimsical smile. "I told you that I'd been +mixing a little politics with business," he said. "Well, I've done so." +He got up and approached the front window of the office, sweeping a hand +toward the street. "If you'll just get up and look out here," he said, +"you'll see that I ain't lying. There's some good in being an +ex-office-holder--you get experience enough to tell you how to run a +campaign." He bowed to Hollis. "Now, if you'll look close at that gang +which is mixing palaver in front of the Silver Dollar you'll mebbe +notice that Lemuel Train is in it, an' Truxton, of the Diamond Dot, +Holcomb, of the Star, Yeager, of the Three Diamond, Clark, of the Circle +Y, Henningson, of the Three Bar, Toban, of the T Down, an' some more +which has come in for the racket tonight. Countin' 'em all--the punchers +which have come in with the fellows I have named--there'll be about +seventy-five. + +"An', say!" he added, suddenly confronting Hollis and grasping him by +the shoulder and shaking him playfully and admiringly, "there wouldn't a +durn one of them have come over here on my account. They up an' told me +so when I asked them. Said they'd nothin' ag'in me, but they wasn't +considerin' votin' at all. But since Hollis wanted me--well, they'd come +over just to show you that they appreciated what you'd done for them!" + +Hollis smiled. He did not tell Allen that since the appearance of the +_Kicker_ containing the announcement that he was to be its +candidate he had written every small rancher in the vicinity, requesting +as a personal favor that they appear in Dry Bottom on the day of the +primary; that these letters had been delivered by Ace, and that when the +poet returned he had presented Hollis with a list containing the name of +every rancher who had promised to come, and that several days before +Hollis had known approximately how many votes Allen would receive at the +primary. He did not intend that Allen should know this--or that he had +been going quietly from one Dry Bottom merchant to another, appealing to +them for their support. And the earnestness with which many of them had +promised had convinced him that the primary was to be the beginning of +the end for Bill Watkins and Dunlavey. + +When he had first come to Dry Bottom it had been universally conceded by +the town's citizens that his differences with Dunlavey and the +Cattlemen's Association were purely personal, and there had been a +disposition on the part of the citizens to let them fight it out between +themselves. But of late there had come a change in that sentiment. The +change had been gradual, beginning with the day when he had told the +author of the notice that had appeared on the door of the _Kicker_ +office not to hold the express on his account. But the change had come +and it was evident that it was to be permanent. It had only been +necessary to arouse the government to the situation in order to secure +intervention. He had hoped to secure this intervention without being +forced to a hostile clash with the opposition, but his first meeting +with Dunlavey had spoiled that. Subsequent events had widened the +breach. + +He was satisfied. Let Bill Watkins be defeated for sheriff and Dunlavey +was beaten. But there was much to be done before that desirable end +could be achieved. + +Following the custom the primary was to be held in the sheriff's office. +Watkins had issued a proclamation some weeks before; it had appeared on +the door of the sheriff's office--a written notice, tacked to the +door--but it had been removed the same day. Obviously, it was the +sheriff's intention to conduct the primary as quietly as possible, +hoping no doubt to disarm whatever opposition might develop. But Hollis +had been apprised of the appearance of the proclamation and had quietly +proceeded to plant the seed of opposition to Watkins in the minds of his +friends. + +He had been warned by Judge Graney that Watkins would try to "pack" the +sheriff's office with his friends on the night of the primary. This had +been the usual method employed by Dunlavey when opposition to Watkins +developed. Drunken, dissolute, dangerous men were usually on hand to +overawe the opposition; the Judge told of instances in which gunplay had +developed. But Hollis had determined that Watkins must be beaten. + +Allen did not stay long in the _Kicker_ office. Nor, for that +matter, did Hollis. Once, during the morning, he went down to the court +house to talk with Judge Graney. Then he returned to the _Kicker_ +office and worked until noon. + +During the morning there had been a surprising influx of visitors. +Bronzed punchers on dusty, drooping ponies rode down the town's one +street, dropped from their saddles, and sought the saloons. Groups of +them swarmed the streets and the stores. As Hollis walked down to his +office after leaving the court house, he was kept busy nodding to +friends--many of whom had become such during the later days of the +drought. Merchants grinned at him from their doorways; Dunlavey's +friends sneered as he passed or sent ribald jokes after him. + +At noon he went to the Alhambra for lunch. Almost the first person he +saw there was Dunlavey. The latter grinned at him mockingly. + +"Friends of yours in town to-day," he said with a sneer. "Well, you'll +need them!" + +His voice had been loud enough for all in the restaurant to hear. Hollis +did not answer, though he appreciated the significance of Dunlavey's +words; they told him that the Circle Cross manager was aware of the +contemplated contest and was ready for it. + +During the afternoon Dry Bottom presented a decidedly different +appearance from the day when Hollis had first viewed it. Animation had +succeeded desolation. Perhaps a hundred cowponies were hitched to the +rails that paralleled the fronts of the saloons, the stores, and many of +the private dwellings. It was apparent that many of the visitors had +made the trip to town for the double purpose of voting and securing +supplies, for mixed with the ponies were numerous wagons of various +varieties, their owners loading them with boxes and crates. Men swarmed +the sidewalks; the saloons buzzed. + +Toward dusk the volume of noise in the saloons drowned all sound +outside. Having made their purchases the ranchers who had driven in for +supplies and had loaded their wagons preparatory to departure found time +to join their friends and acquaintances over a convivial glass. By the +time the kerosene lamps were lighted in the saloons revelry reigned. +From one saloon issued the shrieking, discordant notes of a violin, +accompanied by the scuffling of feet; from another came laughter and the +clinking of glasses; from still another came harsh oaths and obscene +shouts. In the latter place rose the laughter of women. + +Seated at his desk near the front window of the _Kicker_ office +Hollis gravely watched the scene--listened to the sounds. In another +chair sat Potter. There was no light in the office; neither man had +thought of a light. As the revelry in the saloons increased the printer +glanced furtively at his chief. + +"There'll be hell to-night!" he said. + +"I expect there will be trouble," agreed Hollis. + +Potter shifted uneasily in his chair, eyeing his employer with a worried +expression. He was silent for a moment. Then he cleared his throat +nervously. + +"Do you intend to go there--to the sheriff's office--to-night?" he +questioned. + +Hollis looked quickly at him. "Of course!" he said with emphasis. "Why?" +he interrogated. + +"Nothing," returned Potter; "only----" he hesitated and then blurted +out: "I wouldn't go if I were you. They've been saying that if you do +there'll be trouble. You know what that means." + +"Who has been saying that?" inquired Hollis. + +"I heard it at noon--in the Silver Dollar. Some of Dunlavey's men sat +near me and I heard them saying that Watkins was to win if they had to +put two or three of his chief opponents out of business." + +"I have been expecting that," returned Hollis. He said nothing more and +Potter, having done his duty, felt that he had no business to interfere +further. + +Shortly after dark there was a clatter of hoofs outside the +_Kicker_ office and four men dismounted from their ponies and +strode to the office door. They were Norton, Ace, Lanky, and Bud. +Evidently Hollis had been awaiting their coming, for he met them at the +door, greeting them with the words: "We'll be going at once; it's about +time." + +Followed by Potter the five strode rapidly down the street. When they +arrived at the sheriff's office there were a number of men congregated +about the door. Inside a kerosene lamp flickered on a table that sat in +the center of the room. Another lamp stood on Watkins's desk, and beside +the desk sat Watkins himself. + +Conversation died away as Hollis and his men approached the door and +stood in the stream of light from the interior. A man stepped out of the +shadow of the building and approached Hollis, drawing him and Norton +aside. It was Allen. The latter had lost some of the sprightliness that +had marked his manner during his conversation with Hollis in the +_Kicker_ office that morning--he was again the cool, deliberate, +steady-eyed man he had been that day in Judge Graney's office when +Hollis had met him the first time. + +"I've been waitin' for you," he said; "we're goin' to have a scrumptuous +time. Dunlavey's planning to pack her." He swept a hand toward the +interior of the office. "But each candidate is to be allowed two +witnesses. I've selected you two. Dunlavey and Greasy are doing the +honors for Watkins. We might just as well go inside; we can't do +anything out here. There won't be anything done by any of this gang +until Dunlavey says the word." + +He turned and stepped into the sheriff's office, Hollis and Norton +following. + +Watkins looked up and surveyed them with a bland smile as they entered +and dropped quietly into the several chairs that had been provided. + +"I reckon she's goin' to be some hot tonight?" significantly remarked +Watkins, addressing himself to Allen. + +"Maybe," grinned Allen. + +"We're goin' to take a hand in handlin' the Law," significantly remarked +Norton. + +Watkins's face reddened. He stared offensively at Hollis. + +"I reckon you're a witness, too," he said, sneering. "Well," he went on +as Hollis gravely nodded, "the law says that a witness to the count must +be a resident of the county. An' I reckon you ain't. You ain't been----" + +"He stays," interrupted Allen, shortly. "That's settled." + +Watkins's face bloated with a sudden anger, but he wheeled without +replying and gave his attention to some papers lying on the desk in +front of him. + +For a long time the four sat in silence. Outside arose voices of +men--growing in volume. There was a jam around the door; looking out +Hollis could see the bronzed, grim faces of the punchers as they crowded +close, moved by a spirit of curiosity. Hollis could hear exclamations of +impatience, though the majority of the men outside stood in silence, +waiting. + +Plainly, nothing was to be done until the arrival of Dunlavey. And +presently he came. + +He had not been drinking; he was undeniably sober and self-possessed. As +he entered the door of the office there was a sudden surge on the part +of the crowd--several of the men tried to force their way in behind +Dunlavey. But he halted on the threshold, scowling back at them and +uttering the one word: "Wait!" The crowd fell back at the command and +watched. + +Dunlavey stepped across the room, standing beside Watkins, his rapid +glance noting the presence of the three members of the opposition. He +ignored Hollis and Norton, speaking to Allen. + +"So you're sure enough going to run?" he said. + +"Sure," returned Allen. He rose slowly, stepped deliberately across the +room, closed the door, and stood with his back to it. + +"We're all here now," he said quietly, "and I want to talk a little. +There ain't no one going to hear what I've got to say but them I'm going +to say it to. I reckon that goes?" He turned to Dunlavey. + +Dunlavey had shown some evidence of surprise over Allen's action in +closing the door, but this immediately gave way to a sneer of mockery. +"I reckon you've forgot Greasy," he said. + +"Why, I sure have!" returned Allen evenly. He opened the door a trifle +and called: "Greasy!" + +Evidently Greasy had been waiting at the door, for he immediately came +in, slouching across the floor and standing beside Watkins and Dunlavey. +Allen closed the door and adjusted the fastenings carefully. Then he +turned again to Dunlavey. + +"Now we'll proceed to do the talking," he said. He walked over to the +chair that he had previously vacated, dropping carelessly into it and +leaning comfortably back. His movements had been those of a man +unquestionably sure of peace. The expression of his eyes, the tones of +his voice, his deliberation hinted at a desire for a peaceful +compromise. + +But once seated in his chair a startling change came over him. There was +a rapid movement at his sides, a mere flash of light, and two heavy +six-shooters appeared suddenly in his hands and lay there, unaimed, but +forbiddingly ready. He sat erect, his eyes chilled and glittering, +alert, filled with menace. + +"Now," he said sharply, "the first man who peeps above a whisper gets +his so plenty that he won't care a damn who's nominated for sheriff!" He +spoke to Norton and Hollis without turning his head. "You two get +whatever guns them gentlemen happen to have on them, standing to one +side so's I can see to perforate anyone who ain't agreeable to handing +them over." + +Norton rose and approached Dunlavey, while Hollis stepped forward to the +sheriff and secured the weapon that reposed in a holster at his right +hip. He did likewise with Greasy. While Norton was relieving Dunlavey of +his weapon the sheriff opened his lips to speak, his gaze fixed +doubtfully on one of Allen's sixes. + +"The law----" he began. But Allen interrupted with a grin. + +"Sure," he said, "the law didn't figure on this. But I reckon you heard +Big Bill say once that the law could be handled. I'm handling it now. +But I reckon that lets you out--you ain't in on this and the mourners'll +be after you to-morrow if you open your trap again!" + +The sheriff swelled with rage, but he closed his lips tightly. When +Hollis and Norton had completed their search for weapons and had laid +the result of their search on the table near Allen they sought their +chairs. + +Dunlavey had said nothing. He stood beside Watkins's desk, still +self-possessed, the mocking smile still on his face, though into his +eyes had come a doubting, worried expression. Plainly he had not +anticipated such drastic action from Allen. + +The latter laughed grimly, quietly. "Sort of unexpected, wasn't it, +Bill?" he said, addressing Dunlavey. "It ain't just the sort of politics +that you've been used to. But I'm kind of used to it myself. Had to pull +the same game off over in Colfax County when I was runnin' for sheriff +the first time. It worked, too, because the folks that was mixed up in +it knowed I wasn't ringing in any bluff." He looked at Dunlavey with a +level, steady gaze, his eyes gleaming coldly. "If you think I'm bluffing +now, chirp for some one of your pluguglies to bust into this game. I'd +sort of like to let off my campaign guns into your dirty gizzard!" + +Hollis had been watching Dunlavey closely. There was no fear in the +man's eyes; even the doubt and worry that had been there had disappeared +and his expression was now mildly ironical, contrasting oddly with the +demeanor of Watkins--who was plainly frightened--and that of Greasy--who +smirked and showed his teeth like some beast at bay and in fear of +death. It was evident that Dunlavey possessed the spirit of the fighter, +that indomitable courage which enables a man to face any situation and +still retain his presence of mind, which permits him to face death +unafraid and unyielding. In spite of the enmity that had existed between +them from the beginning, Hollis had always respected Dunlavey for these +very qualities, and within the last few minutes that respect had grown. + +Dunlavey's eyes gleamed as he looked at Allen. "I don't think you would +try to work any bluff on me, Allen," he said quietly. "You've took me by +surprise, that's a fact. But let's get down to business. What's your +game?" + +"I reckon that's a sensible way to look at it," returned Allen evenly. +"That's the way I expected you'd look at it when you begun to realize +that I was holding some pretty good cards. There ain't nothing personal +in this; I'm out for a square deal and I'm going to get it. I want you +to understand that I'm running this game to-night and I'm running it +square. If I get enough votes I'm going to be the next sheriff. If I +don't get enough votes Bill Watkins'll be it. But the votes are going to +be real votes. I ain't figuring on letting your gang pack in here and +keep my friends from voting. + +"I'm going to put your hat on this table. Then Norton will open the door +and let one man come in. That man will vote--for whoever he pleases. +Then Mr. Hollis will let him out the back door and Norton will let +another man in the front. There won't be any row. I'm telling you that +you and Bill Watkins and Greasy are going to set here and watch the +voting. I'm going to stand behind you with one of my guns tucked under +your fifth rib. If you, or Watkins, or Greasy let out a yawp that can be +construed as a signal for anyone to bust into the game, or if there's +anything started by your friends which ain't your doing, I'm going to +pump six chunks of lead into you so fast that they'll be playing tag +with one another going through. I reckon you get me. That ends the +palaver." + +He arose, snatched Dunlavey's hat from his head, placed it on the table, +and walked behind Dunlavey, standing against the wall. + +"Open the door!" he directed, looking at Norton. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +HANDLING THE LAW + + +Norton opened the door a trifle and called "One man at a time!" There +were some hoarse shouts from without--presumably from Dunlavey's +friends; a chorus of derisive laughter from Allen's. Then the first man +entered. + +It was Ace. The poet stood for an instant, blinking at the light, then +he grinned as his gaze rested on the occupants of the room. He was +directed how to cast his ballot. He took the piece of paper that was +given him by Norton, scrawled "Allen" across it with a pencil that +Norton had previously placed on the table, and dropped the paper into +Dunlavey's hat. Hollis opened the rear door for him, but he halted on +the threshold, looking back into the room with a broad grin. + +"Gawd A'mighty!" he said in an awed tone; "there must have been a wad of +money blowed in in this here town to-day! Drunks! Man alive there ain't +nothin' but drunks; the town's reelin' with 'em! They're layin' in the +street; there's a dozen in the Silver Dollar an' that many more in the +Fashion--an' Gawd knows how many more in the other saloons. Their heads +is under the tables; they're hangin' on the walls an' clawin' around in +spittoons--gle-or-i-ously, be-ut-i-fully paralyzed!" + +He was suddenly outside, pushed through the door by Hollis, and the door +closed after him. Hollis glanced furtively at Dunlavey to see that +gentleman scowl. He thought he saw a questioning glint in Allen's eyes +as the latter looked suddenly at him, but he merely smiled and gave his +attention to the next man, who was now entering. + +The latter proved to be Lemuel Train. He did his voting quietly and +grimly. But as he went out through the door that Hollis opened for him +he growled: "Lordy, what a drunken bunch!" He looked at Hollis. "One of +your men, too," he said, grinning slightly. "I thought you taught them +better!" + +Hollis frowned. He knew that Allen would need all his friends; none of +them could be spared in this crisis. He smiled incredulously. It had +been only a short time before that his men had accompanied him to the +door of the sheriff's office. At that time they were perfectly sober. It +would have been impossible for any of them-- + +"An' Ten Spot's a hummer when he gits started," Train was saying. "I've +seen him before when he cut loose an' he sure is a holy terror!" + +Then with a word of parting Train was gone, saying that he had done all +the "damage" he could and that he purposed "hitting" the trail back to +his ranch. + +He had certainly done some damage to Hollis. The latter's mind now +rioted with all sorts of conjecture and he mechanically did his work of +letting man after man out through the rear door, scarcely seeing them. + +He was aware of an odd expression that had come into Dunlavey's eyes at +the mention of Ten Spot. Had Dunlavey succeeded in bribing Ten Spot to +desert him? He had left Ten Spot at the Circle Bar, not inviting him to +Dry Bottom because he felt that the latter would rather not come since +he had deserted Dunlavey. And Ten Spot had come to town anyway. What did +it mean? Did it mean that Ten Spot had come to assist Dunlavey in +nominating Watkins and defeating his new employer? + +He frowned again, and for the next few minutes gravely studied +Dunlavey's face. He was sure that the latter's manner had changed. The +mocking smile which had been on his face since his arrival at the +sheriff's office had been superseded by a huge grin--plainly of +anticipation. Ten Spot--dangerous, reckless, drunk, at the head of a +number of dissolute men, had it in his power to make things decidedly +interesting should he advance on the sheriff's office with the intention +of assisting Dunlavey. + +Several times since hiring Ten Spot Hollis had doubted him. The +suspicion had assailed him that perhaps the appearance of Ten Spot at +the Hazelton cabin so opportunely had been a part of a plot by Dunlavey +to place a spy in his employ. They might have purposely sacrificed Yuma. + +During the next quarter of an hour he gave more attention to Dunlavey +than to the steady stream of men that passed through the room, though he +recognized a goodly number as friends he had made during the latter days +of the drought. + +Allen's spirits had risen during the last quarter of an hour. His +maneuver had dissipated Dunlavey's strength and it was plain to be seen +that a majority of the votes cast were for him. If nothing unusual or +unexpected happened within the next hour, or until nine o'clock, the +hour named in Watkins's proclamation for the closing of the polls, he +was assured of victory. + +Thoughts of the same character were passing through Hollis's mind. There +was silence in the office. A man was voting at the table--writing his +favorite's name on a piece of paper. Hollis consulted his watch. It +lacked over an hour of the time for closing. The man at the table +finished writing and tossed the paper into the hat. Hollis opened the +rear door to allow him to go out. While the door remained open a sound +floated in, which they all heard--an ear-splitting screech, followed +instantly by a chorus of yells, a pistol report, more yells, and then a +number of reports. + +Norton did not open the door. He exchanged glances with Hollis and +Allen. Dunlavey grinned widely. + +"Something's coming," remarked Allen grimly. + +Dunlavey's grin grew derisive. "It would sure be too bad if my friends +should bust up this peace meeting," he sneered. + +"There won't be nothin' spoiled," grimly assured Allen. But he drew his +other six-shooter. + +The sounds outside grew in volume as they swept toward the sheriff's +office. They broke presently at the door and an ominous silence +succeeded. Then a voice reached the interior--harsh authoritative--Ten +Spot's voice. + +"Open up, you damned shorthorns!" it said. + +Norton looked at Allen. The latter's face was pale. "They come in," he +directed, "like the others--one at a time." + +Norton carefully withdrew the bar with which the door was fastened, +swinging it open slightly. As he did so there was a sudden rush of +bodies; Norton tried to jam the door shut, failed, and was flung back +several steps by the surging, yelling crowd that piled tumultuously into +the room. + +There were perhaps twenty of them and as they surged into the room, +shouting and cursing and laughing Hollis recognized among them many men +that he had come to know by sight. They were of the reckless, lawless +element upon which Dunlavey had relied for his support--men of Ten +Spot's character. They had been drinking, but in spite of their laughter +and loud talking it was plain to be seen that they had determined not to +be balked in the purpose which had brought them into the office. + +There was now no need to guard the door; the damage had been wrought, +and Norton backed away, leaving the door ajar, pale, grim eyed, alert, +ready to take an active part in the trouble which he felt certain was +sure to develop. Something in the faces of the men who had come in with +Ten Spot proclaimed trouble. + +Allen had not moved. He still stood behind Dunlavey, but his weapons no +longer menaced the Circle Cross manager; their muzzles, level and +forbidding, were covering the other men. + +Standing quietly beside the rear door, his face pale, his eyes bright, +his lips in straight lines, Hollis watched closely as the visitors, +having gained entrance, gathered together in the center of the room. +They were not awed by Allen's weapons; they grinned hugely at him. One +man, a young man of about Hollis's age, bronzed, lean, reckless of eye, +and unmistakably under the influence of liquor, lunged forward to Allen +and stood within arm's length of him, grinning at him. + +"Two guns!" he said with a laugh. "Why, I reckon you'd make a hell of a +sheriff!" + +A chorus of laughter greeted the young cowboy's words. Dunlavey grinned +widely. "You boys are just in time," he said. + +There was another roar of laughter. Many of the men seemed only now to +have become aware of Dunlavey's presence and they surged forward around +him, disregarding Allen's guns. The latter seemed to realize that the +situation had passed beyond his control, for catching Hollis's eye he +smiled grimly and sheathed his weapons, seeking Hollis's side. + +"It's no use," he said shortly to Hollis as he came near; "they'll run +things to suit themselves now. I wasn't expectin' Ten Spot to butt into +the game." + +"I reckon they've got us." Norton had also sought Hollis's side and the +three stood near the rear door, watching the crowd around Dunlavey. +Hollis tried to catch Ten Spot's gaze but failed--the latter seemed +studiously to avoid him. + +A wave of dull anger surged through Hollis's veins. Until now the +contest had been conducted fairly; they had given Dunlavey and Watkins +an honest election, even though they had found it necessary to eliminate +them as active participants. From now on he was assured the contest +would be a joke--though a grim one. He had depended upon Allen's +success--it meant much to him. The thought of failure just when victory +was within his grasp aroused him and in spite of Norton's low word of +caution he stepped forward and stood beside the table on which reposed +the hat into which the ballots had been placed by the men who had +previously voted. He intended to take personal charge of the hat, +determined upon securing a fair deal in spite of the great odds. + +As he stepped forward he saw Greasy grin maliciously and try to snatch a +gun from the holster of a cowboy who stood near him. This attempt was +frustrated by the puncher, who suddenly dropped his hand to his holster, +where it closed upon Greasy's. The puncher snarled, muttered profanely, +and struck furiously at Greasy, knocking him down in a corner. + +Other men moved. There were curses; the flashing of metal as guns came +out. Hollis felt rather than saw Norton and Allen advance toward the +table and stand beside him. A grim smile wreathed his face over the +knowledge that in the crowd there were at least two men upon whom he +might depend to the end--whatever the end might be. + +He heard Dunlavey snarl an oath, saw his big form loom out of the crowd, +saw one of his gigantic hands reach for the hat on the table. + +"I reckon I'll take charge of this now!" he sneered, his brutal face +close to Hollis's. + +Hollis would have struck the face that was so close to his, but at the +instant he saw Dunlavey's hand reach out for the hat he saw another hand +dart out from the other side of the table, seize the hat, and draw it +out of Dunlavey's reach. + +"I don't reckon that you'll take charge of her!" said a voice. + +Hollis turned quickly. Over the table leaned Ten Spot, the captured hat +in his hand, a big forty-five in the other, a cold, evil glitter in his +eyes as he looked up at Dunlavey. + +"I don't reckon that you're goin' to have a hand in runnin' this show +a-tall, Bill," he sneered. "Me an' my friends come down here special to +tend to that." He grinned the shallow, hard grin that marks the passing +of a friendship and the dawn of a bitter hatred. "You see, Bill, me an' +my friends has got sorta tired of the way you've been runnin' things an' +we're shufflin' the cards for a new deal. This here tenderfoot which +you've been a-slanderin' shameful is man's size an' we're seein' that he +gits a fair shake in this here. I reckon you git me?" + +Hollis felt Norton poking him in the ribs, but he did not turn; he was +too intent upon watching the two principal actors in the scene. Tragedy +had been imminent; comedy was slowly gaining the ascendency. For at the +expression that had come over Dunlavey's face several of the men were +grinning broadly. Were the stakes not so great Hollis would have felt +like smiling himself. Dunlavey seemed stunned. He stood erect, passing +his hand over his forehead as though half convinced that the scene were +an illusion and that the movement of the hand would dispel it. Several +times his lips moved, but no words came and he turned, looking about at +the men who were gathered around him, scanning their faces for signs +that would tell him that they were not in sympathy with Ten Spot. But +the faces that he looked upon wore mocking grins and sneers. + +"An' I've been tellin' the boys how you set Yuma on Nellie Hazelton, an' +they've come to the conclusion that a guy which will play a low down +mean game like that on a woman ain't no fit guy to have no hand in any +law makin'." + +Ten Spot's voice fell coldly and metallically in the silence of the +room. Slowly recovering from the shock Dunlavey attempted a sneer, which +gradually faded into a mirthless smile as Ten Spot continued: + +"An' you ain't goin' to have a hand in any more law-makin' in this man's +town. Me an' my friends is goin' to see to that, an' my boss, Mr. +Hollis. I reckon that'll be about all. You don't need to hang around +here while we do the rest of the votin'. Watkins an' Greasy c'n stay to +see that everything goes on regular." He grinned wickedly as Dunlavey +stiffened. "I reckon you know me, Bill. I ain't palaverin' none. You an' +Ten Spot is quits!" + +He stepped back a little, away from the table, his teeth showing in a +mocking grin. Then he looked down at the hat which he still held in his +hand--Dunlavey's hat. He laughed. "Why, I'm cert'nly impolite!" he said +insinuatingly. "Here you've been wantin' to go an' I've been keepin' +your hat!" He dumped the ballots upon the table and passed the hat to +Dunlavey. Without a word Dunlavey took it, jerking it savagely, placed +it on his head, and strode to the door, stepping down into the street. + +There was a short silence. Then Ten Spot turned and looked at Hollis, +his face wreathed in a broad grin. + +"I reckon you-all think you know somethin' about handlin' the law," he +said, "but your little Ten Spot ain't exactly the measliest card in the +deck! We'll do our votin' now." + +A quarter of an hour later, after Ten Spot and his friends had cast +their ballots and Watkins had been forced to make out a certificate of +nomination,--which reposed safely in Ben Allen's inside pocket--the +kerosene lights were extinguished and the men filed out. Hollis and Ten +Spot were the last to leave. As they stood for a moment on the threshold +of the doorway Hollis seized Ten Spot's hand and gripped it heartily. + +"I want to thank you, my friend," he said earnestly. + +Ten Spot jerked his hand away. "Aw, hell!" he said as they sought the +darkness of the street, "I ain't mushin' none. But," he added, as a +concession to his feelings, "I reckon to know a white man when I see +one!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +AUTUMN AND THE GODS + + +It was Sunday afternoon and a hazy, golden, late September sun was +swimming lazily in the blue arc of sky, flooding the lower gallery of +the Circle Bar ranchhouse, but not reaching a secluded nook in which sat +Hollis and Nellie Hazelton. Mrs. Norton was somewhere in the house and +Norton had gone down to the bunkhouse for a talk with the men--Hollis +and Nellie could see him, sitting on a bench in the shade of the eaves, +the other men gathered about him. + +Below the broad level that stretched away from the ranchhouse sank the +big basin, sweeping away to the mountains. Miles into the distance the +Circle Bar cattle could be seen--moving dots in the center of a great, +green bowl. To the right Razor-Back ridge loomed its bald crest upward +with no verdure saving the fringe of shrubbery at its base; to the left +stretched a vast plain that met the distant horizon that stretched an +interminable distance behind the cottonwood. Except for the moving dots +there was a total absence of life and movement in the big basin. It +spread in its wide, gradual, downward slope, bathed in the yellow +sunshine of the new, mellow season, peacefully slumberous, infinitely +beautiful. + +Many times had Hollis sat in the gallery watching it, his eyes +glistening, his soul stirred to awe. Long since had he ceased regretting +the glittering tinsel of the cities of his recollection; they seemed +artificial, unreal. When he had first gazed out over the basin he had +been oppressed with a sensation of uneasiness. Its vastness had appalled +him, its silence had aroused in him that vague disquiet which is akin to +fear. But these emotions had passed. He still felt awed--he would always +feel it, for it seemed that here he was looking upon a section of the +world in its primitive state; that in forming this world the creator had +been in his noblest mood--so far did the lofty mountains, the wide, +sweeping valleys, the towering buttes, and the mighty canyons dwarf the +flat hills and the puny shallows of the land he had known. But he was no +longer appalled; disquietude had been superseded by love. + +It all seemed to hold some mystery for him--an alluring, soul-stirring +mystery. The tawny mountains, immutable guardians of the basin, whose +peaks rose somberly in the twilight glow--did they hold it? Or was it +hidden in the basin, in the great, green sweep that basked in the +eternal sunlight? + +Perhaps there was no mystery. Perhaps he felt merely the romance that +would inevitably come to one who deeply appreciated the beauty of a land +into which he had come so unwillingly? For romance was here. + +He turned his head slightly and looked at the girl who sat beside him. +She also was looking out over the basin, her eyes filled with a light +that thrilled him. He studied her face long, noting the regular +features, the slight tan, through which shone the dusky bloom of perfect +health; the golden brown hair, with the wind-blown wisps straggling over +her temples; he felt the unaccountable, indefinable something that told +him of her inborn innocence and purity--qualities that he had worshiped +ever since he had been old enough to know the difference between right +and wrong. + +A deep respect moved him, a reverent smile wreathed his lips. Motherly? +Yes, that world-thrilling word aptly described her. And as he continued +to look at her he realized that this world held no mystery for him +beyond that which was enthroned in the heart of the girl who sat beside +him, unconscious of his thoughts. + +He turned again toward the basin. He did not want to uncover the +mystery--yet. There were still several things to be done before he would +feel free to speak the words that he had meditated upon for some weeks. +Meanwhile--if the gods were with him--the solving of the mystery would +be the more enjoyable. + +Two weeks of inaction had followed the primary incident. Several of Ten +Spot's friends were now in his employ; in spite of the drought the +Circle Bar had so far experienced a very prosperous season, and, though +the addition of the men represented quite an item of expense, he felt +that it was much better to employ them than to allow them to be +re-engaged by Dunlavey. + +He had been able to save considerable money. This he had transferred to +a bank in Santa Fe, for he had determined to stay in the West. He had +told his mother of this decision and had asked her to come, but she had +written that she preferred to remain East for a time--at least until the +following spring. + +Hollis was satisfied. Affairs were progressing beyond his anticipations. +Dunlavey's influence in the county had received a mighty blow in the +defeat of Watkins at the primary; he had received notice of the +enactment of several new laws that would appreciably assist him in his +fight; he had succeeded in winning many friends because of his attitude +on the water question; the increased number of advertisements appearing +in the _Kicker_ would soon necessitate the addition of an extra +sheet. It all presaged prosperity. Yes, he was satisfied. And yet-- + +He turned again and looked at the girl. This time he caught her watching +him. Evidently she had been watching him for a long time for her gaze +was fixed and meditative, as though she had been studying him. She +started and blushed when he turned and caught her, looking down in +sudden and complete confusion. But she looked up again instantly, +meeting his gaze steadily, her lips in a frank smile. + +"You have been thinking of this country," she said. + +"You have guessed it," he returned gravely and gently; "I have been +thinking of this country--and its people." He smiled at her, his eyes +shining with a light that caused hers to waver and droop. "But how did +you discover that?" he questioned. "I was not aware that I had been +speaking my thoughts." + +"Do you think it is always necessary to speak?" she answered, looking at +him with a quiet smile. "Don't you think there are times when one's +thoughts find expression in one's eyes? When we can not conceal them--no +matter how hard we try? I know that you were thinking of the country," +she went on earnestly, "because a few moments ago I had been thinking of +it too and I know that my emotions were exactly the same as those +expressed in your eyes. It is magnificent, isn't it?" she said in an +awed, eager voice. "It is so big, so mighty, so soul-stirring. It +allures with its vastness, it dazzles with its beauty; it makes one feel +closer to the Creator, even while pressing home a disquieting sense of +one's own insignificance. + +"For instance," she went on, her eyes large and luminous, a new, quiet +color coming into her face "there are times when our tasks seem +stupendous, when we are filled with an overpowering consciousness of the +importance of them; when we feel that we are carrying such a burden that +the addition of another would make the load too heavy. Then we look upon +God's work and immediately a still, small voice within us cries: 'What +have ye done in comparison to this?' And what have we done?" she +suddenly demanded. + +"Nothing," he returned gravely, awed by this fleeting illuminating +glimpse into her soul. + +She leaned back into her chair with a smile. "Those were the things I +was thinking about. And you, too, were thinking of them," she added. +"Now, don't deny it!" she warned, "for I saw it in your eyes!" + +"No!" he said with a quick smile; "I don't deny it. But I was thinking +of the people also." + +"Oh, the people!" she said with a frown. + +"Perhaps I should have said 'person,'" he modified with a quick glance +at her, under which her eyes drooped in swift confusion--as they had +drooped on another occasion which he remembered. + +"Oh!" she said merely. + +"I have been comparing this person to God's other works," he said, a +light in his eyes which told that the former decision to postpone an +attempt to uncover the mystery had been ruthlessly put aside, "and I +have come to the conclusion that in spite of the infinite care he took +in forming the beautiful world out yonder he did not neglect this person +to whom I refer." + +Her eyes met his in a glance of swift comprehension. She drew a slow, +deep breath and averted her face, which was now crimson. + +"As you have been able to illustrate man's insignificance in comparison +to God's mighty creations, so has my own inferiority been forced upon me +by my attempting to compare myself to the sweet character of the person +of whom I speak," said Hollis, his voice low and earnest. "It has been a +question whether--when I speak to her of a thing which has been on my +mind for many days--she could not with justice paraphrase the question +asked by the still, small voice and say: What have you done to deserve +this? And I should have to reply--nothing." He had moved closer to her, +leaning forward to look into her eyes. + +She sat very still, her gaze on the basin. "Perhaps this very estimable +person holds other views?" she returned, with a flash of mischief in her +eyes. She turned suddenly and looked straight at him, meeting his gaze +unwaveringly, a demure smile on her face. "I told you that sometimes a +person's thoughts were expressed in their eyes," she said--and now her +lashes flickered--"perhaps you can tell what my thoughts are?" + +It was a challenge, a defiance, and an unconditional surrender. Like a +flash one of Hollis's arms went out--she was drawn, vainly protesting, +toward him. + +"You haven't answered," she laughed, in a smothered voice; "you are not +certain----" + +She did not finish the sentence. Mrs. Norton, coming to the door for a +breath of fresh air, halted on the threshold, looked, smiled, and then +quietly--very quietly--slipped back into the house. + +Away out over the basin a Mexican eagle circled, winging his slow way +through the golden sunshine of the afternoon. Miles away the mountain +peaks rose somberly, a mysterious, golden halo rising slowly above them. +Perhaps there would always be mystery in the mountains, but a certain +mystery that had troubled Hollis mightily had been successfully solved. +The gods had favored him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE SEAR AND YELLOW DAYS + + +"This here town,"--read a letter that Hollis received from Weary late in +September--"aint fit for no man to live in which thinks anythink of +hisself, in the first place theres two many folks here which dont seem +to know what to do with themselves they just keep millin around an actin +like they was ready to stampead any time. In the 2nd place im runnin shy +of dust an id admire for to receave about a months pay which i wont +charge two you bein as ive already spent more then i ought two its a +good thing i got a return ticket or id be in a hell of a fix when i got +ready to come back last nite the doctor at the hospittle said hed +operate on ed today which hes already done this mornin an eds restin +easy though the doc dont know whether hes goin to git well or not but +hes hopin an ile let you know by telegraph if he gits any worse which is +all for this time. + +P. S. say boss dont forgit to hustel that coin ile shure make it right +with you i forgot to tell you that i got cleaned out by a card sharper +here i would have tore him apart but about a million sheriffs piled onto +me an i dident have no chancst what in hell does any town need with so +many sheriffs. + "Weary. + +"P. S. id like to be home for the round-up but reckon i wont make it. + + "Weary." + +Nellie Hazelton did not see this letter, though Hollis told her that Ed +had been operated on and that he was doing as well as could be expected. +And the telegraph that night flashed Weary's "coin" to him. + +The days passed all too quickly now, for the time for the fall round-up +was at hand and Hollis realized with regret that his daily rides--with +Nellie Hazelton as a companion--must soon be discontinued. + +The nights had already grown cool; snow had appeared on the mountain +peaks; the basin was no longer a great green bowl, but resembled a +mammoth, concave palette upon which nature had mixed her colors--yellow +and gold and brown, with here and there a blotch of red and purple, a +dash of green,--lingering over the season--and great, wide stretches of +gray. The barren spots seemed to grow more barren--mocked by the scarlet +blossoms of the cactus that seemed to be everlasting, and the fringing, +yellow soap weed, hardy, defying the advancing winter. Razor-Back ridge +was a desolate place. Never attractive, it reared aloft barren and +somber, frowning down upon its fringe of shrubbery the latter stripped +of its leaves, its scant beauty gone and bending its bare branches +stubbornly to the early winds. + +With the last day of the month came a rain--a cold, bitter, driving +storm that raged for three days and started a drift that the cattlemen +could not stop. Arrayed in tarpaulins the cowboys went forth, suffering, +cursing, laboring heroically to stem the tide. The cattle retreated +steadily before the storm--no human agency could halt them. On the +second day Norton came into the Circle Bar ranchhouse, wet, disgusted, +but fighting mad. + +"If this damn rain don't stop pretty soon," he told Hollis as he dried +himself before the open fireplace, "we'll have cattle down here from +over the Colorado line. An' then there'll be hell to pay!" + +But on the third day the rain ceased and the sun came out. The country +lay smiling in the sunshine, mellow, glistening, inviting. But the +damage had been wrought. From Lemuel Train of the Pig Pen outfit, came +word that fifty per cent of his cattle were missing. Truxton of the +Diamond Dot, Henningson of the Three Bar, and nearly all of the other +small owners, reported losses. Of course the cattle would be recovered +during the fall round up, but they were now scattered and fair prey for +cattle thieves, and with the round up still two weeks away it seemed +that many must be stolen. + +Yet there was nothing that could be done; it is folly to attempt to "cut +out" cattle on the open range. + +From the editorial columns of the _Kicker_ might be gleaned the +fact that the Law had come into Union County. Many men of Dry Bottom +entered the _Kicker_ office to thank Hollis; others boldly draped +their houses with flags and bunting. + +Dunlavey had visited Dry Bottom twice since the incident of the primary. +He had said nothing concerning the incident to anyone save possibly his +intimates, but from the sneer that appeared on his face when approached +by those whom he considered friendly to Hollis it was plain that he +intended continuing the fight. + +Hollis had been compelled to record in the _Kicker_ the unpleasant +news that Dunlavey had refused to comply with the new law regulating +brands and the submitting of lists for taxation, and also that he had +threatened to shoot the first officer trespassed on his land. Dunlavey +had not complied with the law, but he had failed to carry out his threat +to "shoot the first officer that trespassed on his land," for Allen had +trespassed several times, openly and boldly. Moreover, Dunlavey had seen +him, had even spoken to him, but had offered no violence. + +Perhaps in a calmer mood Dunlavey had decided not to use his weapon; +perhaps there was something about the quiet, cool, and deliberate Allen +which convinced Dunlavey that the former might be able to give a good +account of himself in the event of trouble. At any rate several times +Allen had ridden the Circle Cross range unmolested by either Dunlavey or +his men. He explored the farthest limits of the Circle Cross property, +tallying the cattle, nosing around the corrals, examining brands, and +doing sundry other things not calculated to allay Dunlavey's anger over +this new and odd condition of affairs. + +Then one day he failed to visit the Circle Cross. Instead, he appeared +to Potter in the office of the _Kicker_ with copy for a poster +announcing the sale by auction of a thousand of Dunlavey's best cattle. +He ordered Potter to print it so that he might post copies throughout +the county within a week. The night following the issue of the +_Kicker_ containing the announcement concerning the coming of the +law Potter had informed Hollis that he had that day delivered the +notices to Allen. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +IN DEFIANCE OF THE LAW + + +Hollis had demonstrated the fact that a majority of Dry Bottom's +citizens welcomed the law. Dry Bottom had had a law, to be sure--the law +of the six-shooter, with the cleverest man "on the trigger" as its chief +advocate. Few men cared to appear before such a court with an argument +against its jurisdiction. The law, as the citizens of Dry Bottom had +seen it, was an institution which frowned upon such argument. Few men +cared to risk an adverse decision of the established court to advocate +laws which would come from civilized authority; they had remained silent +against the day when it would come in spite of the element that had +scoffed at it. And now that day had arrived. The Law had come. + +Even the evil element knew it. The atmosphere was vibrant with +suppressed excitement; in the stores men and women were congregated; in +the saloons rose a buzz of continuous conversation. On the street men +greeted one another with subdued voices, or halted one another to +discuss the phenomenon. In a dozen conspicuous places were posted +flaring, printed notices, informing the reader that a thousand of the +Circle Cross cattle--a description of which followed--were, on the +following day, to be sold to the highest bidder. Below this +announcement, in small, neat print, was quoted the Law. + +Dry Bottom gasped. The saloons swarmed. In the Fashion two bartenders +and the proprietor labored heroically to supply their customers with the +liquid stimulant which would nerve them to look upon Ben Allen's posters +with a certain degree of equanimity. The reckless element--the gun-men +who in a former day were wont to swagger forth with reckless disregard +for the polite conventions--skulked in the background, sneering at this +thing which had come to rob them of their power and which, they felt, +presaged their ultimate downfall. + +But Dry Bottom ignored the gun-men, or smiled blandly at them, giving +its attention to Ben Allen's posters and discussing a rumor which had +gained rapid credence, to the effect that the new governor had +telegraphed Allen that he would hold a detail of United States soldiers +in readiness for any contingency. + +The good citizens smiled. And throughout the day many of them passed and +repassed the _Kicker_ office, anxious to get a glimpse of the man +who had been instrumental in bringing about this innovation. + +Shortly after noon on the same day Dunlavey rode into Dry Bottom, +dismounted, hitched his pony to the rail in front of the Fashion, and +entered. + +In former days Dunlavey's appearance within the doors of the Fashion was +the signal for boisterous greetings. For here might always be found the +law's chief advocates. To-day, however, there were no greetings. Minds +were filled with vague and picturesque conjecture concerning Dunlavey's +probable actions and the outcome of this strange affair. Thus upon +Dunlavey's entrance a silence--strange and awkward--fell in the +bar-room. There were short nods and men fell away from Dunlavey as he +crossed the room and came to a halt before one of Ben Allen's posters. +He read every line of it--every word. No man interrupted him. Then, +finishing his reading, he turned and faced the crowd, his face white +with wrath, his lips snarling. + +"Why in hell didn't some of you damned fools tear this down?" he +demanded. + +No man felt it incumbent upon him to reply to this and Dunlavey watched +them for an instant, sneering, his eyes glittering menacingly. Then he +suddenly turned, seized the poster, savagely tore it into pieces, hurled +the pieces to the floor, and stamped upon them. Then he turned again to +the silent crowd, his face inflamed, his voice snapping with a bitter, +venomous sarcasm. + +"Scared!" he said. "Scared out clean--like a bunch of coyotes runnin' +from the daylight!" He made a strange sound with his lips, expressing +his unutterable contempt for men so weakly constituted. + +"Quit!" he grated. "Quit clean because a tenderfoot comes out here and +tries to run things! So long as things come your way you're willing to +stick it out, but when things go the other way--Ugh!" + +He turned abruptly, strode out through the door, mounted his pony, and +rode rapidly down the street. Several of the men, who went to the door +after his departure, saw him riding furiously toward the Circle Cross. + +Then one of his former friends laughed harshly--sarcastically. "I reckon +that there tenderfoot is botherin' Big Bill a whole lot," he said as he +turned to the bar. + + * * * * * + +It had been a busy day for Hollis. His hand had been shaken so much that +it pained him. The day had been a rather warm one for the season and so +when late in the afternoon Norton rode into town, "To see the +excitement," he told Hollis, the latter determined to make the return +trip to the Circle Bar in the evening. Therefore, after a short +conference with Judge Graney and Allen--and a frugal, though wholesome +supper in the Judge's rooms back of the court house--which Allen +cooked--he and Norton rode out upon the Coyote trail and jogged quietly +toward the Circle Bar. + +There was a good moon; the air was invigorating, though slightly chill, +and the trail lay clear and distinct before them, hard after the rain, +ideal for riding. + +Many times during the first half hour of the ride Norton looked +furtively at his chief. Certain things that Mrs. Norton had told him +held a prominent place in his thoughts, and mingling with these thoughts +was the recollection of a conversation that he had held with Hollis one +day when both of them had been riding this same trail and Hollis had +stopped off at the Hazelton cabin. Many times Norton smiled. He would +have liked to refer to that conversation, but hesitated for fear of +seeming to meddle with that which did not concern him. He remembered the +days of his own courtship--how jealously he had guarded his secret. + +But the longer his thoughts dwelt upon the incident that had been +related to him by Mrs. Norton the harder it became to keep silent. But +he managed to repress his feelings for the first half hour and then, +moved by an internal mirth that simply would not be held in check +longer, he cackled aloud. + +He saw Hollis shoot a quick glance at him. He cackled again, his mirth +swelling as he caught the surprised and puzzled expression of Hollis's +face. + +"I have a very original opinion of people who laugh without any visible +cause," remarked the latter, grinning reluctantly in the semi-darkness. + +Norton's reply was another cackle. They rode in silence for a long time. + +Then Norton spoke. "This is a great country," he said. + +Silence from Hollis, though taking a quick glance at him Norton again +observed the puzzled grin on his face. + +"And original," he remarked, placing upon the latter word the same +peculiar emphasis that Hollis had given it a moment before. + +Hollis grinned widely; he began to detect a subtle meaning in the range +boss's speech and actions. But he did not answer; it would not strain +his patience to await until such a time as Norton made his meaning +clear. + +"But there's some things that ain't original," continued Norton in the +same tone, after another short silence. + +This remark clearly required comment. Hollis grinned mildly. "Meaning +what?" he questioned. + +Norton met his gaze gravely. "Meanin' that the ways of makin' love are +pretty much the same in every country." He laughed. "I know there's +different ways of makin' it--in books," he continued; "the folks which +write books make their men an' women go at it all kinds of ways. But did +you ever know anyone in real life to make love to a girl any different +than anyone else?" + +"I have had no experience in love making," returned Hollis, puzzled +again. + +Norton cackled. "No," he said, "an' that's the peculiar part of it. +Mostly no one has ever had any experience when they start to makin' love +the first time. But they all make it the same way. That's why it ain't +original. You take a man which has got in love with a girl--any man. He +don't want anyone to know that he's in love with her--he feels sorta +sheepish about it. Goes around hangin' his head an' blushin', an' mostly +not sayin' anything about it. Once he gets it into his system he ain't +the same man any more. Takes to actin' reserved like an' gentle. But +them that's had experience can see the symptoms. There ain't no way to +hide it." + +Had Norton looked at Hollis now he might have observed a touch of red in +the young man's face. But he did not look; he was watching the trail +ahead, smiling broadly. + +They had been riding through a deep depression, going toward a ridge +whose crest was fringed with dense, tangled shrubbery. Hollis was about +to reply to Norton's remark when he saw the latter's lips suddenly +straighten; saw his body stiffen as he drew himself erect in the saddle +and pulled his pony abruptly up. Surprised, Hollis also reined in and +sat silent, looking at Norton. + +The latter's hand went to one of his ears, the fingers spreading out, +fan like. "Listen!" he warned sharply. + +Hollis had been listening. A low rumble greeted his ears. He looked +suddenly upward at the sky, fearful that another storm, such as he had +encountered months before, might be forming. But the sky was cloudless. +He looked again at Norton. The latter's eyes shone brightly in the +moonlight as he leaned toward Hollis. The rumbling had grown more +distinct. + +"It ain't a stampede," said Norton rapidly; "there wouldn't be anything +to stampede cattle on a night like this. An' them's cattle!" + +It was about a hundred yards to the ridge toward which they had been +riding and Hollis saw Norton suddenly plunge the spurs into his pony's +flanks; saw the animal rush forward. He gave his own animal the spurs +and in an instant was at Norton's side, racing toward the ridge. The +range boss dismounted at the bottom, swiftly threw the reins over his +pony's head, and running stealthily toward the crest. Hollis followed +him. When he reached Norton's side the latter was flat on a rim rock at +the edge of a little cliff, behind some gnarled brush. Below them the +country stretched away for miles, level, unbroken, basking in the +moonlight. Hollis recognized the section as that through which he had +traveled on the night he had been overtaken by the storm--the big level +that led to Big Elk crossing, where he had met Dunlavey and his men that +night. + +Looking out upon the plain he held his breath in amazement. During the +time he had been at the Circle Bar he had seen cattle running, but never +had he seen them run like this. About a quarter of a mile from the ridge +on which he and Norton stood rose a dust cloud--moving swiftly. But +ahead of the cloud, heads down, their horns tossing were a number of +cattle, perhaps fifty, racing furiously. They were running parallel with +the ridge and would probably pass it. Behind and flanking them raced +several cowboys, silent, driving with their quirts. + +"Rustlers!" came Norton's voice from beside him. "They're headin' for +Big Elk!" + +Hollis had brought his rifle, which he had carried since the attack on +the night of the storm. At Norton's word he raised it. But Norton's hand +touched his and his voice came again, sharply, commandingly. + +"Don't shoot!" he said. "It wouldn't do any good; some of them would get +away. Mebbe they'll come close enough so's we can see who they are!" + +Hollis waited breathlessly. It seemed that but an instant had passed +from the time he had caught a first glimpse of them until they were +thundering by the ridge and he and Norton were blinded by the dust. They +had gone before the dust settled, but through it as they passed, Hollis +had caught sight of a familiar figure. Before the thunder of hoofs had +died away Hollis felt Norton's hand on his arm and his voice in his ear. + +"Dunlavey!" + +There could be no doubt of that, for Hollis had recognized him also. He +turned, to hear Norton's dry voice in his ear. + +"The new law don't seem to be botherin' Dunlavey a heap," he said. + +Hollis stepped boldly out on the ridge, his face grim and pale. But he +was pulled back by Norton. "I take it you don't want to let them see +you," he said. "When a thing like that comes off there's always somebody +sure to be lookin' back." He was pulling at Hollis's arm, directing his +steps down the slope toward where they had left the horses. "You an' me +ain't enough," he was saying to Hollis; "we'll hit the breeze to the +Circle Bar, get some of the boys, an' hustle back here an' take them +cattle!" + +Hollis accompanied him willingly as far as the horses. Then he halted, +his eyes flashing brightly. "We won't go to the Circle Bar," he said. +"We won't fight them like that. There is a law in this country now and I +am going to see that the law acts!" He seized Norton's arm in a firm +commanding grip. "You follow them," he directed. "From the edge of the +butte where they caught me on the night of the storm you can see the +country for miles. Don't cross the river," he warned. "Stay there beside +the butte until I come back--I won't be long. Watch where they take the +cattle!" + +Before Norton could offer a word of objection he was on his pony and +racing over the back trail at terrific speed. For a moment Norton +watched him. Then he disappeared and Norton grimly mounted his pony and +rode down to the level following the trail taken by the thieves. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE ARM OF THE LAW + + +The lights in Dry Bottom's saloons were flickering brightly when Hollis +rode down the street and dismounted from his drooping pony in front of +the court house. He ran stiffly around the side of the building and +knocked loudly on a door. There was a short silence and then a movement +inside and Ben Allen stuck his head out of a window. He saw at a glance +the upward turned face of the nocturnal visitor and called shortly: +"Wait! I'll be down!" + +There was a short wait, during which Hollis impatiently paced back and +forth and then Allen appeared in the door, fully dressed. Judge Graney, +in a night shirt, stood behind him. + +"Something's up, of course," drawled Allen as he stepped down from the +door, "or you wouldn't come around disturbing folks this way. What is +it?" + +Hollis briefly related the events of the night, concluding with the +statement that he was determined to force the law to act. + +"Correct!" laughed Allen. "She's got to act now." He caught Hollis's arm +and turned him toward a small cottonwood grove about half a mile +distant. A dozen white objects dotting the grove caught Hollis's gaze. +He started. + +"Soldiers!" he exclaimed. + +"I might say that was a good guess," drawled Allen. "I sent for them +because I thought I might need them if our friend Dunlavey got to +cuttin' up any. It's been my experience that a detail of Uncle Sam's +boys is about as good a thing to have around in case of trouble as any +man could want." + +"But you can't use them in this case," remarked Judge Graney, who had +stepped down beside the two men. "The governor's instructions were that +they should be used merely as an instrument in enforcing the court's +order regarding the sale of Dunlavey's cattle. The theft of the Circle +Bar cattle is a matter which comes directly under the jurisdiction of +the sheriff. If he refuses to act----" + +"Hell!" broke in Allen. "We know he won't do anything!" + +The Judge smiled slightly. "I suspect he won't," he said dryly. He +winked at Hollis. + +"Being a judge in this district I am, of course, averse to advising any +infractions of the law. But if I were not a judge I would suggest that +two strong, energetic men--such as you appear to be----" He leaned +forward and whispered in Allen's ear, whereat that gentleman let out a +joyous whoop and almost dragged Hollis around the corner of the building +toward the street, leaving the Judge standing in the doorway. + +Once on the street Allen set a pace that brought the two to the door of +the sheriff's office quickly. A light shone through the window and when +Allen opened the door Watkins was sitting beside his desk, gravely +fumbling a deck of cards. He dropped them when he saw his visitors and +made a quick movement with his right hand toward his revolver. But +Allen's weapon was already out. + +"Bill," he said in a soft, even voice, "we're wantin' a warrant for the +arrest of Bill Dunlavey. The charge is stealin' cattle. Of course you'll +issue it," he added insinuatingly. + +Watkins's face slowly paled. "Why----" he began. + +"Of course I knowed you wouldn't do it when I asked you," said Allen +with a dangerously soft smile. "That's why I come down here. This town's +got a sheriff an' it ain't. I wouldn't care a damn if it didn't have +you. There's lots of folks wouldn't care either. So that if you're one +of them which does care you're settin' right still an' not sayin' +anything which can be construed as talk till my friend here goes down to +the station." He whispered to Hollis. "Be middlin' rapid," he said aloud +afterward, "an' use my name." He turned to Watkins with a smile. "While +we're waitin' I'll do some talkin'," he said. "But if you let out one +little wee chirp them folks which don't care about you bein' sheriff of +this man's town will sure have a heap of cause to rejoice." + +Hollis was already far down the street toward the station. When he got +there the station was dark--evidently the agent had gone to bed. Hollis +pounded heavily on the door and presently the agent opened it, appearing +in his night shirt, a heavy six-shooter in hand, his eyes blinking. + +"My name is Hollis," said the latter from the darkness; "I want you to +telegraph the governor." + +"Come in." The agent disappeared within, Hollis following. "This way," +he directed, as he disappeared through another door leading into the +station, his night shirt flapping about his lean legs. "What you wantin' +to telegraph?" he questioned, as he seated himself before the instrument +and looked up at Hollis. And then, before the latter could answer he +continued: "You're the durndest man to stir up a muss I ever, seen in my +life!" + +Hollis smiled grimly as he seized a blank and wrote his message to the +governor: + + "Cattle thieves caught red-handed. Sheriff refuses to act. + Crisis. Suggest you appoint me temporarily. + + BEN ALLEN" + +The agent took the message, read it, and then monotonously began to drum +on the keys of his instrument. + +Hollis found it impossible to sit still and so he nervously paced up and +down the room during the sending of the message. The agent finished and, +leaned his head sleepily on the table. + +"Ought to answer in half an hour--if he's home," he informed Hollis. +Upon which Hollis slipped out of the door and returned down the street +to the sheriff's office, peering within Watkins still sat at the table +and in a chair near him lounged Allen, talking volubly. Hollis watched +for a time and then returned to the station to find the agent asleep +beside his instrument. Hollis had scarcely awakened him when the sounder +began its monotonous ticking. He leaned over the agent's shoulder and +read the governor's answer as the agent sleepily wrote it down. + + "Ben Allen: You are hereby appointed sheriff of Union County in + place of W. Watkins, dismissed. Have Judge certify," + +"I reckon there must be somethin' goin' on," remarked the agent. "What's +the matter with Bill----" + +But Hollis had snatched the message from his hand and was out into the +street in an instant and running down toward the sheriff's office. When +he arrived there Allen was still talking. He passed the telegram to him +and the latter rose to his feet and smiled at Watkins, shoving the +message under his nose. + +"You can read her," he said. "Then you can go home an' quit +sheriffin'--after I've got through with you. You've been called down to +the court house. I'm takin' you, chargin' you with bein' an accessory +before the fact, or somethin' like that. It don't make no difference +what it is, you're goin' with me." His voice came sharp and chill: +"Jump!" + +Judge Graney had dressed himself by the time the three arrived at the +court house and Watkins was roughly tumbled into the room which had been +set aside as the jail. Then the judge led Hollis and Allen into the +court room where he issued Allen's certificate of appointment. + +"Now, I reckon we won't have no trouble in gettin' the soldiers," he +grinned. "This sheriff is goin' to act!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +FORMING A FRIENDSHIP + + +At three o'clock in the afternoon Hollis closed his desk and announced +to Potter that he was going to the Circle Bar. Potter watched him with a +fond smile as he went out the door and placed the saddle on his pony, +mounted and rode into the sunshine of the afternoon. The presence of the +troopers in town had created a sensation and most of the town's citizens +were gathered about the court house, curiously watching Dunlavey and +several of his men who had been taken into custody during the early +hours of the morning. Neither Hollis or Norton had been allowed to +participate in the final scene, the little captain informing them curtly +that the presence of civilians at what promised to be a free-for-all +fight was strictly forbidden. And so Norton had returned to the Circle +Bar, while Hollis had gone to Dry Bottom to finish an article for the +next issue of the _Kicker_. + +It had been in that bald, gray time between darkness and dawn when Ben +Allen and Hollis, riding at the head of the detail of troopers beside +the dapper little captain, had arrived at the edge of the butte where +Hollis had directed Norton to await his coming. + +Norton's only comment upon seeing the troopers had been: "Where in hell +did them come from?" + +He told Allen that he had watched where Dunlavey and his men had driven +the cattle, and that he would find them concealed in a narrow defile +between two hills about a mile on the other side of the Rabbit-Ear. He +and Hollis had announced their intention to accompany the troop to the +scene, but had been refused permission by the captain. + +The capture of the thieves had been quite a simple matter. In single +file the troopers had descended the slope of the river, crossed a +shallow, and clattered up the other side. A mile dash at a gallop had +brought them to one end of the defile mentioned by Norton, and in a +grove of fir-balsam the captain had deployed his troopers and swooped +suddenly down into the defile, surprising several men, who with +Dunlavey, were busily at work altering the brands on the cattle they had +stolen. There was a fire near the center of the defile, with branding +irons scattered about it. + +The stolen cattle bore various brands. There were perhaps a dozen +belonging to the Circle Bar, several from the Pig Pen; others bore the +brands of the Three Bar and the Diamond Dot. + +Proof of Dunlavey's guilt had been absolute. He had made some +resistance, but had been quickly overpowered by Allen and the troopers. +Then with their prisoners the troops had returned to Dry Bottom. + +Hollis rode slowly toward the Circle Bar. He was tired--dead tired. When +he arrived at the Hazelton cabin the shade on the porch looked so +inviting that he dismounted, tied his pony to one of the slender porch +columns, and seated himself, leaning wearily against the column to which +he had tied his pony. + +He sat there long, staring at a clump of nondescript weed that fringed +the edge of the arroyo near the cabin, his thoughts filled with pictures +of incidents that had occurred to him during his stay in the West. +Nellie Hazelton appeared in every one of these pictures and therefore he +smiled often. + +He had not liked the country when he had first come here; it had seemed +to offer him no field for the pursuit of his ambition. Certainly the +raising of cattle had never entered into his scheme of things. Yet he +now realized that there was plenty of room in this country for success +in this particular industry; all a man had to do was to keep up his end +until the law came. And now the law had come and he had been partly +responsible for its coming. The realization of this moved his lips into +a grim smile. + +He filled and lighted his pipe, smoking placidly as he leaned against +the slender column, his gaze shifting to a clump of dense shrubbery that +skirted the trail within twenty feet of the cabin. He sat quiet, his +long legs stretched out to enjoy the warmth of the sun that struck a +corner of the porch floor. His pipe spluttered in depletion and he +raised himself and looked around for his pony, observing that the animal +was contentedly browsing the tops of some weeds at the edge of the +porch. Then, resigning himself to the sensation of languor that +oppressed him, he knocked the ash from the pipe, filled it again, +lighted it, and resumed his former reclining position. + +During the past few days he had given much thought to Dunlavey. He was +thinking of the man now, as his gaze went again to the clump of +shrubbery that skirted the trail. + +Some men's mental processes were incomprehensible. Dunlavey was one of +these men. What did the man hope to gain by defying the law? Would there +not be profit enough in the cattle business when conducted honestly? + +He felt a certain contempt for the man, but mingled with it was a sort +of grim pity. No doubt Dunlavey felt justified in his actions, for he +had lived here a good many years, no doubt suffering the privations +encountered by all pioneers; living a hard life, dealing heavy blows to +his enemies, and receiving some himself. No doubt his philosophy of life +had been of the peculiar sort practiced by the feudal barons of the Old +World, before civilization had come, carrying its banner of justice, +which, summed up epigrammatically, though ironically, had been "Might is +Right." But might could never be right in this country. Dunlavey must +learn this lesson; he could not hope to--! + +Hollis sat suddenly erect, putting aside his pipe and his ruminations at +the same instant, the languor gone from him, his eyes narrowing coldly. + +For suddenly, from behind the shrubbery that skirted the edge of the +trail, had appeared the man about whom he had been thinking! It was +evident that he had not come upon Hollis unexpectedly. He reined in his +pony and sat motionless in the saddle, his face white, his eyes alight +with passion. + +For an instant neither man spoke. Hollis realized that the great moment +for which he had waited many days had arrived. And it had arrived +unexpectedly. It had arrived to find him tired after his activities of +the night and in no condition for a fight. He drew a deep breath and got +to his feet, a grim smile on his face. He stepped off the porch and +stood by one of the columns, watching Dunlavey closely. As he watched +the grim smile on his face slowly faded, his lips curled bitterly, his +eyes chilled. + +"I suppose you've come to collect that thrashing?" he said. + +Dunlavey dismounted quickly, his right hand flew to his holster, drawing +his revolver. He came toward Hollis crouching, a cold, merciless glitter +in his eyes. + +"Yes, you tenderfoot ---- ----." he snarled. + + * * * * * + +From the moment of Hollis's arrival at the court house the night before +Ben Allen had been constantly in action. It was late in the morning when +he had returned to the court house with his prisoners. The men who had +been captured with Dunlavey were still with the troopers, there not +being sufficient room at the court house for them. Watkins had been +released and Dunlavey had taken his place in the little room that +answered for a jail. Shortly before noon Allen proceeded to the station, +where he telegraphed to the governor the story of the capture. He had +then deputized a dozen punchers and sent them to the Circle Cross to +round up a thousand of Dunlavey's cattle and hold them until the late +afternoon when, according to Allen's published program, they were to be +sold to the highest bidder. Then, tired and hungry, Allen sought the +Alhambra and ate a hearty meal. + +Dry Bottom was swarming with visitors that had come in for the sale. But +by the time Allen had finished eating the exodus had begun. The trail +leading to the Circle Cross ranch was dotted with probable bidders, +curiosity seekers, idlers, and mere residents of the town. Now that the +law had come there were many who discovered that their sympathies had +always been with the men who had championed it. Allen found his way to +the court house strewn with men who halted him to express their good +will. Many people gathered in front of the _Kicker_ office, eager +for a glimpse of Hollis. Those who gathered there before twelve-thirty +saw him seated at his desk, tall, angular, serious of face, absolutely +unaffected by this thing which had caused a sensation. Passing the +_Kicker_ office on his way to the court house, Allen had paused to +look within and shout a greeting to him. Then he had continued on his +way. + +Arriving at the court house Allen looked in at Dunlavey to find him +lying on the floor, apparently asleep. Allen did not disturb him. He +went out, threw the saddle on his pony, and rode over to the grove where +the soldiers were quartered, talking long with the captain. At two +o'clock he returned to the court house to be greeted with the news that +Dunlavey had escaped. Allen did not stop to inquire how the escape had +been accomplished. He remounted his pony and raced down to the +_Kicker_ office, fearing that Dunlavey had gone there. Potter +informed him that his chief had departed for the Circle Bar fully an +hour and a half before. He had taken the Coyote trail--Potter had +watched him. + +Allen wheeled his pony and returned to the court house. He was met at +the door by Judge Graney. The latter's face was white and drawn with +fear. + +"He's gone to kill Hollis!" the judge told him through white, set lips. +"I heard him threaten Hollis this morning and a moment ago a man told me +that he had seen Dunlavey, not over half an hour ago, riding out the +Coyote trail at a dead run!" + +Allen's own face whitened. He did not stop to answer but drove the spurs +deep into his pony's flanks and rode furiously down the street toward a +point near the _Kicker_ office where he struck the trail. + +The distance to the Circle Bar ranch was ten miles and Dunlavey had a +good half hour's start! He fairly lifted his pony over the first mile, +though realizing that he could not hope to arrive at the Circle Bar in +time to prevent Dunlavey from carrying out his design to kill Hollis. +No, he told himself as he rode, he could not prevent him from killing +Hollis, should he catch the latter unprepared, but he promised himself +that Dunlavey should not escape punishment for the deed. + +He had had some hope that Dunlavey would accept his defeat +philosophically. The latter was not the only man he had seen who had +been defeated by the law. Over in Colfax County and up in Wyoming he had +dealt with many such men, and usually, after they had seen that the law +was inevitable, they had resigned themselves to the new condition and +had become pretty fair citizens. He had imagined that Dunlavey would +prove to be no exception, that after the first sting of defeat had been +removed he would meet his adversaries half way in an effort to patch up +their differences. The danger was in the time immediately following the +realization of defeat. A man of the Dunlavey type was then usually +desperate. + +So Allen communed with himself as he rode at a head-long pace down the +Coyote trail, risking his neck a dozen times. Not once since he had left +Dry Bottom had he considered his own danger. + +He had been riding more than half an hour, and was coming up out of a +little gully when he came upon a riderless pony, and close by it, +browsing near a clump of shrubbery, another. He recognized one of them +instantly as Dunlavey's, and his teeth came together with a snap. He +rode closer to the other pony, examining it. On one of its hips was a +brand--the Circle Bar. Allen's face whitened again. He had arrived too +late. But he would not be too late to wreak vengeance upon Dunlavey. + +He dismounted and cautiously approached the brush at the side of the +trail. Parting it, he saw the roof of a cabin. He recognized it; he had +passed it a number of times during his exploration of the country. He +drew back and crept crept farther along in the brush, certain that he +would presently see Dunlavey. But he had not gone very far when he heard +voices and he cautiously parted the brush again and peered through. + +He started back in surprise, an incredulous grin slowly appearing on his +face. The incredulity changed to amusement a moment later--when he heard +Hollis's voice! + +The young man was seated on the edge of the porch--smoking a pipe! Near +him, seated on a flat rock, his face horribly puffed out, with several +ugly gashes disfiguring it, his eyes blackened, his clothing in tatters, +one hand hanging limply by his side, the fingers crushed and bleeding, +was Dunlavey! Near him, almost buried in the sand, was a revolver. +Allen's smile broadened when he saw Dunlavey's empty holster. Evidently +he had met with a surprise! + +While taking in these details Allen had not forgotten to listen to +Hollis as the latter talked to Dunlavey. Apparently Hollis had about +finished his talk, for his voice was singularly soft and even, and +Dunlavey's almost comical air of dejection could not have settled over +him in an instant. + +"... and so of course I had to thrash you--you had it coming to you. You +haven't been a man--you've acted like a sneak and a cur all through this +business. You made a thrashing inevitable when you set Yuma on Nellie +Hazelton. You'll have plenty of marks to remind you of the one you gave +me that night." He pointed to his cheek. "I've got even for that. But I +think I wouldn't have trimmed you quite so bad if you hadn't tried to +shoot me a few minutes ago." + +He puffed silently at his pipe for a short time, during which Dunlavey +sat on the rock and squinted pathetically at him. Then he resumed: + +"I've heard people talk of damned fools, but never, until I met you, +have I been unfortunate enough to come into personal contact with one. I +should think that when you saw the soldiers had come you would have +surrendered decently. Perhaps you know by now that you can't fight the +United States Army--and that you can't whip me. If you've got any sense +left at all you'll quit fighting now and try your best to be a good +citizen." + +He smiled grimly as he rose from the porch and walked to where Dunlavey +sat, standing over him and looking down at him. + +"Dunlavey," he said, extending his right hand to the beaten man, "let's +call it quits. You've been terribly worked up, but you ought to be over +it now. You ought to be able to see that it doesn't go. I've thrashed +you pretty badly, but you and your men used me up pretty well that night +and so it's an even thing. Let's shake and be friends. If you show signs +of wanting to be a man again I'll withdraw the charge of cattle +stealing which I have placed against you, and I imagine I won't have any +trouble in inducing Allen to call off that auction sale and accept +settlement of the claim against you." + +Until now Dunlavey had avoided looking at the outstretched hand. But now +he looked at it, took it and held it for an instant, his bruised and +swollen face taking on an expression of lugubrious self-pity. + +"I reckon I've got it in the neck all around," he said finally. "But I +ain't no squealer and I've got----" His gaze met Hollis's and his eyes +gleamed with a reluctant admiration. "By God, you're white! I reckon you +could have tore the rest of me apart like you did my hand." He held up +the injured member for inspection. + +Allen's grin could grow no broader, and now he showed his increased +satisfaction with a subdued cackle. He backed stealthily out of the +shrubbery, taking a final glance at the two men. He saw Hollis leading +Dunlavey toward a small water hole at the rear of the cabin; saw him +bathing Dunlavey's injured hand and binding it with his handkerchief. + +Then Allen proceeded to his pony, mounted, and departed for the court +house to tell Judge Graney the news that kept his own face continually +in a smile. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +AFTERWARD + + +From Razor-Back ridge the big basin spread away to the Blue Peak +mountains. On the opposite side of the ridge began the big plain on +which, snuggled behind some cottonwood trees, were the Circle Cross +buildings. From where Hollis and Nellie Hazelton sat on the ridge they +could look miles down the Coyote trail, into Devil's Hollow; could see +the two big cottonwood trees that stood beside Big Elk crossing, above +which, on the night of the storm, Hollis had been attacked by Dunlavey's +men. Back on the stretch of plain above the basin they could make out +the Circle Bar buildings, lying close to the banks of the river. + +It was in the late afternoon and the sun had gone down behind the Blue +Peaks, though its last rays were just touching the crest of the ridge +near Hollis and Nellie. He had called her attention to the sinking sun, +telling her that it was time they started for the Circle Bar. + +"Wait," she said; "someone is coming up the Coyote trail. I have been +watching him for ten minutes." + +Hollis faced the trail and watched also. In a quarter of an hour the +horseman came out of Devil's Hollow. Hollis and Nellie could see him +plainly as he guided his pony around the huge boulders that filled the +place. Hollis smiled whimsically. + +"It's the poet," he told Nellie, catching her gaze and grinning widely +at her. "I sent him to Dry Bottom this noon for the mail--Potter is +going to stay in town over night." + +For an instant it seemed that Ace would not see them, and Hollis rose +from the rock on which he had been sitting and halloed to him. He +responded with a shout and urged his pony up the steep side of the slope +and then along the crest until he came within a few feet of where they +sat. He dismounted and came forward, grinning broadly. + +"Takin' the view?" he questioned. His eyes twinkled. "Sometimes there's +a heap of poetry could be got out of this county. But--" and his +eyelashes flickered slightly--"a fellow's got to be in the right frame +of mind to get it out. I reckon you two----" + +"I suppose you got the mail?" interrupted Hollis, grimacing at him. + +"I sure did," returned the poet, "one letter. I reckon the blacksmith'll +be kickin' because I've been galivantin' around the country for one +letter. Here it is." He passed an envelope to Hollis, and the latter, +with a quick glance at the legend in the upper left hand corner, tore it +open and read. It was from Weary. + + Dear boss i got cleaned out agin what did you send me a hundred + dollars for you might have knowed that id make a gol darned fool + of myself with so much coin i never could keep no coin no how + but its all right anyway cause me an eds comin home tomorrow eds + all right except bein a littel week which the doc says he git + over in a littel while. + + ta ta. + WEARY + + P.S. i might have telegraphed but ed says it dont make no + difference cause the letter will git there quick enough any way + an hes afraid a telegram will scare some one. im dam glad i got + a return ticket. + + WEARY + +After reading the letter Hollis passed it over to Nellie, watching her, +his eyes alight with satisfaction. + +"Oh!" she said. "Oh!" The letter dropped from her hand, was caught by +the breezes and swirled several feet distant. Ace sprang to recover it. +When he turned, the letter in hand, he saw something that brought a huge +grin of sympathy to his face. But mingled with the sympathy was another +emotion. + +"Boss," he said, as Hollis, disengaging himself, turned and faced him, +"I've writ quite a nice little thing on 'Love.' Mebbe you'd like to----" + +He caught Hollis's frown and immediately retreated to his pony, his grin +broadening as he went. He cackled with mirth as Hollis's voice reached +him. + +"Ace," he said gravely, "don't attempt to write a poem on 'Love' until +you've had some experience." + +"You havin' yours now?" insinuated Ace, as he mounted his pony. + +He alone caught Hollis's reply. It was an expressive wink. + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Coming of the Law, by Charles Alden Seltzer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMING OF THE LAW *** + +***** This file should be named 31512.txt or 31512.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/5/1/31512/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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