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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Rustlers of Pecos County, by Zane Grey
+
+
+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 Rustlers of Pecos County
+
+
+Author: Zane Grey
+
+Release Date: April 8, 2005  [eBook #15580]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RUSTLERS OF PECOS COUNTY***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Project Gutenberg Beginners Projects,
+Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      THE RUSTLERS OF PECOS COUNTY
+
+                              By Zane Grey
+
+                                  1914
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 1
+
+VAUGHN STEELE AND RUSS SITTELL
+
+
+In the morning, after breakfasting early, I took a turn up and down the
+main street of Sanderson, made observations and got information likely
+to serve me at some future day, and then I returned to the hotel ready
+for what might happen.
+
+The stage-coach was there and already full of passengers. This stage did
+not go to Linrock, but I had found that another one left for that point
+three days a week.
+
+Several cowboy broncos stood hitched to a railing and a little farther
+down were two buckboards, with horses that took my eye. These probably
+were the teams Colonel Sampson had spoken of to George Wright.
+
+As I strolled up, both men came out of the hotel. Wright saw me, and
+making an almost imperceptible sign to Sampson, he walked toward me.
+
+"You're the cowboy Russ?" he asked.
+
+I nodded and looked him over. By day he made as striking a figure as I
+had noted by night, but the light was not generous to his dark face.
+
+"Here's your pay," he said, handing me some bills. "Miss Sampson won't
+need you out at the ranch any more."
+
+"What do you mean? This is the first I've heard about that."
+
+"Sorry, kid. That's it," he said abruptly. "She just gave me the
+money--told me to pay you off. You needn't bother to speak with her
+about it."
+
+He might as well have said, just as politely, that my seeing her, even
+to say good-by, was undesirable.
+
+As my luck would have it, the girls appeared at the moment, and I went
+directly up to them, to be greeted in a manner I was glad George Wright
+could not help but see.
+
+In Miss Sampson's smile and "Good morning, Russ," there was not the
+slightest discoverable sign that I was not to serve her indefinitely.
+
+It was as I had expected--she knew nothing of Wright's discharging me in
+her name.
+
+"Miss Sampson," I said, in dismay, "what have I done? Why did you let me
+go?"
+
+She looked astonished.
+
+"Russ, I don't understand you."
+
+"Why did you discharge me?" I went on, trying to look heart-broken. "I
+haven't had a chance yet. I wanted so much to work for you--Miss Sally,
+what have I done? Why did she discharge me?"
+
+"I did not," declared Miss Sampson, her dark eyes lighting.
+
+"But look here--here's my pay," I went on, exhibiting the money. "Mr.
+Wright just came to me--said you sent this money--that you wouldn't need
+me out at the ranch."
+
+It was Miss Sally then who uttered a little exclamation. Miss Sampson
+seemed scarcely to have believed what she had heard.
+
+"My cousin Mr. Wright said that?"
+
+I nodded vehemently.
+
+At this juncture Wright strode before me, practically thrusting me
+aside.
+
+"Come girls, let's walk a little before we start," he said gaily. "I'll
+show you Sanderson."
+
+"Wait, please," Miss Sampson replied, looking directly at him. "Cousin
+George, I think there's a mistake--perhaps a misunderstanding. Here's
+the cowboy I've engaged--Mr. Russ. He declares you gave him money--told
+him I discharged him."
+
+"Yes, cousin, I did," he replied, his voice rising a little. There was
+a tinge of red in his cheek. "We--you don't need him out at the ranch.
+We've any numbers of boys. I just told him that--let him down
+easy--didn't want to bother you."
+
+Certain it was that George Wright had made a poor reckoning. First she
+showed utter amaze, then distinct disappointment, and then she lifted
+her head with a kind of haughty grace. She would have addressed him
+then, had not Colonel Sampson come up.
+
+"Papa, did you instruct Cousin George to discharge Russ?" she asked.
+
+"I sure didn't," declared the colonel, with a laugh. "George took that
+upon his own hands."
+
+"Indeed! I'd like my cousin to understand that I'm my own mistress. I've
+been accustomed to attending to my own affairs and shall continue doing
+so. Russ, I'm sorry you've been treated this way. Please, in future,
+take your orders from me."
+
+"Then I'm to go to Linrock with you?" I asked.
+
+"Assuredly. Ride with Sally and me to-day, please."
+
+She turned away with Sally, and they walked toward the first buckboard.
+
+Colonel Sampson found a grim enjoyment in Wright's discomfiture.
+
+"Diane's like her mother was, George," he said. "You've made a bad start
+with her."
+
+Here Wright showed manifestation of the Sampson temper, and I took him
+to be a dangerous man, with unbridled passions.
+
+"Russ, here's my own talk to you," he said, hard and dark, leaning
+toward me. "Don't go to Linrock."
+
+"Say, Mr. Wright," I blustered for all the world like a young and
+frightened cowboy, "If you threaten me I'll have you put in jail!"
+
+Both men seemed to have received a slight shock. Wright hardly knew what
+to make of my boyish speech. "Are you going to Linrock?" he asked
+thickly.
+
+I eyed him with an entirely different glance from my other fearful one.
+
+"I should smile," was my reply, as caustic as the most reckless
+cowboy's, and I saw him shake.
+
+Colonel Sampson laid a restraining hand upon Wright. Then they both
+regarded me with undisguised interest. I sauntered away.
+
+"George, your temper'll do for you some day," I heard the colonel say.
+"You'll get in bad with the wrong man some time. Hello, here are Joe and
+Brick!"
+
+Mention of these fellows engaged my attention once more.
+
+I saw two cowboys, one evidently getting his name from his brick-red
+hair. They were the roistering type, hard drinkers, devil-may-care
+fellows, packing guns and wearing bold fronts--a kind that the Rangers
+always called four-flushes.
+
+However, as the Rangers' standard of nerve was high, there was room left
+for cowboys like these to be dangerous to ordinary men.
+
+The little one was Joe, and directly Wright spoke to him he turned to
+look at me, and his thin mouth slanted down as he looked. Brick eyed me,
+too, and I saw that he was heavy, not a hard-riding cowboy.
+
+Here right at the start were three enemies for me--Wright and his
+cowboys. But it did not matter; under any circumstances there would have
+been friction between such men and me.
+
+I believed there might have been friction right then had not Miss
+Sampson called for me.
+
+"Get our baggage, Russ," she said.
+
+I hurried to comply, and when I had fetched it out Wright and the
+cowboys had mounted their horses, Colonel Sampson was in the one
+buckboard with two men I had not before observed, and the girls were
+in the other.
+
+The driver of this one was a tall, lanky, tow-headed youth, growing like
+a Texas weed. We had not any too much room in the buckboard, but that
+fact was not going to spoil the ride for me.
+
+We followed the leaders through the main street, out into the open,
+on to a wide, hard-packed road, showing years of travel. It headed
+northwest.
+
+To our left rose the range of low, bleak mountains I had noted
+yesterday, and to our right sloped the mesquite-patched sweep of ridge
+and flat.
+
+The driver pushed his team to a fast trot, which gait surely covered
+ground rapidly. We were close behind Colonel Sampson, who, from his
+vehement gestures, must have been engaged in very earnest colloquy with
+his companions.
+
+The girls behind me, now that they were nearing the end of the journey,
+manifested less interest in the ride, and were speculating upon Linrock,
+and what it would be like. Occasionally I asked the driver a question,
+and sometimes the girls did likewise; but, to my disappointment, the
+ride seemed not to be the same as that of yesterday.
+
+Every half mile or so we passed a ranch house, and as we traveled on
+these ranches grew further apart, until, twelve or fifteen miles out of
+Sanderson, they were so widely separated that each appeared alone on the
+wild range.
+
+We came to a stream that ran north and I was surprised to see a goodly
+volume of water. It evidently flowed down from the mountain far to the
+west.
+
+Tufts of grass were well scattered over the sandy ground, but it was
+high and thick, and considering the immense area in sight, there was
+grazing for a million head of stock.
+
+We made three stops in the forenoon, one at a likely place to water the
+horses, the second at a chuckwagon belonging to cowboys who were riding
+after stock, and the third at a small cluster of adobe and stone houses,
+constituting a hamlet the driver called Sampson, named after the
+Colonel. From that point on to Linrock there were only a few ranches,
+each one controlling great acreage.
+
+Early in the afternoon from a ridgetop we sighted Linrock, a green path
+in the mass of gray. For the barrens of Texas it was indeed a fair
+sight.
+
+But I was more concerned with its remoteness from civilization than its
+beauty. At that time in the early 'seventies, when the vast western
+third of Texas was a wilderness, the pioneer had done wonders to settle
+there and establish places like Linrock.
+
+As we rolled swiftly along, the whole sweeping range was dotted with
+cattle, and farther on, within a few miles of town, there were droves
+of horses that brought enthusiastic praise from Miss Sampson and her
+cousin.
+
+"Plenty of room here for the long rides," I said, waving a hand at the
+gray-green expanse. "Your horses won't suffer on this range."
+
+She was delighted, and her cousin for once seemed speechless.
+
+"That's the ranch," said the driver, pointing with his whip.
+
+It needed only a glance for me to see that Colonel Sampson's ranch was
+on a scale fitting the country.
+
+The house was situated on the only elevation around Linrock, and it was
+not high, nor more than a few minutes' walk from the edge of town.
+
+It was a low, flat-roofed structure, made of red adobe bricks and
+covered what appeared to be fully an acre of ground. All was green about
+it except where the fenced corrals and numerous barns or sheds showed
+gray and red.
+
+Wright and the cowboys disappeared ahead of us in the cottonwood trees.
+Colonel Sampson got out of the buckboard and waited for us. His face
+wore the best expression I had seen upon it yet. There was warmth and
+love, and something that approached sorrow or regret.
+
+His daughter was agitated, too. I got out and offered my seat, which
+Colonel Sampson took.
+
+It was scarcely a time for me to be required, or even noticed at all,
+and I took advantage of it and turned toward the town.
+
+Ten minutes of leisurely walking brought me to the shady outskirts of
+Linrock and I entered the town with mingled feelings of curiosity,
+eagerness, and expectation.
+
+The street I walked down was not a main one. There were small, red
+houses among oaks and cottonwoods.
+
+I went clear through to the other side, probably more than half a mile.
+I crossed a number of intersecting streets, met children, nice-looking
+women, and more than one dusty-booted man.
+
+Half-way back this street I turned at right angles and walked up several
+blocks till I came to a tree-bordered plaza. On the far side opened a
+broad street which for all its horses and people had a sleepy look.
+
+I walked on, alert, trying to take in everything, wondering if I would
+meet Steele, wondering how I would know him if we did meet. But I
+believed I could have picked that Ranger out of a thousand strangers,
+though I had never seen him.
+
+Presently the residences gave place to buildings fronting right upon the
+stone sidewalk. I passed a grain store, a hardware store, a grocery
+store, then several unoccupied buildings and a vacant corner.
+
+The next block, aside from the rough fronts of the crude structures,
+would have done credit to a small town even in eastern Texas. Here was
+evidence of business consistent with any prosperous community of two
+thousand inhabitants.
+
+The next block, on both sides of the street, was a solid row of saloons,
+resorts, hotels. Saddled horses stood hitched all along the sidewalk in
+two long lines, with a buckboard and team here and there breaking the
+continuity. This block was busy and noisy.
+
+From all outside appearances, Linrock was no different from other
+frontier towns, and my expectations were scarcely realized.
+
+As the afternoon was waning I retraced my steps and returned to the
+ranch. The driver boy, whom I had heard called Dick, was looking for
+me, evidently at Miss Sampson's order, and he led me up to the house.
+
+It was even bigger than I had conceived from a distance, and so old that
+the adobe bricks were worn smooth by rain and wind. I had a glimpse in
+at several doors as we passed by.
+
+There was comfort here that spoke eloquently of many a freighter's trip
+from Del Rio. For the sake of the young ladies, I was glad to see things
+little short of luxurious for that part of the country.
+
+At the far end of the house Dick conducted me to a little room, very
+satisfactory indeed to me. I asked about bunk-houses for the cowboys,
+and he said they were full to overflowing.
+
+"Colonel Sampson has a big outfit, eh?"
+
+"Reckon he has," replied Dick. "Don' know how many cowboys. They're
+always comin' an' goin'. I ain't acquainted with half of them."
+
+"Much movement of stock these days?"
+
+"Stock's always movin'," he replied with a queer look.
+
+"Rustlers?"
+
+But he did not follow up that look with the affirmative I expected.
+
+"Lively place, I hear--Linrock is?"
+
+"Ain't so lively as Sanderson, but it's bigger."
+
+"Yes, I heard it was. Fellow down there was talking about two cowboys
+who were arrested."
+
+"Sure. I heerd all about thet. Joe Bean an' Brick Higgins--they belong
+heah, but they ain't heah much."
+
+I did not want Dick to think me overinquisitive, so I turned the talk
+into other channels. It appeared that Miss Sampson had not left any
+instructions for me, so I was glad to go with Dick to supper, which we
+had in the kitchen.
+
+Dick informed me that the cowboys prepared their own meals down at the
+bunks; and as I had been given a room at the ranch-house he supposed I
+would get my meals there, too.
+
+After supper I walked all over the grounds, had a look at the horses in
+the corrals, and came to the conclusion that it would be strange if Miss
+Sampson did not love her new home, and if her cousin did not enjoy her
+sojourn there. From a distance I saw the girls approaching with Wright,
+and not wishing to meet them I sheered off.
+
+When the sun had set I went down to the town with the intention of
+finding Steele.
+
+This task, considering I dared not make inquiries and must approach him
+secretly, might turn out to be anything but easy.
+
+While it was still light, I strolled up and down the main street. When
+darkness set in I went into a hotel, bought cigars, sat around and
+watched, without any clue.
+
+Then I went into the next place. This was of a rough crude exterior, but
+the inside was comparatively pretentious, and ablaze with lights.
+
+It was full of men, coming and going--a dusty-booted crowd that smelled
+of horses and smoke.
+
+I sat down for a while, with wide eyes and open ears. Then I hunted up a
+saloon, where most of the guests had been or were going. I found a great
+square room lighted by six huge lamps, a bar at one side, and all the
+floor space taken up by tables and chairs.
+
+This must have been the gambling resort mentioned in the Ranger's letter
+to Captain Neal and the one rumored to be owned by the mayor of Linrock.
+This was the only gambling place of any size in southern Texas in which
+I had noted the absence of Mexicans. There was some card playing going
+on at this moment.
+
+I stayed in there for a while, and knew that strangers were too common
+in Linrock to be conspicuous. But I saw no man whom I could have taken
+for Steele.
+
+Then I went out.
+
+It had often been a boast of mine that I could not spend an hour in
+a strange town, or walk a block along a dark street, without having
+something happen out of the ordinary.
+
+Mine was an experiencing nature. Some people called this luck. But it
+was my private opinion that things gravitated my way because I looked
+and listened for them.
+
+However, upon the occasion of my first day and evening in Linrock it
+appeared, despite my vigilance and inquisitiveness, that here was to be
+an exception.
+
+This thought came to me just before I reached the last lighted place in
+the block, a little dingy restaurant, out of which at the moment, a
+tall, dark form passed. It disappeared in the gloom. I saw a man sitting
+on the low steps, and another standing in the door.
+
+"That was the fellow the whole town's talkin' about--the Ranger," said
+one man.
+
+Like a shot I halted in the shadow, where I had not been seen.
+
+"Sho! Ain't boardin' heah, is he?" said the other.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Reckon he'll hurt your business, Jim."
+
+The fellow called Jim emitted a mirthless laugh. "Wal, he's been _all_
+my business these days. An' he's offered to rent that old 'dobe of mine
+just out of town. You know, where I lived before movin' in heah. He's
+goin' to look at it to-morrow."
+
+"Lord! does he expect to _stay_?"
+
+"Say so. An' if he ain't a stayer I never seen none. Nice, quiet, easy
+chap, but he just looks deep."
+
+"Aw, Jim, he can't hang out heah. He's after some feller, that's all."
+
+"I don't know his game. But he says he was heah for a while. An' he
+impressed me some. Just now he says: 'Where does Sampson live?' I asked
+him if he was goin' to make a call on our mayor, an' he says yes. Then I
+told him how to go out to the ranch. He went out, headed that way."
+
+"The hell he did!"
+
+I gathered from this fellow's exclamation that he was divided between
+amaze and mirth. Then he got up from the steps and went into the
+restaurant and was followed by the man called Jim. Before the door
+was closed he made another remark, but it was unintelligible to me.
+
+As I passed on I decided I would scrape acquaintance with this
+restaurant keeper.
+
+The thing of most moment was that I had gotten track of Steele. I
+hurried ahead. While I had been listening back there moments had elapsed
+and evidently he had walked swiftly.
+
+I came to the plaza, crossed it, and then did not know which direction
+to take. Concluding that it did not matter I hurried on in an endeavor
+to reach the ranch before Steele. Although I was not sure, I believed I
+had succeeded.
+
+The moon shone brightly. I heard a banjo in the distance and a cowboy
+sing. There was not a person in sight in the wide courts or on the
+porch. I did not have a well-defined idea about the inside of the house.
+
+Peeping in at the first lighted window I saw a large room. Miss Sampson
+and Sally were there alone. Evidently this was a parlor or a sitting
+room, and it had clean white walls, a blanketed floor, an open fireplace
+with a cheery blazing log, and a large table upon which were lamp,
+books, papers. Backing away I saw that this corner room had a door
+opening on the porch and two other windows.
+
+I listened, hoping to hear Steele's footsteps coming up the road. But I
+heard only Sally's laugh and her cousin's mellow voice.
+
+Then I saw lighted windows down at the other end of the front part of
+the house. I walked down. A door stood open and through it I saw a room
+identical with that at the other corner; and here were Colonel Sampson,
+Wright, and several other men, all smoking and talking.
+
+It might have been interesting to tarry there within ear-shot, but I
+wanted to get back to the road to intercept Steele. Scarcely had I
+retraced my steps and seated myself on the porch steps when a very tall
+dark figure loomed up in the moonlit road.
+
+Steele! I wanted to yell like a boy. He came on slowly, looking all
+around, halted some twenty paces distant, surveyed the house, then
+evidently espying me, came on again.
+
+My first feeling was, What a giant! But his face was hidden in the
+shadow of a sombrero.
+
+I had intended, of course, upon first sight to blurt out my identity.
+Yet I did not. He affected me strangely, or perhaps it was my emotion at
+the thought that we Rangers, with so much in common and at stake, had
+come together.
+
+"Is Sampson at home?" he asked abruptly.
+
+I said, "Yes."
+
+"Ask him if he'll see Vaughn Steele, Ranger."
+
+"Wait here," I replied. I did not want to take up any time then
+explaining my presence there.
+
+Deliberately and noisily I strode down the porch and entered the room
+with the smoking men.
+
+I went in farther than was necessary for me to state my errand. But I
+wanted to see Sampson's face, to see into his eyes.
+
+As I entered, the talking ceased. I saw no face except his and that
+seemed blank.
+
+"Vaughn Steele, Ranger--come to see you, sir." I announced.
+
+Did Sampson start--did his eyes show a fleeting glint--did his face
+almost imperceptibly blanch? I could not have sworn to either. But there
+was a change, maybe from surprise.
+
+The first sure effect of my announcement came in a quick exclamation
+from Wright, a sibilant intake of breath, that did not seem to denote
+surprise so much as certainty. Wright might have emitted a curse with
+less force.
+
+Sampson moved his hand significantly and the action was a voiceless
+command for silence as well as an assertion that he would attend to this
+matter. I read him clearly so far. He had authority, and again I felt
+his power.
+
+"Steele to see me. Did he state his business?"
+
+"No, sir." I replied.
+
+"Russ, say I'm not at home," said Sampson presently, bending over to
+relight his pipe.
+
+I went out. Someone slammed the door behind me.
+
+As I strode back across the porch my mind worked swiftly; the machinery
+had been idle for a while and was now started.
+
+"Mr. Steele," I said, "Colonel Sampson says he's not at home. Tell your
+business to his daughter."
+
+Without waiting to see the effect of my taking so much upon myself, I
+knocked upon the parlor door. Miss Sampson opened it. She wore white.
+Looking at her, I thought it would be strange if Steele's well-known
+indifference to women did not suffer an eclipse.
+
+"Miss Sampson, here is Vaughn Steele to see you," I said.
+
+"Won't you come in?" she said graciously.
+
+Steele had to bend his head to enter the door. I went in with him, an
+intrusion, perhaps, that in the interest of the moment she appeared not
+to notice.
+
+Steele seemed to fill the room with his giant form. His face was fine,
+stern, clear cut, with blue or gray eyes, strangely penetrating. He was
+coatless, vestless. He wore a gray flannel shirt, corduroys, a big gun
+swinging low, and top boots reaching to his knees.
+
+He was the most stalwart son of Texas I had seen in many a day, but
+neither his great stature nor his striking face accounted for something
+I felt--a something spiritual, vital, compelling, that drew me.
+
+"Mr. Steele, I'm pleased to meet you," said Miss Sampson. "This is my
+cousin, Sally Langdon. We just arrived--I to make this my home, she to
+visit me."
+
+Steele smiled as he bowed to Sally. He was easy, with a kind of rude
+grace, and showed no sign of embarrassment or that beautiful girls were
+unusual to him.
+
+"Mr. Steele, we've heard of you in Austin," said Sally with her eyes
+misbehaving.
+
+I hoped I would not have to be jealous of Steele. But this girl was a
+little minx if not altogether a flirt.
+
+"I did not expect to be received by ladies," replied Steele. "I called
+upon Mr. Sampson. He would not see me. I was to tell my business to his
+daughter. I'm glad to know you, Miss Sampson and your cousin, but sorry
+you've come to Linrock now."
+
+"Why?" queried both girls in unison.
+
+"Because it's--oh, pretty rough--no place for girls to walk and ride."
+
+"Ah! I see. And your business has to do with rough places," said Miss
+Sampson. "Strange that papa would not see you. Stranger that he should
+want me to hear your business. Either he's joking or wants to impress
+me.
+
+"Papa tried to persuade me not to come. He tried to frighten me with
+tales of this--this roughness out here. He knows I'm in earnest, how I'd
+like to help somehow, do some little good. Pray tell me this business."
+
+"I wished to get your father's cooperation in my work."
+
+"Your work? You mean your Ranger duty--the arresting of rough
+characters?"
+
+"That, yes. But that's only a detail. Linrock is bad internally. My job
+is to make it good."
+
+"A splendid and worthy task," replied Miss Sampson warmly. "I wish you
+success. But, Mr. Steele, aren't you exaggerating Linrock's wickedness?"
+
+"No," he answered forcibly.
+
+"Indeed! And papa refused to see you--presumably refused to cooperate
+with you?" she asked thoughtfully.
+
+"I take it that way."
+
+"Mr. Steele, pray tell me what is the matter with Linrock and just
+what the work is you're called upon to do?" she asked seriously. "I
+heard papa say that he was the law in Linrock. Perhaps he resents
+interference. I know he'll not tolerate any opposition to his will.
+Please tell me. I may be able to influence him."
+
+I listened to Steele's deep voice as he talked about Linrock. What he
+said was old to me, and I gave heed only to its effect.
+
+Miss Sampson's expression, which at first had been earnest and grave,
+turned into one of incredulous amaze. She, and Sally too, watched
+Steele's face in fascinated attention.
+
+When it came to telling what he wanted to do, the Ranger warmed to his
+subject; he talked beautifully, convincingly, with a certain strange,
+persuasive power that betrayed how he worked his way; and his fine face,
+losing its stern, hard lines, seemed to glow and give forth a spirit
+austere, yet noble, almost gentle, assuredly something vastly different
+from what might have been expected in the expression of a gun-fighting
+Ranger. I sensed that Miss Sampson felt this just as I did.
+
+"Papa said you were a hounder of outlaws--a man who'd rather kill than
+save!" she exclaimed.
+
+The old stern cast returned to Steele's face. It was as if he had
+suddenly remembered himself.
+
+"My name is infamous, I am sorry to say," he replied.
+
+"You have killed men?" she asked, her dark eyes dilating.
+
+Had any one ever dared ask Steele that before? His face became a mask.
+It told truth to me, but she could not see, and he did not answer.
+
+"Oh, you are above that. Don't--don't kill any one here!"
+
+"Miss Sampson, I hope I won't." His voice seemed to check her. I had
+been right in my estimate of her character--young, untried, but all
+pride, fire, passion. She was white then, and certainly beautiful.
+
+Steele watched her, could scarcely have failed to see the white gleam of
+her beauty, and all that evidence of a quick and noble heart.
+
+"Pardon me, please, Mr. Steele," she said, recovering her composure. "I
+am--just a little overexcited. I didn't mean to be inquisitive. Thank
+you for your confidence. I've enjoyed your call, though your news did
+distress me. You may rely upon me to talk to papa."
+
+That appeared to be a dismissal, and, bowing to her and Sally, the
+Ranger went out. I followed, not having spoken.
+
+At the end of the porch I caught up with Steele and walked out into the
+moonlight beside him.
+
+Just why I did not now reveal my identity I could not say, for certainly
+I was bursting with the desire to surprise him, to earn his approval. He
+loomed dark above me, appearing not to be aware of my presence. What a
+cold, strange proposition this Ranger was!
+
+Still, remembering the earnestness of his talk to Miss Sampson, I could
+not think him cold. But I must have thought him so to any attraction of
+those charming girls.
+
+Suddenly, as we passed under the shade of cottonwoods, he clamped a big
+hand down on my shoulder.
+
+"My God, Russ, isn't she lovely!" he ejaculated.
+
+In spite of my being dumbfounded I had to hug him. He knew me!
+
+"Thought you didn't swear!" I gasped.
+
+Ridiculously those were my first words to Vaughn Steele.
+
+"My boy, I saw you parading up and down the street looking for me," he
+said. "I intended to help you find me to-morrow."
+
+We gripped hands, and that strong feel and clasp meant much.
+
+"Yes, she's lovely, Steele," I said. "But did you look at the cousin,
+the little girl with the eyes?"
+
+Then we laughed and loosed hands.
+
+"Come on, let's get out somewhere. I've a million things to tell you."
+
+We went away out into the open where some stones gleamed white in the
+moonlight, and there, sitting in the sand, our backs against a rest, and
+with all quiet about us, we settled down for a long conference.
+
+I began with Neal's urgent message to me, then told of my going to the
+capitol--what I had overheard when Governor Smith was in the adjutant's
+office; of my interview with them; of the spying on Colonel Sampson;
+Neal's directions, advice, and command; the ride toward San Antonio; my
+being engaged as cowboy by Miss Sampson; of the further ride on to
+Sanderson and the incident there; and finally how I had approached
+Sampson and then had thought it well to get his daughter into the scheme
+of things.
+
+It was a long talk, even for me, and my voice sounded husky.
+
+"I told Neal I'd be lucky to get you," said Steele, after a silence.
+
+That was the only comment on my actions, the only praise, but the quiet
+way he spoke it made me feel like a boy undeserving of so much.
+
+"Here, I forgot the money Neal sent," I went on, glad to be rid of the
+huge roll of bills.
+
+The Ranger showed surprise. Besides, he was very glad.
+
+"The Captain loves the service," said Steele. "He alone knows the worth
+of the Rangers. And the work he's given his life to--the _good_ that
+_service_ really does--all depends on you and me, Russ!"
+
+I assented, gloomily enough. Then I waited while he pondered.
+
+The moon soared clear; there was a cool wind rustling the greasewood; a
+dog bayed a barking coyote; lights twinkled down in the town.
+
+I looked back up at the dark hill and thought of Sally Langdon. Getting
+here to Linrock, meeting Steele had not changed my feelings toward her,
+only somehow they had removed me far off in thought, out of possible
+touch, it seemed.
+
+"Well, son, listen," began Steele. His calling me that was a joke, yet I
+did not feel it. "You've made a better start than I could have figured.
+Neal said you were lucky. Perhaps. But you've got brains.
+
+"Now, here's your cue for the present. Work for Miss Sampson. Do your
+best for her as long as you last. I don't suppose you'll last long. You
+have got to get in with this gang in town. Be a flash cowboy. You don't
+need to get drunk, but you're to pretend it.
+
+"Gamble. Be a good fellow. Hang round the barrooms. I don't care how you
+play the part, so long as you make friends, learn the ropes. We can meet
+out here at nights to talk and plan.
+
+"You're to take sides with those who're against me. I'll furnish you
+with the money. You'd better appear to be a winning gambler, even if
+you're not. How's this plan strike you?"
+
+"Great--except for one thing," I replied. "I hate to lie to Miss
+Sampson. She's true blue, Steele."
+
+"Son, you haven't got soft on her?"
+
+"Not a bit. Maybe I'm soft on the little cousin. But I just like Miss
+Sampson--think she's fine--could look up to her. And I hate to be
+different from what she thinks."
+
+"I understand, Russ," he replied in his deep voice that had such quality
+to influence a man. "It's no decent job. You'll be ashamed before her.
+So would I. But here's our work, the hardest ever cut out for Rangers.
+Think what depends upon it. And--"
+
+"There's something wrong with Miss Sampson's father," I interrupted.
+
+"Something strange if not wrong. No man in this community is beyond us,
+Russ, or above suspicion. You've a great opportunity. I needn't say use
+your eyes and ears as never before."
+
+"I hope Sampson turns out to be on the square," I replied. "He might be
+a lax mayor, too good-natured to uphold law in a wild country. And his
+Southern pride would fire at interference. I don't like him, but for his
+daughter's sake I hope we're wrong."
+
+Steele's eyes, deep and gleaming in the moonlight, searched my face.
+
+"Son, sure you're not in love with her--you'll not fall in love with
+her?"
+
+"No. I am positive. Why?"
+
+"Because in either case I'd likely have need of a new man in your
+place," he said.
+
+"Steele, you know something about Sampson--something more!" I exclaimed
+swiftly.
+
+"No more than you. When I meet him face to face I may know more. Russ,
+when a fellow has been years at this game he has a sixth sense. Mine
+seldom fails me. I never yet faced the criminal who didn't somehow
+betray fear--not so much fear of me, but fear of himself--his life, his
+deeds. That's conscience, or if not, just realization of fate."
+
+Had that been the thing I imagined I had seen in Sampson's face?
+
+"I'm sorry Diane Sampson came out here," I said impulsively.
+
+Steele did not say he shared that feeling. He was looking out upon the
+moon-blanched level.
+
+Some subtle thing in his face made me divine that he was thinking of the
+beautiful girl to whom he might bring disgrace and unhappiness.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 2
+
+A KISS AND AN ARREST
+
+
+A month had passed, a swift-flying time full of new life. Wonderful it
+was for me to think I was still in Diane Sampson's employ.
+
+It was the early morning hour of a day in May. The sun had not yet grown
+hot. Dew like diamond drops sparkled on the leaves and grass. The gentle
+breeze was clear, sweet, with the song of larks upon it.
+
+And the range, a sea of gray-green growing greener, swept away westward
+in rolling ridges and hollows, like waves to meet the dark, low hills
+that notched the horizon line of blue.
+
+I was sitting on the top bar of the corral fence and before me stood
+three saddled horses that would have gladdened any eye. I was waiting
+to take the young ladies on their usual morning ride.
+
+Once upon a time, in what seemed the distant past to this eventful
+month, I had flattered myself there had been occasions for thought, but
+scornfully I soliloquized that in those days I had no cue for thought
+such as I had now.
+
+This was one of the moments when my real self seemed to stand off and
+skeptically regard the fictitious cowboy.
+
+This gentleman of the range wore a huge sombrero with an ornamented
+silver band, a silken scarf of red, a black velvet shirt, much affected
+by the Indians, an embroidered buckskin vest, corduroys, and fringed
+chaps with silver buttons, a big blue gun swinging low, high heeled
+boots, and long spurs with silver rowels.
+
+A flash cowboy! Steele vowed I was a born actor.
+
+But I never divulged the fact that had it not been for my infatuation
+for Sally, I never could have carried on that part, not to save the
+Ranger service, or the whole State of Texas.
+
+The hardest part had not been the establishing of a reputation. The
+scorn of cowboys, the ridicule of gamblers, the badinage of the young
+bucks of the settlement--these I had soon made dangerous procedures for
+any one. I was quick with tongue and fist and gun.
+
+There had been fights and respect was quickly earned, though the
+constant advent of strangers in Linrock always had me in hot water.
+
+Moreover, instead of being difficult, it was fun to spend all the time
+I could in the hotels and resorts, shamming a weakness for drink,
+gambling, lounging, making friends among the rough set, when all the
+time I was a cool, keen registering machine.
+
+The hard thing was the lie I lived in the eyes of Diane Sampson and
+Sally Langdon.
+
+I had indeed won the sincere regard of my employer. Her father, her
+cousin George, and new-made friends in town had come to her with tales
+of my reckless doings, and had urged my dismissal.
+
+But she kept me and all the time pleaded like a sister to have me mend
+my vicious ways. She believed what she was told about me, but had faith
+in me despite that.
+
+As for Sally, I had fallen hopelessly in love with her. By turns Sally
+was indifferent to me, cold, friendly like a comrade, and dangerously
+sweet.
+
+Somehow she saw through me, knew I was not just what I pretended to be.
+But she never breathed her conviction. She championed me. I wanted to
+tell her the truth about myself because I believed the doubt of me alone
+stood in the way of my winning her.
+
+Still that might have been my vanity. She had never said she cared for
+me although she had looked it.
+
+This tangle of my personal life, however, had not in the least affected
+my loyalty and duty to Vaughn Steele. Day by day I had grown more
+attached to him, keener in the interest of our work.
+
+It had been a busy month--a month of foundation building. My vigilance
+and my stealthy efforts had not been rewarded by anything calculated to
+strengthen our suspicions of Sampson. But then he had been absent from
+the home very often, and was difficult to watch when he was there.
+
+George Wright came and went, too, presumably upon stock business. I
+could not yet see that he was anything but an honest rancher, deeply
+involved with Sampson and other men in stock deals; nevertheless, as a
+man he had earned my contempt.
+
+He was a hard drinker, cruel to horses, a gambler not above stacking the
+cards, a quick-tempered, passionate Southerner.
+
+He had fallen in love with Diane Sampson, was like her shadow when at
+home. He hated me; he treated me as if I were the scum of the earth; if
+he had to address me for something, which was seldom, he did it harshly,
+like ordering a dog. Whenever I saw his sinister, handsome face, with
+its dark eyes always half shut, my hand itched for my gun, and I would
+go my way with something thick and hot inside my breast.
+
+In my talks with Steele we spent time studying George Wright's character
+and actions. He was Sampson's partner, and at the head of a small group
+of Linrock ranchers who were rich in cattle and property, if not in
+money.
+
+Steele and I had seen fit to wait before we made any thorough
+investigation into their business methods. Ours was a waiting game,
+anyway.
+
+Right at the start Linrock had apparently arisen in resentment at the
+presence of Vaughn Steele. But it was my opinion that there were men in
+Linrock secretly glad of the Ranger's presence.
+
+What he intended to do was food for great speculation. His fame, of
+course, had preceded him. A company of militia could not have had the
+effect upon the wild element of Linrock that Steele's presence had.
+
+A thousand stories went from lip to lip, most of which were false. He
+was lightning swift on the draw. It was death to face him. He had killed
+thirty men--wildest rumor of all.
+
+He had the gun skill of Buck Duane, the craft of Cheseldine, the
+deviltry of King Fisher, the most notorious of Texas desperadoes. His
+nerve, his lack of fear--those made him stand out alone even among a
+horde of bold men.
+
+At first there had not only been great conjecture among the vicious
+element, with which I had begun to affiliate myself, but also a very
+decided checking of all kinds of action calculated to be conspicuous to
+a keen eyed Ranger.
+
+Steele did not hide, but during these opening days of his stay in
+Linrock he was not often seen in town. At the tables, at the bars and
+lounging places remarks went the rounds:
+
+"Who's thet Ranger after? What'll he do fust off? Is he waitin' fer
+somebody? Who's goin' to draw on him fust--an' go to hell? Jest about
+how soon will he be found somewhere full of lead?"
+
+Those whom it was my interest to cultivate grew more curious, more
+speculative and impatient as time went by. When it leaked out somewhere
+that Steele was openly cultivating the honest stay-at-home citizens, to
+array them in time against the other element, then Linrock showed its
+wolf teeth hinted of in the letters to Captain Neal.
+
+Several times Steele was shot at in the dark and once slightly injured.
+Rumor had it that Jack Blome, the gunman of those parts, was coming in
+to meet Steele. Part of Linrock awakened and another part, much smaller,
+became quieter, more secluded.
+
+Strangers upon whom we could get no line mysteriously came and went. The
+drinking, gambling, fighting in the resorts seemed to gather renewed
+life. Abundance of money floated in circulation.
+
+And rumors, vague and unfounded, crept in from Sanderson and other
+points, rumors of a gang of rustlers off here, a hold-up of the stage
+off here, robbery of a rancher at this distant point, and murder done at
+another.
+
+This was Texas and New Mexico life in these frontier days but, strangely
+neither Steele nor I had yet been able to associate any rumor or act
+with a possible gang of rustlers in Linrock.
+
+Nevertheless we had not been discouraged. After three weeks of waiting
+we had become alive to activity around us, and though it was unseen, we
+believed we would soon be on its track.
+
+My task was the busier and the easier. Steele had to have a care for his
+life. I never failed to caution him of this.
+
+My long reflection on the month's happenings and possibilities was
+brought to an end by the appearance of Miss Sampson and Sally.
+
+My employer looked worried. Sally was in a regular cowgirl riding
+costume, in which her trim, shapely figure showed at its best, and her
+face was saucy, sparkling, daring.
+
+"Good morning, Russ," said Miss Sampson and she gazed searchingly at me.
+I had dropped off the fence, sombrero in hand. I knew I was in for a
+lecture, and I put on a brazen, innocent air.
+
+"Did you break your promise to me?" she asked reproachfully.
+
+"Which one?" I asked. It was Sally's bright eyes upon me, rather than
+Miss Sampson's reproach, that bothered me.
+
+"About getting drunk again," she said.
+
+"I didn't break _that_ one."
+
+"My cousin George saw you in the Hope So gambling place last night,
+drunk, staggering, mixing with that riffraff, on the verge of a brawl."
+
+"Miss Sampson, with all due respect to Mr. Wright, I want to say that he
+has a strange wish to lower me in the eyes of you ladies," I protested
+with a fine show of spirit.
+
+"Russ, _were_ you drunk?" she demanded.
+
+"No. I should think you needn't ask me that. Didn't you ever see a man
+the morning after a carouse?"
+
+Evidently she had. And there I knew I stood, fresh, clean-shaven,
+clear-eyed as the morning.
+
+Sally's saucy face grew thoughtful, too. The only thing she had ever
+asked of me was not to drink. The habit had gone hard with the Sampson
+family.
+
+"Russ, you look just as--as nice as I'd want you to," Miss Sampson
+replied. "I don't know what to think. They tell me things. You deny.
+Whom shall I believe? George swore he saw you."
+
+"Miss Sampson, did I ever lie to you?"
+
+"Not to my knowledge."
+
+Then I looked at her, and she understood what I meant.
+
+"George has lied to me. That day at Sanderson. And since, too, I fear.
+Do you say he lies?"
+
+"Miss Sampson, I would not call your cousin a liar."
+
+Here Sally edged closer, with the bridle rein of her horse over her arm.
+
+"Russ, cousin George isn't the only one who saw you. Burt Waters told me
+the same," said Sally nervously. I believed she hoped I was telling the
+truth.
+
+"Waters! So he runs me down behind my back. All right, I won't say a
+word about him. But do you believe I was drunk when I say no?"
+
+"I'm afraid I do, Russ," she replied in reluctance. Was she testing me?
+
+"See here, Miss Sampson," I burst out. "Why don't you discharge me?
+Please let me go. I'm not claiming much for myself, but you don't
+believe even that. I'm pretty bad. I never denied the scraps, the
+gambling--all that. But I did do as Miss Sally asked me--I did keep my
+promise to you. Now, discharge me. Then I'll be free to call on Mr. Burt
+Waters."
+
+Miss Sampson looked alarmed and Sally turned pale, to my extreme joy.
+
+Those girls believed I was a desperate devil of a cowboy, who had been
+held back from spilling blood solely through their kind relation to me.
+
+"Oh, no!" exclaimed Sally. "Diane, don't let him go!"
+
+"Russ, pray don't get angry," replied Miss Sampson and she put a soft
+hand on me that thrilled me, while it made me feel like a villain. "I
+won't discharge you. I need you. Sally needs you. After all, it's none
+of my business what you do away from here. But I hoped I would be so
+happy to--to reclaim you from--Didn't you ever have a sister, Russ?"
+
+I kept silent for fear that I would perjure myself anew. Yet the
+situation was delicious, and suddenly I conceived a wild idea.
+
+"Miss Sampson," I began haltingly, but with brave front, "I've been wild
+in the past. But I've been tolerably straight here, trying to please
+you. Lately I have been going to the bad again. Not drunk, but leaning
+that way. Lord knows what I'll do soon if--if my trouble isn't cured."
+
+"Russ! What trouble?"
+
+"You know what's the matter with me," I went on hurriedly. "Anybody
+could see that."
+
+Sally turned a flaming scarlet. Miss Sampson made it easier for me by
+reason of her quick glance of divination.
+
+"I've fallen in love with Miss Sally. I'm crazy about her. Here I've got
+to see these fellows flirting with her. And it's killing me. I've--"
+
+"If you are crazy about me, you don't have to tell!" cried Sally, red
+and white by turns.
+
+"I want to stop your flirting one way or another. I've been in earnest.
+I wasn't flirting. I begged you to--to..."
+
+"You never did," interrupted Sally furiously. That hint had been a
+spark.
+
+"I couldn't have dreamed it," I protested, in a passion to be earnest,
+yet tingling with the fun of it. "That day when I--didn't I ask..."
+
+"If my memory serves me correctly, you didn't ask anything," she
+replied, with anger and scorn now struggling with mirth.
+
+"But, Sally, I meant to. You understood me? Say you didn't believe I
+could take that liberty without honorable intentions."
+
+That was too much for Sally. She jumped at her horse, made the quickest
+kind of a mount, and was off like a flash.
+
+"Stop me if you can," she called back over her shoulder, her face alight
+and saucy.
+
+"Russ, go after her," said Miss Sampson. "In that mood she'll ride to
+Sanderson. My dear fellow, don't stare so. I understand many things now.
+Sally is a flirt. She would drive any man mad. Russ, I've grown in a
+short time to like you. If you'll be a man--give up drinking and
+gambling--maybe you'll have a chance with her. Hurry now--go after her."
+
+I mounted and spurred my horse after Sally's. She was down on the level
+now, out in the open, and giving her mount his head. Even had I wanted
+to overhaul her at once the matter would have been difficult, well nigh
+impossible under five miles.
+
+Sally had as fast a horse as there was on the range; she made no weight
+in the saddle, and she could ride. From time to time she looked back
+over her shoulder.
+
+I gained enough to make her think I was trying to catch her. Sally loved
+a horse; she loved a race; she loved to win.
+
+My good fortune had given me more than one ride alone with Sally. Miss
+Sampson enjoyed riding, too; but she was not a madcap, and when she
+accompanied us there was never any race.
+
+When Sally got out alone with me she made me ride to keep her from
+disappearing somewhere on the horizon. This morning I wanted her to
+enjoy to the fullest her utter freedom and to feel that for once I could
+not catch her.
+
+Perhaps my declaration to Miss Sampson had liberated my strongest
+emotions.
+
+However that might be, the fact was that no ride before had ever been
+like this one--no sky so blue, no scene so open, free, and enchanting as
+that beautiful gray-green range, no wind so sweet. The breeze that
+rushed at me might have been laden with the perfume of Sally Langdon's
+hair.
+
+I sailed along on what seemed a strange ride. Grazing horses pranced and
+whistled as I went by; jack-rabbits bounded away to hide in the longer
+clumps of grass; a prowling wolf trotted from his covert near a herd of
+cattle.
+
+Far to the west rose the low, dark lines of bleak mountains. They were
+always mysterious to me, as if holding a secret I needed to know.
+
+It was a strange ride because in the back of my head worked a haunting
+consciousness of the deadly nature of my business there on the frontier,
+a business in such contrast with this dreaming and dallying, this
+longing for what surely was futile.
+
+Any moment I might be stripped of my disguise. Any moment I might have
+to be the Ranger.
+
+Sally kept the lead across the wide plain, and mounted to the top of a
+ridge, where tired out, and satisfied with her victory, she awaited me.
+I was in no hurry to reach the summit of the long, slow-sloping ridge,
+and I let my horse walk.
+
+Just how would Sally Langdon meet me now, after my regretted exhibition
+before her cousin? There was no use to conjecture, but I was not
+hopeful.
+
+When I got there to find her in her sweetest mood, with some little
+difference never before noted--a touch of shyness--I concealed my
+surprise.
+
+"Russ, I gave you a run that time," she said. "Ten miles and you never
+caught me!"
+
+"But look at the start you had. I've had my troubles beating you with an
+even break."
+
+Sally was susceptible to flattery in regard to her riding, a fact that
+I made subtle use of.
+
+"But in a long race I was afraid you'd beat me. Russ, I've learned to
+ride out here. Back home I never had room to ride a horse. Just look.
+Miles and miles of level, of green. Little hills with black bunches of
+trees. Not a soul in sight. Even the town hidden in the green. All wild
+and lonely. Isn't it glorious, Russ?"
+
+"Lately it's been getting to me," I replied soberly.
+
+We both gazed out over the sea of gray-green, at the undulating waves
+of ground in the distance. On these rides with her I had learned to
+appreciate the beauty of the lonely reaches of plain.
+
+But when I could look at her I seldom wasted time on scenery. Looking at
+her now I tried to get again that impression of a difference in her. It
+eluded me.
+
+Just now with the rose in her brown cheeks, her hair flying, her eyes
+with grave instead of mocking light, she seemed only prettier than
+usual. I got down ostensibly to tighten the saddle girths on her horse.
+But I lingered over the task.
+
+Presently, when she looked down at me, I received that subtle impression
+of change, and read it as her soft mood of dangerous sweetness that came
+so seldom, mingled with something deeper, more of character and
+womanliness than I had ever sensed in her.
+
+"Russ, it wasn't nice to tell Diane that," she said.
+
+"Nice! It was--oh, I'd like to swear!" I ejaculated. "But now I
+understand my miserable feeling. I was jealous, Sally, I'm sorry. I
+apologize."
+
+She had drawn off her gloves, and one little hand, brown, shapely,
+rested upon her knee very near to me. I took it in mine. She let it
+stay, though she looked away from me, the color rich in her cheeks.
+
+"I can forgive that," she murmured. "But the lie. Jealousy doesn't
+excuse a lie."
+
+"You mean--what I intimated to your cousin," I said, trying to make her
+look at me. "That was the devil in me. Only it's true."
+
+"How can it be true when you never asked--said a word--you hinted of?"
+she queried. "Diane believed what you said. I know she thinks me
+horrid."
+
+"No she doesn't. As for what I said, or meant to say, which is the same
+thing, how'd you take my actions? I hope not the same as you take
+Wright's or the other fellow's."
+
+Sally was silent, a little pale now, and I saw that I did not need to
+say any more about the other fellows. The change, the difference was now
+marked. It drove me to give in wholly to this earnest and passionate
+side of myself.
+
+"Sally, I do love you. I don't know how you took my actions. Anyway, now
+I'll make them plain. I was beside myself with love and jealousy. Will
+you marry me?"
+
+She did not answer. But the old willful Sally was not in evidence.
+Watching her face I gave her a slow and gentle pull, one she could
+easily resist if she cared to, and she slipped from her saddle into my
+arms.
+
+Then there was one wildly sweet moment in which I had the blissful
+certainty that she kissed me of her own accord. She was abashed, yet
+yielding; she let herself go, yet seemed not utterly unstrung. Perhaps
+I was rough, held her too hard, for she cried out a little.
+
+"Russ! Let me go. Help me--back."
+
+I righted her in the saddle, although not entirely releasing her.
+
+"But, Sally, you haven't told me anything," I remonstrated tenderly. "Do
+you love me?"
+
+"I think so," she whispered.
+
+"Sally, will you marry me?"
+
+She disengaged herself then, sat erect and faced away from me, with her
+breast heaving.
+
+"No, Russ," she presently said, once more calm.
+
+"But Sally--if you love me--" I burst out, and then stopped, stilled by
+something in her face.
+
+"I can't help--loving you, Russ," she said. "But to promise to marry
+you, that's different. Why, Russ, I know nothing about you, not even
+your last name. You're not a--a steady fellow. You drink, gamble, fight.
+You'll kill somebody yet. Then I'll _not_ love you. Besides, I've always
+felt you're not just what you seemed. I can't trust you. There's
+something wrong about you."
+
+I knew my face darkened, and perhaps hope and happiness died in it.
+Swiftly she placed a kind hand on my shoulder.
+
+"Now, I've hurt you. Oh, I'm sorry. Your asking me makes such a
+difference. _They_ are not in earnest. But, Russ, I had to tell you
+why I couldn't be engaged to you."
+
+"I'm not good enough for you. I'd no right to ask you to marry me," I
+replied abjectly.
+
+"Russ, don't think me proud," she faltered. "I wouldn't care who you
+were if I could only--only respect you. Some things about you are
+splendid, you're such a man, that's why I cared. But you gamble. You
+drink--and I _hate_ that. You're dangerous they say, and I'd be, I _am_
+in constant dread you'll kill somebody. Remember, Russ, I'm no Texan."
+
+This regret of Sally's, this faltering distress at giving me pain, was
+such sweet assurance that she did love me, better than she knew, that I
+was divided between extremes of emotion.
+
+"Will you wait? Will you trust me a little? Will you give me a chance?
+After all, maybe I'm not so bad as I seem."
+
+"Oh, if you weren't! Russ, are you asking me to trust you?"
+
+"I beg you to--dearest. Trust me and wait."
+
+"Wait? What for? Are you really on the square, Russ? Or are you what
+George calls you--a drunken cowboy, a gambler, sharp with the cards, a
+gun-fighter?"
+
+My face grew cold as I felt the blood leave it. At that moment mention
+of George Wright fixed once for all my hate of him.
+
+Bitter indeed was it that I dared not give him the lie. But what could
+I do? The character Wright gave me was scarcely worse than what I had
+chosen to represent. I had to acknowledge the justice of his claim, but
+nevertheless I hated him.
+
+"Sally, I ask you to trust me in spite of my reputation."
+
+"You ask me a great deal," she replied.
+
+"Yes, it's too much. Let it be then only this--you'll wait. And while
+you wait, promise not to flirt with Wright and Waters."
+
+"Russ, I'll not let George or any of them so much as dare touch me," she
+declared in girlish earnestness, her voice rising. "I'll promise if
+you'll promise me not to go into those saloons any more."
+
+One word would have brought her into my arms for good and all. The
+better side of Sally Langdon showed then in her appeal. That appeal was
+as strong as the drawing power of her little face, all eloquent with its
+light, and eyes dark with tears, and lips wanting to smile.
+
+My response should have been instant. How I yearned to give it and win
+the reward I imagined I saw on her tremulous lips! But I was bound. The
+grim, dark nature of my enterprise there in Linrock returned to stultify
+my eagerness, dispel my illusion, shatter my dream.
+
+For one instant it flashed through my mind to tell Sally who I was, what
+my errand was, after the truth. But the secret was not mine to tell. And
+I kept my pledges.
+
+The hopeful glow left Sally's face. Her disappointment seemed keen. Then
+a little scorn of certainty was the bitterest of all for me to bear.
+
+"That's too much to promise all at once," I protested lamely, and I knew
+I would have done better to keep silence.
+
+"Russ, a promise like that is nothing--if a man loves a girl," she
+retorted. "Don't make any more love to me, please, unless you want me to
+laugh at you. And don't feel such terrible trouble if you happen to see
+me flirting occasionally."
+
+She ended with a little mocking laugh. That was the perverse side of
+her, the cat using her claws. I tried not to be angry, but failed.
+
+"All right. I'll take my medicine," I replied bitterly. "I'll certainly
+never make love to you again. And I'll stand it if I happen to see
+Waters kiss you, or any other decent fellow. But look out how you let
+that damned backbiter Wright fool around you!"
+
+I spoke to her as I had never spoken before, in quick, fierce meaning,
+with eyes holding hers.
+
+She paled. But even my scarce-veiled hint did not chill her anger.
+Tossing her head she wheeled and rode away.
+
+I followed at a little distance, and thus we traveled the ten miles back
+to the ranch. When we reached the corrals she dismounted and, turning
+her horse over to Dick, she went off toward the house without so much as
+a nod or good-by to me.
+
+I went down to town for once in a mood to live up to what had been
+heretofore only a sham character.
+
+But turning a corner into the main street I instantly forgot myself at
+the sight of a crowd congregated before the town hall. There was a babel
+of voices and an air of excitement that I immediately associated with
+Sampson, who as mayor of Linrock, once in a month of moons held court in
+this hall.
+
+It took slipping and elbowing to get through the crowd. Once inside the
+door I saw that the crowd was mostly outside, and evidently not so
+desirous as I was to enter.
+
+The first man I saw was Steele looming up; the next was Sampson chewing
+his mustache--the third, Wright, whose dark and sinister face told much.
+Something was up in Linrock. Steele had opened the hall.
+
+There were other men in the hall, a dozen or more, and all seemed
+shouting excitedly in unison with the crowd outside. I did not try to
+hear what was said. I edged closer in, among the men to the front.
+
+Sampson sat at a table up on a platform. Near him sat a thick-set
+grizzled man, with deep eyes; and this was Hanford Owens, county judge.
+
+To the right stood a tall, angular, yellow-faced fellow with a drooping,
+sandy mustache. Conspicuous on his vest was a huge silver shield. This
+was Gorsech, one of Sampson's sheriffs.
+
+There were four other men whom I knew, several whose faces were
+familiar, and half a dozen strangers, all dusty horsemen.
+
+Steele stood apart from them, a little to one side, so that he faced
+them all. His hair was disheveled, and his shirt open at the neck. He
+looked cool and hard.
+
+When I caught his eye I realized in an instant that the long deferred
+action, the beginning of our real fight was at hand.
+
+Sampson pounded hard on the table to be heard. Mayor or not, he was
+unable at once to quell the excitement.
+
+Gradually, however, it subsided and from the last few utterances before
+quiet was restored I gathered that Steele had intruded upon some kind of
+a meeting in the hall.
+
+"Steele, what'd you break in here for?" demanded Sampson.
+
+"Isn't this court? Aren't you the mayor of Linrock?" interrogated
+Steele. His voice was so clear and loud, almost piercing, that I saw at
+once that he wanted all those outside to hear.
+
+"Yes," replied Sampson. Like flint he seemed, yet I felt his intense
+interest.
+
+I had no doubt then that Steele intended to make him stand out before
+this crowd as the real mayor of Linrock or as a man whose office was a
+sham.
+
+"I've arrested a criminal," said Steele. "Bud Snell. I charge him with
+assault on Jim Hoden and attempted robbery--if not murder. Snell had a
+shady past here, as the court will know if it keeps a record."
+
+Then I saw Snell hunching down on a bench, a nerveless and shaken man
+if there ever was one. He had been a hanger-on round the gambling dens,
+the kind of sneak I never turned my back to.
+
+Jim Hoden, the restaurant keeper, was present also, and on second glance
+I saw that he was pale. There was blood on his face. I knew Jim, liked
+him, had tried to make a friend of him.
+
+I was not dead to the stinging interrogation in the concluding sentence
+of Steele's speech. Then I felt sure I had correctly judged Steele's
+motive. I began to warm to the situation.
+
+"What's this I hear about you, Bud? Get up and speak for yourself," said
+Sampson, gruffly.
+
+Snell got up, not without a furtive glance at Steele, and he had
+shuffled forward a few steps toward the mayor. He had an evil front,
+but not the boldness even of a rustler.
+
+"It ain't so, Sampson," he began loudly. "I went in Hoden's place fer
+grub. Some feller I never seen before come in from the hall an' hit him
+an' wrastled him on the floor. Then this big Ranger grabbed me an'
+fetched me here. I didn't do nothin'. This Ranger's hankerin' to arrest
+somebody. Thet's my hunch, Sampson."
+
+"What have you to say about this, Hoden?" sharply queried Sampson. "I
+call to your mind the fact that you once testified falsely in court, and
+got punished for it."
+
+Why did my sharpened and experienced wits interpret a hint of threat or
+menace in Sampson's reminder? Hoden rose from the bench and with an
+unsteady hand reached down to support himself.
+
+He was no longer young, and he seemed broken in health and spirit. He
+had been hurt somewhat about the head.
+
+"I haven't much to say," he replied. "The Ranger dragged me here. I told
+him I didn't take my troubles to court. Besides, I can't swear it was
+Snell who hit me."
+
+Sampson said something in an undertone to Judge Owens, and that worthy
+nodded his great, bushy head.
+
+"Bud, you're discharged," said Sampson bluntly. "Now, the rest of you
+clear out of here."
+
+He absolutely ignored the Ranger. That was his rebuff to Steele's
+advances, his slap in the face to an interfering Ranger Service.
+
+If Sampson was crooked he certainly had magnificent nerve. I almost
+decided he was above suspicion. But his nonchalance, his air of
+finality, his authoritative assurance--these to my keen and practiced
+eyes were in significant contrast to a certain tenseness of line about
+his mouth and a slow paling of his olive skin.
+
+He had crossed the path of Vaughn Steele; he had blocked the way of this
+Texas Ranger. If he had intelligence and remembered Steele's fame, which
+surely he had, then he had some appreciation of what he had undertaken.
+
+In that momentary lull my scrutiny of Sampson gathered an impression of
+the man's intense curiosity.
+
+Then Bud Snell, with a cough that broke the silence, shuffled a couple
+of steps toward the door.
+
+"Hold on!" called Steele.
+
+It was a bugle-call. It halted Snell as if it had been a bullet. He
+seemed to shrink.
+
+"Sampson, I _saw_ Snell attack Hoden," said Steele, his voice still
+ringing. "What has the court to say to that?"
+
+The moment for open rupture between Ranger Service and Sampson's idea of
+law was at hand. Sampson showed not the slightest hesitation.
+
+"The court has to say this: West of the Pecos we'll not aid or abet or
+accept any Ranger Service. Steele, we don't want you out here. Linrock
+doesn't need you."
+
+"That's a lie, Sampson," retorted Steele. "I've a pocket full of letters
+from Linrock citizens, all begging for Ranger Service."
+
+Sampson turned white. The veins corded at his temples. He appeared about
+to burst into rage. He was at a loss for a quick reply.
+
+Steele shook a long arm at the mayor.
+
+"I need your help. You refuse. Now, I'll work alone. This man Snell
+goes to Del Rio in irons."
+
+George Wright rushed up to the table. The blood showed black and thick
+in his face; his utterance was incoherent, his uncontrollable outbreak
+of temper seemed out of all proportion to any cause he should reasonably
+have had for anger.
+
+Sampson shoved him back with a curse and warning glare.
+
+"Where's your warrant to arrest Snell?" shouted Sampson. "I won't give
+you one. You can't take him without a warrant."
+
+"I don't need warrants to make arrests. Sampson, you're ignorant of the
+power of Texas Rangers."
+
+"You'll take Snell without papers?" bellowed Sampson.
+
+"He goes to Del Rio to jail," answered Steele.
+
+"He won't. You'll pull none of your damned Ranger stunts out here. I'll
+block you, Steele."
+
+That passionate reply of Sampson's appeared to be the signal Steele had
+been waiting for.
+
+He had helped on the crisis. I believed I saw how he wanted to force
+Sampson's hand and show the town his stand.
+
+Steele backed clear of everybody and like two swift flashes of light his
+guns leaped forth. He was transformed. My wish was fulfilled.
+
+Here was Steele, the Ranger, in one of his lone lion stands. Not exactly
+alone either, for my hands itched for my guns!
+
+"Men! I call on you all!" cried Steele, piercingly. "I call on you to
+witness the arrest of a criminal opposed by Sampson, mayor of Linrock.
+It will be recorded in the report sent to the Adjutant General at
+Austin. Sampson, I warn you--don't follow up your threat."
+
+Sampson sat white with working jaw.
+
+"Snell, come here," ordered Steele.
+
+The man went as if drawn and appeared to slink out of line with the
+guns. Steele's cold gray glance held every eye in the hall.
+
+"Take the handcuffs out of my pocket. This side. Go over to Gorsech with
+them. Gorsech, snap those irons on Snell's wrists. Now, Snell, back here
+to the right of me."
+
+It was no wonder to me to see how instantly Steele was obeyed. He might
+have seen more danger in that moment than was manifest to me; on the
+other hand he might have wanted to drive home hard what he meant.
+
+It was a critical moment for those who opposed him. There was death in
+the balance.
+
+This Ranger, whose last resort was gun-play, had instantly taken the
+initiative, and his nerve chilled even me. Perhaps though, he read this
+crowd differently from me and saw that intimidation was his cue. I
+forgot I was not a spectator, but an ally.
+
+"Sampson, you've shown your hand," said Steele, in the deep voice that
+carried so far and held those who heard. "Any honest citizen of Linrock
+can now see what's plain--yours is a damn poor hand!
+
+"You're going to hear me call a spade a spade. Your office is a farce.
+In the two years you've been mayor you've never arrested one rustler.
+Strange, when Linrock's a nest for rustlers! You've never sent a
+prisoner to Del Rio, let alone to Austin. You have no jail.
+
+"There have been nine murders since you took office, innumerable street
+fights and hold-ups. _Not one arrest!_ But you have ordered arrests for
+trivial offenses, and have punished these out of all proportion.
+
+"There have been law-suits in your court--suits over water rights,
+cattle deals, property lines. Strange how in these law-suits, you or
+Wright or other men close to you were always involved! Stranger how it
+seems the law was stretched to favor your interests!"
+
+Steele paused in his cold, ringing speech. In the silence, both outside
+and inside the hall, could be heard the deep breathing of agitated men.
+
+I would have liked to search for possible satisfaction on the faces of
+any present, but I was concerned only with Sampson. I did not need to
+fear that any man might draw on Steele.
+
+Never had I seen a crowd so sold, so stiff, so held! Sampson was indeed
+a study. Yet did he betray anything but rage at this interloper?
+
+"Sampson, here's plain talk for you and Linrock to digest," went
+on Steele. "I don't accuse you and your court of dishonesty. I
+say--_strange_! Law here has been a farce. The motive behind all
+this laxity isn't plain to me--yet. But I call your hand!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 3
+
+SOUNDING THE TIMBER
+
+
+When Steele left the hall, pushing Snell before him, making a lane
+through the crowd, it was not any longer possible to watch everybody.
+
+Yet now he seemed to ignore the men behind him. Any friend of Snell's
+among the vicious element might have pulled a gun. I wondered if Steele
+knew how I watched those men at his back--how fatal it would have been
+for any of them to make a significant move.
+
+No--I decided that Steele trusted to the effect his boldness had
+created. It was this power to cow ordinary men that explained so many of
+his feats; just the same it was his keenness to read desperate men, his
+nerve to confront them, that made him great.
+
+The crowd followed Steele and his captive down the middle of the main
+street and watched him secure a team and buckboard and drive off on the
+road to Sanderson.
+
+Only then did that crowd appear to realize what had happened. Then my
+long-looked-for opportunity arrived. In the expression of silent men
+I found something which I had sought; from the hurried departure of
+others homeward I gathered import; on the husky, whispering lips of yet
+others I read words I needed to hear.
+
+The other part of that crowd--to my surprise, the smaller part--was the
+roaring, threatening, complaining one.
+
+Thus I segregated Linrock that was lawless from Linrock that wanted law,
+but for some reason not yet clear the latter did not dare to voice their
+choice.
+
+How could Steele and I win them openly to our cause? If that could be
+done long before the year was up Linrock would be free of violence and
+Captain Neal's Ranger Service saved to the State.
+
+I went from place to place, corner to corner, bar to bar, watching,
+listening, recording; and not until long after sunset did I go out to
+the ranch.
+
+The excitement had preceded me and speculation was rife. Hurrying
+through my supper, to get away from questions and to go on with my
+spying, I went out to the front of the house.
+
+The evening was warm; the doors were open; and in the twilight the only
+lamps that had been lit were in Sampson's big sitting room at the far
+end of the house. Neither Sampson nor Wright had come home to supper.
+
+I would have given much to hear their talk right then, and certainly
+intended to try to hear it when they did come home.
+
+When the buckboard drove up and they alighted I was well hidden in the
+bushes, so well screened that I could get but a fleeting glimpse of
+Sampson as he went in.
+
+For all I could see, he appeared to be a calm and quiet man, intense
+beneath the surface, with an air of dignity under insult. My chance to
+observe Wright was lost.
+
+They went into the house without speaking, and closed the door.
+
+At the other end of the porch, close under a window, was an offset
+between step and wall, and there in the shadow I hid. If Sampson or
+Wright visited the girls that evening I wanted to hear what was said
+about Steele.
+
+It seemed to me that it might be a good clue for me--the circumstance
+whether or not Diane Sampson was told the truth. So I waited there in
+the darkness with patience born of many hours of like duty.
+
+Presently the small lamp was lit--I could tell the difference in light
+when the big one was burning--and I heard the swish of skirts.
+
+"Something's happened, surely, Sally," I heard Miss Sampson say
+anxiously. "Papa just met me in the hall and didn't speak. He seemed
+pale, worried."
+
+"Cousin George looked like a thundercloud," said Sally. "For once, he
+didn't try to kiss me. Something's happened. Well, Diane, this has been
+a bad day for me, too."
+
+Plainly I heard Sally's sigh, and the little pathetic sound brought me
+vividly out of my sordid business of suspicion and speculation. So she
+was sorry.
+
+"Bad for you, too?" replied Diane in amused surprise. "Oh, I see--I
+forgot. You and Russ had it out."
+
+"Out? We fought like the very old deuce. I'll never speak to him again."
+
+"So your little--affair with Russ is all over?"
+
+"Yes." Here she sighed again.
+
+"Well, Sally, it began swiftly and it's just as well short," said Diane
+earnestly. "We know nothing at all of Russ."
+
+"Diane, after to-day I respect him in--in spite of things--even though
+he seems no good. I--I cared a lot, too."
+
+"My dear, your loves are like the summer flowers. I thought maybe your
+flirting with Russ might amount to something. Yet he seems so different
+now from what he was at first. It's only occasionally I get the
+impression I had of him after that night he saved me from violence. He's
+strange. Perhaps it all comes of his infatuation for you. He is in love
+with you. I'm afraid of what may come of it."
+
+"Diane, he'll do something dreadful to George, mark my words,"
+whispered Sally. "He swore he would if George fooled around me any
+more."
+
+"Oh, dear. Sally, what can we do? These are wild men. George makes life
+miserable for me. And he teases you unmer..."
+
+"I don't call it teasing. George wants to spoon," declared Sally
+emphatically. "He'd run after any woman."
+
+"A fine compliment to me, Cousin Sally," laughed Diane.
+
+"I don't agree," replied Sally stubbornly. "It's so. He's spoony. And
+when he's been drinking and tries to kiss me, I hate him."
+
+"Sally, you look as if you'd rather like Russ to do something dreadful
+to George," said Diane with a laugh that this time was only half mirth.
+
+"Half of me would and half of me would not," returned Sally. "But all
+of me would if I weren't afraid of Russ. I've got a feeling--I don't
+know what--something will happen between George and Russ some day."
+
+There were quick steps on the hall floor, steps I thought I recognized.
+
+"Hello, girls!" sounded out Wright's voice, minus its usual gaiety. Then
+ensued a pause that made me bring to mind a picture of Wright's glum
+face.
+
+"George, what's the matter?" asked Diane presently. "I never saw papa as
+he is to-night, nor you so--so worried. Tell me, what has happened?"
+
+"Well, Diane, we had a jar to-day," replied Wright, with a blunt,
+expressive laugh.
+
+"Jar?" echoed both the girls curiously.
+
+"Jar? We had to submit to a damnable outrage," added Wright
+passionately, as if the sound of his voice augmented his feeling.
+"Listen, girls. I'll tell you all about it."
+
+He coughed, clearing his throat in a way that betrayed he had been
+drinking.
+
+I sunk deeper in the shadow of my covert, and stiffening my muscles for
+a protracted spell of rigidity, prepared to listen with all acuteness
+and intensity.
+
+Just one word from this Wright, inadvertently uttered in a moment of
+passion, might be the word Steele needed for his clue.
+
+"It happened at the town hall," began Wright rapidly. "Your father and
+Judge Owens and I were there in consultation with three ranchers from
+out of town. First we were disturbed by gunshots from somewhere, but not
+close at hand. Then we heard the loud voices outside.
+
+"A crowd was coming down street. It stopped before the hall. Men came
+running in, yelling. We thought there was a fire. Then that Ranger,
+Steele, stalked in, dragging a fellow by the name of Snell. We couldn't
+tell what was wanted because of the uproar. Finally your father restored
+order.
+
+"Steele had arrested Snell for alleged assault on a restaurant keeper
+named Hoden. It developed that Hoden didn't accuse anybody, didn't know
+who attacked him. Snell, being obviously innocent, was discharged. Then
+this--this gun fighting Ranger pulled his guns on the court and halted
+the proceedings."
+
+When Wright paused I plainly heard his intake of breath. Far indeed was
+he from calm.
+
+"Steele held everybody in that hall in fear of death, and he began
+shouting his insults. Law was a farce in Linrock. The court was a farce.
+There was no law. Your father's office as mayor should be impeached. He
+made arrests only for petty offenses. He was afraid of the rustlers,
+highwaymen, murderers. He was afraid or--he just let them alone. He used
+his office to cheat ranchers and cattlemen in law-suits.
+
+"All of this Steele yelled for everyone to hear. A damnable outrage!
+Your father, Diane, insulted in his own court by a rowdy Ranger! Not
+only insulted, but threatened with death--two big guns thrust almost
+in his face!"
+
+"Oh! How horrible!" cried Diane, in mingled distress and anger.
+
+"Steele's a Ranger. The Ranger Service wants to rule western Texas,"
+went on Wright. "These Rangers are all a low set, many of them worse
+than the outlaws they hunt. Some of them were outlaws and gun fighters
+before they became Rangers.
+
+"This Steele is one of the worst of the lot. He's keen, intelligent,
+smooth, and that makes him more to be feared. For he is to be feared. He
+wanted to kill. He meant to kill. If your father had made the least move
+Steele would have shot him. He's a cold-nerved devil--the born gunman.
+My God, any instant I expected to see your father fall dead at my feet!"
+
+"Oh, George! The--the unspeakable ruffian!" cried Diane, passionately.
+
+"You see, Diane, this fellow Steele has failed here in Linrock. He's
+been here weeks and done nothing. He must have got desperate. He's
+infamous and he loves his name. He seeks notoriety. He made that play
+with Snell just for a chance to rant against your father. He tried to
+inflame all Linrock against him. That about law-suits was the worst!
+Damn him! He'll make us enemies."
+
+"What do you care for the insinuations of such a man?" said Diane
+Sampson, her voice now deep and rich with feeling. "After a moment's
+thought no one will be influenced by them. Do not worry, George, tell
+papa not to worry. Surely after all these years he can't be injured in
+reputation by--by an adventurer."
+
+"Yes, he can be injured," replied George quickly. "The frontier is a
+queer place. There are many bitter men here, men who have failed at
+ranching. And your father has been wonderfully successful. Steele has
+dropped some poison, and it'll spread."
+
+Then followed a silence, during which, evidently, the worried Wright
+bestrode the floor.
+
+"Cousin George, what became of Steele and his prisoner?" suddenly asked
+Sally.
+
+How like her it was, with her inquisitive bent of mind and shifting
+points of view, to ask a question the answering of which would be gall
+and wormwood to Wright!
+
+It amused while it thrilled me. Sally might be a flirt, but she was no
+fool.
+
+"What became of them? Ha! Steele bluffed the whole town--at least all of
+it who had heard the mayor's order to discharge Snell," growled Wright.
+"He took Snell--rode off for Del Rio to jail him."
+
+"George!" exclaimed Diane. "Then, after all, this Ranger was able to
+arrest Snell, the innocent man father discharged, and take him to jail?"
+
+"Exactly. That's the toughest part...." Wright ended abruptly, and then
+broke out fiercely: "But, by God, he'll never come back!"
+
+Wright's slow pacing quickened and he strode from the parlor, leaving
+behind him a silence eloquent of the effect of his sinister prediction.
+
+"Sally, what did he mean?" asked Diane in a low voice.
+
+"Steele will be killed," replied Sally, just as low-voiced.
+
+"Killed! That magnificent fellow! Ah, I forgot. Sally, my wits are sadly
+mixed. I ought to be glad if somebody kills my father's defamer. But,
+oh, I can't be!
+
+"This bloody frontier makes me sick. Papa doesn't want me to stay for
+good. And no wonder. Shall I go back? I hate to show a white feather.
+
+"Do you know, Sally, I was--a little taken with this Texas Ranger.
+Miserably, I confess. He seemed so like in spirit to the grand stature
+of him. How can so splendid a man be so bloody, base at heart? It's
+hideous. How little we know of men! I had my dream about Vaughn Steele.
+I confess because it shames me--because I hate myself!"
+
+Next morning I awakened with a feeling that I was more like my old self.
+In the experience of activity of body and mind, with a prospect that
+this was merely the forerunner of great events, I came round to my own
+again.
+
+Sally was not forgotten; she had just become a sorrow. So perhaps my
+downfall as a lover was a precursor of better results as an officer.
+
+I held in abeyance my last conclusion regarding Sampson and Wright, and
+only awaited Steele's return to have fixed in mind what these men were.
+
+Wright's remark about Steele not returning did not worry me. I had heard
+many such dark sayings in reference to Rangers.
+
+Rangers had a trick of coming back. I did not see any man or men on the
+present horizon of Linrock equal to the killing of Steele.
+
+As Miss Sampson and Sally had no inclination to ride, I had even more
+freedom. I went down to the town and burst, cheerily whistling, into Jim
+Hoden's place.
+
+Jim always made me welcome there, as much for my society as for the
+money I spent, and I never neglected being free with both. I bought
+a handful of cigars and shoved some of them in his pocket.
+
+"How's tricks, Jim?" I asked cheerily.
+
+"Reckon I'm feelin' as well as could be expected," replied Jim. His head
+was circled by a bandage that did not conceal the lump where he had been
+struck. Jim looked a little pale, but he was bright enough.
+
+"That was a hell of a biff Snell gave you, the skunk," I remarked with
+the same cheery assurance.
+
+"Russ, I ain't accusin' Snell," remonstrated Jim with eyes that made me
+thoughtful.
+
+"Sure, I know you're too good a sport to send a fellow up. But Snell
+deserved what he got. I saw his face when he made his talk to Sampson's
+court. Snell lied. And I'll tell you what, Jim, if it'd been me instead
+of that Ranger, Bud Snell would have got settled."
+
+Jim appeared to be agitated by my forcible intimation of friendship.
+
+"Jim, that's between ourselves," I went on. "I'm no fool. And much as I
+blab when I'm hunky, it's all air. Maybe you've noticed that about me.
+In some parts of Texas it's policy to be close-mouthed. Policy and
+healthy. Between ourselves, as friends, I want you to know I lean some
+on Steele's side of the fence."
+
+As I lighted a cigar I saw, out of the corner of my eye, how Hoden gave
+a quick start. I expected some kind of a startling idea to flash into
+his mind.
+
+Presently I turned and frankly met his gaze. I had startled him out of
+his habitual set taciturnity, but even as I looked the light that might
+have been amaze and joy faded out of his face, leaving it the same old
+mask.
+
+Still I had seen enough. Like a bloodhound, I had a scent. "Thet's
+funny, Russ, seein' as you drift with the gang Steele's bound to fight,"
+remarked Hoden.
+
+"Sure. I'm a sport. If I can't gamble with gentlemen I'll gamble with
+rustlers."
+
+Again he gave a slight start, and this time he hid his eyes.
+
+"Wal, Russ, I've heard you was slick," he said.
+
+"You tumble, Jim. I'm a little better on the draw."
+
+"On the draw? With cards, an' gun, too, eh?"
+
+"Now, Jim, that last follows natural. I haven't had much chance to show
+how good I am on the draw with a gun. But that'll come soon."
+
+"Reckon thet talk's a little air," said Hoden with his dry laugh. "Same
+as you leanin' a little on the Ranger's side of the fence."
+
+"But, Jim, wasn't he game? What'd you think of that stand? Bluffed the
+whole gang! The way he called Sampson--why, it was great! The justice of
+that call doesn't bother me. It was Steele's nerve that got me. That'd
+warm any man's blood."
+
+There was a little red in Hoden's pale cheeks and I saw him swallow
+hard. I had struck deep again.
+
+"Say, don't you work for Sampson?" he queried.
+
+"Me? I _guess_ not. I'm Miss Sampson's man. He and Wright have tried to
+fire me many a time."
+
+"Thet so?" he said curiously. "What for?"
+
+"Too many silver trimmings on me, Jim. And I pack my gun low down."
+
+"Wal, them two don't go much together out here," replied Hoden. "But I
+ain't seen thet anyone has shot off the trimmin's."
+
+"Maybe it'll commence, Jim, as soon as I stop buying drinks. Talking
+about work--who'd you say Snell worked for?"
+
+"I didn't say."
+
+"Well, say so now, can't you? Jim, you're powerful peevish to-day. It's
+the bump on your head. Who does Snell work for?"
+
+"When he works at all, which sure ain't often, he rides for Sampson."
+
+"Humph! Seems to me, Jim, that Sampson's the whole circus round Linrock.
+I was some sore the other day to find I was losing good money at
+Sampson's faro game. Sure if I'd won I wouldn't have been sorry, eh? But
+I was surprised to hear some scully say Sampson owned the Hope So dive."
+
+"I've heard he owned considerable property hereabouts," replied Jim
+constrainedly.
+
+"Humph again! Why, Jim, you _know_ it, only like every other scully you
+meet in this town, you're afraid to open your mug about Sampson. Get me
+straight, Jim Hoden. I don't care a damn for Colonel Mayor Sampson. And
+for cause I'd throw a gun on him just as quick as on any rustler in
+Pecos."
+
+"Talk's cheap, my boy," replied Hoden, making light of my bluster, but
+the red was deep in his face.
+
+"Sure, I know that," I said, calming down. "My temper gets up, Jim. Then
+it's not well known that Sampson owns the Hope So?"
+
+"Reckon it's known in Pecos, all right. But Sampson's name isn't
+connected with the Hope So. Blandy runs the place."
+
+"That Blandy--I've got no use for him. His faro game's crooked, or I'm
+locoed bronc. Not that we don't have lots of crooked faro dealers. A
+fellow can stand for them. But Blandy's mean, back handed, never looks
+you in the eyes. That Hope So place ought to be run by a good fellow
+like you, Hoden."
+
+"Thanks, Russ," replied he, and I imagined his voice a little husky.
+"Didn't you ever hear _I_ used to run it?"
+
+"No. Did you?" I said quickly.
+
+"I reckon. I built the place, made additions twice, owned it for eleven
+years."
+
+"Well, I'll be doggoned!"
+
+It was indeed my turn to be surprised, and with the surprise came
+glimmering.
+
+"I'm sorry you're not there now, Jim. Did you sell out?"
+
+"No. Just lost the place."
+
+Hoden was bursting for relief now--to talk--to tell. Sympathy had made
+him soft. I did not need to ask another question.
+
+"It was two years ago--two years last March," he went on. "I was in a
+big cattle deal with Sampson. We got the stock, an' my share, eighteen
+hundred head, was rustled off. I owed Sampson. He pressed me. It come to
+a lawsuit, an' I--was ruined."
+
+It hurt me to look at Hoden. He was white, and tears rolled down his
+cheeks.
+
+I saw the bitterness, the defeat, the agony of the man. He had failed to
+meet his obligation; nevertheless he had been swindled.
+
+All that he suppressed, all that would have been passion had the man's
+spirit not been broken, lay bare for me to see. I had now the secret of
+his bitterness.
+
+But the reason he did not openly accuse Sampson, the secret of his
+reticence and fear--these I thought best to try to learn at some later
+time, after I had consulted with Steele.
+
+"Hard luck! Jim, it certainly was tough," I said. "But you're a good
+loser. And the wheel turns!
+
+"Now, Jim, here's what I come particular to see you for. I need your
+advice. I've got a little money. Between you and me, as friends, I've
+been adding some to that roll all the time. But before I lose it I want
+to invest some. Buy some stock or buy an interest in some rancher's
+herd.
+
+"What I want you to steer me on is a good, square rancher. Or maybe a
+couple of ranchers if there happen to be two honest ones in Pecos. Eh?
+No deals with ranchers who ride in the dark with rustlers! I've a hunch
+Linrock's full of them.
+
+"Now, Jim, you've been here for years. So you must know a couple of men
+above suspicion."
+
+"Thank God I do, Russ," he replied feelingly. "Frank Morton an' Si
+Zimmer, my friends an' neighbors all my prosperous days. An' friends
+still. You can gamble on Frank and Si. But Russ, if you want advice from
+me, don't invest money in stock now."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because any new feller buyin' stock in Pecos these days will be
+rustled quicker'n he can say Jack Robinson. The pioneers, the new
+cattlemen--these are easy pickin'. But the new fellers have to learn the
+ropes. They don't know anythin' or anybody. An' the old ranchers are
+wise an' sore. They'd fight if they...."
+
+"What?" I put in as he paused. "If they knew who was rustling the stock?"
+
+"Nope."
+
+"If they had the nerve?"
+
+"Not thet so much."
+
+"What then? What'd make them fight?"
+
+"A leader!"
+
+I went out of Hoden's with that word ringing in my ears. A leader! In my
+mind's eye I saw a horde of dark faced, dusty-booted cattlemen riding
+grim and armed behind Vaughn Steele.
+
+More thoughtful than usual, I walked on, passing some of my old haunts,
+and was about to turn in front of a feed and grain store when a hearty
+slap on my back disturbed my reflection.
+
+"Howdy thar, cowboy," boomed a big voice.
+
+It was Morton, the rancher whom Jim had mentioned, and whose
+acquaintance I had made. He was a man of great bulk, with a ruddy,
+merry face.
+
+"Hello, Morton. Let's have a drink," I replied.
+
+"Gotta rustle home," he said. "Young feller, I've a ranch to work."
+
+"Sell it to me, Morton."
+
+He laughed and said he wished he could. His buckboard stood at the rail,
+the horses stamping impatiently.
+
+"Cards must be runnin' lucky," he went on, with another hearty laugh.
+
+"Can't kick on the luck. But I'm afraid it will change. Morton, my
+friend Hoden gave me a hunch you'd be a good man to tie to. Now, I've
+a little money, and before I lose it I'd like to invest it in stock."
+
+He smiled broadly, but for all his doubt of me he took definite
+interest.
+
+"I'm not drunk, and I'm on the square," I said bluntly. "You've taken me
+for a no-good cow puncher without any brains. Wake up, Morton. If you
+never size up your neighbors any better than you have me--well, you
+won't get any richer."
+
+It was sheer enjoyment for me to make my remarks to these men, pregnant
+with meaning. Morton showed his pleasure, his interest, but his faith
+held aloof.
+
+"I've got some money. I had some. Then the cards have run lucky. Will
+you let me in on some kind of deal? Will you start me up as a stockman,
+with a little herd all my own?"
+
+"Russ, this's durn strange, comin' from Sampson's cowboy," he said.
+
+"I'm not in his outfit. My job's with Miss Sampson. She's fine, but the
+old man? Nit! He's been after me for weeks. I won't last long. That's
+one reason why I want to start up for myself."
+
+"Hoden sent you to me, did he? Poor ol' Jim. Wal, Russ, to come out
+flat-footed, you'd be foolish to buy cattle now. I don't want to take
+your money an' see you lose out. Better go back across the Pecos where
+the rustlers ain't so strong. I haven't had more'n twenty-five-hundred
+head of stock for ten years. The rustlers let me hang on to a breedin'
+herd. Kind of them, ain't it?"
+
+"Sort of kind. All I hear is rustlers." I replied with impatience. "You
+see, I haven't ever lived long in a rustler-run county. Who heads the
+gang anyway?"
+
+Frank Morton looked at me with a curiously-amused smile.
+
+"I hear lots about Jack Blome and Snecker. Everybody calls them out and
+out bad. Do they head this mysterious gang?"
+
+"Russ, I opine Blome an' Snecker parade themselves off boss rustlers
+same as gun throwers. But thet's the love such men have for bein'
+thought hell. That's brains headin' the rustler gang hereabouts."
+
+"Maybe Blome and Snecker are blinds. Savvy what I mean, Morton? Maybe
+there's more in the parade than just the fame of it."
+
+Morton snapped his big jaw as if to shut in impulsive words.
+
+"Look here, Morton. I'm not so young in years even if I am young west of
+the Pecos. I can figure ahead. It stands to reason, no matter how damn
+strong these rustlers are, how hidden their work, however involved with
+supposedly honest men--they can't last."
+
+"They come with the pioneers an' they'll last as long as thar's a single
+steer left," he declared.
+
+"Well, if you take that view of circumstances I just figure you as one
+of the rustlers!"
+
+Morton looked as if he were about to brain me with the butt of his whip.
+His anger flashed by then as unworthy of him, and, something striking
+him as funny, he boomed out a laugh.
+
+"It's not so funny," I went on. "If you're going to pretend a yellow
+streak, what else will I think?"
+
+"Pretend?" he repeated.
+
+"Sure. You can't fool me, Morton. I know men of nerve. And here in Pecos
+they're not any different from those in other places. I say if you show
+anything like a lack of sand it's all bluff.
+
+"By nature you've got nerve. There are a lot of men round Linrock who're
+afraid of their shadows, afraid to be out after dark, afraid to open
+their mouths. But you're not one.
+
+"So, I say, if you claim these rustlers will last, you're pretending
+lack of nerve just to help the popular idea along. For they can't last.
+
+"Morton, I don't want to be a hard-riding cowboy all my days. Do you
+think I'd let fear of a gang of rustlers stop me from going in business
+with a rancher? Nit! What you need out here in Pecos is some new
+blood--a few youngsters like me to get you old guys started. Savvy what
+I mean?"
+
+"Wal, I reckon I do," he replied, looking as if a storm had blown over
+him.
+
+I gauged the hold the rustler gang had on Linrock by the difficult job
+it was to stir this really courageous old cattleman. He had grown up
+with the evil. To him it must have been a necessary one, the same as dry
+seasons and cyclones.
+
+"Russ, I'll look you up the next time I come to town," he said soberly.
+
+We parted, and I, more than content with the meeting, retraced my steps
+down street to the Hope So saloon.
+
+Here I entered, bent on tasks as sincere as the ones just finished, but
+displeasing, because I had to mix with a low, profane set, to cultivate
+them, to drink occasionally despite my deftness at emptying glasses on
+the floor, to gamble with them and strangers, always playing the part of
+a flush and flashy cowboy, half drunk, ready to laugh or fight.
+
+On the night of the fifth day after Steele's departure, I went, as was
+my habit, to the rendezvous we maintained at the pile of rocks out in
+the open.
+
+The night was clear, bright starlight, without any moon, and for this
+latter fact safer to be abroad. Often from my covert I had seen dark
+figures skulking in and out of Linrock.
+
+It would have been interesting to hold up these mysterious travelers; so
+far, however, this had not been our game. I had enough to keep my own
+tracks hidden, and my own comings and goings.
+
+I liked to be out in the night, with the darkness close down to the
+earth, and the feeling of a limitless open all around. Not only did I
+listen for Steele's soft step, but for any sound--the yelp of coyote or
+mourn of wolf, the creak of wind in the dead brush, the distant clatter
+of hoofs, a woman's singing voice faint from the town.
+
+This time, just when I was about to give up for that evening, Steele
+came looming like a black giant long before I heard his soft step. It
+was good to feel his grip, even if it hurt, because after five days I
+had begun to worry.
+
+"Well, old boy, how's tricks?" he asked easily.
+
+"Well, old man, did you land that son of a gun in jail?"
+
+"You bet I did. And he'll stay there for a while. Del Rio rather liked
+the idea, Russ. All right there. I side-stepped Sanderson on the way
+back. But over here at the little village--Sampson they call it--I was
+held up. Couldn't help it, because there wasn't any road around."
+
+"Held up?" I queried.
+
+"That's it, the buckboard was held up. I got into the brush in time to
+save my bacon. They began to shoot too soon."
+
+"Did you get any of them?"
+
+"Didn't stay to see," he chuckled. "Had to hoof it to Linrock, and it's
+a good long walk."
+
+"Been to your 'dobe yet to-night?"
+
+"I slipped in at the back. Russ, it bothered me some to make sure no one
+was laying for me in the dark."
+
+"You'll have to get a safer place. Why not take to the open every
+night?"
+
+"Russ, that's well enough on a trail. But I need grub, and I've got to
+have a few comforts. I'll risk the 'dobe yet a little."
+
+Then I narrated all that I had seen and done and heard during his
+absence, holding back one thing. What I did tell him sobered him at
+once, brought the quiet, somber mood, the thoughtful air.
+
+"So that's all. Well, it's enough."
+
+"All pertaining to our job, Vaughn," I replied. "The rest is sentiment,
+perhaps. I had a pretty bad case of moons over the little Langdon girl.
+But we quarreled. And it's ended now. Just as well, too, because if
+she'd...."
+
+"Russ, did you honestly care for her? The real thing, I mean?"
+
+"I--I'm afraid so. I'm sort of hurt inside. But, hell! There's one thing
+sure, a love affair might have hindered me, made me soft. I'm glad it's
+over."
+
+He said no more, but his big hand pressing on my knee told me of his
+sympathy, another indication that there was nothing wanting in this
+Ranger.
+
+"The other thing concerns you," I went on, somehow reluctant now to tell
+this. "You remember how I heard Wright making you out vile to Miss
+Sampson? Swore you'd never come back? Well, after he had gone, when
+Sally said he'd meant you'd be killed, Miss Sampson felt bad about it.
+She said she ought to be glad if someone killed you, but she couldn't
+be. She called you a bloody ruffian, yet she didn't want you shot.
+
+"She said some things about the difference between your hideous
+character and your splendid stature. Called you a magnificent
+fellow--that was it. Well, then she choked up and confessed something to
+Sally in shame and disgrace."
+
+"Shame--disgrace?" echoed Steele, greatly interested. "What?"
+
+"She confessed she had been taken with you--had her little dream about
+you. And she hated herself for it."
+
+Never, I thought, would I forget Vaughn Steele's eyes. It did not
+matter that it was dark; I saw the fixed gleam, then the leaping,
+shadowy light.
+
+"Did she say that?" His voice was not quite steady. "Wonderful! Even if
+it only lasted a minute! She might--we might--If it wasn't for this
+hellish job! Russ, has it dawned on you yet, what I've got to do to
+Diane Sampson?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "Vaughn, you haven't gone sweet on her?"
+
+What else could I make of that terrible thing in his eyes? He did not
+reply to that at all. I thought my arm would break in his clutch.
+
+"You said you knew what I've got to do to Diane Sampson," he repeated
+hoarsely.
+
+"Yes, you've got to ruin her happiness, if not her life."
+
+"Why? Speak out, Russ. All this comes like a blow. There for a little I
+hoped you had worked out things differently from me. No hope. Ruin her
+life! Why?"
+
+I could explain this strange agitation in Steele in no other way except
+that realization had brought keen suffering as incomprehensible as it
+was painful. I could not tell if it came from suddenly divined love for
+Diane Sampson equally with a poignant conviction that his fate was to
+wreck her. But I did see that he needed to speak out the brutal truth.
+
+"Steele, old man, you'll ruin Diane Sampson, because, as arrest looks
+improbable to me, you'll have to kill her father."
+
+"My God! Why, why? Say it!"
+
+"Because Sampson is the leader of the Linrock gang of rustlers."
+
+That night before we parted we had gone rather deeply into the plan of
+action for the immediate future.
+
+First I gave Steele my earnest counsel and then as stiff an argument as
+I knew how to put up, all anent the absolute necessity of his eternal
+vigilance. If he got shot in a fair encounter with his enemies--well,
+that was a Ranger's risk and no disgrace. But to be massacred in bed,
+knifed, in the dark, shot in the back, ambushed in any manner--not one
+of these miserable ends must be the last record of Vaughn Steele.
+
+He promised me in a way that made me wonder if he would ever sleep again
+or turn his back on anyone--made me wonder too, at the menace in his
+voice. Steele seemed likely to be torn two ways, and already there was a
+hint of future desperation.
+
+It was agreed that I make cautious advances to Hoden and Morton, and
+when I could satisfy myself of their trustworthiness reveal my identity
+to them. Through this I was to cultivate Zimmer, and then other ranchers
+whom we should decide could be let into the secret.
+
+It was not only imperative that we learn through them clues by which we
+might eventually fix guilt on the rustler gang, but also just as
+imperative that we develop a band of deputies to help us when the fight
+began.
+
+Steele, now that he was back in Linrock, would have the center of the
+stage, with all eyes upon him. We agreed, moreover, that the bolder the
+front now the better the chance of ultimate success. The more nerve he
+showed the less danger of being ambushed, the less peril in facing
+vicious men.
+
+But we needed a jail. Prisoners had to be corraled after arrest, or the
+work would be useless, almost a farce, and there was no possibility of
+repeating trips to Del Rio.
+
+We could not use an adobe house for a jail, because that could be easily
+cut out of or torn down.
+
+Finally I remembered an old stone house near the end of the main street;
+it had one window and one door, and had been long in disuse. Steele
+would rent it, hire men to guard and feed his prisoners; and if these
+prisoners bribed or fought their way to freedom, that would not injure
+the great principle for which he stood.
+
+Both Steele and I simultaneously, from different angles of reasoning,
+had arrived at a conviction of Sampson's guilt. It was not so strong as
+realization; rather a divination.
+
+Long experience in detecting, in feeling the hidden guilt of men, had
+sharpened our senses for that particular thing. Steele acknowledged a
+few mistakes in his day; but I, allowing for the same strength of
+conviction, had never made a single mistake.
+
+But conviction was one thing and proof vastly another. Furthermore, when
+proof was secured, then came the crowning task--that of taking desperate
+men in a wild country they dominated.
+
+Verily, Steele and I had our work cut out for us. However, we were
+prepared to go at it with infinite patience and implacable resolve.
+Steele and I differed only in the driving incentive; of course, outside
+of that one binding vow to save the Ranger Service.
+
+He had a strange passion, almost an obsession, to represent the law of
+Texas, and by so doing render something of safety and happiness to the
+honest pioneers.
+
+Beside Steele I knew I shrunk to a shadow. I was not exactly a heathen,
+and certainly I wanted to help harassed people, especially women and
+children; but mainly with me it was the zest, the thrill, the hazard,
+the matching of wits--in a word, the adventure of the game.
+
+Next morning I rode with the young ladies. In the light of Sally's
+persistently flagrant advances, to which I was apparently blind, I saw
+that my hard-won victory over self was likely to be short-lived.
+
+That possibility made me outwardly like ice. I was an attentive,
+careful, reliable, and respectful attendant, seeing to the safety of my
+charges; but the one-time gay and debonair cowboy was a thing of the
+past.
+
+Sally, womanlike, had been a little--a very little--repentant; she had
+showed it, my indifference had piqued her; she had made advances and
+then my coldness had roused her spirit. She was the kind of girl to
+value most what she had lost, and to throw consequences to the winds in
+winning it back.
+
+When I divined this I saw my revenge. To be sure, when I thought of it
+I had no reason to want revenge. She had been most gracious to me.
+
+But there was the catty thing she had said about being kissed again by
+her admirers. Then, in all seriousness, sentiment aside, I dared not
+make up with her.
+
+So the cold and indifferent part I played was imperative.
+
+We halted out on the ridge and dismounted for the usual little rest.
+Mine I took in the shade of a scrubby mesquite. The girls strolled away
+out of sight. It was a drowsy day, and I nearly fell asleep.
+
+Something aroused me--a patter of footsteps or a rustle of skirts. Then
+a soft thud behind me gave me at once a start and a thrill. First I saw
+Sally's little brown hands on my shoulders. Then her head, with hair all
+shiny and flying and fragrant, came round over my shoulder, softly
+smoothing my cheek, until her sweet, saucy, heated face was right under
+my eyes.
+
+"Russ, don't you love me any more?" she whispered.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 4
+
+STEELE BREAKS UP THE PARTY
+
+
+That night, I saw Steele at our meeting place, and we compared notes and
+pondered details of our problem.
+
+Steele had rented the stone house to be used as a jail. While the
+blacksmith was putting up a door and window calculated to withstand many
+onslaughts, all the idlers and strangers in town went to see the sight.
+Manifestly it was an occasion for Linrock. When Steele let it be known
+that he wanted to hire a jailer and a guard this caustically humorous
+element offered itself _en masse_. The men made a joke out of it.
+
+When Steele and I were about to separate I remembered a party that was
+to be given by Miss Sampson, and I told him about it. He shook his head
+sadly, almost doubtfully.
+
+Was it possible that Sampson could be a deep eyed, cunning scoundrel,
+the true leader of the cattle rustlers, yet keep that beautiful and
+innocent girl out on the frontier and let her give parties to sons and
+daughters of a community he had robbed? To any but remorseless Rangers
+the idea was incredible.
+
+Thursday evening came in spite of what the girls must have regarded as
+an interminably dragging day.
+
+It was easy to differentiate their attitudes toward this party. Sally
+wanted to look beautiful, to excell all the young ladies who were to
+attend, to attach to her train all the young men, and have them fighting
+to dance with her. Miss Sampson had an earnest desire to open her
+father's house to the people of Linrock, to show that a daughter had
+come into his long cheerless home, to make the evening one of pleasure
+and entertainment.
+
+I happened to be present in the parlor, was carrying in some flowers for
+final decoration, when Miss Sampson learned that her father had just
+ridden off with three horsemen whom Dick, who brought the news, had not
+recognized.
+
+In her keen disappointment she scarcely heard Dick's concluding remark
+about the hurry of the colonel. My sharp ears, however, took this in and
+it was thought-provoking. Sampson was known to ride off at all hours,
+yet this incident seemed unusual.
+
+At eight o'clock the house and porch and patio were ablaze with lights.
+Every lantern and lamp on the place, together with all that could be
+bought and borrowed, had been brought into requisition.
+
+The cowboys arrived first, all dressed in their best, clean shaven, red
+faced, bright eyed, eager for the fun to commence. Then the young people
+from town, and a good sprinkling of older people, came in a steady
+stream.
+
+Miss Sampson received them graciously, excused her father's absence, and
+bade them be at home.
+
+The music, or the discordance that went by that name, was furnished by
+two cowboys with banjos and an antediluvian gentleman with a fiddle.
+Nevertheless, it was music that could be danced to, and there was no
+lack of enthusiasm.
+
+I went from porch to parlor and thence to patio, watching and amused.
+The lights and the decorations of flowers, the bright dresses and the
+flashy scarfs of the cowboys furnished a gay enough scene to a man of
+lonesome and stern life like mine. During the dance there was a steady,
+continuous shuffling tramp of boots, and during the interval following a
+steady, low hum of merry talk and laughter.
+
+My wandering from place to place, apart from my usual careful
+observation, was an unobtrusive but, to me, a sneaking pursuit of Sally
+Langdon.
+
+She had on a white dress I had never seen with a low neck and short
+sleeves, and she looked so sweet, so dainty, so altogether desirable,
+that I groaned a hundred times in my jealousy. Because, manifestly,
+Sally did not intend to run any risk of my not seeing her in her glory,
+no matter where my eyes looked.
+
+A couple of times in promenading I passed her on the arm of some proud
+cowboy or gallant young buck from town, and on these occasions she
+favored her escort with a languishing glance that probably did as much
+damage to him as to me.
+
+Presently she caught me red-handed in my careless, sauntering pursuit of
+her, and then, whether by intent or from indifference, she apparently
+deigned me no more notice. But, quick to feel a difference in her, I
+marked that from that moment her gaiety gradually merged into
+coquettishness, and soon into flirtation.
+
+Then, just to see how far she would go, perhaps desperately hoping she
+would make me hate her, I followed her shamelessly from patio to parlor,
+porch to court, even to the waltz.
+
+To her credit, she always weakened when some young fellow got her in a
+corner and tried to push the flirting to extremes. Young Waters was the
+only one lucky enough to kiss her, and there was more of strength in his
+conquest of her than any decent fellow could be proud of.
+
+When George Wright sought Sally out there was added to my jealousy a
+real anxiety. I had brushed against Wright more than once that evening.
+He was not drunk, yet under the influence of liquor.
+
+Sally, however, evidently did not discover that, because, knowing her
+abhorrence of drink, I believed she would not have walked out with him
+had she known. Anyway, I followed them, close in the shadow.
+
+Wright was unusually gay. I saw him put his arm around her without
+remonstrance. When the music recommenced they went back to the house.
+Wright danced with Sally, not ungracefully for a man who rode a horse as
+much as he. After the dance he waved aside Sally's many partners, not so
+gaily as would have been consistent with good feeling, and led her away.
+I followed. They ended up that walk at the extreme corner of the patio,
+where, under gaily colored lights, a little arbor had been made among
+the flowers and vines.
+
+Sally seemed to have lost something of her vivacity. They had not been
+out of my sight for a moment before Sally cried out. It was a cry of
+impatience or remonstrance, rather than alarm, but I decided that it
+would serve me an excuse.
+
+I dashed back, leaped to the door of the arbor, my hand on my gun.
+
+Wright was holding Sally. When he heard me he let her go. Then she
+uttered a cry that was one of alarm. Her face blanched; her eyes grew
+strained. One hand went to her breast. She thought I meant to kill
+Wright.
+
+"Excuse me," I burst out frankly, turning to Wright. I never saw a
+hyena, but he looked like one. "I heard a squeal. Thought a girl was
+hurt, or something. Miss Sampson gave me orders to watch out for
+accidents, fire, anything. So excuse me, Wright."
+
+As I stepped back, to my amazement, Sally, excusing herself to the
+scowling Wright, hurriedly joined me.
+
+"Oh, it's our dance, Russ!"
+
+She took my arm and we walked through the patio.
+
+"I'm afraid of him, Russ," she whispered. "You frightened me worse
+though. You didn't mean to--to--"
+
+"I made a bluff. Saw he'd been drinking, so I kept near you."
+
+"You return good for evil," she replied, squeezing my arm. "Russ, let me
+tell you--whenever anything frightens me since we got here I think of
+you. If you're only near I feel safe."
+
+We paused at the door leading into the big parlor. Couples were passing.
+Here I could scarcely distinguish the last words she said. She stood
+before me, eyes downcast, face flushed, as sweet and pretty a lass as
+man could want to see, and with her hand she twisted round and round a
+silver button on my buckskin vest.
+
+"Dance with me, the rest of this," she said. "George shooed away my
+partner. I'm glad for the chance. Dance with me, Russ--not gallantly or
+dutifully because I ask you, but because you _want_ to. Else not at
+all."
+
+There was a limit to my endurance. There would hardly be another evening
+like this, at least, for me, in that country. I capitulated with what
+grace I could express.
+
+We went into the parlor, and as we joined the dancers, despite all that
+confusion I heard her whisper: "I've been a little beast to you."
+
+That dance seemingly lasted only a moment--a moment while she was all
+airy grace, radiant, and alluring, floating close to me, with our hands
+clasped. Then it appeared the music had ceased, the couples were finding
+seats, and Sally and I were accosted by Miss Sampson.
+
+She said we made a graceful couple in the dance. And Sally said she did
+not have to reach up a mile to me--I was not so awfully tall.
+
+And I, tongue-tied for once, said nothing.
+
+Wright had returned and was now standing, cigarette between lips, in the
+door leading out to the patio. At the same moment that I heard a heavy
+tramp of boots, from the porch side I saw Wright's face change
+remarkably, expressing amaze, consternation, then fear.
+
+I wheeled in time to see Vaughn Steele bend his head to enter the door
+on that side. The dancers fell back.
+
+At sight of him I was again the Ranger, his ally. Steele was pale, yet
+heated. He panted. He wore no hat. He had his coat turned up and with
+left hand he held the lapels together.
+
+In a quick ensuing silence Miss Sampson rose, white as her dress. The
+young women present stared in astonishment and their partners showed
+excitement.
+
+"Miss Sampson, I came to search your house!" panted Steele, courteously,
+yet with authority.
+
+I disengaged myself from Sally, who was clinging to my hands, and I
+stepped forward out of the corner. Steele had been running. Why did he
+hold his coat like that? I sensed action, and the cold thrill animated
+me.
+
+Miss Sampson's astonishment was succeeded by anger difficult to control.
+
+"In the absence of my father I am mistress here. I will not permit you
+to search my house."
+
+"Then I regret to say I must do so without your permission," he said
+sternly.
+
+"Do not dare!" she flashed. She stood erect, her bosom swelling, her
+eyes magnificently black with passion. "How dare you intrude here? Have
+you not insulted us enough? To search my house to-night--to break up my
+party--oh, it's worse than outrage! Why on earth do you want to search
+here? Ah, for the same reason you dragged a poor innocent man into my
+father's court! Sir, I forbid you to take another step into this house."
+
+Steele's face was bloodless now, and I wondered if it had to do with her
+scathing scorn or something that he hid with his hand closing his coat
+that way.
+
+"Miss Sampson, I don't need warrants to search houses," he said. "But
+this time I'll respect your command. It would be too bad to spoil your
+party. Let me add, perhaps you do me a little wrong. God knows I hope
+so. I was shot by a rustler. He fled. I chased him here. He has taken
+refuge here--in your father's house. He's hidden somewhere."
+
+Steele spread wide his coat lapels. He wore a light shirt, the color of
+which in places was white. The rest was all a bloody mass from which
+dark red drops fell to the floor.
+
+"Oh!" cried Miss Sampson.
+
+Scorn and passion vanished in the horror, the pity, of a woman who
+imagined she saw a man mortally wounded. It was a hard sight for a
+woman's eyes, that crimson, heaving breast.
+
+"Surely I didn't see that," went on Steele, closing his coat. "You used
+unforgettable words, Miss Sampson. From you they hurt. For I stand
+alone. My fight is to make Linrock safer, cleaner, a better home for
+women and children. Some day you will remember what you said."
+
+How splendid he looked, how strong against odds. How simple a dignity
+fitted his words. Why, a woman far blinder than Diane Sampson could have
+seen that here stood a man.
+
+Steele bowed, turned on his heel, and strode out to vanish in the dark.
+
+Then while she stood bewildered, still shocked, I elected to do some
+rapid thinking.
+
+How seriously was Steele injured? An instant's thought was enough to
+tell me that if he had sustained any more than a flesh wound he would
+not have chased his assailant, not with so much at stake in the future.
+
+Then I concerned myself with a cold grip of desire to get near the
+rustler who had wounded Steele. As I started forward, however, Miss
+Sampson defeated me. Sally once more clung to my hands, and directly we
+were surrounded by an excited circle.
+
+It took a moment or two to calm them.
+
+"Then there's a rustler--here--hiding?" repeated Miss Sampson.
+
+"Miss Sampson, I'll find him. I'll rout him out," I said.
+
+"Yes, yes, find him, Russ, but don't use violence," she replied. "Send
+him away--no, give him over to--"
+
+"Nothing of the kind," interrupted George Wright, loud-voiced. "Cousin,
+go on with your dance. I'll take a couple of cowboys. I'll find
+this--this rustler, if there's one here. But I think it's only another
+bluff of Steele's."
+
+This from Wright angered me deeply, and I strode right for the door.
+
+"Where are you going?" he demanded.
+
+"I've Miss Sampson's orders. She wants me to find this hidden man. She
+trusts me not to allow any violence."
+
+"Didn't I say I'd see to that?" he snarled.
+
+"Wright, I don't care what you say," I retorted. "But I'm thinking you
+might not want me to find this rustler."
+
+Wright turned black in the face. Verily, if he had worn a gun he would
+have pulled it on me. As it was, Miss Sampson's interference probably
+prevented more words, if no worse.
+
+"Don't quarrel," she said. "George, you go with Russ. Please hurry. I'll
+be nervous till the rustler's found or you're sure there's not one."
+
+We started with several cowboys to ransack the house. We went through
+the rooms, searching, calling out, flashing our lanterns in dark places.
+
+It struck me forcibly that Wright did all the calling. He hurried, too,
+tried to keep in the lead. I wondered if he knew his voice would be
+recognized by the hiding man.
+
+Be that as it might, it was I who peered into a dark corner, and then
+with a cocked gun leveled I said: "Come out!"
+
+He came forth into the flare of lanterns, a tall, slim, dark-faced
+youth, wearing dark sombrero, blouse and trousers. I collared him before
+any of the others could move, and I held the gun close enough to make
+him shrink.
+
+But he did not impress me as being frightened just then; nevertheless,
+he had a clammy face, the pallid look of a man who had just gotten over
+a shock. He peered into my face, then into that of the cowboy next to
+me, then into Wright's and if ever in my life I beheld relief I saw it
+then.
+
+That was all I needed to know, but I meant to find out more if I could.
+
+"Who're you?" I asked quietly.
+
+He gazed rather arrogantly down at me. It always irritated me to be
+looked down at that way.
+
+"Say, don't be gay with me or you'll get it good," I yelled, prodding
+him in the side with the cocked gun. "Who are you? Quick!"
+
+"Bo Snecker," he said.
+
+"Any relation to Bill Snecker?"
+
+"His son."
+
+"What'd you hide here for?"
+
+He appeared to grow sullen.
+
+"Reckoned I'd be as safe in Sampson's as anywheres."
+
+"Ahuh! You're taking a long chance," I replied, and he never knew, or
+any of the others, just how long a chance that was.
+
+Sight of Steele's bloody breast remained with me, and I had something
+sinister to combat. This was no time for me to reveal myself or to show
+unusual feeling or interest for Steele.
+
+As Steele had abandoned his search, I had nothing to do now but let the
+others decide what disposition was to be made of Snecker.
+
+"Wright, what'll you do with him?" I queried, as if uncertain, now the
+capture was made. I let Snecker go and sheathed my weapon.
+
+That seemed a signal for him to come to life. I guessed he had not much
+fancied the wide and somewhat variable sweep of that cocked gun.
+
+"I'll see to that," replied Wright gruffly, and he pushed Snecker in
+front of him into the hall. I followed them out into the court at the
+back of the house.
+
+As I had very little further curiosity I did not wait to see where they
+went, but hurried back to relieve Miss Sampson and Sally.
+
+I found them as I had left them--Sally quiet, pale, Miss Sampson nervous
+and distressed. I soon calmed their fears of any further trouble or
+possible disturbance. Miss Sampson then became curious and wanted to
+know who the rustler was.
+
+"How strange he should come here," she said several times.
+
+"Probably he'd run this way or thought he had a better chance to hide
+where there was dancing and confusion," I replied glibly.
+
+I wondered how much longer I would find myself keen to shunt her mind
+from any channel leading to suspicion.
+
+"Would papa have arrested him?" she asked.
+
+"Colonel Sampson might have made it hot for him," I replied frankly,
+feeling that if what I said had a double meaning it still was no lie.
+
+"Oh, I forgot--the Ranger!" she exclaimed suddenly. "That awful
+sight--the whole front of him bloody! Russ, how could he stand up under
+such a wound? Do you think it'll kill him?"
+
+"That's hard to say. A man like Steele can stand a lot."
+
+"Russ, please go find him! See how it is with him!" she said, almost
+pleadingly.
+
+I started, glad of the chance and hurried down toward the town.
+
+There was a light in the little adobe house where he lived, and
+proceeding cautiously, so as to be sure no one saw me, I went close and
+whistled low in a way he would recognize. Then he opened the door and I
+went in.
+
+"Hello, son!" he said. "You needn't have worried. Sling a blanket over
+that window so no one can see in."
+
+He had his shirt off and had been in the act of bandaging a wound that
+the bullet had cut in his shoulder.
+
+"Let me tie that up," I said, taking the strips of linen. "Ahuh! Shot
+you from behind, didn't he?"
+
+"How else, you locoed lady-charmer? It's a wonder I didn't have to tell
+you that."
+
+"Tell me about it."
+
+Steele related a circumstance differing little from other attempts at
+his life, and concluded by saying that Snecker was a good runner if he
+was not a good shot.
+
+I finished the bandaging and stood off, admiring Steele's magnificent
+shoulders. I noted, too, on the fine white skin more than one scar made
+by bullets. I got an impression that his strength and vitality were like
+his spirit--unconquerable!
+
+"So you knew it was Bill Snecker's son?" I asked when I had told him
+about finding the rustler.
+
+"Sure. Jim Hoden pointed him out to me yesterday. Both the Sneckers are
+in town. From now on we're going to be busy, Russ."
+
+"It can't come too soon for me," I replied. "Shall I chuck my job? Come
+out from behind these cowboy togs?"
+
+"Not yet. We need proof, Russ. We've got to be able to prove things.
+Hang on at the ranch yet awhile."
+
+"This Bo Snecker was scared stiff till he recognized Wright. Isn't that
+proof?"
+
+"No, that's nothing. We've got to catch Sampson and Wright red-handed."
+
+"I don't like the idea of you trailing along alone," I protested.
+"Remember what Neal told me. I'm to kick. It's time for me to hang round
+with a couple of guns. You'll never use one."
+
+"The hell I won't," he retorted, with a dark glance of passion. I was
+surprised that my remark had angered him. "You fellows are all wrong. I
+know _when_ to throw a gun. You ought to remember that Rangers have a
+bad name for wanting to shoot. And I'm afraid it's deserved."
+
+"Did you shoot at Snecker?" I queried.
+
+"I could have got him in the back. But that wouldn't do. I shot three
+times at his legs--tried to let him down. I'd have made him tell
+everything he knew, but he ran. He was too fast for me."
+
+"Shooting at his legs! No wonder he ran. He savvied your game all right.
+It's funny, Vaughn, how these rustlers and gunmen don't mind being
+killed. But to cripple them, rope them, jail them--that's hell to them!
+Well, I'm to go on, up at the ranch, falling further in love with that
+sweet kid instead of coming out straight to face things with you?"
+
+Steele had to laugh, yet he was more thoughtful of my insistence.
+
+"Russ, you think you have patience, but you don't know what patience is.
+I won't be hurried on this job. But I'll tell you what: I'll hang under
+cover most of the time when you're not close to me. See? That can be
+managed. I'll watch for you when you come in town. We'll go in the same
+places. And in case I get busy you can stand by and trail along after
+me. That satisfy you?"
+
+"Fine!" I said, both delighted and relieved. "Well, I'll have to rustle
+back now to tell Miss Sampson you're all right."
+
+Steele had about finished pulling on a clean shirt, exercising care not
+to disarrange the bandages; and he stopped short to turn squarely and
+look at me with hungry eyes.
+
+"Russ, did she--show sympathy?"
+
+"She was all broken up about it. Thought you were going to die."
+
+"Did she send you?"
+
+"Sure. And she said hurry," I replied.
+
+I was not a little gleeful over the apparent possibility of Steele being
+in the same boat with me.
+
+"Do you think she would have cared if--if I had been shot up bad?"
+
+The great giant of a Ranger asked this like a boy, hesitatingly, with
+color in his face.
+
+"Care! Vaughn, you're as thickheaded as you say I'm locoed. Diane
+Sampson has fallen in love with you! That's all. Love at first sight!
+She doesn't realize it. But I know."
+
+There he stood as if another bullet had struck him, this time straight
+through the heart. Perhaps one had--and I repented a little of my
+overconfident declaration.
+
+Still, I would not go back on it. I believed it.
+
+"Russ, for God's sake! What a terrible thing to say!" he ejaculated
+hoarsely.
+
+"No. It's not terrible to _say_ it--only the fact is terrible," I went
+on. I may be wrong. But I swear I'm right. When you opened your coat,
+showed that bloody breast--well, I'll never forget her eyes.
+
+"She had been furious. She showed passion--hate. Then all in a second
+something wonderful, beautiful broke through. Pity, fear, agonized
+thought of your death! If that's not love, if--if she did not betray
+love, then I never saw it. She thinks she hates you. But she loves you."
+
+"Get out of here," he ordered thickly.
+
+I went, not forgetting to peep out at the door and to listen a moment,
+then I hurried into the open, up toward the ranch.
+
+The stars were very big and bright, so calm, so cold, that it somehow
+hurt me to look at them. Not like men's lives, surely!
+
+What had fate done to Vaughn Steele and to me? I had a moment of
+bitterness, an emotion rare with me.
+
+Most Rangers put love behind them when they entered the Service and
+seldom found it after that. But love had certainly met me on the way,
+and I now had confirmation of my fear that Vaughn was hard hit.
+
+Then the wildness, the adventurer in me stirred to the wonder of it all.
+It was in me to exult even in the face of fate. Steele and I, while
+balancing our lives on the hair-trigger of a gun, had certainly fallen
+into a tangled web of circumstances not calculated in the role of
+Rangers.
+
+I went back to the ranch with regret, remorse, sorrow knocking at my
+heart, but notwithstanding that, tingling alive to the devilish
+excitement of the game.
+
+I knew not what it was that prompted me to sow the same seed in Diane
+Sampson's breast that I had sown in Steele's; probably it was just a
+propensity for sheer mischief, probably a certainty of the truth and a
+strange foreshadowing of a coming event.
+
+If Diane Sampson loved, through her this event might be less tragic.
+Somehow love might save us all.
+
+That was the shadowy portent flitting in the dark maze of my mind.
+
+At the ranch dancing had been resumed. There might never have been any
+interruption of the gaiety. I found Miss Sampson on the lookout for me
+and she searched my face with eyes that silenced my one last qualm of
+conscience.
+
+"Let's go out in the patio," I suggested. "I don't want any one to hear
+what I say."
+
+Outside in the starlight she looked white and very beautiful. I felt her
+tremble. Perhaps my gravity presaged the worst. So it did in one
+way--poor Vaughn!
+
+"I went down to Steele's 'dobe, the little place where he lives." I
+began, weighing my words. "He let me in--was surprised. He had been shot
+high in the shoulder, not a dangerous wound. I bandaged it for him. He
+was grateful--said he had no friends."
+
+"Poor fellow! Oh, I'm glad it--it isn't bad," said Miss Sampson.
+Something glistened in her eyes.
+
+"He looked strange, sort of forlorn. I think your words--what you said
+hurt him more than the bullet. I'm sure of that, Miss Sampson."
+
+"Oh, I saw that myself! I was furious. But I--I meant what I said."
+
+"You wronged Steele. I happen to know. I know his record along the Rio
+Grande. It's scarcely my place, Miss Sampson, to tell you what you'll
+find out for yourself, sooner or later."
+
+"What shall I find out?" she demanded.
+
+"I've said enough."
+
+"No. You mean my father and cousin George are misinformed or wrong about
+Steele? I've feared it this last hour. It was his look. That pierced me.
+Oh, I'd hate to be unjust. You say I wronged him, Russ? Then you take
+sides with him against my father?"
+
+"Yes," I replied very low.
+
+She was keenly hurt and seemed, despite an effort, to shrink from me.
+
+"It's only natural you should fight for your father," I went on.
+"Perhaps you don't understand. He has ruled here for long. He's
+been--well, let's say, easy with the evil-doers. But times are changing.
+He opposed the Ranger idea, which is also natural, I suppose. Still,
+he's wrong about Steele, terribly wrong, and it means trouble."
+
+"Oh, I don't know what to believe!"
+
+"It might be well for you to think things out for yourself."
+
+"Russ, I feel as though I couldn't. I can't make head or tail of life
+out here. My father seems so strange. Though, of course, I've only seen
+him twice a year since I was a little girl. He has two sides to him.
+When I come upon that strange side, the one I never knew, he's like a
+man I never saw.
+
+"I want to be a good and loving daughter. I want to help him fight his
+battles. But he doesn't--he doesn't _satisfy_ me. He's grown impatient
+and wants me to go back to Louisiana. That gives me a feeling of
+mystery. Oh, it's _all_ mystery!"
+
+"True, you're right," I replied, my heart aching for her. "It's all
+mystery--and trouble for you, too. Perhaps you'd do well to go home."
+
+"Russ, you suggest I leave here--leave my father?" she asked.
+
+"I advise it. You struck a--a rather troublesome time. Later you might
+return if--"
+
+"Never. I came to stay, and I'll stay," she declared, and there her
+temper spoke.
+
+"Miss Sampson," I began again, after taking a long, deep breath, "I
+ought to tell you one thing more about Steele."
+
+"Well, go on."
+
+"Doesn't he strike you now as being the farthest removed from a ranting,
+brutal Ranger?"
+
+"I confess he was at least a gentleman."
+
+"Rangers don't allow anything to interfere with the discharge of their
+duty. He was courteous after you defamed him. He respected your wish. He
+did not break up the dance.
+
+"This may not strike you particularly. But let me explain that Steele
+was chasing an outlaw who had shot him. Under ordinary circumstances he
+would have searched your house. He would have been like a lion. He would
+have torn the place down around our ears to get that rustler.
+
+"But his action was so different from what I had expected, it amazed me.
+Just now, when I was with him, I learned, I guessed, what stayed his
+hand. I believe you ought to know."
+
+"Know what?" she asked. How starry and magnetic her eyes! A woman's
+divining intuition made them wonderful with swift-varying emotion.
+
+They drew me on to the fatal plunge. What was I doing to her--to Vaughn?
+Something bound my throat, making speech difficult.
+
+"He's fallen in love with you," I hurried on in a husky voice. "Love at
+first sight! Terrible! Hopeless! I saw it--felt it. I can't explain how
+I know, but I do know.
+
+"That's what stayed his hand here. And that's why I'm on his side. He's
+alone. He has a terrible task here without any handicaps. Every man is
+against him. If he fails, you might be the force that weakened him. So
+you ought to be kinder in your thought of him. Wait before you judge him
+further.
+
+"If he isn't killed, time will prove him noble instead of vile. If he is
+killed, which is more than likely, you'll feel the happier for a
+generous doubt in favor of the man who loved you."
+
+Like one stricken blind, she stood an instant; then, with her hands at
+her breast, she walked straight across the patio into the dark, open
+door of her room.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 5
+
+CLEANING OUT LINROCK
+
+
+Not much sleep visited me that night. In the morning, the young ladies
+not stirring and no prospects of duty for me, I rode down to town.
+
+Sight of the wide street, lined by its hitching posts and saddled
+horses, the square buildings with their ugly signs, unfinished yet old,
+the lounging, dust-gray men at every corner--these awoke in me a
+significance that had gone into oblivion overnight.
+
+That last talk with Miss Sampson had unnerved me, wrought strangely upon
+me. And afterward, waking and dozing, I had dreamed, lived in a warm,
+golden place where there were music and flowers and Sally's spritelike
+form leading me on after two tall, beautiful lovers, Diane and Vaughn,
+walking hand in hand.
+
+Fine employment of mind for a Ranger whose single glance down a quiet
+street pictured it with darkgarbed men in grim action, guns spouting
+red, horses plunging!
+
+In front of Hoden's restaurant I dismounted and threw my bridle. Jim was
+unmistakably glad to see me.
+
+"Where've you been? Morton was in an' powerful set on seein' you. I
+steered him from goin' up to Sampson's. What kind of a game was you
+givin' Frank?"
+
+"Jim, I just wanted to see if he was a safe rancher to make a stock deal
+for me."
+
+"He says you told him he didn't have no yellow streak an' that he was a
+rustler. Frank can't git over them two hunches. When he sees you he's
+goin' to swear he's no rustler, but he _has_ got a yellow streak,
+unless..."
+
+This little, broken-down Texan had eyes like flint striking fire.
+
+"Unless?" I queried sharply.
+
+Jim breathed a deep breath and looked around the room before his gaze
+fixed again on mine.
+
+"Wal," he replied, speaking low, "Me and Frank allows you've picked the
+right men. It was me that sent them letters to the Ranger captain at
+Austin. Now who in hell are you?"
+
+It was my turn to draw a deep breath.
+
+I had taken six weeks to strike fire from a Texan whom I instinctively
+felt had been prey to the power that shadowed Linrock. There was no one
+in the room except us, no one passing, nor near.
+
+Reaching into the inside pocket of my buckskin vest, I turned the lining
+out. A star-shaped, bright, silver object flashed as I shoved it, pocket
+and all, under Jim's hard eyes.
+
+He could not help but read; United States Deputy Marshall.
+
+"By golly," he whispered, cracking the table with his fist. "Russ, you
+sure rung true to me. But never as a cowboy!"
+
+"Jim, the woods is full of us!"
+
+Heavy footsteps sounded on the walk. Presently Steele's bulk darkened
+the door.
+
+"Hello," I greeted. "Steele, shake hands with Jim Hoden."
+
+"Hello," replied Steele slowly. "Say, I reckon I know Hoden."
+
+"Nit. Not this one. He's the old Hoden. He used to own the Hope So
+saloon. It was on the square when he ran it. Maybe he'll get it back
+pretty soon. Hope so!"
+
+I laughed at my execrable pun. Steele leaned against the counter, his
+gray glance studying the man I had so oddly introduced.
+
+Hoden in one flash associated the Ranger with me--a relation he had not
+dreamed of. Then, whether from shock or hope or fear I know not, he
+appeared about to faint.
+
+"Hoden, do you know who's boss of this secret gang of rustlers
+hereabouts?" asked Steele bluntly.
+
+It was characteristic of him to come sharp to the point. His voice,
+something deep, easy, cool about him, seemed to steady Hoden.
+
+"No," replied Hoden.
+
+"Does anybody know?" went on Steele.
+
+"Wal, I reckon there's not one honest native of Pecos who _knows_."
+
+"But you have your suspicions?"
+
+"We have."
+
+"You can keep your suspicions to yourself. But you can give me your idea
+about this crowd that hangs round the saloons, the regulars."
+
+"Jest a bad lot," replied Hoden, with the quick assurance of knowledge.
+"Most of them have been here years. Others have drifted in. Some of them
+work odd times. They rustle a few steer, steal, rob, anythin' for a
+little money to drink an' gamble. Jest a bad lot!
+
+"But the strangers as are always comin' an' goin'--strangers that never
+git acquainted--some of them are likely to be _the_ rustlers. Bill an'
+Bo Snecker are in town now. Bill's a known cattle-thief. Bo's no good,
+the makin' of a gun-fighter. He heads thet way.
+
+"They might be rustlers. But the boy, he's hardly careful enough for
+this gang. Then there's Jack Blome. He comes to town often. He lives up
+in the hills. He always has three or four strangers with him. Blome's
+the fancy gun fighter. He shot a gambler here last fall. Then he was in
+a fight in Sanderson lately. Got two cowboys then.
+
+"Blome's killed a dozen Pecos men. He's a rustler, too, but I reckon
+he's not the brains of thet secret outfit, if he's in it at all."
+
+Steele appeared pleased with Hoden's idea. Probably it coincided with
+the one he had arrived at himself.
+
+"Now, I'm puzzled over this," said Steele. "Why do men, apparently
+honest men, seem to be so close-mouthed here? Is that a fact or only my
+impression?"
+
+"It's sure a fact," replied Hoden darkly. "Men have lost cattle an'
+property in Linrock--lost them honestly or otherwise, as hasn't been
+proved. An' in some cases when they talked--hinted a little--they was
+found dead. Apparently held up an' robbed. But dead. Dead men don't
+talk. Thet's why we're close-mouthed."
+
+Steele's face wore a dark, somber sternness.
+
+Rustling cattle was not intolerable. Western Texas had gone on
+prospering, growing in spite of the horde of rustlers ranging its vast
+stretches; but this cold, secret, murderous hold on a little struggling
+community was something too strange, too terrible for men to stand long.
+
+It had waited for a leader like Steele, and now it could not last.
+Hoden's revived spirit showed that.
+
+The ranger was about to speak again when the clatter of hoofs
+interrupted him. Horses halted out in front.
+
+A motion of Steele's hand caused me to dive through a curtained door
+back of Hoden's counter. I turned to peep out and was in time to see
+George Wright enter with the red-headed cowboy called Brick.
+
+That was the first time I had ever seen Wright come into Hoden's. He
+called for tobacco.
+
+If his visit surprised Jim he did not show any evidence. But Wright
+showed astonishment as he saw the Ranger, and then a dark glint flitted
+from the eyes that shifted from Steele to Hoden and back again.
+
+Steele leaned easily against the counter, and he said good morning
+pleasantly. Wright deigned no reply, although he bent a curious and hard
+scrutiny upon Steele. In fact, Wright evinced nothing that would lead
+one to think he had any respect for Steele as a man or as a Ranger.
+
+"Steele, that was the second break of yours last night," he said
+finally. "If you come fooling round the ranch again there'll be hell!"
+
+It seemed strange that a man who had lived west of the Pecos for ten
+years could not see in Steele something which forbade that kind of talk.
+
+It certainly was not nerve Wright showed; men of courage were seldom
+intolerant; and with the matchless nerve that characterized Steele or
+the great gunmen of the day there went a cool, unobtrusive manner, a
+speech brief, almost gentle, certainly courteous. Wright was a
+hot-headed Louisianian of French extraction; a man evidently who had
+never been crossed in anything, and who was strong, brutal, passionate,
+which qualities, in the face of a situation like this, made him simply a
+fool!
+
+The way Steele looked at Wright was joy to me. I hated this smooth,
+dark-skinned Southerner. But, of course, an ordinary affront like
+Wright's only earned silence from Steele.
+
+"I'm thinking you used your Ranger bluff just to get near Diane
+Sampson," Wright sneered. "Mind you, if you come up there again there'll
+be hell!"
+
+"You're damn right there'll be hell!" retorted Steele, a kind of high
+ring in his voice. I saw thick, dark red creep into his face.
+
+Had Wright's incomprehensible mention of Diane Sampson been an instinct
+of love--of jealousy? Verily, it had pierced into the depths of the
+Ranger, probably as no other thrust could have.
+
+"Diane Sampson wouldn't stoop to know a dirty blood-tracker like
+you," said Wright hotly. His was not a deliberate intention to rouse
+Steele; the man was simply rancorous. "I'll call you right, you cheap
+bluffer! You four-flush! You damned interfering conceited Ranger!"
+
+Long before Wright ended his tirade Steele's face had lost the tinge of
+color, so foreign to it in moments like this; and the cool shade, the
+steady eyes like ice on fire, the ruthless lips had warned me, if they
+had not Wright.
+
+"Wright, I'll not take offense, because you seem to be championing your
+beautiful cousin," replied Steele in slow speech, biting. "But let me
+return your compliment. You're a fine Southerner! Why, you're only a
+cheap four-flush--damned bull-headed--_rustler_"
+
+Steele hissed the last word. Then for him--for me--for Hoden--there was
+the truth in Wright's working passion-blackened face.
+
+Wright jerked, moved, meant to draw. But how slow! Steele lunged
+forward. His long arm swept up.
+
+And Wright staggered backward, knocking table and chairs, to fall hard,
+in a half-sitting posture, against the wall.
+
+"Don't draw!" warned Steele.
+
+"Wright, get away from your gun!" yelled the cowboy Brick.
+
+But Wright was crazed by fury. He tugged at his hip, his face corded
+with purple welts, malignant, murderous, while he got to his feet.
+
+I was about to leap through the door when Steele shot. Wright's gun went
+ringing to the floor.
+
+Like a beast in pain Wright screamed. Frantically he waved a limp arm,
+flinging blood over the white table-cloths. Steele had crippled him.
+
+"Here, you cowboy," ordered Steele; "take him out, quick!"
+
+Brick saw the need of expediency, if Wright did not realize it, and he
+pulled the raving man out of the place. He hurried Wright down the
+street, leaving the horses behind.
+
+Steele calmly sheathed his gun.
+
+"Well, I guess that opens the ball," he said as I came out.
+
+Hoden seemed fascinated by the spots of blood on the table-cloths. It
+was horrible to see him rubbing his hands there like a ghoul!
+
+"I tell you what, fellows," said Steele, "we've just had a few pleasant
+moments with the man who has made it healthy to keep close-mouthed in
+Linrock."
+
+Hoden lifted his shaking hands.
+
+"What'd you wing him for?" he wailed. "He was drawin' on you. Shootin'
+arms off men like him won't do out here."
+
+I was inclined to agree with Hoden.
+
+"That bull-headed fool will roar and butt himself with all his gang
+right into our hands. He's just the man I've needed to meet. Besides,
+shooting him would have been murder for me!"
+
+"Murder!" exclaimed Hoden.
+
+"He was a fool, and slow at that. Under such circumstances could I kill
+him when I didn't have to?"
+
+"Sure it'd been the trick." declared Jim positively. "I'm not allowin'
+for whether he's really a rustler or not. It just won't do, because
+these fellers out here ain't goin' to be afraid of you."
+
+"See here, Hoden. If a man's going to be afraid of me at all, that trick
+will make him more afraid of me. I know it. It works out. When Wright
+cools down he'll remember, he'll begin to think, he'll realize that I
+could more easily have killed him than risk a snapshot at his arm. I'll
+bet you he goes pale to the gills next time he even sees me."
+
+"That may be true, Steele. But if Wright's the man you think he is he'll
+begin that secret underground bizness. It's been tolerable healthy these
+last six months. You can gamble on this. If thet secret work does
+commence you'll have more reason to suspect Wright. I won't feel very
+safe from now on.
+
+"I heard you call him rustler. He knows thet. Why, Wright won't sleep at
+night now. He an' Sampson have always been after me."
+
+"Hoden, what are your eyes for?" demanded Steele. "Watch out. And now
+here. See your friend Morton. Tell him this game grows hot. Together you
+approach four or five men you know well and can absolutely trust.
+
+"Hello, there's somebody coming. You meet Russ and me to-night, out in
+the open a quarter of a mile, straight from the end of this street.
+You'll find a pile of stones. Meet us there to-night at ten o'clock."
+
+The next few days, for the several hours each day that I was in town, I
+had Steele in sight all the time or knew that he was safe under cover.
+
+Nothing happened. His presence in the saloons or any place where men
+congregated was marked by a certain uneasy watchfulness on the part of
+almost everybody, and some amusement on the part of a few.
+
+It was natural to suppose that the lawless element would rise up in a
+mass and slay Steele on sight. But this sort of thing never happened. It
+was not so much that these enemies of the law awaited his next move, but
+just a slowness peculiar to the frontier.
+
+The ranger was in their midst. He was interesting, if formidable. He
+would have been welcomed at card tables, at the bars, to play and drink
+with the men who knew they were under suspicion.
+
+There was a rude kind of good humor even in their open hostility.
+
+Besides, one Ranger, or a company of Rangers could not have held the
+undivided attention of these men from their games and drinks and
+quarrels except by some decided move. Excitement, greed, appetite were
+rife in them.
+
+I marked, however, a striking exception to the usual run of strangers I
+had been in the habit of seeing. The Sneckers had gone or were under
+cover. Again I caught a vague rumor of the coming of Jack Blome, yet he
+never seemed to arrive.
+
+Moreover, the goings-on among the habitues of the resorts and the
+cowboys who came in to drink and gamble were unusually mild in
+comparison with former conduct.
+
+This lull, however, did not deceive Steele and me. It could not last.
+The wonder was that it had lasted so long.
+
+There was, of course, no post office in Linrock. A stage arrived twice
+a week from Sanderson, if it did not get held up on the way, and the
+driver usually had letters, which he turned over to the elderly keeper
+of a little store.
+
+This man's name was Jones, and everybody liked him. On the evenings the
+stage arrived there was always a crowd at his store, which fact was a
+source of no little revenue to him.
+
+One night, so we ascertained, after the crowd had dispersed, two thugs
+entered his store, beat the old man and robbed him. He made no
+complaint; however, when Steele called him he rather reluctantly gave
+not only descriptions of his assailants, but their names.
+
+Steele straightaway went in search of the men and came across them in
+Lerett's place. I was around when it happened.
+
+Steele strode up to a table which was surrounded by seven or eight men
+and he tapped Sim Bass on the shoulder.
+
+"Get up, I want you," he said.
+
+Bass looked up only to see who had accosted him.
+
+"The hell you say!" he replied impudently.
+
+Steele's big hand shifted to the fellow's collar. One jerk, seemingly no
+effort at all, sent Bass sliding, chair and all, to crash into the bar
+and fall in a heap. He lay there, wondering what had struck him.
+
+"Miller, I want you. Get up," said Steele.
+
+Miller complied with alacrity. A sharp kick put more life and
+understanding into Bass.
+
+Then Steele searched these men right before the eyes of their comrades,
+took what money and weapons they had, and marched them out, followed by
+a crowd that gathered more and more to it as they went down the street.
+Steele took his prisoners into Jones' store, had them identified;
+returned the money they had stolen, and then, pushing the two through
+the gaping crowd, he marched them down to his stone jail and locked them
+up.
+
+Obviously the serious side of this incident was entirely lost upon the
+highly entertained audience. Many and loud were the coarse jokes cracked
+at the expense of Bass and Miller and after the rude door had closed
+upon them similar remarks were addressed to Steele's jailer and guard,
+who in truth, were just as disreputable looking as their prisoners.
+
+Then the crowd returned to their pastimes, leaving their erstwhile
+comrades to taste the sweets of prison life.
+
+When I got a chance I asked Steele if he could rely on his hired hands,
+and with a twinkle in his eye which surprised me as much as his reply,
+he said Miller and Bass would have flown the coop before morning.
+
+He was right. When I reached the lower end of town next morning, the
+same old crowd, enlarged by other curious men and youths, had come to
+pay their respects to the new institution.
+
+Jailer and guard were on hand, loud in their proclamations and
+explanations. Naturally they had fallen asleep, as all other hard
+working citizens had, and while they slept the prisoners made a hole
+somewhere and escaped.
+
+Steele examined the hole, and then engaged a stripling of a youth to see
+if he could crawl through. The youngster essayed the job, stuck in the
+middle, and was with difficulty extricated.
+
+Whereupon the crowd evinced its delight.
+
+Steele, without more ado, shoved his jailer and guard inside his jail,
+deliberately closed, barred and chained the iron bolted door, and put
+the key in his pocket. Then he remained there all day without giving
+heed to his prisoners' threats.
+
+Toward evening, having gone without drink infinitely longer than was
+customary, they made appeals, to which Steele was deaf.
+
+He left the jail, however, just before dark, and when we met he told me
+to be on hand to help him watch that night. We went around the outskirts
+of town, carrying two heavy double-barreled shotguns Steele had gotten
+somewhere and taking up a position behind bushes in the lot adjoining
+the jail; we awaited developments.
+
+Steele was not above paying back these fellows.
+
+All the early part of the evening, gangs of half a dozen men or more
+came down the street and had their last treat at the expense of the jail
+guard and jailer. These prisoners yelled for drink--not water but drink,
+and the more they yelled the more merriment was loosed upon the night
+air.
+
+About ten o'clock the last gang left, to the despair of the hungry and
+thirsty prisoners.
+
+Steele and I had hugely enjoyed the fun, and thought the best part of
+the joke for us was yet to come. The moon had arisen, and though
+somewhat hazed by clouds, had lightened the night. We were hidden about
+sixty paces from the jail, a little above it, and we had a fine command
+of the door.
+
+About eleven o'clock, when all was still, we heard soft steps back of
+the jail, and soon two dark forms stole round in front. They laid down
+something that gave forth a metallic clink, like a crowbar. We heard
+whisperings and then, low, coarse laughs.
+
+Then the rescuers, who undoubtedly were Miller and Bass, set to work to
+open the door. Softly they worked at first, but as that door had been
+put there to stay, and they were not fond of hard work, they began to
+swear and make noises.
+
+Steele whispered to me to wait until the door had been opened, and then
+when all four presented a good target, to fire both barrels. We could
+easily have slipped down and captured the rescuers, but that was not
+Steele's game.
+
+A trick met by a trick; cunning matching craft would be the surest of
+all ways to command respect.
+
+Four times the workers had to rest, and once they were so enraged at the
+insistence of the prisoners, who wanted to delay proceedings to send one
+of them after a bottle, that they swore they would go away and cut the
+job altogether.
+
+But they were prevailed upon to stay and attack the stout door once
+more. Finally it yielded, with enough noise to have awakened sleepers a
+block distant, and forth into the moonlight came rescuers and rescued
+with low, satisfied grunts of laughter.
+
+Just then Steele and I each discharged both barrels, and the reports
+blended as one in a tremendous boom.
+
+That little compact bunch disintegrated like quicksilver. Two stumbled
+over; the others leaped out, and all yelled in pain and terror. Then the
+fallen ones scrambled up and began to hobble and limp and jerk along
+after their comrades.
+
+Before the four of them got out of sight they had ceased their yells,
+but were moving slowly, hanging on to one another in a way that
+satisfied us they would be lame for many a day.
+
+Next morning at breakfast Dick regaled me with an elaborate story about
+how the Ranger had turned the tables on the jokers. Evidently in a night
+the whole town knew it.
+
+Probably a desperate stand of Steele's even to the extreme of killing
+men, could not have educated these crude natives so quickly into the
+realization that the Ranger was not to be fooled with.
+
+That morning I went for a ride with the girls, and both had heard
+something and wanted to know everything. I had become a news-carrier,
+and Miss Sampson never thought of questioning me in regard to my fund of
+information.
+
+She showed more than curiosity. The account I gave of the jail affair
+amused her and made Sally laugh heartily.
+
+Diane questioned me also about a rumor that had come to her concerning
+George Wright.
+
+He had wounded himself with a gun, it seemed, and though not seriously
+injured, was not able to go about. He had not been up to the ranch for
+days.
+
+"I asked papa about him," said, Diane, "and papa laughed like--well,
+like a regular hyena. I was dumbfounded. Papa's so queer. He looked
+thunder-clouds at me.
+
+"When I insisted, for I wanted to know, he ripped out: 'Yes, the damn
+fool got himself shot, and I'm sorry it's not worse.'
+
+"Now, Russ, what do you make of my dad? Cheerful and kind, isn't he?"
+
+I laughed with Sally, but I disclaimed any knowledge of George's
+accident. I hated the thought of Wright, let alone anything concerning
+the fatal certainty that sooner or later these cousins of his were to
+suffer through him.
+
+Sally did not make these rides easy for me, for she was sweeter than
+anything that has a name. Since the evening of the dance I had tried to
+avoid her. Either she was sincerely sorry for her tantrum or she was
+bent upon utterly destroying my peace.
+
+I took good care we were never alone, for in that case, if she ever got
+into my arms again I would find the ground slipping from under me.
+
+Despite, however, the wear and constant strain of resisting Sally, I
+enjoyed the ride. There was a charm about being with these girls.
+
+Then perhaps Miss Sampson's growing unconscious curiosity in regard to
+Steele was no little satisfaction to me.
+
+I pretended a reluctance to speak of the Ranger, but when I did it was
+to drop a subtle word or briefly tell of an action that suggested such.
+
+I never again hinted the thing that had been such a shock to her. What
+was in her mind I could not guess; her curiosity, perhaps the greater
+part, was due to a generous nature not entirely satisfied with itself.
+She probably had not abandoned her father's estimate of the Ranger but
+absolute assurance that this was just did not abide with her. For the
+rest she was like any other girl, a worshipper of the lion in a man, a
+weaver of romance, ignorant of her own heart.
+
+Not the least talked of and speculated upon of all the details of the
+jail incident was the part played by Storekeeper Jones, who had informed
+upon his assailants. Steele and I both awaited results of this
+significant fact.
+
+When would the town wake up, not only to a little nerve, but to the
+usefulness of a Ranger?
+
+Three days afterward Steele told me a woman accosted him on the street.
+She seemed a poor, hardworking person, plain spoken and honest.
+
+Her husband did not drink enough to complain of, but he liked to gamble
+and he had been fleeced by a crooked game in Jack Martin's saloon. Other
+wives could make the same complaints. It was God's blessing for such
+women that Ranger Steele had come to Linrock.
+
+Of course, he could not get back the lost money, but would it be
+possible to close Martin's place, or at least break up the crooked game?
+
+Steele had asked this woman, whose name was Price, how much her husband
+had lost, and, being told, he assured her that if he found evidence of
+cheating, not only would he get back the money, but also he would shut
+up Martin's place.
+
+Steele instructed me to go that night to the saloon in question and get
+in the game. I complied, and, in order not to be overcarefully sized up
+by the dealer, I pretended to be well under the influence of liquor.
+
+By nine o'clock, when Steele strolled in, I had the game well studied,
+and a more flagrantly crooked one I had never sat in. It was barefaced
+robbery.
+
+Steele and I had agreed upon a sign from me, because he was not so adept
+in the intricacies of gambling as I was. I was not in a hurry, however,
+for there was a little frecklefaced cattleman in the game, and he had
+been losing, too. He had sold a bunch of stock that day and had
+considerable money, which evidently he was to be deprived of before he
+got started for Del Rio.
+
+Steele stood at our backs, and I could feel his presence. He thrilled
+me. He had some kind of effect on the others, especially the dealer, who
+was honest enough while the Ranger looked on.
+
+When, however, Steele shifted his attention to other tables and players
+our dealer reverted to his crooked work. I was about to make a
+disturbance, when the little cattleman, leaning over, fire in his eye
+and gun in hand, made it for me.
+
+Evidently he was a keener and nervier gambler than he had been taken
+for. There might have been gun-play right then if Steele had not
+interfered.
+
+"Hold on!" he yelled, leaping for our table. "Put up your gun!"
+
+"Who are you?" demanded the cattleman, never moving. "Better keep out of
+this."
+
+"I'm Steele. Put up your gun."
+
+"You're thet Ranger, hey?" replied the other. "All right! But just a
+minute. I want this dealer to sit quiet. I've been robbed. And I want my
+money back."
+
+Certainly the dealer and everyone else round the table sat quiet while
+the cattleman coolly held his gun leveled.
+
+"Crooked game?" asked Steele, bending over the table. "Show me."
+
+It did not take the aggrieved gambler more than a moment to prove his
+assertion. Steele, however, desired corroboration from others beside the
+cattleman, and one by one he questioned them.
+
+To my surprise, one of the players admitted his conviction that the game
+was not straight.
+
+"What do you say?" demanded Steele of me.
+
+"Worse'n a hold-up, Mr. Ranger," I burst out. "Let me show you."
+
+Deftly I made the dealer's guilt plain to all, and then I seconded the
+cattleman's angry claim for lost money. The players from other tables
+gathered round, curious, muttering.
+
+And just then Martin strolled in. His appearance was not prepossessing.
+
+"What's this holler?" he asked, and halted as he saw the cattleman's gun
+still in line with the dealer.
+
+"Martin, you know what it's for," replied Steele. "Take your dealer and
+dig--unless you want to see me clean out your place."
+
+Sullen and fierce, Martin stood looking from Steele to the cattleman
+and then the dealer. Some men in the crowd muttered, and that was a
+signal for Steele to shove the circle apart and get out, back to the
+wall.
+
+The cattleman rose slowly in the center, pulling another gun, and he
+certainly looked business to me.
+
+"Wal, Ranger, I reckon I'll hang round an' see you ain't bothered none,"
+he said. "Friend," he went on, indicating me with a slight wave of one
+extended gun, "jest rustle the money in sight. We'll square up after the
+show."
+
+I reached out and swept the considerable sum toward me, and, pocketing
+it, I too rose, ready for what might come.
+
+"You-all give me elbow room!" yelled Steele at Martin and his cowed
+contingent.
+
+Steele looked around, evidently for some kind of implement, and, espying
+a heavy ax in a corner, he grasped it, and, sweeping it to and fro as if
+it had been a buggy-whip, he advanced on the faro layout. The crowd fell
+back, edging toward the door.
+
+One crashing blow wrecked the dealer's box and table, sending them
+splintering among the tumbled chairs. Then the giant Ranger began to
+spread further ruin about him.
+
+Martin's place was rough and bare, of the most primitive order, and like
+a thousand other dens of its kind, consisted of a large room with adobe
+walls, a rude bar of boards, piles of kegs in a corner, a stove, and a
+few tables with chairs.
+
+Steele required only one blow for each article he struck, and he
+demolished it. He stove in the head of each keg.
+
+When the dark liquor gurgled out, Martin cursed, and the crowd followed
+suit. That was a loss!
+
+The little cattleman, holding the men covered, backed them out of the
+room, Martin needing a plain, stern word to put him out entirely. I went
+out, too, for I did not want to miss any moves on the part of that gang.
+
+Close behind me came the cattleman, the kind of cool, nervy Texan I
+liked. He had Martin well judged, too, for there was no evidence of any
+bold resistance.
+
+But there were shouts and loud acclamations; and these, with the
+crashing blows of Steele's ax, brought a curious and growing addition to
+the crowd.
+
+Soon sodden thuds from inside the saloon and red dust pouring out the
+door told that Steele was attacking the walls of Martin's place. Those
+adobe bricks when old and crumbly were easily demolished.
+
+Steele made short work of the back wall, and then he smashed out half of
+the front of the building. That seemed to satisfy him.
+
+When he stepped out of the dust he was wet with sweat, dirty, and
+disheveled, hot with his exertion--a man whose great stature and
+muscular development expressed a wonderful physical strength and energy.
+And his somber face, with the big gray eyes, like open furnaces,
+expressed a passion equal to his strength.
+
+Perhaps only then did wild and lawless Linrock grasp the real
+significance of this Ranger.
+
+Steele threw the ax at Martin's feet.
+
+"Martin, don't reopen here," he said curtly. "Don't start another place
+in Linrock. If you do--jail at Austin for years."
+
+Martin, livid and scowling, yet seemingly dazed with what had occurred,
+slunk away, accompanied by his cronies. Steele took the money I had
+appropriated, returned to me what I had lost, did likewise with the
+cattleman, and then, taking out the sum named by Mrs. Price, he divided
+the balance with the other players who had been in the game.
+
+Then he stalked off through the crowd as if he knew that men who slunk
+from facing him would not have nerve enough to attack him even from
+behind.
+
+"Wal, damn me!" ejaculated the little cattleman in mingled admiration
+and satisfaction. "So thet's that Texas Ranger, Steele, hey? Never seen
+him before. All Texas, thet Ranger!"
+
+I lingered downtown as much to enjoy the sensation as to gain the
+different points of view.
+
+No doubt about the sensation! In one hour every male resident of
+Linrock and almost every female had viewed the wreck of Martin's place.
+A fire could not have created half the excitement.
+
+And in that excitement both men and women gave vent to speech they might
+not have voiced at a calmer moment. The women, at least, were not afraid
+to talk, and I made mental note of the things they said.
+
+"Did he do it all alone?"
+
+"Thank God a _man's_ come to Linrock."
+
+"Good for Molly Price!"
+
+"Oh, it'll make bad times for Linrock."
+
+It almost seemed that all the women were glad, and this was in itself a
+vindication of the Ranger's idea of law.
+
+The men, however--Blandy, proprietor of the Hope So, and others of his
+ilk, together with the whole brood of idle gaming loungers, and in fact
+even storekeepers, ranchers, cowboys--all shook their heads sullenly or
+doubtfully.
+
+Striking indeed now was the absence of any joking. Steele had showed his
+hand, and, as one gambler said: "It's a hard hand to call."
+
+The truth was, this Ranger Service was hateful to the free-and-easy
+Texan who lived by anything except hard and honest work, and it was
+damnably hateful to the lawless class. Steele's authority, now obvious
+to all, was unlimited; it could go as far as he had power to carry it.
+
+From present indications that power might be considerable. The work of
+native sheriffs and constables in western Texas had been a farce, an
+utter failure. If an honest native of a community undertook to be a
+sheriff he became immediately a target for rowdy cowboys and other
+vicious elements.
+
+Many a town south and west of San Antonio owed its peace and prosperity
+to Rangers, and only to them. They had killed or driven out the
+criminals. They interpreted the law for themselves, and it was only such
+an attitude toward law--the stern, uncompromising, implacable
+extermination of the lawless--that was going to do for all Texas what it
+had done for part.
+
+Steele was the driving wedge that had begun to split Linrock--split the
+honest from dominance by the dishonest. To be sure, Steele might be
+killed at any moment, and that contingency was voiced in the growl of
+one sullen man who said: "Wot the hell are we up against? Ain't somebody
+goin' to plug this Ranger?"
+
+It was then that the thing for which Steele stood, the Ranger
+Service--to help, to save, to defend, to punish, with such somber menace
+of death as seemed embodied in his cold attitude toward resistance--took
+hold of Linrock and sunk deep into both black and honest hearts.
+
+It was what was behind Steele that seemed to make him more than an
+officer--a man.
+
+I could feel how he began to loom up, the embodiment of a powerful
+force--the Ranger Service--the fame of which, long known to this lawless
+Pecos gang, but scouted as a vague and distant thing, now became an
+actuality, a Ranger in the flesh, whose surprising attributes included
+both the law and the enforcement of it.
+
+When I reached the ranch the excitement had preceded me. Miss Sampson
+and Sally, both talking at once, acquainted me with the fact that they
+had been in a store on the main street a block or more from Martin's
+place.
+
+They had seen the crowd, heard the uproar; and, as they had been
+hurriedly started toward home by their attendant Dick, they had
+encountered Steele stalking by.
+
+"He looked grand!" exclaimed Sally.
+
+Then I told the girls the whole story in detail.
+
+"Russ, is it true, just as you tell it?" inquired Diane earnestly.
+
+"Absolutely. I know Mrs. Price went to Steele with her trouble. I was in
+Martin's place when he entered. Also I was playing in the crooked game.
+And I saw him wreck Martin's place. Also, I heard him forbid Martin to
+start another place in Linrock."
+
+"Then he does do splendid things," she said softly, as if affirming to
+herself.
+
+I walked on then, having gotten a glimpse of Colonel Sampson in the
+background. Before I reached the corrals Sally came running after me,
+quite flushed and excited.
+
+"Russ, my uncle wants to see you," she said. "He's in a bad temper.
+Don't lose yours, please."
+
+She actually took my hand. What a child she was, in all ways except that
+fatal propensity to flirt. Her statement startled me out of any further
+thought of her. Why did Sampson want to see me? He never noticed me. I
+dreaded facing him--not from fear, but because I must see more and more
+of the signs of guilt in Diane's father.
+
+He awaited me on the porch. As usual, he wore riding garb, but evidently
+he had not been out so far this day. He looked worn. There was a furtive
+shadow in his eyes. The haughty, imperious temper, despite Sally's
+conviction, seemed to be in abeyance.
+
+"Russ, what's this I hear about Martin's saloon being cleaned out?" he
+asked. "Dick can't give particulars."
+
+Briefly and concisely I told the colonel exactly what had happened. He
+chewed his cigar, then spat it out with an unintelligible exclamation.
+
+"Martin's no worse than others," he said. "Blandy leans to crooked faro.
+I've tried to stop that, anyway. If Steele can, more power to him!"
+
+Sampson turned on his heel then and left me with a queer feeling of
+surprise and pity.
+
+He had surprised me before, but he had never roused the least sympathy.
+It was probably that Sampson was indeed powerless, no matter what his
+position.
+
+I had known men before who had become involved in crime, yet were too
+manly to sanction a crookedness they could not help.
+
+Miss Sampson had been standing in her door. I could tell she had heard;
+she looked agitated. I knew she had been talking to her father.
+
+"Russ, he hates the Ranger," she said. "That's what I fear. It'll bring
+trouble on us. Besides, like everybody here, he's biased. He can't see
+anything good in Steele. Yet he says: 'More power to him!' I'm
+mystified, and, oh, I'm between two fires!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Steele's next noteworthy achievement was as new to me as it was strange
+to Linrock. I heard a good deal about it from my acquaintances, some
+little from Steele, and the concluding incident I saw and heard myself.
+
+Andy Vey was a broken-down rustler whose activity had ceased and who
+spent his time hanging on at the places frequented by younger and better
+men of his kind. As he was a parasite, he was often thrown out of the
+dens.
+
+Moreover, it was an open secret that he had been a rustler, and the men
+with whom he associated had not yet, to most of Linrock, become known as
+such.
+
+One night Vey had been badly beaten in some back room of a saloon and
+carried out into a vacant lot and left there. He lay there all that
+night and all the next day. Probably he would have died there had not
+Steele happened along.
+
+The Ranger gathered up the crippled rustler, took him home, attended to
+his wounds, nursed him, and in fact spent days in the little adobe house
+with him.
+
+During this time I saw Steele twice, at night out in our rendezvous. He
+had little to communicate, but was eager to hear when I had seen Jim
+Hoden, Morton, Wright, Sampson, and all I could tell about them, and the
+significance of things in town.
+
+Andy Vey recovered, and it was my good fortune to be in the Hope So when
+he came in and addressed a crowd of gamesters there.
+
+"Fellers," he said, "I'm biddin' good-by to them as was once my friends.
+I'm leavin' Linrock. An' I'm askin' some of you to take thet good-by an'
+a partin' word to them as did me dirt.
+
+"I ain't a-goin' to say if I'd crossed the trail of this Ranger years
+ago thet I'd of turned round an' gone straight. But mebbe I
+would--mebbe. There's a hell of a lot a man doesn't know till too late.
+I'm old now, ready fer the bone pile, an' it doesn't matter. But I've
+got a head on me yet, an' I want to give a hunch to thet gang who done
+me. An' that hunch wants to go around an' up to the big guns of Pecos.
+
+"This Texas Star Ranger was the feller who took me in. I'd of died like
+a poisoned coyote but fer him. An' he talked to me. He gave me money to
+git out of Pecos. Mebbe everybody'll think he helped me because he
+wanted me to squeal. To squeal who's who round these rustler diggin's.
+Wal, he never asked me. Mebbe he seen I wasn't a squealer. But I'm
+thinkin' he wouldn't ask a feller thet nohow.
+
+"An' here's my hunch. Steele has spotted the outfit. Thet ain't so much,
+mebbe. But I've been with him, an' I'm old figgerin' men. Jest as sure
+as God made little apples he's a goin' to put thet outfit through--or
+he's a-goin' to kill them!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 6
+
+ENTER JACK BLOME
+
+
+Strange that the narrating of this incident made Diane Sampson unhappy.
+
+When I told her she exhibited one flash of gladness, such as any woman
+might have shown for a noble deed and then she became thoughtful, almost
+gloomy, sad. I could not understand her complex emotions. Perhaps she
+contrasted Steele with her father; perhaps she wanted to believe in
+Steele and dared not; perhaps she had all at once seen the Ranger in his
+true light, and to her undoing.
+
+She bade me take Sally for a ride and sought her room. I had my
+misgivings when I saw Sally come out in that trim cowgirl suit and look
+at me as if to say this day would be my Waterloo.
+
+But she rode hard and long ahead of me before she put any machinations
+into effect. The first one found me with a respectful demeanor but an
+internal conflict.
+
+"Russ, tighten my cinch," she said when I caught up with her.
+
+Dismounting, I drew the cinch up another hole and fastened it.
+
+"My boot's unlaced, too," she added, slipping a shapely foot out of the
+stirrup.
+
+To be sure, it was very much unlaced. I had to take off my gloves to
+lace it up, and I did it heroically, with bent head and outward calm,
+when all the time I was mad to snatch the girl out of the saddle and
+hold her tight or run off with her or do some other fool thing.
+
+"Russ, I believe Diane's in love with Steele," she said soberly, with
+the sweet confidence she sometimes manifested in me.
+
+"Small wonder. It's in the air," I replied.
+
+She regarded me doubtfully.
+
+"It was," she retorted demurely.
+
+"The fickleness of women is no new thing to me. I didn't expect Waters
+to last long."
+
+"Certainly not when there are nicer fellows around. One, anyway, when he
+cares."
+
+A little brown hand slid out of its glove and dropped to my shoulder.
+
+"Make up. You've been hateful lately. Make up with me."
+
+It was not so much what she said as the sweet tone of her voice and the
+nearness of her that made a tumult within me. I felt the blood tingle to
+my face.
+
+"Why should I make up with you?" I queried in self defense. "You are
+only flirting. You won't--you can't ever be anything to me, really."
+
+Sally bent over me and I had not the nerve to look up.
+
+"Never mind things--really," she replied. "The future's far off. Let it
+alone. We're together. I--I like you, Russ. And I've got to be--to be
+loved. There. I never confessed that to any other man. You've been
+hateful when we might have had such fun. The rides in the sun, in the
+open with the wind in our faces. The walks at night in the moonlight.
+Russ, haven't you missed something?"
+
+The sweetness and seductiveness of her, the little luring devil of her,
+irresistible as they were, were no more irresistible than the
+naturalness, the truth of her.
+
+I trembled even before I looked up into her flushed face and arch eyes;
+and after that I knew if I could not frighten her out of this daring
+mood I would have to yield despite my conviction that she only trifled.
+As my manhood, as well as duty to Steele, forced me to be unyielding,
+all that was left seemed to be to frighten her.
+
+The instant this was decided a wave of emotion--love, regret,
+bitterness, anger--surged over me, making me shake. I felt the skin on
+my face tighten and chill. I grasped her with strength that might have
+need to hold a plunging, unruly horse. I hurt her. I held her as in a
+vise.
+
+And the action, the feel of her, her suddenly uttered cry wrought
+against all pretense, hurt me as my brutality hurt her, and then I spoke
+what was hard, passionate truth.
+
+"Girl, you're playing with fire!" I cried out hoarsely. "I love
+you--love you as I'd want my sister loved. I asked you to marry me. That
+was proof, if it was foolish. Even if you were on the square, which
+you're not, we couldn't ever be anything to each other. Understand?
+There's a reason, besides your being above me. I can't stand it. Stop
+playing with me or I'll--I'll..."
+
+Whatever I meant to say was not spoken, for Sally turned deathly white,
+probably from my grasp and my looks as well as my threat.
+
+I let go of her, and stepping back to my horse choked down my emotion.
+
+"Russ!" she faltered, and there was womanliness and regret trembling
+with the fear in her voice. "I--I am on the square."
+
+That had touched the real heart of the girl.
+
+"If you are, then play the game square," I replied darkly.
+
+"I will, Russ, I promise. I'll never tease or coax you again. If I do,
+then I'll deserve what you--what I get. But, Russ, don't think me a--a
+four-flush."
+
+All the long ride home we did not exchange another word. The traveling
+gait of Sally's horse was a lope, that of mine a trot; and therefore, to
+my relief, she was always out in front.
+
+As we neared the ranch, however, Sally slowed down until I caught up
+with her; and side by side we rode the remainder of the way. At the
+corrals, while I unsaddled, she lingered.
+
+"Russ, you didn't tell me if you agreed with me about Diane," she said
+finally.
+
+"Maybe you're right. I hope she's fallen in love with Steele. Lord knows
+I hope so," I blurted out.
+
+I bit my tongue. There was no use in trying to be as shrewd with women
+as I was with men. I made no reply.
+
+"Misery loves company. Maybe that's why," she added. "You told me Steele
+lost his head over Diane at first sight. Well, we all have company. Good
+night, Russ."
+
+That night I told Steele about the singular effect the story of his
+treatment of Vey had upon Miss Sampson. He could not conceal his
+feelings. I read him like an open book.
+
+If she was unhappy because he did something really good, then she was
+unhappy because she was realizing she had wronged him.
+
+Steele never asked questions, but the hungry look in his eyes was enough
+to make even a truthful fellow exaggerate things.
+
+I told him how Diane was dressed, how her face changed with each
+emotion, how her eyes burned and softened and shadowed, how her voice
+had been deep and full when she admitted her father hated him, how much
+she must have meant when she said she was between two fires. I divined
+how he felt and I tried to satisfy in some little measure his craving
+for news of her.
+
+When I had exhausted my fund and stretched my imagination I was rewarded
+by being told that I was a regular old woman for gossip.
+
+Much taken back by this remarkable statement I could but gape at my
+comrade. Irritation had followed shortly upon his curiosity and
+pleasure, and then the old sane mind reasserted itself, the old stern
+look, a little sad now, replaced the glow, the strange eagerness of
+youth on his face.
+
+"Son, I beg your pardon," he said, with his hand on my shoulder. "We're
+Rangers, but we can't help being human. To speak right out, it seems two
+sweet and lovable girls have come, unfortunately for us all, across the
+dark trail we're on. Let us find what solace we can in the hope that
+somehow, God only knows how, in doing our duty as Rangers we may yet be
+doing right by these two innocent girls. I ask you, as my friend, please
+do not speak again to me of--Miss Sampson."
+
+I left him and went up the quiet trail with the thick shadows all around
+me and the cold stars overhead; and I was sober in thought, sick at
+heart for him as much as for myself, and I tortured my mind in fruitless
+conjecture as to what the end of this strange and fateful adventure
+would be.
+
+I discovered that less and less the old wild spirit abided with me and I
+become conscious of a dull, deep-seated ache in my breast, a pang in the
+bone.
+
+From that day there was a change in Diane Sampson. She became feverishly
+active. She wanted to ride, to see for herself what was going on in
+Linrock, to learn of that wild Pecos county life at first hand.
+
+She made such demands on my time now that I scarcely ever found an hour
+to be with or near Steele until after dark. However, as he was playing a
+waiting game on the rustlers, keeping out of the resorts for the
+present, I had not great cause for worry. Hoden was slowly gathering men
+together, a band of trustworthy ones, and until this organization was
+complete and ready, Steele thought better to go slow.
+
+It was of little use for me to remonstrate with Miss Sampson when she
+refused to obey a distracted and angry father. I began to feel sorry for
+Sampson. He was an unscrupulous man, but he loved this daughter who
+belonged to another and better and past side of his life.
+
+I heard him appeal to her to go back to Louisiana; to let him take her
+home, giving as urgent reason the probability of trouble for him. She
+could not help, could only handicap him.
+
+She agreed to go, provided he sold his property, took the best of his
+horses and went with her back to the old home to live there the rest of
+their lives. He replied with considerable feeling that he wished he
+could go, but it was impossible. Then that settled the matter for her,
+she averred.
+
+Failing to persuade her to leave Linrock, he told her to keep to the
+ranch. Naturally, in spite of his anger, Miss Sampson refused to obey;
+and she frankly told him that it was the free, unfettered life of the
+country, the riding here and there that appealed so much to her.
+
+Sampson came to me a little later and his worn face showed traces of
+internal storm.
+
+"Russ, for a while there I wanted to get rid of you," he said. "I've
+changed. Diane always was a spoiled kid. Now she's a woman. Something's
+fired her blood. Maybe it's this damned wild country. Anyway, she's got
+the bit between her teeth. She'll run till she's run herself out.
+
+"Now, it seems the safety of Diane, and Sally, too, has fallen into your
+hands. The girls won't have one of my cowboys near them. Lately they've
+got shy of George, too. Between you and me I want to tell you that
+conditions here in Pecos are worse than they've seemed since you-all
+reached the ranch. But bad work will break out again--it's coming soon.
+
+"I can't stop it. The town will be full of the hardest gang in western
+Texas. My daughter and Sally would not be safe if left alone to go
+anywhere. With you, perhaps, they'll be safe. Can I rely on you?"
+
+"Yes, Sampson, you sure can," I replied. "I'm on pretty good terms with
+most everybody in town. I think I can say none of the tough set who hang
+out down there would ever made any move while I'm with the girls. But
+I'll be pretty careful to avoid them, and particularly strange fellows
+who may come riding in.
+
+"And if any of them do meet us and start trouble, I'm going for my gun,
+that's all. There won't be any talk."
+
+"Good! I'll back you," Sampson replied. "Understand, Russ, I didn't want
+you here, but I always had you sized up as a pretty hard nut, a man not
+to be trifled with. You've got a bad name. Diane insists the name's not
+deserved. She'd trust you with herself under any circumstances. And the
+kid, Sally, she'd be fond of you if it wasn't for the drink. Have you
+been drunk a good deal? Straight now, between you and me."
+
+"Not once," I replied.
+
+"George's a liar then. He's had it in for you since that day at
+Sanderson. Look out you two don't clash. He's got a temper, and when
+he's drinking he's a devil. Keep out of his way."
+
+"I've stood a good deal from Wright, and guess I can stand more."
+
+"All right, Russ," he continued, as if relieved. "Chuck the drink and
+cards for a while and keep an eye on the girls. When my affairs
+straighten out maybe I'll make you a proposition."
+
+Sampson left me material for thought. Perhaps it was not only the
+presence of a Ranger in town that gave him concern, nor the wilfulness
+of his daughter. There must be internal strife in the rustler gang with
+which we had associated him.
+
+Perhaps a menace of publicity, rather than risk, was the cause of the
+wearing strain on him. I began to get a closer insight into Sampson, and
+in the absence of any conclusive evidence of his personal baseness I
+felt pity for him.
+
+In the beginning he had opposed me just because I did not happen to be a
+cowboy he had selected. This latest interview with me, amounting in some
+instances to confidence, proved absolutely that he had not the slightest
+suspicion that I was otherwise than the cowboy I pretended to be.
+
+Another interesting deduction was that he appeared to be out of patience
+with Wright. In fact, I imagined I sensed something of fear and distrust
+in this spoken attitude toward his relative. Not improbably here was the
+internal strife between Sampson and Wright, and there flashed into my
+mind, absolutely without reason, an idea that the clash was over Diane
+Sampson.
+
+I scouted this intuitive idea as absurd; but, just the same, it refused
+to be dismissed.
+
+As I turned my back on the coarse and exciting life in the saloons and
+gambling hells, and spent all my time except when sleeping, out in the
+windy open under blue sky and starry heaven, my spirit had an uplift.
+
+I was glad to be free of that job. It was bad enough to have to go into
+these dens to arrest men, let alone living with them, almost being one.
+
+Diane Sampson noted a change in me, attributed it to the absence of the
+influence of drink, and she was glad. Sally made no attempt to conceal
+her happiness; and to my dismay, she utterly failed to keep her promise
+not to tease or tempt me further.
+
+She was adorable, distracting.
+
+We rode every day and almost all day. We took our dinner and went clear
+to the foothills to return as the sun set. We visited outlying ranches,
+water-holes, old adobe houses famous in one way or another as scenes of
+past fights of rustlers and ranchers.
+
+We rode to the little village of Sampson, and half-way to Sanderson, and
+all over the country.
+
+There was no satisfying Miss Sampson with rides, new places, new faces,
+new adventures. And every time we rode out she insisted on first riding
+through Linrock; and every time we rode home she insisted on going back
+that way.
+
+We visited all the stores, the blacksmith, the wagon shop, the feed and
+grain houses--everywhere that she could find excuse for visiting. I had
+to point out to her all the infamous dens in town, and all the lawless
+and lounging men we met.
+
+She insisted upon being shown the inside of the Hope So, to the extreme
+confusion of that bewildered resort.
+
+I pretended to be blind to this restless curiosity. Sally understood the
+cause, too, and it divided her between a sweet gravity and a naughty
+humor.
+
+The last, however, she never evinced in sight or hearing of Diane.
+
+It seemed that we were indeed fated to cross the path of Vaughn Steele.
+We saw him working round his adobe house; then we saw him on horseback.
+Once we met him face to face in a store.
+
+He gazed steadily into Diane Sampson's eyes and went his way without any
+sign of recognition. There was red in her face when he passed and white
+when he had gone.
+
+That day she rode as I had never seen her, risking her life, unmindful
+of her horse.
+
+Another day we met Steele down in the valley, where, inquiry discovered
+to us, he had gone to the home of an old cattleman who lived alone and
+was ill.
+
+Last and perhaps most significant of all these meetings was the one when
+we were walking tired horses home through the main street of Linrock and
+came upon Steele just in time to see him in action.
+
+It happened at a corner where the usual slouchy, shirt-sleeved loungers
+were congregated. They were in high glee over the predicament of one
+ruffian who had purchased or been given a poor, emaciated little burro
+that was on his last legs. The burro evidently did not want to go with
+its new owner, who pulled on a halter and then viciously swung the end
+of the rope to make welts on the worn and scarred back.
+
+If there was one thing that Diane Sampson could not bear it was to see
+an animal in pain. She passionately loved horses, and hated the sight of
+a spur or whip.
+
+When we saw the man beating the little burro she cried out to me:
+
+"Make the brute stop!"
+
+I might have made a move had I not on the instant seen Steele heaving
+into sight round the corner.
+
+Just then the fellow, whom I now recognized to be a despicable character
+named Andrews, began to bestow heavy and brutal kicks upon the body of
+the little burro. These kicks sounded deep, hollow, almost like the boom
+of a drum.
+
+The burro uttered the strangest sound I ever heard issue from any beast
+and it dropped in its tracks with jerking legs that told any horseman
+what had happened. Steele saw the last swings of Andrews' heavy boot. He
+yelled. It was a sharp yell that would have made anyone start. But it
+came too late, for the burro had dropped.
+
+Steele knocked over several of the jeering men to get to Andrews. He
+kicked the fellow's feet from under him, sending him hard to the ground.
+
+Then Steele picked up the end of the halter and began to swing it
+powerfully. Resounding smacks mingled with hoarse bellows of fury and
+pain. Andrews flopped here and there, trying to arise, but every time
+the heavy knotted halter beat him down.
+
+Presently Steele stopped. Andrews rose right in front of the Ranger, and
+there, like the madman he was, he went for his gun.
+
+But it scarcely leaped from its holster when Steele's swift hand
+intercepted it. Steele clutched Andrews' arm.
+
+Then came a wrench, a cracking of bones, a scream of agony.
+
+The gun dropped into the dust; and in a moment of wrestling fury
+Andrews, broken, beaten down, just able to moan, lay beside it.
+
+Steele, so cool and dark for a man who had acted with such passionate
+swiftness, faced the others as if to dare them to move. They neither
+moved nor spoke, and then he strode away.
+
+Miss Sampson did not speak a word while we were riding the rest of the
+way home, but she was strangely white of face and dark of eye. Sally
+could not speak fast enough to say all she felt.
+
+And I, of course, had my measure of feelings. One of them was that as
+sure as the sun rose and set it was written that Diane Sampson was to
+love Vaughn Steele.
+
+I could not read her mind, but I had a mind of my own.
+
+How could any woman, seeing this maligned and menaced Ranger, whose
+life was in danger every moment he spent on the streets, in the light of
+his action on behalf of a poor little beast, help but wonder and brood
+over the magnificent height he might reach if he had love--passion--a
+woman for his inspiration?
+
+It was the day after this incident that, as Sally, Diane, and I were
+riding homeward on the road from Sampson, I caught sight of a group of
+dark horses and riders swiftly catching up with us.
+
+We were on the main road, in plain sight of town and passing by ranches;
+nevertheless, I did not like the looks of the horsemen and grew uneasy.
+Still, I scarcely thought it needful to race our horses just to reach
+town a little ahead of these strangers.
+
+Accordingly, they soon caught up with us.
+
+They were five in number, all dark-faced except one, dark-clad and
+superbly mounted on dark bays and blacks. They had no pack animals and,
+for that matter, carried no packs at all.
+
+Four of them, at a swinging canter, passed us, and the fifth pulled his
+horse to suit our pace and fell in between Sally and me.
+
+"Good day," he said pleasantly to me. "Don't mind my ridin' in with
+you-all, I hope?"
+
+Considering his pleasant approach, I could not but be civil.
+
+He was a singularly handsome fellow, at a quick glance, under forty
+years, with curly, blond hair, almost gold, a skin very fair for that
+country, and the keenest, clearest, boldest blue eyes I had ever seen in
+a man.
+
+"You're Russ, I reckon," he said. "Some of my men have seen you ridin'
+round with Sampson's girls. I'm Jack Blome."
+
+He did not speak that name with any flaunt or flourish. He merely stated
+it.
+
+Blome, the rustler! I grew tight all over.
+
+Still, manifestly there was nothing for me to do but return his
+pleasantry. I really felt less uneasiness after he had made himself
+known to me. And without any awkwardness, I introduced him to the girls.
+
+He took off his sombrero and made gallant bows to both.
+
+Miss Sampson had heard of him and his record, and she could not help a
+paleness, a shrinking, which, however, he did not appear to notice.
+Sally had been dying to meet a real rustler, and here he was, a very
+prince of rascals.
+
+But I gathered that she would require a little time before she could be
+natural. Blome seemed to have more of an eye for Sally than for Diane.
+"Do you like Pecos?" he asked Sally.
+
+"Out here? Oh, yes, indeed!" she replied.
+
+"Like ridin'?"
+
+"I love horses."
+
+Like almost every man who made Sally's acquaintance, he hit upon the
+subject best calculated to make her interesting to free-riding, outdoor
+Western men.
+
+That he loved a thoroughbred horse himself was plain. He spoke naturally
+to Sally with interest, just as I had upon first meeting her, and he
+might not have been Jack Blome, for all the indication he gave of the
+fact in his talk.
+
+But the look of the man was different. He was a desperado, one of the
+dashing, reckless kind--more famous along the Pecos and Rio Grande than
+more really desperate men. His attire proclaimed a vanity seldom seen in
+any Westerner except of that unusual brand, yet it was neither gaudy or
+showy.
+
+One had to be close to Blome to see the silk, the velvet, the gold, the
+fine leather. When I envied a man's spurs then they were indeed worth
+coveting.
+
+Blome had a short rifle and a gun in saddle-sheaths. My sharp eye,
+running over him, caught a row of notches on the bone handle of the big
+Colt he packed.
+
+It was then that the marshal, the Ranger in me, went hot under the
+collar. The custom that desperadoes and gun-fighters had of cutting a
+notch on their guns for every man killed was one of which the mere
+mention made my gorge rise.
+
+At the edge of town Blome doffed his sombrero again, said "_Adios_," and
+rode on ahead of us. And it was then I was hard put to it to keep track
+of the queries, exclamations, and other wild talk of two very much
+excited young ladies. I wanted to think; I _needed_ to think.
+
+"Wasn't he lovely? Oh, I could adore him!" rapturously uttered Miss
+Sally Langdon several times, to my ultimate disgust.
+
+Also, after Blome had ridden out of sight, Miss Sampson lost the evident
+effect of his sinister presence, and she joined Miss Langdon in paying
+the rustler compliments, too. Perhaps my irritation was an indication of
+the quick and subtle shifting of my mind to harsher thought.
+
+"Jack Blome!" I broke in upon their adulations. "Rustler and gunman. Did
+you see the notches on his gun? Every notch for a man he's killed! For
+weeks reports have come to Linrock that soon as he could get round to it
+he'd ride down and rid the community of that bothersome fellow, that
+Texas Ranger! He's come to kill Vaughn Steele!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 7
+
+DIANE AND VAUGHN
+
+
+Then as gloom descended on me with my uttered thought, my heart smote me
+at Sally's broken: "Oh, Russ! No! No!" Diane Sampson bent dark, shocked
+eyes upon the hill and ranch in front of her; but they were sightless,
+they looked into space and eternity, and in them I read the truth
+suddenly and cruelly revealed to her--she loved Steele!
+
+I found it impossible to leave Miss Sampson with the impression I had
+given. My own mood fitted a kind of ruthless pleasure in seeing her
+suffer through love as I had intimation I was to suffer.
+
+But now, when my strange desire that she should love Steele had its
+fulfilment, and my fiendish subtleties to that end had been crowned with
+success, I was confounded in pity and the enormity of my crime. For it
+had been a crime to make, or help to make, this noble and beautiful
+woman love a Ranger, the enemy of her father, and surely the author of
+her coming misery. I felt shocked at my work. I tried to hang an excuse
+on my old motive that through her love we might all be saved. When it
+was too late, however, I found that this motive was wrong and perhaps
+without warrant.
+
+We rode home in silence. Miss Sampson, contrary to her usual custom of
+riding to the corrals or the porch, dismounted at a path leading in
+among the trees and flowers. "I want to rest, to think before I go in,"
+she said.
+
+Sally accompanied me to the corrals. As our horses stopped at the gate I
+turned to find confirmation of my fears in Sally's wet eyes.
+
+"Russ," she said, "it's worse than we thought."
+
+"Worse? I should say so," I replied.
+
+"It'll about kill her. She never cared that way for any man. When the
+Sampson women love, they love."
+
+"Well, you're lucky to be a Langdon," I retorted bitterly.
+
+"I'm Sampson enough to be unhappy," she flashed back at me, "and I'm
+Langdon enough to have some sense. You haven't any sense or kindness,
+either. Why'd you want to blurt out that Jack Blome was here to kill
+Steele?"
+
+"I'm ashamed, Sally," I returned, with hanging head. "I've been a brute.
+I've wanted her to love Steele. I thought I had a reason, but now it
+seems silly. Just now I wanted to see how much she did care.
+
+"Sally, the other day you said misery loved company. That's the trouble.
+I'm sore--bitter. I'm like a sick coyote that snaps at everything. I've
+wanted you to go into the very depths of despair. But I couldn't send
+you. So I took out my spite on poor Miss Sampson. It was a damn unmanly
+thing for me to do."
+
+"Oh, it's not so bad as all that. But you might have been less abrupt.
+Russ, you seem to take an--an awful tragic view of your--your own case."
+
+"Tragic? Hah!" I cried like the villain in the play. "What other way
+could I look at it? I tell you I love you so I can't sleep or do
+anything."
+
+"That's not tragic. When you've no chance, _then_ that's tragic."
+
+Sally, as swiftly as she had blushed, could change into that deadly
+sweet mood. She did both now. She seemed warm, softened, agitated. How
+could this be anything but sincere? I felt myself slipping; so I laughed
+harshly.
+
+"Chance! I've no chance on earth."
+
+"Try!" she whispered.
+
+But I caught myself in time. Then the shock of bitter renunciation made
+it easy for me to simulate anger.
+
+"You promised not to--not to--" I began, choking. My voice was hoarse
+and it broke, matters surely far removed from pretense.
+
+I had seen Sally Langdon in varying degrees of emotion, but never as she
+appeared now. She was pale and she trembled a little. If it was not
+fright, then I could not tell what it was. But there were contrition and
+earnestness about her, too.
+
+"Russ, I know. I promised not to--to tease--to tempt you anymore," she
+faltered. "I've broken it. I'm ashamed. I haven't played the game
+square. But I couldn't--I can't help myself. I've got sense enough not
+to engage myself to you, but I can't keep from loving you. I can't let
+you alone. There--if you want it on the square! What's more, I'll go on
+as I have done unless you keep away from me. I don't care what I
+deserve--what you do--I will--I will!"
+
+She had begun falteringly and she ended passionately.
+
+Somehow I kept my head, even though my heart pounded like a hammer and
+the blood drummed in my ears. It was the thought of Steele that saved
+me. But I felt cold at the narrow margin. I had reached a point, I
+feared, where a kiss, one touch from this bewildering creature of fire
+and change and sweetness would make me put her before Steele and my
+duty.
+
+"Sally, if you dare break your promise again, you'll wish you never had
+been born," I said with all the fierceness at my command.
+
+"I wish that now. And you can't bluff me, Mr. Gambler. I may have no
+hand to play, but you can't make me lay it down," she replied.
+
+Something told me Sally Langdon was finding herself; that presently I
+could not frighten her, and then--then I would be doomed.
+
+"Why, if I got drunk, I might do anything," I said cool and hard now.
+"Cut off your beautiful chestnut hair for bracelets for my arms."
+
+Sally laughed, but she was still white. She was indeed finding herself.
+"If you ever get drunk again you can't kiss me any more. And if you
+don't--you can."
+
+I felt myself shake and, with all of the iron will I could assert, I hid
+from her the sweetness of this thing that was my weakness and her
+strength.
+
+"I might lasso you from my horse, drag you through the cactus," I added
+with the implacability of an Apache.
+
+"Russ!" she cried. Something in this last ridiculous threat had found a
+vital mark. "After all, maybe those awful stories Joe Harper told about
+you were true."
+
+"They sure were," I declared with great relief. "And now to forget
+ourselves. I'm more than sorry I distressed Miss Sampson; more than
+sorry because what I said wasn't on the square. Blome, no doubt, has
+come to Linrock after Steele. His intention is to kill him. I said
+that--let Miss Sampson think it all meant fatality to the Ranger. But,
+Sally, I don't believe that Blome can kill Steele any more than--than
+you can."
+
+"Why?" she asked; and she seemed eager, glad.
+
+"Because he's not man enough. That's all, without details. You need not
+worry; and I wish you'd go tell Miss Sampson--"
+
+"Go yourself," interrupted Sally. "I think she's afraid of my eyes. But
+she won't fear you'd guess her secret.
+
+"Go to her, Russ. Find some excuse to tell her. Say you thought it over,
+believed she'd be distressed about what might never happen. Go--and
+afterward pray for your sins, you queer, good-natured, love-meddling
+cowboy-devil, you!"
+
+For once I had no retort ready for Sally. I hurried off as quickly as I
+could walk in chaps and spurs.
+
+I found Miss Sampson sitting on a bench in the shade of a tree. Her
+pallor and quiet composure told of the conquering and passing of the
+storm. Always she had a smile for me, and now it smote me, for I in a
+sense, had betrayed her.
+
+"Miss Sampson," I began, awkwardly yet swiftly, "I--I got to thinking it
+over, and the idea struck me, maybe you felt bad about this gun-fighter
+Blome coming down here to kill Steele. At first I imagined you felt sick
+just because there might be blood spilled. Then I thought you've showed
+interest in Steele--naturally his kind of Ranger work is bound to appeal
+to women--you might be sorry it couldn't go on, you might care."
+
+"Russ, don't beat about the bush," she said interrupting my floundering.
+"You know I care."
+
+How wonderful her eyes were then--great dark, sad gulfs with the soul of
+a woman at the bottom! Almost I loved her myself; I did love her truth,
+the woman in her that scorned any subterfuge.
+
+Instantly she inspired me to command over myself. "Listen," I said.
+"Jack Blome has come here to meet Steele. There will be a fight. But
+Blome can't kill Steele."
+
+"How is that? Why can't he? You said this Blome was a killer of men. You
+spoke of notches on his gun. I've heard my father and my cousin, too,
+speak of Blome's record. He must be a terrible ruffian. If his intent is
+evil, why will he fail in it?"
+
+"Because, Miss Sampson, when it comes to the last word, Steele will be
+on the lookout and Blome won't be quick enough on the draw to kill him.
+That's all."
+
+"Quick enough on the draw? I understand, but I want to know more."
+
+"I doubt if there's a man on the frontier to-day quick enough to kill
+Steele in an even break. That means a fair fight. This Blome is
+conceited. He'll make the meeting fair enough. It'll come off about like
+this, Miss Sampson.
+
+"Blome will send out his bluff--he'll begin to blow--to look for Steele.
+But Steele will avoid him as long as possible--perhaps altogether,
+though that's improbable. If they do meet, then Blome must force the
+issue. It's interesting to figure on that. Steele affects men strangely.
+It's all very well for this Blome to rant about himself and to hunt
+Steele up. But the test'll come when he faces the Ranger. He never saw
+Steele. He doesn't know what he's up against. He knows Steele's
+reputation, but I don't mean that. I mean Steele in the flesh, his
+nerve, the something that's in his eyes.
+
+"Now, when it comes to handling a gun the man doesn't breathe who has
+anything on Steele. There was an outlaw, Duane, who might have killed
+Steele, had they ever met. I'll tell you Duane's story some day. A girl
+saved him, made a Ranger of him, then got him to go far away from
+Texas."
+
+"That was wise. Indeed, I'd like to hear the story," she replied. "Then,
+after all, Russ, in this dreadful part of Texas life, when man faces
+man, it's all in the quickness of hand?"
+
+"Absolutely. It's the draw. And Steele's a wonder. See here. Look at
+this."
+
+I stepped back and drew my gun.
+
+"I didn't see how you did that," she said curiously. "Try it again."
+
+I complied, and still she was not quick enough of eye to see my draw.
+Then I did it slowly, explaining to her the action of hand and then of
+finger. She seemed fascinated, as a woman might have been by the
+striking power of a rattlesnake.
+
+"So men's lives depend on that! How horrible for me to be interested--to
+ask about it--to watch you! But I'm out here on the frontier now, caught
+somehow in its wildness, and I feel a relief, a gladness to know Vaughn
+Steele has the skill you claim. Thank you, Russ."
+
+She seemed about to dismiss me then, for she rose and half turned away.
+Then she hesitated. She had one hand at her breast, the other on the
+bench. "Have you been with him--talked to him lately?" she asked, and a
+faint rose tint came into her cheeks. But her eyes were steady, dark,
+and deep, and peered through and far beyond me.
+
+"Yes, I've met him a few times, around places."
+
+"Did he ever speak of--of me?"
+
+"Once or twice, and then as if he couldn't help it."
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+"Well, the last time he seemed hungry to hear something about you. He
+didn't exactly ask, but, all the same, he was begging. So I told him."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Oh, how you were dressed, how you looked, what you said, what you
+did--all about you. Don't be offended with me, Miss Sampson. It was real
+charity. I talk too much. It's my weakness. Please don't be offended."
+
+She never heard my apology or my entreaty. There was a kind of glory in
+her eyes. Looking at her, I found a dimness hazing my sight, and when I
+rubbed it away it came back.
+
+"Then--what did he say?" This was whispered, almost shyly, and I could
+scarcely believe the proud Miss Sampson stood before me.
+
+"Why, he flew into a fury, called me an--" Hastily I caught myself.
+"Well, he said if I wanted to talk to him any more not to speak of you.
+He was sure unreasonable."
+
+"Russ--you think--you told me once--he--you think he still--" She was
+not facing me at all now. She had her head bent. Both hands were at her
+breast, and I saw it heave. Her cheek was white as a flower, her neck
+darkly, richly red with mounting blood.
+
+I understood. And I pitied her and hated myself and marveled at this
+thing, love. It made another woman out of Diane Sampson. I could
+scarcely comprehend that she was asking me, almost beseechingly, for
+further assurance of Steele's love. I knew nothing of women, but this
+seemed strange. Then a thought sent the blood chilling back to my heart.
+Had Diane Sampson guessed the guilt of her father? Was it more for his
+sake than for her own that she hoped--for surely she hoped--that Steele
+loved her?
+
+Here was more mystery, more food for reflection. Only a powerful motive
+or a self-leveling love could have made a woman of Diane Sampson's pride
+ask such a question. Whatever her reason, I determined to assure her,
+once and forever, what I knew to be true. Accordingly, I told her in
+unforgettable words, with my own regard for her and love for Sally
+filling my voice with emotion, how I could see that Steele loved her,
+how madly he was destined to love her, how terribly hard that was going
+to make his work in Linrock.
+
+There was a stillness about her then, a light on her face, which brought
+to my mind thought of Sally when I had asked her to marry me.
+
+"Russ, I beg you--bring us together," said Miss Sampson. "Bring about a
+meeting. You are my friend." Then she went swiftly away through the
+flowers, leaving me there, thrilled to my soul at her betrayal of
+herself, ready to die in her service, yet cursing the fatal day Vaughn
+Steele had chosen me for his comrade in this tragic game.
+
+That evening in the girls' sitting-room, where they invited me, I was
+led into a discourse upon the gun-fighters, outlaws, desperadoes, and
+bad men of the frontier. Miss Sampson and Sally had been, before their
+arrival in Texas, as ignorant of such characters as any girls in the
+North or East. They were now peculiarly interested, fascinated, and at
+the same time repelled.
+
+Miss Sampson must have placed the Rangers in one of those classes,
+somewhat as Governor Smith had, and her father, too. Sally thought she
+was in love with a cowboy whom she had been led to believe had as bad a
+record as any. They were certainly a most persuasive and appreciative
+audience. So as it was in regard to horses, if I knew any subject well,
+it was this one of dangerous and bad men. Texas, and the whole
+developing Southwest, was full of such characters. It was a very
+difficult thing to distinguish between fighters who were bad men and
+fighters who were good men. However, it was no difficult thing for one
+of my calling to tell the difference between a real bad man and the
+imitation "four-flush."
+
+Then I told the girls the story of Buck Duane, famous outlaw and Ranger.
+And I narrated the histories of Murrell, most terrible of
+blood-spillers ever known to Texas; of Hardin, whose long career of
+crime ended in the main street in Huntsville when he faced Buck Duane;
+of Sandobal, the Mexican terror; of Cheseldine, Bland, Alloway, and
+other outlaws of the Rio Grande; of King Fisher and Thompson and
+Sterrett, all still living and still busy adding notches to their guns.
+
+I ended my little talk by telling the story of Amos Clark, a criminal of
+a higher type than most bad men, yet infinitely more dangerous because
+of that. He was a Southerner of good family. After the war he went to
+Dimmick County and there developed and prospered with the country. He
+became the most influential citizen of his town and the richest in that
+section. He held offices. He was energetic in his opposition to rustlers
+and outlaws. He was held in high esteem by his countrymen. But this Amos
+Clark was the leader of a band of rustlers, highwaymen, and murderers.
+
+Captain Neal and some of his Rangers ferreted out Clark's relation to
+this lawless gang, and in the end caught him red-handed. He was arrested
+and eventually hanged. His case was unusual, and it furnished an example
+of what was possible in that wild country. Clark had a son who was
+honest and a wife whom he dearly loved, both of whom had been utterly
+ignorant of the other and wicked side of life. I told this last story
+deliberately, yet with some misgivings. I wanted to see--I convinced
+myself it was needful for me to see--if Miss Sampson had any suspicion
+of her father. To look into her face then was no easy task. But when I
+did I experienced a shock, though not exactly the kind I had prepared
+myself for.
+
+She knew something; maybe she knew actually more than Steele or I;
+still, if it were a crime, she had a marvelous control over her true
+feelings.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Jack Blome and his men had been in Linrock for several days; old Snecker
+and his son Bo had reappeared, and other hard-looking customers, new to
+me if not to Linrock. These helped to create a charged and waiting
+atmosphere. The saloons did unusual business and were never closed.
+Respectable citizens of the town were awakened in the early dawn by
+rowdies carousing in the streets.
+
+Steele kept pretty closely under cover. He did not entertain the
+opinion, nor did I, that the first time he walked down the street he
+would be a target for Blome and his gang. Things seldom happened that
+way, and when they did happen so it was more accident than design. Blome
+was setting the stage for his little drama.
+
+Meanwhile Steele was not idle. He told me he had met Jim Hoden, Morton
+and Zimmer, and that these men had approached others of like character;
+a secret club had been formed and all the members were ready for action.
+Steele also told me that he had spent hours at night watching the house
+where George Wright stayed when he was not up at Sampson's. Wright had
+almost recovered from the injury to his arm, but he still remained most
+of the time indoors. At night he was visited, or at least his house was,
+by strange men who were swift, stealthy, mysterious--all men who
+formerly would not have been friends or neighbors.
+
+Steele had not been able to recognize any of these night visitors, and
+he did not think the time was ripe for a bold holding up of one of them.
+
+Jim Hoden had forcibly declared and stated that some deviltry was afoot,
+something vastly different from Blome's open intention of meeting the
+Ranger.
+
+Hoden was right. Not twenty-four hours after his last talk with Steele,
+in which he advised quick action, he was found behind the little room of
+his restaurant, with a bullet hole in his breast, dead. No one could be
+found who had heard a shot.
+
+It had been deliberate murder, for behind the bar had been left a piece
+of paper rudely scrawled with a pencil:
+
+"All friends of Ranger Steele look for the same."
+
+Later that day I met Steele at Hoden's and was with him when he looked
+at the body and the written message which spoke so tersely of the
+enmity toward him. We left there together, and I hoped Steele would let
+me stay with him from that moment.
+
+"Russ, it's all in the dark," he said. "I feel Wright's hand in this."
+
+I agreed. "I remember his face at Hoden's that day you winged him.
+Because Jim swore you were wrong not to kill instead of wing him. You
+were wrong."
+
+"No, Russ, I never let feeling run wild with my head. We can't prove a
+thing on Wright."
+
+"Come on; let's hunt him up. I'll bet I can accuse him and make him show
+his hand. Come on!"
+
+That Steele found me hard to resist was all the satisfaction I got for
+the anger and desire to avenge Jim Hoden that consumed me.
+
+"Son, you'll have your belly full of trouble soon enough," replied
+Steele. "Hold yourself in. Wait. Try to keep your eye on Sampson at
+night. See if anyone visits him. Spy on him. I'll watch Wright."
+
+"Don't you think you'd do well to keep out of town, especially when you
+sleep?"
+
+"Sure. I've got blankets out in the brush, and I go there every night
+late and leave before daylight. But I keep a light burning in the 'dobe
+house and make it look as if I were there."
+
+"Good. That worried me. Now, what's this murder of Jim Hoden going to do
+to Morton, Zimmer, and their crowd?"
+
+"Russ, they've all got blood in their eyes. This'll make them see red.
+I've only to say the word and we'll have all the backing we need."
+
+"Have you run into Blome?"
+
+"Once. I was across the street. He came out of the Hope So with some of
+his gang. They lined up and watched me. But I went right on."
+
+"He's here looking for trouble, Steele."
+
+"Yes; and he'd have found it before this if I just knew his relation to
+Sampson and Wright."
+
+"Do you think Blome a dangerous man to meet?"
+
+"Hardly. He's a genuine bad man, but for all that he's not much to be
+feared. If he were quietly keeping away from trouble, then that'd be
+different. Blome will probably die in his boots, thinking he's the worst
+man and the quickest one on the draw in the West."
+
+That was conclusive enough for me. The little shadow of worry that had
+haunted me in spite of my confidence vanished entirely.
+
+"Russ, for the present help me do something for Jim Hoden's family,"
+went on Steele. "His wife's in bad shape. She's not a strong woman.
+There are a lot of kids, and you know Jim Hoden was poor. She told me
+her neighbors would keep shy of her now. They'd be afraid. Oh, it's
+tough! But we can put Jim away decently and help his family."
+
+Several days after this talk with Steele I took Miss Sampson and Sally
+out to see Jim Hoden's wife and children. I knew Steele would be there
+that afternoon, but I did not mention this fact to Miss Sampson. We rode
+down to the little adobe house which belonged to Mrs. Hoden's people,
+and where Steele and I had moved her and the children after Jim Hoden's
+funeral. The house was small, but comfortable, and the yard green and
+shady.
+
+If this poor wife and mother had not been utterly forsaken by neighbors
+and friends it certainly appeared so, for to my knowledge no one besides
+Steele and me visited her. Miss Sampson had packed a big basket full of
+good things to eat, and I carried this in front of me on the pommel as
+we rode. We hitched our horses to the fence and went round to the back
+of the house. There was a little porch with a stone flooring, and here
+several children were playing. The door stood open. At my knock Mrs.
+Hoden bade me come in. Evidently Steele was not there, so I went in with
+the girls.
+
+"Mrs. Hoden, I've brought Miss Sampson and her cousin to see you," I
+said cheerfully.
+
+The little room was not very light, there being only one window and the
+door; but Mrs. Hoden could be seen plainly enough as she lay,
+hollow-cheeked and haggard, on a bed. Once she had evidently been a
+woman of some comeliness. The ravages of trouble and grief were there to
+read in her worn face; it had not, however, any of the hard and bitter
+lines that had characterized her husband's.
+
+I wondered, considering that Sampson had ruined Hoden, how Mrs. Hoden
+was going to regard the daughter of an enemy.
+
+"So you're Roger Sampson's girl?" queried the woman, with her bright
+black eyes fixed on her visitor.
+
+"Yes," replied Miss Sampson, simply. "This is my cousin, Sally Langdon.
+We've come to nurse you, take care of the children, help you in any way
+you'll let us."
+
+There was a long silence.
+
+"Well, you look a little like Sampson," finally said Mrs. Hoden, "but
+you're not at all like him. You must take after your mother. Miss
+Sampson, I don't know if I can--if I _ought_ to accept anything from
+you. Your father ruined my husband."
+
+"Yes, I know," replied the girl sadly. "That's all the more reason you
+should let me help you. Pray don't refuse. It will--mean so much to me."
+
+If this poor, stricken woman had any resentment it speedily melted in
+the warmth and sweetness of Miss Sampson's manner. My idea was that the
+impression of Diane Sampson's beauty was always swiftly succeeded by
+that of her generosity and nobility. At any rate, she had started well
+with Mrs. Hoden, and no sooner had she begun to talk to the children
+than both they and the mother were won.
+
+The opening of that big basket was an event. Poor, starved little
+beggars! I went out on the porch to get away from them. My feelings
+seemed too easily aroused. Hard indeed would it have gone with Jim
+Hoden's slayer if I could have laid my eyes on him then. However, Miss
+Sampson and Sally, after the nature of tender and practical girls, did
+not appear to take the sad situation to heart. The havoc had already
+been wrought in that household. The needs now were cheerfulness,
+kindness, help, action, and these the girls furnished with a spirit that
+did me good.
+
+"Mrs. Hoden, who dressed this baby?" presently asked Miss Sampson. I
+peeped in to see a dilapidated youngster on her knees. That sight, if
+any other was needed, completed my full and splendid estimate of Diane
+Sampson.
+
+"Mr. Steele," replied Mrs. Hoden.
+
+"Mr. Steele!" exclaimed Miss Sampson.
+
+"Yes; he's taken care of us all since--since--" Mrs. Hoden choked.
+
+"Oh, so you've had no help but his," replied Miss Sampson hastily. "No
+women? Too bad! I'll send someone, Mrs. Hoden, and I'll come myself."
+
+"It'll be good of you," went on the older woman. "You see, Jim had few
+friends--that is, right in town. And they've been afraid to help
+us--afraid they'd get what poor Jim--"
+
+"That's awful!" burst out Miss Sampson passionately. "A brave lot of
+friends! Mrs. Hoden, don't you worry any more. We'll take care of you.
+Here, Sally help me. Whatever is the matter with baby's dress?"
+Manifestly Miss Sampson had some difficulty in subduing her emotion.
+
+"Why, it's on hind side before," declared Sally. "I guess Mr. Steele
+hasn't dressed many babies."
+
+"He did the best he could," said Mrs. Hoden. "Lord only knows what would
+have become of us! He brought your cowboy, Russ, who's been very good
+too."
+
+"Mr. Steele, then is--is something more than a Ranger?" queried Miss
+Sampson, with a little break in her voice.
+
+"He's more than I can tell," replied Mrs. Hoden. "He buried Jim. He paid
+our debts. He fetched us here. He bought food for us. He cooked for us
+and fed us. He washed and dressed the baby. He sat with me the first two
+nights after Jim's death, when I thought I'd die myself.
+
+"He's so kind, so gentle, so patient. He has kept me up just by being
+near. Sometimes I'd wake from a doze an', seeing him there, I'd know how
+false were all these tales Jim heard about him and believed at first.
+Why, he plays with the children just--just like any good man might. When
+he has the baby up I just can't believe he's a bloody gunman, as they
+say.
+
+"He's good, but he isn't happy. He has such sad eyes. He looks far off
+sometimes when the children climb round him. They love him. I think he
+must have loved some woman. His life is sad. Nobody need tell me--he
+sees the good in things. Once he said somebody had to be a Ranger. Well,
+I say, thank God for a Ranger like him!"
+
+After that there was a long silence in the little room, broken only by
+the cooing of the baby. I did not dare to peep in at Miss Sampson then.
+
+Somehow I expected Steele to arrive at that moment, and his step did not
+surprise me. He came round the corner as he always turned any corner,
+quick, alert, with his hand down. If I had been an enemy waiting there
+with a gun I would have needed to hurry. Steele was instinctively and
+habitually on the defense.
+
+"Hello, son! How are Mrs. Hoden and the youngster to-day?" he asked.
+
+"Hello yourself! Why, they're doing fine! I brought the girls down--"
+
+Then in the semishadow of the room, across Mrs. Hoden's bed, Diane
+Sampson and Steele faced each other.
+
+That was a moment! Having seen her face then I would not have missed
+sight of it for anything I could name; never so long as memory remained
+with me would I forget. She did not speak. Sally, however, bowed and
+spoke to the Ranger. Steele, after the first start, showed no unusual
+feeling. He greeted both girls pleasantly.
+
+"Russ, that was thoughtful of you," he said. "It was womankind needed
+here. I could do so little--Mrs. Hoden, you look better to-day. I'm
+glad. And here's baby, all clean and white. Baby, what a time I had
+trying to puzzle out the way your clothes went on! Well, Mrs. Hoden,
+didn't I tell you friends would come? So will the brighter side."
+
+"Yes; I've more faith than I had," replied Mrs. Hoden. "Roger Sampson's
+daughter has come to me. There for a while after Jim's death I thought
+I'd sink. We have nothing. How could I ever take care of my little ones?
+But I'm gaining courage."
+
+"Mrs. Hoden, do not distress yourself any more," said Miss Sampson. "I
+shall see you are well cared for. I promise you."
+
+"Miss Sampson, that's fine!" exclaimed Steele, with a ring in his voice.
+"It's what I'd have hoped--expected of you..."
+
+It must have been sweet praise to her, for the whiteness of her face
+burned in a beautiful blush.
+
+"And it's good of you, too, Miss Langdon, to come," added Steele. "Let
+me thank you both. I'm glad I have you girls as allies in part of my
+lonely task here. More than glad, for the sake of this good woman and
+the little ones. But both of you be careful. Don't stir without Russ.
+There's risk. And now I'll be going. Good-by. Mrs. Hoden, I'll drop in
+again to-night. Good-by!"
+
+Steele backed to the door, and I slipped out before him.
+
+"Mr. Steele--wait!" called Miss Sampson as he stepped out. He uttered a
+little sound like a hiss or a gasp or an intake of breath, I did not
+know what; and then the incomprehensible fellow bestowed a kick upon me
+that I thought about broke my leg. But I understood and gamely endured
+the pain. Then we were looking at Diane Sampson. She was white and
+wonderful. She stepped out of the door, close to Steele. She did not see
+me; she cared nothing for my presence. All the world would not have
+mattered to her then.
+
+"I have wronged you!" she said impulsively.
+
+Looking on, I seemed to see or feel some slow, mighty force gathering in
+Steele to meet this ordeal. Then he appeared as always--yet, to me, how
+different!
+
+"Miss Sampson, how can you say that?" he returned.
+
+"I believed what my father and George Wright said about you--that
+bloody, despicable record! Now I do _not_ believe. I see--I wronged
+you."
+
+"You make me very glad when you tell me this. It was hard to have you
+think so ill of me. But, Miss Sampson, please don't speak of wronging
+me. I am a Ranger, and much said of me is true. My duty is hard on
+others--sometimes on those who are innocent, alas! But God knows that
+duty is hard, too, on me."
+
+"I did wrong you. In thought--in word. I ordered you from my home as if
+you were indeed what they called you. But I was deceived. I see my
+error. If you entered my home again I would think it an honor. I--"
+
+"Please--please don't, Miss Sampson," interrupted poor Steele. I could
+see the gray beneath his bronze and something that was like gold deep in
+his eyes.
+
+"But, sir, my conscience flays me," she went on. There was no other
+sound like her voice. If I was all distraught with emotion, what must
+Steele have been? "I make amends. Will you take my hand? Will you
+forgive me?" She gave it royally, while the other was there pressing at
+her breast.
+
+Steele took the proffered hand and held it, and did not release it. What
+else could he have done? But he could not speak. Then it seemed to dawn
+upon Steele there was more behind this white, sweet, noble intensity of
+her than just making amends for a fancied or real wrong. For myself, I
+thought the man did not live on earth who could have resisted her then.
+And there was resistance; I felt it; she must have felt it. It was poor
+Steele's hard fate to fight the charm and eloquence and sweetness of
+this woman when, for some reason unknown to him, and only guessed at by
+me, she was burning with all the fire and passion of her soul.
+
+"Mr. Steele, I honor you for your goodness to this unfortunate woman,"
+she said, and now her speech came swiftly. "When she was all alone and
+helpless you were her friend. It was the deed of a man. But Mrs. Hoden
+isn't the only unfortunate woman in the world. I, too, am unfortunate.
+Ah, how I may soon need a friend!
+
+"Vaughn Steele, the man whom I need most to be my friend--want most to
+lean upon--is the one whose duty is to stab me to the heart, to ruin
+me. You! Will you be my friend? If you knew Diane Sampson you would know
+she would never ask you to be false to your duty. Be true to us both!
+I'm so alone--no one but Sally loves me. I'll need a friend soon--soon.
+
+"Oh, I know--I know what you'll find out sooner or later. I know _now_!
+I want to help you. Let us save life, if not honor. Must I stand
+alone--all alone? Will you--will you be--"
+
+Her voice failed. She was swaying toward Steele. I expected to see his
+arms spread wide and enfold her in their embrace.
+
+"Diane Sampson, I love you!" whispered Steele hoarsely, white now to his
+lips. "I must be true to my duty. But if I can't be true to you, then by
+God, I want no more of life!" He kissed her hand and rushed away.
+
+She stood a moment as if blindly watching the place where he had
+vanished, and then as a sister might have turned to a brother, she
+reached for me.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 8
+
+THE EAVESDROPPER
+
+
+We silently rode home in the gathering dusk. Miss Sampson dismounted at
+the porch, but Sally went on with me to the corrals. I felt heavy and
+somber, as if a catastrophe was near at hand.
+
+"Help me down," said Sally. Her voice was low and tremulous.
+
+"Sally, did you hear what Miss Sampson said to Steele?" I asked.
+
+"A little, here and there. I heard Steele tell her he loved her. Isn't
+this a terrible mix?"
+
+"It sure is. Did you hear--do you understand why she appealed to Steele,
+asked him to be her friend?"
+
+"Did she? No, I didn't hear that. I heard her say she had wronged him.
+Then I tried not to hear any more. Tell me."
+
+"No Sally; it's not my secret. I wish I could do something--help them
+somehow. Yes, it's sure a terrible mix. I don't care so much about
+myself."
+
+"Nor me," Sally retorted.
+
+"You! Oh, you're only a shallow spoiled child! You'd cease to love
+anything the moment you won it. And I--well, I'm no good, you say. But
+their love! My God, what a tragedy! You've no idea, Sally. They've
+hardly spoken to each other, yet are ready to be overwhelmed."
+
+Sally sat so still and silent that I thought I had angered or offended
+her. But I did not care much, one way or another. Her coquettish fancy
+for me and my own trouble had sunk into insignificance. I did not look
+up at her, though she was so close I could feel her little, restless
+foot touching me. The horses in the corrals were trooping up to the
+bars. Dusk had about given place to night, although in the west a broad
+flare of golden sky showed bright behind dark mountains.
+
+"So I say you're no good?" asked Sally after a long silence. Then her
+voice and the way her hand stole to my shoulder should have been warning
+for me. But it was not, or I did not care.
+
+"Yes, you said that, didn't you?" I replied absently.
+
+"I can change my mind, can't I? Maybe you're only wild and reckless when
+you drink. Mrs. Hoden said such nice things about you. They made me feel
+so good."
+
+I had no reply for that and still did not look up at her. I heard her
+swing herself around in the saddle. "Lift me down," she said.
+
+Perhaps at any other time I would have remarked that this request was
+rather unusual, considering the fact that she was very light and sure of
+action, extremely proud of it, and likely to be insulted by an offer of
+assistance. But my spirit was dead. I reached for her hands, but they
+eluded mine, slipped up my arms as she came sliding out of the saddle,
+and then her face was very close to mine. "Russ!" she whispered. It was
+torment, wistfulness, uncertainty, and yet tenderness all in one little
+whisper. It caught me off guard or indifferent to consequences. So I
+kissed her, without passion, with all regret and sadness. She uttered a
+little cry that might have been mingled exultation and remorse for her
+victory and her broken faith. Certainly the instant I kissed her she
+remembered the latter. She trembled against me, and leaving unsaid
+something she had meant to say, she slipped out of my arms and ran. She
+assuredly was frightened, and I thought it just as well that she was.
+
+Presently she disappeared in the darkness and then the swift little
+clinks of her spurs ceased. I laughed somewhat ruefully and hoped she
+would be satisfied. Then I put away the horses and went in for my
+supper.
+
+After supper I noisily bustled around my room, and soon stole out for my
+usual evening's spying. The night was dark, without starlight, and the
+stiff wind rustled the leaves and tore through the vines on the old
+house. The fact that I had seen and heard so little during my constant
+vigilance did not make me careless or the task monotonous. I had so much
+to think about that sometimes I sat in one place for hours and never
+knew where the time went.
+
+This night, the very first thing, I heard Wright's well-known footsteps,
+and I saw Sampson's door open, flashing a broad bar of light into the
+darkness. Wright crossed the threshold, the door closed, and all was
+dark again outside. Not a ray of light escaped from the window. This was
+the first visit of Wright for a considerable stretch of time. Little
+doubt there was that his talk with Sampson would be interesting to me.
+
+I tiptoed to the door and listened, but I could hear only a murmur of
+voices. Besides, that position was too risky. I went round the corner of
+the house. Some time before I had made a discovery that I imagined would
+be valuable to me. This side of the big adobe house was of much older
+construction than the back and larger part. There was a narrow passage
+about a foot wide between the old and new walls, and this ran from the
+outside through to the patio. I had discovered the entrance by accident,
+as it was concealed by vines and shrubbery. I crawled in there, upon an
+opportune occasion, with the intention of boring a small hole through
+the adobe bricks. But it was not necessary to do that, for the wall was
+cracked; and in one place I could see into Sampson's room. This passage
+now afforded me my opportunity, and I decided to avail myself of it in
+spite of the very great danger. Crawling on my hands and knees very
+stealthily, I got under the shrubbery to the entrance of the passage. In
+the blackness a faint streak of light showed the location of the crack
+in the wall.
+
+I had to slip in sidewise. It was a tight squeeze, but I entered without
+the slightest sound. If my position were to be betrayed it would not be
+from noise. As I progressed the passage grew a very little wider in that
+direction, and this fact gave rise to the thought that in case of a
+necessary and hurried exit I would do best by working toward the patio.
+It seemed a good deal of time was consumed in reaching my vantage-point.
+When I did get there the crack was a foot over my head. If I had only
+been tall like Steele! There was nothing to do but find toe-holes in the
+crumbling walls, and by bracing knees on one side, back against the
+other, hold myself up to the crack.
+
+Once with my eye there I did not care what risk I ran. Sampson appeared
+disturbed; he sat stroking his mustache; his brow was clouded. Wright's
+face seemed darker, more sullen, yet lighted by some indomitable
+resolve.
+
+"We'll settle both deals to-night," Wright was saying. "That's what I
+came for. That's why I've asked Snecker and Blome to be here."
+
+"But suppose I don't choose to talk here?" protested Sampson
+impatiently. "I never before made my house a place to--"
+
+"We've waited long enough. This place's as good as any. You've lost your
+nerve since that Ranger hit the town. First, now, will you give Diane to
+me?"
+
+"George, you talk like a spoiled boy. Give Diane to you! Why, she's a
+woman and I'm finding out that she's got a mind of her own. I told you I
+was willing for her to marry you. I tried to persuade her. But Diane
+hasn't any use for you now. She liked you at first; but now she doesn't.
+So what can I do?"
+
+"You can make her marry me," replied Wright.
+
+"Make that girl do what she doesn't want to? It couldn't be done, even
+if I tried. And I don't believe I'll try. I haven't the highest opinion
+of you as a prospective son-in-law, George. But if Diane loved you I
+would consent. We'd all go away together before this damned miserable
+business is out. Then she'd never know. And maybe you might be more like
+you used to be before the West ruined you. But as matters stand you
+fight your own game with her; and I'll tell you now, you'll lose."
+
+"What'd you want to let her come out here for?" demanded Wright hotly.
+"It was a dead mistake. I've lost my head over her. I'll have her or
+die. Don't you think if she was my wife I'd soon pull myself together?
+Since she came we've none of us been right. And the gang has put up a
+holler. No, Sampson, we've got to settle things to-night."
+
+"Well, we can settle what Diane's concerned in right now," replied
+Sampson, rising. "Come on; we'll go ask her. See where you stand."
+
+They went out, leaving the door open. I dropped down to rest myself and
+to wait. I would have liked to hear Miss Sampson's answer to him. But I
+could guess what it would be. Wright appeared to be all I had thought of
+him, and I believed I was going to find out presently that he was worse.
+Just then I wanted Steele as never before. Still, he was too big to worm
+his way into this place.
+
+The men seemed to be absent a good while, though that feeling might have
+been occasioned by my interest and anxiety. Finally I heard heavy steps.
+Wright came in alone. He was leaden-faced, humiliated. Then something
+abject in him gave place to rage. He strode the room; he cursed.
+
+Sampson returned, now appreciably calmer. I could not but decide that he
+felt relief at the evident rejection of Wright's proposal. "Don't fume
+about it, George," he said. "You see I can't help it. We're pretty wild
+out here, but I can't rope my daughter and give her to you as I would an
+unruly steer."
+
+"Sampson, I can _make_ her marry me," declared Wright thickly.
+
+"How?"
+
+"You know the hold I got on you--the deal that made you boss of this
+rustler gang?"
+
+"It isn't likely I'd forget," replied Sampson grimly.
+
+"I can go to Diane--tell her that--make her believe I'd tell it
+broadcast, tell this Ranger Steele, unless she'd marry me!" Wright spoke
+breathlessly, with haggard face and shadowed eyes. He had no shame. He
+was simply in the grip of passion. Sampson gazed with dark, controlled
+fury at his relative. In that look I saw a strong, unscrupulous man
+fallen into evil ways, but still a man. It betrayed Wright to be the
+wild and passionate weakling.
+
+I seemed to see also how, during all the years of association, this
+strong man had upheld the weak one. But that time had gone forever, both
+in intent on Sampson's part and in possibility. Wright, like the great
+majority of evil and unrestrained men on the border, had reached a point
+where influence was futile. Reason had degenerated. He saw only himself.
+
+"But, George, Diane's the one person on earth who must never know I'm a
+rustler, a thief, a red-handed ruler of the worst gang on the border,"
+replied Sampson impressively.
+
+George bowed his head at that, as if the significance had just occurred
+to him. But he was not long at a loss. "She's going to find it out
+sooner or later. I tell you she knows now there's something wrong out
+here. She's got eyes. And that meddling cowboy of hers is smarter than
+you give him credit for. They're always together. You'll regret the day
+Russ ever straddled a horse on this ranch. Mark what I say."
+
+"Diane's changed, I know; but she hasn't any idea yet that her daddy's a
+boss rustler. Diane's concerned about what she calls my duty as mayor.
+Also I think she's not satisfied with my explanations in regard to
+certain property."
+
+Wright halted in his restless walk and leaned against the stone
+mantelpiece. He squared himself as if this was his last stand. He looked
+desperate, but on the moment showed an absence of his usual nervous
+excitement. "Sampson, that may well be true," he said. "No doubt all
+you say is true. But it doesn't help me. I want the girl. If I don't get
+her I reckon we'll all go to hell!" He might have meant anything,
+probably meant the worst. He certainly had something more in mind.
+
+Sampson gave a slight start, barely perceptible like the twitch of an
+awakening tiger. He sat there, head down, stroking his mustache. Almost
+I saw his thought. I had long experience in reading men under stress of
+such emotion. I had no means to vindicate my judgment, but my conviction
+was that Sampson right then and there decided that the thing to do was
+to kill Wright. For my part, I wondered that he had not come to such a
+conclusion before. Not improbably the advent of his daughter had put
+Sampson in conflict with himself.
+
+Suddenly he threw off a somber cast of countenance and began to talk. He
+talked swiftly, persuasively, yet I imagined he was talking to smooth
+Wright's passion for the moment. Wright no more caught the fateful
+significance of a line crossed, a limit reached, a decree decided, than
+if he had not been present. He was obsessed with himself.
+
+How, I wondered, had a man of his mind ever lived so long and gone so
+far among the exacting conditions of Pecos County? The answer was
+perhaps, that Sampson had guided him, upheld him, protected him. The
+coming of Diane Sampson had been the entering wedge of dissension.
+
+"You're too impatient," concluded Sampson. "You'll ruin any chance of
+happiness if you rush Diane. She might be won. If you told her who I am
+she'd hate you forever. She might marry you to save me, but she'd hate
+you.
+
+"That isn't the way. Wait. Play for time. Be different with her. Cut out
+your drinking. She despises that. Let's plan to sell out here, stock,
+ranch, property, and leave the country. Then you'd have a show with
+her."
+
+"I told you we've got to stick," growled Wright. "The gang won't stand
+for our going. It can't be done unless you want to sacrifice
+everything."
+
+"You mean double-cross the men? Go without their knowing? Leave them
+here to face whatever comes?"
+
+"I mean just that."
+
+"I'm bad enough, but not that bad," returned Sampson. "If I can't get
+the gang to let me off I'll stay and face the music. All the same,
+Wright, did it ever strike you that most of our deals the last few years
+have been yours?"
+
+"Yes. If I hadn't rung them in, there wouldn't have been any. You've had
+cold feet, Owens says, especially since this Ranger Steele has been
+here."
+
+"Well, call it cold feet if you like. But I call it sense. We reached
+our limit long ago. We began by rustling a few cattle at a time when
+rustling was laughed at. But as our greed grew so did our boldness. Then
+came the gang, the regular trips, and one thing and another till, before
+we knew it--before _I_ knew it, we had shady deals, hold-ups, and
+murders on our record. Then we had to go on. Too late to turn back!"
+
+"I reckon we've all said that. None of the gang wants to quit. They all
+think, and I think, we can't be touched. We may be blamed, but nothing
+can be proved. We're too strong."
+
+"There's where you're dead wrong," rejoined Sampson, emphatically. "I
+imagined that once, not long ago. I was bull-headed. Who would ever
+connect Roger Sampson with a rustler gang? I've changed my mind. I've
+begun to think. I've reasoned out things. We're crooked and we can't
+last. It's the nature of life, even in wild Pecos, for conditions to
+grow better. The wise deal for us would be to divide equally and leave
+the country, all of us."
+
+"But you and I have all the stock--all the gain," protested Wright.
+
+"I'll split mine."
+
+"I won't--that settles that," added Wright instantly.
+
+Sampson spread wide his hands as if it was useless to try to convince
+this man. Talking had not increased his calmness, and he now showed more
+than impatience. A dull glint gleamed deep in his eyes. "Your stock and
+property will last a long time--do you lots of good when Steele--"
+
+"Bah!" hoarsely croaked Wright. The Ranger's name was a match applied
+to powder. "Haven't I told you he'd be dead soon same as Hoden is?"
+
+"Yes, you mentioned the supposition," replied Sampson sarcastically. "I
+inquired, too just how that very desired event was to be brought about."
+
+"Blome's here to kill Steele."
+
+"Bah!" retorted Sampson in turn. "Blome can't kill this Ranger. He can't
+face him with a ghost of a show--he'll never get a chance at Steele's
+back. The man don't live on this border who's quick and smart enough to
+kill Steele."
+
+"I'd like to know why?" demanded Wright sullenly.
+
+"You ought to know. You've seen the Ranger pull a gun."
+
+"Who told you?" queried Wright, his face working.
+
+"Oh, I guessed it, if that'll do you."
+
+"If Jack doesn't kill this damned Ranger I will," replied Wright,
+pounding the table.
+
+Sampson laughed contemptuously. "George, don't make so much noise. And
+don't be a fool. You've been on the border for ten years. You've packed
+a gun and you've used it. You've been with Blome and Snecker when they
+killed their men. You've been present at many fights. But you never saw
+a man like Steele. You haven't got sense enough to see him right if you
+had a chance. Neither has Blome. The only way to get rid of Steele is
+for the gang to draw on him, all at once. And even then he's going to
+drop some of them."
+
+"Sampson, you say that like a man who wouldn't care much if Steele did
+drop some of them," declared Wright, and now he was sarcastic.
+
+"To tell you the truth I wouldn't," returned the other bluntly. "I'm
+pretty sick of this mess."
+
+Wright cursed in amaze. His emotions were out of all proportion to his
+intelligence. He was not at all quick-witted. I had never seen a vainer
+or more arrogant man. "Sampson, I don't like your talk," he said.
+
+"If you don't like the way I talk you know what you can do," replied
+Sampson quickly. He stood up then, cool and quiet, with flash of eyes
+and set of lips that told me he was dangerous.
+
+"Well, after all, that's neither here nor there," went on Wright,
+unconsciously cowed by the other. "The thing is, do I get the girl?"
+
+"Not by any means, except her consent."
+
+"You'll not make her marry me?"
+
+"No. No," replied Sampson, his voice still cold, low-pitched.
+
+"All right. Then I'll make her."
+
+Evidently Sampson understood the man before him so well that he wasted
+no more words. I knew what Wright never dreamed of, and that was that
+Sampson had a gun somewhere within reach and meant to use it.
+
+Then heavy footsteps sounded outside, tramping upon the porch. I might
+have been mistaken, but I believed those footsteps saved Wright's life.
+
+"There they are," said Wright, and he opened the door. Five masked men
+entered. About two of them I could not recognize anything familiar. I
+thought one had old Snecker's burly shoulders and another Bo Snecker's
+stripling shape. I did recognize Blome in spite of his mask, because his
+fair skin and hair, his garb and air of distinction made plain his
+identity. They all wore coats, hiding any weapons. The big man with
+burly shoulders shook hands with Sampson and the others stood back.
+
+The atmosphere of that room had changed. Wright might have been a
+nonentity for all he counted. Sampson was another man--a stranger to me.
+If he had entertained a hope of freeing himself from his band, of
+getting away to a safer country, he abandoned it at the very sight of
+these men. There was power here and he was bound.
+
+The big man spoke in low, hoarse whispers, and at this all the others
+gathered round him, close to the table. There were evidently some signs
+of membership not plain to me. Then all the heads were bent over the
+table. Low voices spoke, queried, answered, argued. By straining my ears
+I caught a word here and there. They were planning. I did not attempt to
+get at the meaning of the few words and phrases I distinguished, but
+held them in mind so to piece all together afterward. Before the
+plotters finished conferring I had an involuntary flashed knowledge of
+much and my whirling, excited mind made reception difficult.
+
+When these rustlers finished whispering I was in a cold sweat. Steele
+was to be killed as soon as possible by Blome, or by the gang going to
+Steele's house at night. Morton had been seen with the Ranger. He was to
+meet the same fate as Hoden, dealt by Bo Snecker, who evidently worked
+in the dark like a ferret. Any other person known to be communing with
+Steele, or interested in him, or suspected of either, was to be
+silenced. Then the town was to suffer a short deadly spell of violence,
+directed anywhere, for the purpose of intimidating those people who had
+begun to be restless under the influence of the Ranger. After that, big
+herds of stock were to be rustled off the ranches to the north and
+driven to El Paso.
+
+Then the big man, who evidently was the leader of the present
+convention, got up to depart. He went as swiftly as he had come, and was
+followed by the slender fellow. As far as it was possible for me to be
+sure, I identified these two as Snecker and his son. The others,
+however, remained. Blome removed his mask, which action was duplicated
+by the two rustlers who had stayed with him. They were both young,
+bronzed, hard of countenance, not unlike cowboys. Evidently this was now
+a social call on Sampson. He set out cigars and liquors for his guests,
+and a general conversation ensued, differing little from what might have
+been indulged in by neighborly ranchers. There was not a word spoken
+that would have caused suspicion.
+
+Blome was genial, gay, and he talked the most. Wright alone seemed
+uncommunicative and unsociable. He smoked fiercely and drank
+continually. All at once he straightened up as if listening. "What's
+that?" he called suddenly.
+
+The talking and laughter ceased. My own strained ears were pervaded by a
+slight rustling sound.
+
+"Must be a rat," replied Sampson in relief. Strange how any sudden or
+unknown thing weighed upon him.
+
+The rustling became a rattle.
+
+"Sounds like a rattlesnake to me," said Blome.
+
+Sampson got up from the table and peered round the room. Just at that
+instant I felt an almost inappreciable movement of the adobe wall which
+supported me. I could scarcely credit my senses. But the rattle inside
+Sampson's room was mingling with little dull thuds of falling dirt. The
+adobe wall, merely dried mud was crumbling. I distinctly felt a tremor
+pass through it. Then the blood gushed with sickening coldness back to
+my heart and seemingly clogged it.
+
+"What in the hell!" exclaimed Sampson.
+
+"I smell dust," said Blome sharply.
+
+That was the signal for me to drop down from my perch, yet despite my
+care I made a noise.
+
+"Did you hear a step?" queried Sampson.
+
+Then a section of the wall fell inward with a crash. I began to squeeze
+my body through the narrow passage toward the patio.
+
+"Hear him!" yelled Wright. "This side."
+
+"No, he's going that way," yelled someone else. The tramp of heavy boots
+lent me the strength and speed of desperation. I was not shirking a
+fight, but to be cornered like a trapped coyote was another matter. I
+almost tore my clothes off in that passage. The dust nearly stifled me.
+
+When I burst into the patio it was not one single instant too soon. But
+one deep gash of breath revived me, and I was up, gun in hand, running
+for the outlet into the court. Thumping footsteps turned me back. While
+there was a chance to get away I did not want to meet odds in a fight. I
+thought I heard some one running into the patio from the other end. I
+stole along, and coming to a door, without any idea of where it might
+lead, I softly pushed it open a little way and slipped in.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 9
+
+IN FLAGRANTE DELICTO
+
+
+A low cry greeted me. The room was light. I saw Sally Langdon sitting on
+her bed in her dressing gown. Shaking my gun at her with a fierce
+warning gesture to be silent, I turned to close the door. It was a heavy
+door, without bolt or bar, and when I had shut it I felt safe only for
+the moment. Then I gazed around the room. There was one window with
+blind closely drawn. I listened and seemed to hear footsteps retreating,
+dying away. Then I turned to Sally. She had slipped off the bed to her
+knees and was holding out trembling hands as if both to supplicate mercy
+and to ward me off. She was as white as the pillow on her bed. She was
+terribly frightened. Again with warning hand commanding silence I
+stepped softly forward, meaning to reassure her.
+
+"Russ! Russ!" she whispered wildly, and I thought she was going to
+faint. When I got close and looked into her eyes I understood the
+strange dark expression in them. She was terrified because she believed
+I meant to kill her, or do worse, probably worse. She had believed many
+a hard story about me and had cared for me in spite of them. I
+remembered, then, that she had broken her promise, she had tempted me,
+led me to kiss her, made a fool out of me. I remembered, also how I had
+threatened her. This intrusion of mine was the wild cowboy's vengeance.
+
+I verily believed she thought I was drunk. I must have looked pretty
+hard and fierce, bursting into her room with that big gun in hand. My
+first action then was to lay the gun on her bureau.
+
+"You poor kid!" I whispered, taking her hands and trying to raise her.
+But she stayed on her knees and clung to me.
+
+"Russ! It was vile of me," she whispered. "I know it. I deserve
+anything--anything! But I am only a kid. Russ, I didn't break my
+word--I didn't make you kiss me just for, vanity's sake. I swear I
+didn't. I wanted you to. For I care, Russ, I can't help it. Please
+forgive me. Please let me off this time. Don't--don't--"
+
+"Will you shut up!" I interrupted, half beside myself. And I used force
+in another way than speech. I shook her and sat her on the bed. "You
+little fool, I didn't come in here to kill you or do some other awful
+thing, as you think. For God's sake, Sally, what do you take me for?"
+
+"Russ, you swore you'd do something terrible if I tempted you anymore,"
+she faltered. The way she searched my face with doubtful, fearful eyes
+hurt me.
+
+"Listen," and with the word I seemed to be pervaded by peace. "I didn't
+know this was your room. I came in here to get away--to save my life. I
+was pursued. I was spying on Sampson and his men. They heard me, but did
+not see me. They don't know who was listening. They're after me now. I'm
+Special United States Deputy Marshal Sittell--Russell Archibald Sittell.
+I'm a Ranger. I'm here as secret aid to Steele."
+
+Sally's eyes changed from blank gulfs to dilating, shadowing, quickening
+windows of thought. "Russ-ell Archi-bald Sittell," she echoed. "Ranger!
+Secret aid to Steele!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then you're no cowboy?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Only a make-believe one?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And the drinking, the gambling, the association with those low
+men--that was all put on?"
+
+"Part of the game, Sally. I'm not a drinking man. And I sure hate those
+places I had to go in, and all that pertains to them."
+
+"Oh, so _that's_ it! I knew there was something. How glad--how glad I
+am!" Then Sally threw her arms around my neck, and without reserve or
+restraint began to kiss me and love me. It must have been a moment of
+sheer gladness to feel that I was not disreputable, a moment when
+something deep and womanly in her was vindicated. Assuredly she was
+entirely different from what she had ever been before.
+
+There was a little space of time, a sweet confusion of senses, when I
+could not but meet her half-way in tenderness. Quite as suddenly, then
+she began to cry. I whispered in her ear, cautioning her to be careful,
+that my life was at stake; and after that she cried silently, with one
+of her arms round my neck, her head on my breast, and her hand clasping
+mine. So I held her for what seemed a long time. Indistinct voices came
+to me and footsteps seemingly a long way off. I heard the wind in the
+rose-bush outside. Some one walked down the stony court. Then a shrill
+neigh of a horse pierced the silence. A rider was mounting out there for
+some reason. With my life at stake I grasped all the sweetness of that
+situation. Sally stirred in my arms, raised a red, tear-stained yet
+happy face, and tried to smile. "It isn't any time to cry," she
+whispered. "But I had to. You can't understand what it made me feel to
+learn you're no drunkard, no desperado, but a _man_--a man like that
+Ranger!" Very sweetly and seriously she kissed me again. "Russ, if I
+didn't honestly and truly love you before, I do now."
+
+Then she stood up and faced me with the fire and intelligence of a
+woman in her eyes. "Tell me now. You were spying on my uncle?"
+
+Briefly I told her what had happened before I entered her room, not
+omitting a terse word as to the character of the men I had watched.
+
+"My God! So it's Uncle Roger! I knew something was very wrong here--with
+him, with the place, the people. And right off I hated George Wright.
+Russ, does Diane know?"
+
+"She knows something. I haven't any idea how much."
+
+"This explains her appeal to Steele. Oh, it'll kill her! You don't know
+how proud, how good Diane is. Oh, it'll kill her!"
+
+"Sally, she's no baby. She's got sand, that girl--"
+
+The sound of soft steps somewhere near distracted my attention, reminded
+me of my peril, and now, what counted more with me, made clear the
+probability of being discovered in Sally's room. "I'll have to get out
+of here," I whispered.
+
+"Wait," she replied, detaining me. "Didn't you say they were hunting for
+you?"
+
+"They sure are," I returned grimly.
+
+"Oh! Then you mustn't go. They might shoot you before you got away.
+Stay. If we hear them you can hide under my bed. I'll turn out the
+light. I'll meet them at the door. You can trust me. Stay, Russ. Wait
+till all quiets down, if we have to wait till morning. Then you can slip
+out."
+
+"Sally, I oughtn't to stay. I don't want to--I won't," I replied
+perplexed and stubborn.
+
+"But you must. It's the only safe way. They won't come here."
+
+"Suppose they should? It's an even chance Sampson'll search every room
+and corner in this old house. If they found me here I couldn't start a
+fight. You might be hurt. Then--the fact of my being here--" I did not
+finish what I meant, but instead made a step toward the door.
+
+Sally was on me like a little whirlwind, white of face and dark of eye,
+with a resoluteness I could not have deemed her capable of. She was as
+strong and supple as a panther, too. But she need not have been either
+resolute or strong, for the clasp of her arms, the feel of her warm
+breast as she pressed me back were enough to make me weak as water. My
+knees buckled as I touched the chair, and I was glad to sit down. My
+face was wet with perspiration and a kind of cold ripple shot over me. I
+imagined I was losing my nerve then. Proof beyond doubt that Sally loved
+me was so sweet, so overwhelming a thing, that I could not resist, even
+to save her disgrace.
+
+"Russ, the fact of your being here is the very thing to save you--if
+they come," Sally whispered softly. "What do I care what they think?"
+She put her arms round my neck. I gave up then and held her as if she
+indeed were my only hope. A noise, a stealthy sound, a step, froze that
+embrace into stone.
+
+"Up yet, Sally?" came Sampson's clear voice, too strained, too eager to
+be natural.
+
+"No. I'm in bed, reading. Good night, Uncle," instantly replied Sally,
+so calmly and naturally that I marveled at the difference between man
+and woman. Perhaps that was the difference between love and hate.
+
+"Are you alone?" went on Sampson's penetrating voice, colder now.
+
+"Yes," replied Sally.
+
+The door swung inward with a swift scrape and jar. Sampson half entered,
+haggard, flaming-eyed. His leveled gun did not have to move an inch to
+cover me. Behind him I saw Wright and indistinctly, another man.
+
+"Well!" gasped Sampson. He showed amazement. "Hands up, Russ!"
+
+I put up my hands quickly, but all the time I was calculating what chance
+I had to leap for my gun or dash out the light. I was trapped. And fury,
+like the hot teeth of a wolf, bit into me. That leveled gun, the menace
+in Sampson's puzzled eyes, Wright's dark and hateful face, these loosened
+the spirit of fight in me. If Sally had not been there I would have made
+some desperate move.
+
+Sampson barred Wright from entering, which action showed control as
+well as distrust.
+
+"You lied!" said Sampson to Sally. He was hard as flint, yet doubtful
+and curious, too.
+
+"Certainly I lied," snapped Sally in reply. She was cool, almost
+flippant. I awakened to the knowledge that she was to be reckoned with
+in this situation. Suddenly she stepped squarely between Sampson and me.
+
+"Move aside," ordered Sampson sternly.
+
+"I won't! What do I care for your old gun? You shan't shoot Russ or do
+anything else to him. It's my fault he's here in my room. I coaxed him
+to come."
+
+"You little hussy!" exclaimed Sampson, and he lowered the gun.
+
+If I ever before had occasion to glory in Sally I had it then. She
+betrayed not the slightest fear. She looked as if she could fight like a
+little tigress. She was white, composed, defiant.
+
+"How long has Russ been in here?" demanded Sampson.
+
+"All evening. I left Diane at eight o'clock. Russ came right after
+that."
+
+"But you'd undressed for bed!" ejaculated the angry and perplexed uncle.
+
+"Yes." That simple answer was so noncommittal, so above subterfuge, so
+innocent, and yet so confounding in its provocation of thought that
+Sampson just stared his astonishment. But I started as if I had been
+struck.
+
+"See here Sampson--" I began, passionately.
+
+Like a flash Sally whirled into my arms and one hand crossed my lips.
+"It's my fault. I will take the blame," she cried, and now the agony of
+fear in her voice quieted me. I realized I would be wise to be silent.
+"Uncle," began Sally, turning her head, yet still clinging to me, "I've
+tormented Russ into loving me. I've flirted with him--teased
+him--tempted him. We love each other now. We're engaged. Please--please
+don't--" She began to falter and I felt her weight sag a little against
+me.
+
+"Well, let go of him," said Sampson. "I won't hurt him. Sally, how long
+has this affair been going on?"
+
+"For weeks--I don't know how long."
+
+"Does Diane know?"
+
+"She knows we love each other, but not that we met--did this--" Light
+swift steps, the rustle of silk interrupted Sampson, and made my heart
+sink like lead.
+
+"Is that you, George?" came Miss Sampson's deep voice, nervous, hurried.
+"What's all this commotion? I hear--"
+
+"Diane, go on back," ordered Sampson.
+
+Just then Miss Sampson's beautiful agitated face appeared beside Wright.
+He failed to prevent her from seeing all of us.
+
+"Papa! Sally!" she exclaimed, in consternation. Then she swept into the
+room. "What has happened?"
+
+Sampson, like the devil he was, laughed when it was too late. He had
+good impulses, but they never interfered with his sardonic humor. He
+paced the little room, shrugging his shoulders, offering no explanation.
+Sally appeared about ready to collapse and I could not have told Sally's
+lie to Miss Sampson to save my life.
+
+"Diane, your father and I broke in on a little Romeo and Juliet scene,"
+said George Wright with a leer. Then Miss Sampson's dark gaze swept from
+George to her father, then to Sally's attire and her shamed face, and
+finally to me. What effect the magnificent wrath and outraged trust in
+her eyes had upon me!
+
+"Russ, do they dare insinuate you came to Sally's room?" For myself I
+could keep silent, but for Sally I began to feel a hot clamoring
+outburst swelling in my throat.
+
+"Sally confessed it, Diane," replied Wright.
+
+"Sally!" A shrinking, shuddering disbelief filled Miss Sampson's voice.
+
+"Diane, I told you I loved him--didn't I?" replied Sally. She managed to
+hold up her head with a ghost of her former defiant spirit.
+
+"Miss Sampson, it's a--" I burst out.
+
+Then Sally fainted. It was I who caught her. Miss Sampson hurried to her
+side with a little cry of distress.
+
+"Russ, your hand's called," said Sampson. "Of course you'll swear the
+moon's green cheese. And I like you the better for it. But we know now,
+and you can save your breath. If Sally hadn't stuck up so gamely for you
+I'd have shot you. But at that I wasn't looking for you. Now clear out
+of here." I picked up my gun from the bureau and dropped it in its
+sheath. For the life of me I could not leave without another look at
+Miss Sampson. The scorn in her eyes did not wholly hide the sadness. She
+who needed friends was experiencing the bitterness of misplaced trust.
+That came out in the scorn, but the sadness--I knew what hurt her most
+was her sorrow.
+
+I dropped my head and stalked out.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 10
+
+A SLAP IN THE FACE
+
+
+When I got out into the dark, where my hot face cooled in the wind, my
+relief equaled my other feelings. Sampson had told me to clear out, and
+although I did not take that as a dismissal I considered I would be wise
+to leave the ranch at once. Daylight might disclose my footprints
+between the walls, but even if it did not, my work there was finished.
+So I went to my room and packed my few belongings.
+
+The night was dark, windy, stormy, yet there was no rain. I hoped as
+soon as I got clear of the ranch to lose something of the pain I felt.
+But long after I had tramped out into the open there was a lump in my
+throat and an ache in my breast. And all my thought centered round
+Sally.
+
+What a game and loyal little girl she had turned out to be! I was
+absolutely at a loss concerning what the future held in store for us. I
+seemed to have a vague but clinging hope that, after the trouble was
+over, there might be--there _must_ be--something more between us.
+
+Steele was not at our rendezvous among the rocks. The hour was too late.
+Among the few dim lights flickering on the outskirts of town I picked
+out the one of his little adobe house but I knew almost to a certainty
+that he was not there. So I turned my way into the darkness, not with
+any great hope of finding Steele out there, but with the intention of
+seeking a covert for myself until morning.
+
+There was no trail and the night was so black that I could see only the
+lighter sandy patches of ground. I stumbled over the little clumps of
+brush, fell into washes, and pricked myself on cactus. By and by
+mesquites and rocks began to make progress still harder for me. I
+wandered around, at last getting on higher ground and here in spite of
+the darkness, felt some sense of familiarity with things. I was probably
+near Steele's hiding place.
+
+I went on till rocks and brush barred further progress, and then I
+ventured to whistle. But no answer came. Whereupon I spread my blanket
+in as sheltered a place as I could find and lay down. The coyotes were
+on noisy duty, the wind moaned and rushed through the mesquites. But
+despite these sounds and worry about Steele, and the never-absent
+haunting thought of Sally, I went to sleep.
+
+A little rain had fallen during the night, as I discovered upon waking;
+still it was not enough to cause me any discomfort. The morning was
+bright and beautiful, yet somehow I hated it. I had work to do that did
+not go well with that golden wave of grass and brush on the windy open.
+
+I climbed to the highest rock of that ridge and looked about. It was a
+wild spot, some three miles from town. Presently I recognized landmarks
+given to me by Steele and knew I was near his place. I whistled, then
+halloed, but got no reply. Then by working back and forth across the
+ridge I found what appeared to be a faint trail. This I followed, lost
+and found again, and eventually, still higher up on another ridge, with
+a commanding outlook, I found Steele's hiding place. He had not been
+there for perhaps forty-eight hours. I wondered where he had slept.
+
+Under a shelving rock I found a pack of food, carefully protected by a
+heavy slab. There was also a canteen full of water. I lost no time
+getting myself some breakfast, and then, hiding my own pack, I set off
+at a rapid walk for town.
+
+But I had scarcely gone a quarter of a mile, had, in fact, just reached
+a level, when sight of two horsemen halted me and made me take to cover.
+They appeared to be cowboys hunting for a horse or a steer. Under the
+circumstances, however, I was suspicious, and I watched them closely,
+and followed them a mile or so round the base of the ridges, until I had
+thoroughly satisfied myself they were not tracking Steele. They were a
+long time working out of sight, which further retarded my venturing
+forth into the open.
+
+Finally I did get started. Then about half-way to town more horsemen in
+the flat caused me to lie low for a while, and make a wide detour to
+avoid being seen.
+
+Somewhat to my anxiety it was afternoon before I arrived in town. For my
+life I could not have told why I knew something had happened since my
+last visit, but I certainly felt it; and was proportionately curious and
+anxious.
+
+The first person I saw whom I recognized was Dick, and he handed me a
+note from Sally. She seemed to take it for granted that I had been wise
+to leave the ranch. Miss Sampson had softened somewhat when she learned
+Sally and I were engaged, and she had forgiven my deceit. Sally asked me
+to come that night after eight, down among the trees and shrubbery, to a
+secluded spot we knew. It was a brief note and all to the point. But
+there was something in it that affected me strangely. I had imagined the
+engagement an invention for the moment. But after danger to me was past
+Sally would not have carried on a pretense, not even to win back Miss
+Sampson's respect. The fact was, Sally meant that engagement. If I did
+the right thing now I would not lose her.
+
+But what was the right thing?
+
+I was sorely perplexed and deeply touched. Never had I a harder task
+than that of the hour--to put her out of my mind. I went boldly to
+Steele's house. He was not there. There was nothing by which I could
+tell when he had been there. The lamp might have been turned out or
+might have burned out. The oil was low. I saw a good many tracks round
+in the sandy walks. I did not recognize Steele's.
+
+As I hurried away I detected more than one of Steele's nearest neighbors
+peering at me from windows and doors. Then I went to Mrs. Hoden's. She
+was up and about and cheerful. The children were playing, manifestly
+well cared for and content. Mrs. Hoden had not seen Steele since I had.
+Miss Samson had sent her servant. There was a very decided change in the
+atmosphere of Mrs. Hoden's home, and I saw that for her the worst was
+past, and she was bravely, hopefully facing the future.
+
+From there, I hurried to the main street of Linrock and to that section
+where violence brooded, ready at any chance moment to lift its hydra
+head. For that time of day the street seemed unusually quiet. Few
+pedestrians were abroad and few loungers. There was a row of saddled
+horses on each side of the street, the full extent of the block.
+
+I went into the big barroom of the Hope So. I had never seen the place
+so full, nor had it ever seemed so quiet. The whole long bar was lined
+by shirt-sleeved men, with hats slouched back and vests flapping wide.
+Those who were not drinking were talking low. Half a dozen tables held
+as many groups of dusty, motley men, some silent, others speaking and
+gesticulating, all earnest.
+
+At first glance I did not see any one in whom I had especial interest.
+The principal actors of my drama did not appear to be present. However,
+there were rough characters more in evidence than at any other time I
+had visited the saloon. Voices were too low for me to catch, but I
+followed the direction of some of the significant gestures. Then I saw
+that these half dozen tables were rather closely grouped and drawn back
+from the center of the big room. Next my quick sight took in a smashed
+table and chairs, some broken bottles on the floor, and then a dark
+sinister splotch of blood.
+
+I had no time to make inquiries, for my roving eye caught Frank Morton
+in the doorway, and evidently he wanted to attract my attention. He
+turned away and I followed. When I got outside, he was leaning against
+the hitching-rail. One look at this big rancher was enough for me to see
+that he had been told my part in Steele's game, and that he himself had
+roused to the Texas fighting temper. He had a clouded brow. He looked
+somber and thick. He seemed slow, heavy, guarded.
+
+"Howdy, Russ," he said. "We've been wantin' you."
+
+"There's ten of us in town, all scattered round, ready. It's goin' to
+start to-day."
+
+"Where's Steele?" was my first query.
+
+"Saw him less'n hour ago. He's somewhere close. He may show up any
+time."
+
+"Is he all right?"
+
+"Wal, he was pretty fit a little while back," replied Morton
+significantly.
+
+"What's come off? Tell me all."
+
+"Wal, the ball opened last night, I reckon. Jack Blome came swaggerin'
+in here askin' for Steele. We all knew what he was in town for. But last
+night he came out with it. Every man in the saloons, every man on the
+streets heard Blome's loud an' longin' call for the Ranger. Blome's pals
+took it up and they all enjoyed themselves some."
+
+"Drinking hard?" I queried.
+
+"Nope--they didn't hit it up very hard. But they laid foundations." Of
+course, Steele was not to be seen last night. This morning Blome and his
+gang were out pretty early. But they traveled alone. Blome just strolled
+up and down by himself. I watched him walk up this street on one side
+and then down the other, just a matter of thirty-one times. I counted
+them. For all I could see maybe Blome did not take a drink. But his
+gang, especially Bo Snecker, sure looked on the red liquor.
+
+"By eleven o'clock everybody in town knew what was coming off. There was
+no work or business, except in the saloons. Zimmer and I were together,
+and the rest of our crowd in pairs at different places. I reckon it was
+about noon when Blome got tired parading up and down. He went in the
+Hope So, and the crowd followed. Zimmer stayed outside so to give
+Steele a hunch in case he came along. I went in to see the show.
+
+"Wal, it was some curious to me, and I've lived all my life in Texas.
+But I never before saw a gunman on the job, so to say. Blome's a
+handsome fellow, an' he seemed different from what I expected. Sure, I
+thought he'd yell an' prance round like a drunken fool. But he was cool
+an' quiet enough. The blowin' an' drinkin' was done by his pals. But
+after a little while it got to me that Blome gloried in this situation.
+I've seen a man dead-set to kill another, all dark, sullen, restless.
+But Blome wasn't that way. He didn't seem at all like a bloody devil. He
+was vain, cocksure. He was revelin' in the effect he made. I had him
+figured all right.
+
+"Blome sat on the edge of a table an' he faced the door. Of course,
+there was a pard outside, ready to pop in an' tell him if Steele was
+comin'. But Steele didn't come in that way. He wasn't on the street just
+before that time, because Zimmer told me afterward. Steele must have
+been in the Hope So somewhere. Any way, just like he dropped from the
+clouds he came through the door near the bar. Blome didn't see him come.
+But most of the gang did, an' I want to tell you that big room went
+pretty quiet.
+
+"'Hello Blome, I hear you're lookin' for me,' called out Steele.
+
+"I don't know if he spoke ordinary or not, but his voice drew me up same
+as it did the rest, an' damn me! Blome seemed to turn to stone. He
+didn't start or jump. He turned gray. An' I could see that he was tryin'
+to think in a moment when thinkin' was hard. Then Blome turned his head.
+Sure he expected to look into a six-shooter. But Steele was standin'
+back there in his shirt sleeves, his hands on his hips, and he looked
+more man than any one I ever saw. It's easy to remember the look of him,
+but how he made me feel, that isn't easy.
+
+"Blome was at a disadvantage. He was half sittin' on a table, an' Steele
+was behind an' to the left of him. For Blome to make a move then would
+have been a fool trick. He saw that. So did everybody. The crowd slid
+back without noise, but Bo Snecker an' a rustler named March stuck near
+Blome. I figured this Bo Snecker as dangerous as Blome, an' results
+proved I was right.
+
+"Steele didn't choose to keep his advantage, so far as position in
+regard to Blome went. He just walked round in front of the rustler. But
+this put all the crowd in front of Steele, an' perhaps he had an eye for
+that.
+
+"'I hear you've been looking for me,' repeated the Ranger.
+
+"Blome never moved a muscle but he seemed to come to life. It struck me
+that Steele's presence had made an impression on Blome which was new to
+the rustler.
+
+"'Yes, I have,' replied Blome.
+
+"'Well, here I am. What do you want?'
+
+"When everybody knew what Blome wanted and had intended, this question
+of Steele's seemed strange on one hand. An' yet on the other, now that
+the Ranger stood there, it struck me as natural enough.
+
+"'If you heard I was lookin' for you, you sure heard what for,' replied
+Blome.
+
+"'Blome, my experience with such men as you is that you all brag one
+thing behind my back an' you mean different when I show up. I've called
+you now. What do you mean?'
+
+"'I reckon you know what Jack Blome means.'
+
+"'Jack Blome! That name means nothin' to me. Blome, you've been braggin'
+around that you'd meet me--kill me! You thought you meant it, didn't
+you?'
+
+"'Yes--I did mean it.'
+
+"'All right. Go ahead!'
+
+"The barroom became perfectly still, except for the slow breaths I
+heard. There wasn't any movement anywhere. That queer gray came to
+Blome's face again. He might again have been stone. I thought, an' I'll
+gamble every one else watchin' thought, Blome would draw an' get killed
+in the act. But he never moved. Steele had cowed him. If Blome had been
+heated by drink, or mad, or anythin' but what he was just then, maybe he
+might have throwed a gun. But he didn't. I've heard of really brave men
+gettin' panicked like that, an' after seein' Steele I didn't wonder at
+Blome.
+
+"'You see, Blome, you don't want to meet me, for all your talk,' went on
+the Ranger. 'You thought you did, but that was before you faced the man
+you intended to kill. Blome, you're one of these dandy, cock-of-the-walk
+four-flushers. I'll tell you how I know. Because I've met the real
+gun-fighters, an' there never was one of them yet who bragged or talked.
+Now don't you go round blowin' any more.'
+
+"Then Steele deliberately stepped forward an' slapped Blome on one side
+of his face an' again on the other.
+
+"'Keep out of my way after this or I'm liable to spoil some of your
+dandy looks.'
+
+"Blome got up an' walked straight out of the place. I had my eyes on
+him, kept me from seein' Steele. But on hearin' somethin', I don't know
+what, I turned back an' there Steele had got a long arm on Bo Snecker,
+who was tryin' to throw a gun.
+
+"But he wasn't quick enough. The gun banged in the air an' then it went
+spinnin' away, while Snecker dropped in a heap on the floor. The table
+was overturned, an' March, the other rustler, who was on that side, got
+up, pullin' his gun. But somebody in the crowd killed him before he
+could get goin'. I didn't see who fired that shot, an' neither did
+anybody else. But the crowd broke an' run. Steele dragged Bo Snecker
+down to jail an' locked him up."
+
+Morton concluded his narrative, and then evidently somewhat dry of
+tongue, he produced knife and tobacco and cut himself a huge quid.
+"That's all, so far, to-day, Russ, but I reckon you'll agree with me on
+the main issue--Steele's game's opened."
+
+I had felt the rush of excitement, the old exultation at the prospect of
+danger, but this time there was something lacking in them. The wildness
+of the boy that had persisted in me was gone.
+
+"Yes, Steele has opened it and I'm ready to boost the game along. Wait
+till I see him! But Morton, you say someone you don't know played a hand
+in here and killed March."
+
+"I sure do. It wasn't any of our men. Zimmer was outside. The others
+were at different places."
+
+"The fact is, then, Steele has more friends than we know, perhaps more
+than he knows himself."
+
+"Right. An' it's got the gang in the air. There'll be hell to-night."
+
+"Steele hardly expects to keep Snecker in jail, does he?"
+
+"I can't say. Probably not. I wish Steele had put both Blome and Snecker
+out of the way. We'd have less to fight."
+
+"Maybe. I'm for the elimination method myself. But Steele doesn't follow
+out the gun method. He will use one only when he's driven. It's hard to
+make him draw. You know, after all, these desperate men aren't afraid of
+guns or fights. Yet they are afraid of Steele. Perhaps it's his nerve,
+the way he faces them, the things he says, the fact that he has
+mysterious allies."
+
+"Russ, we're all with him, an' I'll gamble that the honest citizens of
+Linrock will flock to him in another day. I can see signs of that. There
+were twenty or more men on Hoden's list, but Steele didn't want so
+many."
+
+"We don't need any more. Morton, can you give me any idea where Steele
+is?"
+
+"Not the slightest."
+
+"All right. I'll hunt for him. If you see him tell him to hole up, and
+then you come after me. Tell him I've got our men spotted."
+
+"Russ, if you Ranger fellows ain't wonders!" exclaimed Morton, with
+shining eyes.
+
+Steele did not show himself in town again that day. Here his cunning was
+manifest. By four o'clock that afternoon Blome was drunk and he and his
+rustlers went roaring up and down the street. There was some shooting,
+but I did not see or hear that any one got hurt. The lawless element,
+both native to Linrock and the visitors, followed in Blome's tracks from
+saloon to saloon. How often had I seen this sort of procession, though
+not on so large a scale, in many towns of wild Texas!
+
+The two great and dangerous things in Linrock at the hour were whisky
+and guns. Under such conditions the rustlers were capable of any mad act
+of folly.
+
+Morton and his men sent word flying around town that a fight was
+imminent and all citizens should be prepared to defend their homes
+against possible violence. But despite his warning I saw many
+respectable citizens abroad whose quiet, unobtrusive manner and watchful
+eyes and hard faces told me that when trouble began they wanted to be
+there. Verily Ranger Steele had built his house of service upon a rock.
+It did not seem too much to say that the next few days, perhaps hours,
+would see a great change in the character and a proportionate decrease
+in number of the inhabitants of this corner of Pecos County.
+
+Morton and I were in the crowd that watched Blome, Snecker, and a dozen
+other rustlers march down to Steele's jail. They had crowbars and they
+had cans of giant powder, which they had appropriated from a hardware
+store. If Steele had a jailer he was not in evidence. The door was
+wrenched off and Bo Snecker, evidently not wholly recovered, brought
+forth to his cheering comrades. Then some of the rustlers began to urge
+back the pressing circle, and the word given out acted as a spur to
+haste. The jail was to be blown up.
+
+The crowd split and some men ran one way, some another. Morton and I
+were among those who hurried over the vacant ground to a little ridge
+that marked the edge of the open country. From this vantage point we
+heard several rustlers yell in warning, then they fled for their lives.
+
+It developed that they might have spared themselves such headlong
+flight. The explosion appeared to be long in coming. At length we saw
+the lifting of the roof in a cloud of red dust, and then heard an
+exceedingly heavy but low detonation. When the pall of dust drifted away
+all that was left of Steele's jail was a part of the stone walls. The
+building that stood nearest, being constructed of adobe, had been badly
+damaged.
+
+However, this wreck of the jail did not seem to satisfy Blome and his
+followers, for amid wild yells and huzzahs they set to work with
+crowbars and soon laid low every stone. Then with young Snecker in the
+fore they set off up town; and if this was not a gang in fit mood for
+any evil or any ridiculous celebration I greatly missed my guess.
+
+It was a remarkable fact, however, and one that convinced me of deviltry
+afoot, that the crowd broke up, dispersed, and actually disappeared off
+the streets of Linrock. The impression given was that they were
+satisfied. But this impression did not remain with me. Morton was
+scarcely deceived either. I told him that I would almost certainly see
+Steele early in the evening and that we would be out of harm's way. He
+told me that we could trust him and his men to keep sharp watch on the
+night doings of Blome's gang. Then we parted.
+
+It was almost dark. By the time I had gotten something to eat and drink
+at the Hope So, the hour for my meeting with Sally was about due. On the
+way out I did not pass a lighted house until I got to the end of the
+street; and then strange to say, that one was Steele's. I walked down
+past the place, and though I was positive he would not be there I
+whistled low. I halted and waited. He had two lights lit, one in the
+kitchen, and one in the big room. The blinds were drawn. I saw a long,
+dark shadow cross one window and then, a little later, cross the other.
+This would have deceived me had I not remembered Steele's device for
+casting the shadow. He had expected to have his house attacked at night,
+presumably while he was at home; but he had felt that it was not
+necessary for him to stay there to make sure. Lawless men of this class
+were sometimes exceedingly simple and gullible.
+
+Then I bent my steps across the open, avoiding road and path, to the
+foot of the hill upon which Sampson's house stood. It was dark enough
+under the trees. I could hardly find my way to the secluded nook and
+bench where I had been directed to come. I wondered if Sally would be
+able to find it. Trust that girl! She might have a few qualms and come
+shaking a little, but she would be there on the minute.
+
+I had hardly seated myself to wait when my keen ears detected something,
+then slight rustlings, then soft steps, and a dark form emerged from the
+blackness into the little starlit glade. Sally came swiftly towards me
+and right into my arms. That was sure a sweet moment. Through the
+excitement and dark boding thoughts of the day, I had forgotten that she
+would do just this thing. And now I anticipated tears, clingings, fears.
+But I was agreeably surprised.
+
+"Russ, are you all right?" she whispered.
+
+"Just at this moment I am," I replied.
+
+Sally gave me another little hug, and then, disengaging herself from my
+arms, she sat down beside me.
+
+"I can only stay a minute. Oh, it's safe enough. But I told Diane I was
+to meet you and she's waiting to hear if Steele is--is--"
+
+"Steele's safe so far," I interrupted.
+
+"There were men coming and going all day. Uncle Roger never appeared at
+meals. He didn't eat, Diane said. George tramped up and down, smoking,
+biting his nails, listening for these messengers. When they'd leave he'd
+go in for another drink. We heard him roar some one had been shot and we
+feared it might be Steele."
+
+"No," I replied, steadily.
+
+"Did Steele shoot anybody?"
+
+"No. A rustler named March tried to draw on Steele, and someone in the
+crowd killed March."
+
+"Someone? Russ, was it you?"
+
+"It sure wasn't. I didn't happen to be there."
+
+"Ah! Then Steele has other men like you around him. I might have guessed
+that."
+
+"Sally, Steele makes men his friends. It's because he's on the side of
+justice."
+
+"Diane will be glad to hear that. She doesn't think only of Steele's
+life. I believe she has a secret pride in his work. And I've an idea
+what she fears most is some kind of a clash between Steele and her
+father."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder. Sally, what does Diane know about her father?"
+
+"Oh, she's in the dark. She got hold of papers that made her ask him
+questions. And his answers made her suspicious. She realizes he's not
+what he has pretended to be all these years. But she never dreams her
+father is a rustler chief. When she finds that out--" Sally broke off
+and I finished the sentence in thought.
+
+"Listen, Sally," I said, suddenly. "I've an idea that Steele's house
+will be attacked by the gang to-night, and destroyed, same as the jail
+was this afternoon. These rustlers are crazy. They'll expect to kill him
+while he's there. But he won't be there. If you and Diane hear shooting
+and yelling to-night don't be frightened. Steele and I will be safe."
+
+"Oh, I hope so. Russ, I must hurry back. But, first, can't you arrange a
+meeting between Diane and Steele? It's her wish. She begged me to. She
+must see him."
+
+"I'll try," I promised, knowing that promise would be hard to keep.
+
+"We could ride out from the ranch somewhere. You remember we used to
+rest on the high ridge where there was a shady place--such a beautiful
+outlook? It was there I--I--"
+
+"My dear, you needn't bring up painful memories. I remember where."
+
+Sally laughed softly. She could laugh in the face of the gloomiest
+prospects. "Well, to-morrow morning, or the next, or any morning soon,
+you tie your red scarf on the dead branch of that high mesquite. I'll
+look every morning with the glass. If I see the scarf, Diane and I will
+ride out."
+
+"That's fine. Sally, you have ideas in your pretty little head. And once
+I thought it held nothing but--" She put a hand on my mouth. "I must go
+now," she said and rose. She stood close to me and put her arms around
+my neck. "One thing more, Russ. It--it was dif--difficult telling Diane
+we--we were engaged. I lied to Uncle. But what else could I have told
+Diane? I--I--Oh--was it--" She faltered.
+
+"Sally, you lied to Sampson to save me. But you must have accepted me
+before you could have told Diane the truth."
+
+"Oh, Russ, I had--in my heart! But it has been some time since you asked
+me--and--and--"
+
+"You imagined my offer might have been withdrawn. Well, it stands."
+
+She slipped closer to me then, with that soft sinuousness of a woman,
+and I believed she might have kissed me had I not held back, toying with
+my happiness.
+
+"Sally, do you love me?"
+
+"Ever so much. Since the very first."
+
+"I'm a marshal, a Ranger like Steele, a hunter of criminals. It's a hard
+life. There's spilling of blood. And any time I--I might--All the same,
+Sally--will you be my wife?"
+
+"Oh, Russ! Yes. But let me tell you when your duty's done here that I
+will have a word to say about your future. It'll be news to you to learn
+I'm an orphan. And I'm not a poor one. I own a plantation in Louisiana.
+I'll make a planter out of you. There!"
+
+"Sally! You're rich?" I exclaimed.
+
+"I'm afraid I am. But nobody can ever say you married me for my money."
+
+"Well, no, not if you tell of my abject courtship when I thought you a
+poor relation on a visit. My God! Sally, if I only could see this Ranger
+job through safely and to success!"
+
+"You will," she said softly.
+
+Then I took a ring from my little finger and slipped it on hers. "That
+was my sister's. She's dead now. No other girl ever wore it. Let it be
+your engagement ring. Sally, I pray I may somehow get through this awful
+Ranger deal to make you happy, to become worthy of you!"
+
+"Russ, I fear only one thing," she whispered.
+
+"And what's that?"
+
+"There will be fighting. And you--oh, I saw into your eyes the other
+night when you stood with your hands up. You would kill anybody, Russ.
+It's awful! But don't think me a baby. I can conceive what your work is,
+what a man you must be. I can love you and stick to you, too. But if you
+killed a blood relative of mine I would have to give you up. I'm a
+Southerner, Russ, and blood is thick. I scorn my uncle and I hate my
+cousin George. And I love you. But don't you kill one of my family,
+I--Oh, I beg of you go as far as you dare to avoid that!"
+
+I could find no voice to answer her, and for a long moment we were
+locked in an embrace, breast to breast and lips to lips, an embrace of
+sweet pain.
+
+Then she broke away, called a low, hurried good-by, and stole like a
+shadow into the darkness.
+
+An hour later I lay in the open starlight among the stones and brush,
+out where Steele and I always met. He lay there with me, but while I
+looked up at the stars he had his face covered with his hands. For I had
+given him my proofs of the guilt of Diane Sampson's father.
+
+Steele had made one comment: "I wish to God I'd sent for some fool who'd
+have bungled the job!"
+
+This was a compliment to me, but it showed what a sad pass Steele had
+come to. My regret was that I had no sympathy to offer him. I failed him
+there. I had trouble of my own. The feel of Sally's clinging arms around
+my neck, the warm, sweet touch of her lips remained on mine. What Steele
+was enduring I did not know, but I felt that it was agony.
+
+Meanwhile time passed. The blue, velvety sky darkened as the stars grew
+brighter. The wind grew stronger and colder. I heard sand blowing
+against the stones like the rustle of silk. Otherwise it was a
+singularly quiet night. I wondered where the coyotes were and longed for
+their chorus. By and by a prairie wolf sent in his lonely lament from
+the distant ridges. That mourn was worse than the silence. It made the
+cold shudders creep up and down my back. It was just the cry that seemed
+to be the one to express my own trouble. No one hearing that long-drawn,
+quivering wail could ever disassociate it from tragedy. By and by it
+ceased, and then I wished it would come again. Steele lay like the stone
+beside him. Was he ever going to speak? Among the vagaries of my mood
+was a petulant desire to have him sympathize with me.
+
+I had just looked at my watch, making out in the starlight that the hour
+was eleven, when the report of a gun broke the silence.
+
+I jumped up to peer over the stone. Steele lumbered up beside me, and I
+heard him draw his breath hard.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 11
+
+THE FIGHT IN THE HOPE SO
+
+
+I could plainly see the lights of his adobe house, but of course,
+nothing else was visible. There were no other lighted houses near.
+Several flashes gleamed, faded swiftly, to be followed by reports, and
+then the unmistakable jingle of glass.
+
+"I guess the fools have opened up, Steele," I said. His response was an
+angry grunt. It was just as well, I concluded, that things had begun to
+stir. Steele needed to be roused.
+
+Suddenly a single sharp yell pealed out. Following it came a huge flare
+of light, a sheet of flame in which a great cloud of smoke or dust shot
+up. Then, with accompanying darkness, burst a low, deep, thunderous
+boom. The lights of the house went out, then came a crash. Points of
+light flashed in a half-circle and the reports of guns blended with the
+yells of furious men, and all these were swallowed up in the roar of a
+mob.
+
+Another and a heavier explosion momentarily lightened the darkness and
+then rent the air. It was succeeded by a continuous volley and a steady
+sound that, though composed of yells, screams, cheers, was not anything
+but a hideous roar of hate. It kept up long after there could have been
+any possibility of life under the ruins of that house. It was more than
+hate of Steele. All that was wild and lawless and violent hurled this
+deed at the Ranger Service.
+
+Such events had happened before in Texas and other states; but,
+strangely, they never happened more than once in one locality. They were
+expressions, perhaps, that could never come but once.
+
+I watched Steele through all that hideous din, that manifestation of
+insane rage at his life and joy at his death, and when silence once more
+reigned and he turned his white face to mine, I had a sensation of
+dread. And dread was something particularly foreign to my nature.
+
+"So Blome and the Sneckers think they've done for me," he muttered.
+
+"Pleasant surprise for them to-morrow, eh, old man?" I queried.
+
+"To-morrow? Look, Russ, what's left of my old 'dobe house is on fire. The
+ruins can't be searched soon. And I was particular to fix things so it'd
+look like I was home. I just wanted to give them a chance. It's
+incomprehensible how easy men like them can be duped. Whisky-soaked!
+Yes, they'll be surprised!"
+
+He lingered a while, watching the smoldering fire and the dim columns of
+smoke curling up against the dark blue. "Russ, do you suppose they heard
+up at the ranch and think I'm--"
+
+"They heard, of course," I replied. "But the girls know you're safe with
+me."
+
+"Safe? I--I almost wish to God I was there under that heap of ruins,
+where the rustlers think they've left me."
+
+"Well, Steele, old fellow, come on. We need some sleep." With Steele in
+the lead, we stalked away into the open.
+
+Two days later, about the middle of the forenoon, I sat upon a great
+flat rock in the shade of a bushy mesquite, and, besides enjoying the
+vast, clear sweep of gold and gray plain below, I was otherwise
+pleasantly engaged. Sally sat as close to me as she could get, holding
+to my arm as if she never intended to let go. On the other side Miss
+Sampson leaned against me, and she was white and breathless, partly from
+the quick ride out from the ranch, partly from agitation. She had grown
+thinner, and there were dark shadows under her eyes, yet she seemed only
+more beautiful. The red scarf with which I had signaled the girls waved
+from a branch of the mesquite. At the foot of the ridge their horses
+were halted in a shady spot.
+
+"Take off your sombrero," I said to Sally. "You look hot. Besides,
+you're prettier with your hair flying." As she made no move, I took it
+off for her. Then I made bold to perform the same office for Miss
+Sampson. She faintly smiled her thanks. Assuredly she had forgotten all
+her resentment. There were little beads of perspiration upon her white
+brow. What a beautiful mass of black-brown hair, with strands of red or
+gold! Pretty soon she would be bending that exquisite head and face over
+poor Steele, and I, who had schemed this meeting, did not care what he
+might do to me.
+
+Pretty soon, also, there was likely to be an interview that would shake
+us all to our depths, and naturally, I was somber at heart. But though
+my outward mood of good humor may have been pretense, it certainly was a
+pleasure to be with the girls again way out in the open. Both girls were
+quiet, and this made my task harder, and perhaps in my anxiety to ward
+off questions and appear happy for their own sakes I made an ass of
+myself with my silly talk and familiarity. Had ever a Ranger such a job
+as mine?
+
+"Diane, did Sally show you her engagement ring?" I went on, bound to
+talk.
+
+Miss Sampson either did not notice my use of her first name or she did
+not object. She seemed so friendly, so helplessly wistful. "Yes. It's
+very pretty. An antique. I've seen a few of them," she replied.
+
+"I hope you'll let Sally marry me soon."
+
+"_Let_ her? Sally Langdon? You haven't become acquainted with your
+fiancee. But when--"
+
+"Oh, next week, just as soon--"
+
+"Russ!" cried Sally, blushing furiously.
+
+"What's the matter?" I queried innocently.
+
+"You're a little previous."
+
+"Well, Sally, I don't presume to split hairs over dates. But, you see,
+you've become extremely more desirable--in the light of certain
+revelations. Diane, wasn't Sally the deceitful thing? An heiress all the
+time! And I'm to be a planter and smoke fine cigars and drink mint
+juleps! No, there won't be any juleps."
+
+"Russ, you're talking nonsense," reproved Sally. "Surely it's no time to
+be funny."
+
+"All right," I replied with resignation. It was no task to discard that
+hollow mask of humor. A silence ensued, and I waited for it to be
+broken.
+
+"Is Steele badly hurt?" asked Miss Sampson presently.
+
+"No. Not what he or I'd call hurt at all. He's got a scalp wound, where
+a bullet bounced off his skull. It's only a scratch. Then he's got
+another in the shoulder; but it's not bad, either."
+
+"Where is he now?"
+
+"Look across on the other ridge. See the big white stone? There, down
+under the trees, is our camp. He's there."
+
+"When may--I see him?" There was a catch in her low voice.
+
+"He's asleep now. After what happened yesterday he was exhausted, and
+the pain in his head kept him awake till late. Let him sleep a while
+yet. Then you can see him."
+
+"Did he know we were coming?"
+
+"He hadn't the slightest idea. He'll be overjoyed to see you. He can't
+help that. But he'll about fall upon me with harmful intent."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Well, I know he's afraid to see you."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because it only makes his duty harder."
+
+"Ah!" she breathed.
+
+It seemed to me that my intelligence confirmed a hope of hers and gave
+her relief. I felt something terrible in the balance for Steele. And I
+was glad to be able to throw them together. The catastrophe must fall,
+and now the sooner it fell the better. But I experienced a tightening of
+my lips and a tugging at my heart-strings.
+
+"Sally, what do you and Diane know about the goings-on in town
+yesterday?" I asked.
+
+"Not much. George was like an insane man. I was afraid to go near him.
+Uncle wore a sardonic smile. I heard him curse George--oh, terribly! I
+believe he hates George. Same as day before yesterday, there were men
+riding in and out. But Diane and I heard only a little, and conflicting
+statements at that. We knew there was fighting. Dick and the servants,
+the cowboys, all brought rumors. Steele was killed at least ten times
+and came to life just as many.
+
+"I can't recall, don't want to recall, all we heard. But this morning
+when I saw the red scarf flying in the wind--well, Russ, I was so glad I
+could not see through the glass any more. We knew then Steele was all
+right or you wouldn't have put up the signal."
+
+"Reckon few people in Linrock realize just what _did_ come off," I
+replied with a grim chuckle.
+
+"Russ, I want you to tell me," said Miss Sampson earnestly.
+
+"What?" I queried sharply.
+
+"About yesterday--what Steele did--what happened."
+
+"Miss Sampson, I could tell you in a few short statements of fact or I
+could take two hours in the telling. Which do you prefer?"
+
+"I prefer the long telling. I want to know all about him."
+
+"But why, Miss Sampson? Consider. This is hardly a story for a
+sensitive woman's ears."
+
+"I am no coward," she replied, turning eyes to me that flashed like dark
+fire.
+
+"But why?" I persisted. I wanted a good reason for calling up all the
+details of the most strenuous and terrible day in my border experience.
+She was silent a moment. I saw her gaze turn to the spot where Steele
+lay asleep, and it was a pity he could not see her eyes then. "Frankly,
+I don't want to tell you," I added, and I surely would have been glad to
+get out of the job.
+
+"I want to hear--because I glory in his work," she replied deliberately.
+
+I gathered as much from the expression of her face as from the deep ring
+of her voice, the clear content of her statement. She loved the Ranger,
+but that was not all of her reason.
+
+"His work?" I echoed. "Do you want him to succeed in it?"
+
+"With all my heart," she said, with a white glow on her face.
+
+"My God!" I ejaculated. I just could not help it. I felt Sally's small
+fingers clutching my arm like sharp pincers. I bit my lips to keep them
+shut. What if Steele had heard her say that? Poor, noble,
+justice-loving, blind girl! She knew even less than I hoped. I forced my
+thought to the question immediately at hand. She gloried in the Ranger's
+work. She wanted with all her heart to see him succeed in it. She had a
+woman's pride in his manliness. Perhaps, with a woman's complex,
+incomprehensible motive, she wanted Steele to be shown to her in all the
+power that made him hated and feared by lawless men. She had finally
+accepted the wild life of this border as something terrible and
+inevitable, but passing. Steele was one of the strange and great and
+misunderstood men who were making that wild life pass.
+
+For the first time I realized that Miss Sampson, through sharpened eyes
+of love, saw Steele as he really was--a wonderful and necessary
+violence. Her intelligence and sympathy had enabled her to see through
+defamation and the false records following a Ranger; she had had no
+choice but to love him; and then a woman's glory in a work that freed
+men, saved women, and made children happy effaced forever the horror of
+a few dark deeds of blood.
+
+"Miss Sampson, I must tell you first," I began, and hesitated--"that I'm
+not a cowboy. My wild stunts, my drinking and gaming--these were all
+pretense."
+
+"Indeed! I am very glad to hear it. And was Sally in your confidence?"
+
+"Only lately. I am a United States deputy marshal in the service of
+Steele."
+
+She gave a slight start, but did not raise her head.
+
+"I have deceived you. But, all the same, I've been your friend. I ask
+you to respect my secret a little while. I'm telling you because
+otherwise my relation to Steele yesterday would not be plain. Now, if
+you and Sally will use this blanket, make yourselves more comfortable
+seats, I'll begin my story."
+
+Miss Sampson allowed me to arrange a place for her where she could rest
+at ease, but Sally returned to my side and stayed there. She was an
+enigma to-day--pale, brooding, silent--and she never looked at me except
+when my face was half averted.
+
+"Well," I began, "night before last Steele and I lay hidden among the
+rocks near the edge of town, and we listened to and watched the
+destruction of Steele's house. It had served his purpose to leave lights
+burning, to have shadows blow across the window-blinds, and to have a
+dummy in his bed. Also, he arranged guns to go off inside the house at
+the least jar. Steele wanted evidence against his enemies. It was not
+the pleasantest kind of thing to wait there listening to that drunken
+mob. There must have been a hundred men. The disturbance and the intent
+worked strangely upon Steele. It made him different. In the dark I
+couldn't tell how he looked, but I felt a mood coming in him that fairly
+made me dread the next day.
+
+"About midnight we started for our camp here. Steele got in some sleep,
+but I couldn't. I was cold and hot by turns, eager and backward, furious
+and thoughtful. You see, the deal was such a complicated one, and
+to-morrow certainly was nearing the climax. By morning I was sick,
+distraught, gloomy, and uncertain. I had breakfast ready when Steele
+awoke. I hated to look at him, but when I did it was like being revived.
+
+"He said: 'Russ, you'll trail alongside me to-day and through the rest
+of this mess.'
+
+"That gave me another shock. I want to explain to you girls that this
+was the first time in my life I was backward at the prospects of a
+fight. The shock was the jump of my pulse. My nerve came back. To line
+up with Steele against Blome and his gang--that would be great!
+
+"'All right, old man,' I replied. 'We're going after them, then?'
+
+"He only nodded.
+
+"After breakfast I watched him clean and oil and reload his guns. I
+didn't need to ask him if he expected to use them. I didn't need to urge
+upon him Captain Neal's command.
+
+"'Russ,' said Steele, 'we'll go in together. But before we get to town
+I'll leave you and circle and come in at the back of the Hope So. You
+hurry on ahead, post Morton and his men, get the lay of the gang, if
+possible, and then be at the Hope So when I come in.'
+
+"I didn't ask him if I had a free hand with my gun. I intended to have
+that. We left camp and hurried toward town. It was near noon when we
+separated.
+
+"I came down the road, apparently from Sampson's ranch. There was a
+crowd around the ruins of Steele's house. It was one heap of crumbled
+'dobe bricks and burned logs, still hot and smoking. No attempt had been
+made to dig into the ruins. The curious crowd was certain that Steele
+lay buried under all that stuff. One feature of that night assault made
+me ponder. Daylight discovered the bodies of three dead men, rustlers,
+who had been killed, the report went out, by random shots. Other
+participants in the affair had been wounded. I believed Morton and his
+men, under cover of the darkness and in the melee, had sent in some
+shots not calculated upon the program.
+
+"From there I hurried to town. Just as I had expected, Morton and Zimmer
+were lounging in front of the Hope So. They had company, disreputable
+and otherwise. As yet Morton's crowd had not come under suspicion. He
+was wild for news of Steele, and when I gave it, and outlined the plan,
+he became as cool and dark and grim as any man of my kind could have
+wished. He sent Zimmer to get the others of their clique. Then he
+acquainted me with a few facts, although he was noncommittal in regard
+to my suspicion as to the strange killing of the three rustlers.
+
+"Blome, Bo Snecker, Hilliard, and Pickens, the ringleaders, had painted
+the town in celebration of Steele's death. They all got gloriously drunk
+except old man Snecker. He had cold feet, they said. They were too happy
+to do any more shooting or mind what the old rustler cautioned. It was
+two o'clock before they went to bed.
+
+"This morning, after eleven, one by one they appeared with their
+followers. The excitement had died down. Ranger Steele was out of the
+way and Linrock was once more wide open, free and easy. Blome alone
+seemed sullen and spiritless, unresponsive to his comrades and their
+admirers. And now, at the time of my arrival, the whole gang, with the
+exception of old Snecker, were assembled in the Hope So.
+
+"'Zimmer will be clever enough to drift his outfit along one or two at a
+time?' I asked Morton, and he reassured me. Then we went into the
+saloon.
+
+"There were perhaps sixty or seventy men in the place, more than half of
+whom were in open accord with Blome's gang. Of the rest there were many
+of doubtful repute, and a few that might have been neutral, yet all the
+time were secretly burning to help any cause against these rustlers. At
+all events, I gathered that impression from the shadowed faces, the
+tense bodies, the too-evident indication of anything but careless
+presence there. The windows were open. The light was clear. Few men
+smoked, but all had a drink before them. There was the ordinary subdued
+hum of conversation. I surveyed the scene, picked out my position so as
+to be close to Steele when he entered, and sauntered round to it. Morton
+aimlessly leaned against a post.
+
+"Presently Zimmer came in with a man and they advanced to the bar. Other
+men entered as others went out. Blome, Bo Snecker, Hilliard, and Pickens
+had a table full in the light of the open windows. I recognized the
+faces of the two last-named, but I had not, until Morton informed me,
+known who they were. Pickens was little, scrubby, dusty, sandy, mottled,
+and he resembled a rattlesnake. Hilliard was big, gaunt, bronzed, with
+huge mustache and hollow, fierce eyes. I never had seen a grave-robber,
+but I imagined one would be like Hilliard. Bo Snecker was a sleek, slim,
+slender, hard-looking boy, marked dangerous, because he was too young
+and too wild to have caution or fear. Blome, the last of the bunch,
+showed the effects of a bad night.
+
+"You girls remember how handsome he was, but he didn't look it now. His
+face was swollen, dark, red, and as it had been bright, now it was dull.
+Indeed, he looked sullen, shamed, sore. He was sober now. Thought was
+written on his clouded brow. He was awakening now to the truth that the
+day before had branded him a coward and sent him out to bolster up
+courage with drink. His vanity had begun to bleed. He knew, if his
+faithful comrades had not awakened to it yet, that his prestige had been
+ruined. For a gunman, he had suffered the last degradation. He had been
+bidden to draw and he had failed of the nerve.
+
+"He breathed heavily; his eyes were not clear; his hands were shaky.
+Almost I pitied this rustler who very soon must face an incredibly swift
+and mercilessly fatal Ranger. Face him, too, suddenly, as if the grave
+had opened to give up its dead.
+
+"Friends and comrades of this center group passed to and fro, and there
+was much lazy, merry, though not loud, talk. The whole crowd was still
+half-asleep. It certainly was an auspicious hour for Steele to confront
+them, since that duty was imperative. No man knew the stunning
+paralyzing effect of surprise better than Steele. I, of course, must
+take my cue from him, or the sudden development of events.
+
+"But Jack Blome did not enter into my calculations. I gave him, at most,
+about a minute to live after Steele entered the place. I meant to keep
+sharp eyes all around. I knew, once with a gun out, Steele could kill
+Blome's comrades at the table as quick as lightning, if he chose. I
+rather thought my game was to watch his outside partners. This was
+right, and as it turned out, enabled me to save Steele's life.
+
+"Moments passed and still the Ranger did not come. I began to get
+nervous. Had he been stopped? I scouted the idea. Who could have stopped
+him, then? Probably the time seemed longer than it really was. Morton
+showed the strain, also. Other men looked drawn, haggard, waiting as if
+expecting a thunderbolt. Once in my roving gaze I caught Blandy's glinty
+eye on me. I didn't like the gleam. I said to myself I'd watch him if I
+had to do it out of the back of my head. Blandy, by the way, is--was--I
+should say, the Hope So bartender." I stopped to clear my throat and get
+my breath.
+
+"Was," whispered Sally. She quivered with excitement. Miss Sampson bent
+eyes upon me that would have stirred a stone man.
+
+"Yes, he was once," I replied ambiguously, but mayhap my grimness
+betrayed the truth. "Don't hurry me, Sally. I guarantee you'll be sick
+enough presently.
+
+"Well, I kept my eyes shifty. And I reckon I'll never forget that room.
+Likely I saw what wasn't really there. In the excitement, the suspense,
+I must have made shadows into real substance. Anyway, there was the
+half-circle of bearded, swarthy men around Blome's table. There were the
+four rustlers--Blome brooding, perhaps vaguely, spiritually, listening
+to a knock; there was Bo Snecker, reckless youth, fondling a flower he
+had, putting the stem in his glass, then to his lips, and lastly into
+the buttonhole of Blome's vest; there was Hilliard, big, gloomy, maybe
+with his cavernous eyes seeing the hell where I expected he'd soon be;
+and last, the little dusty, scaly Pickens, who looked about to leap and
+sting some one.
+
+"In the lull of the general conversation I heard Pickens say: 'Jack,
+drink up an' come out of it. Every man has an off day. You've gambled
+long enough to know every feller gits called. An' as Steele has cashed,
+what the hell do you care?
+
+"Hilliard nodded his ghoul's head and blinked his dead eyes. Bo Snecker
+laughed. It wasn't any different laugh from any other boy's. I
+remembered then that he killed Hoden. I began to sweat fire. Would
+Steele ever come?
+
+"'Jim, the ole man hed cold feet an' he's give 'em to Jack,' said Bo.
+'It ain't nothin' to lose your nerve once. Didn't I run like a scared
+jack-rabbit from Steele? Watch me if he comes to life, as the ole man
+hinted!'
+
+"'About mebbe Steele wasn't in the 'dobe at all. Aw, thet's a joke! I
+seen him in bed. I seen his shadder. I heard his shots comin' from the
+room. Jack, you seen an' heerd same as me.'
+
+"'Sure. I know the Ranger's cashed,' replied Blome. 'It's not that. I'm
+sore, boys.'
+
+"'Deader 'n a door-nail in hell!' replied Pickens, louder, as he lifted
+his glass. 'Here's to Lone Star Steele's ghost! An' if I seen it this
+minnit I'd ask it to waltz with me!'
+
+"The back door swung violently, and Steele, huge as a giant, plunged
+through and leaped square in front of that table.
+
+"Some one of them let out a strange, harsh cry. It wasn't Blome or
+Snecker--probably Pickens. He dropped the glass he had lifted. The cry
+had stilled the room, so the breaking of the glass was plainly heard.
+For a space that must have been short, yet seemed long, everybody stood
+tight. Steele with both hands out and down, leaned a little, in a way I
+had never seen him do. It was the position of a greyhound, but that was
+merely the body of him. Steele's nerve, his spirit, his meaning was
+there, like lightning about to strike. Blome maintained a ghastly,
+stricken silence.
+
+"Then the instant was plain when he realized this was no ghost of
+Steele, but the Ranger in the flesh. Blome's whole frame rippled as
+thought jerked him out of his trance. His comrades sat stone-still. Then
+Hilliard and Pickens dived without rising from the table. Their haste
+broke the spell.
+
+"I wish I could tell it as quick as it happened. But Bo Snecker, turning
+white as a sheet, stuck to Blome. All the others failed him, as he had
+guessed they would fail. Low curses and exclamations were uttered by men
+sliding and pressing back, but the principals were mute. I was thinking
+hard, yet I had no time to get to Steele's side. I, like the rest, was
+held fast. But I kept my eyes sweeping around, then back again to that
+center pair.
+
+"Blome slowly rose. I think he did it instinctively. Because if he had
+expected his first movement to start the action he never would have
+moved. Snecker sat partly on the rail of his chair, with both feet
+square on the floor, and he never twitched a muscle. There was a
+striking difference in the looks of these two rustlers. Snecker had
+burning holes for eyes in his white face. At the last he was staunch,
+defiant, game to the core. He didn't think. But Blome faced death and
+knew it. It was infinitely more than the facing of foes, the taking of
+stock, preliminary to the even break. Blome's attitude was that of a
+trapped wolf about to start into savage action; nevertheless, equally it
+was the pitifully weak stand of a ruffian against ruthless and powerful
+law.
+
+"The border of Pecos County could have had no greater lesson than
+this--Blome face-to-face with the Ranger. That part of the border
+present saw its most noted exponent of lawlessness a coward, almost
+powerless to go for his gun, fatally sure of his own doom.
+
+"But that moment, seeming so long, really so short, had to end. Blome
+made a spasmodic upheaval of shoulder and arm. Snecker a second later
+flashed into movement.
+
+"Steele blurred in my sight. His action couldn't be followed. But I saw
+his gun, waving up, flame red once--twice--and the reports almost boomed
+together.
+
+"Blome bent forward, arm down, doubled up, and fell over the table and
+slid to the floor.
+
+"But Snecker's gun cracked with Steele's last shot. I heard the bullet
+strike Steele. It made me sick as if it had hit me. But Steele never
+budged. Snecker leaped up, screaming, his gun sputtering to the floor.
+His left hand swept to his right arm, which had been shattered by
+Steele's bullet.
+
+"Blood streamed everywhere. His screams were curses, and then ended,
+testifying to a rage hardly human. Then, leaping, he went down on his
+knees after the gun.
+
+"Don't pick it up," called Steele; his command would have checked anyone
+save an insane man. For an instant it even held Snecker. On his knees,
+right arm hanging limp, left extended, and face ghastly with agony and
+fiendish fury, he was certainly an appalling sight.
+
+"'Bo, you're courtin' death,' called a hard voice from the crowd.
+
+"'Snecker, wait. Don't make me kill you!' cried Steele swiftly. 'You're
+still a boy. Surrender! You'll outlive your sentence many years. I
+promise clemency. Hold, you fool!'
+
+"But Snecker was not to be denied the last game move. He scrabbled for
+his gun. Just then something, a breathtaking intuition--I'll never know
+what--made me turn my head. I saw the bartender deliberately aim a huge
+gun at Steele. If he had not been so slow, I would have been too late. I
+whirled and shot. Talk about nick of time! Blandy pulled trigger just as
+my bullet smashed into his head.
+
+"He dropped dead behind the bar and his gun dropped in front. But he had
+hit Steele.
+
+"The Ranger staggered, almost fell. I thought he was done, and, yelling,
+I sped to him.
+
+"But he righted himself. Then I wheeled again. Someone in the crowd
+killed Bo Snecker as he wobbled up with his gun. That was the signal for
+a wild run for outdoors, for cover. I heard the crack of guns and
+whistle of lead. I shoved Steele back of the bar, falling over Blandy as
+I did so.
+
+"When I got up Steele was leaning over the bar with a gun in each hand.
+There was a hot fight then for a minute or so, but I didn't fire a shot.
+Morton and his crowd were busy. Men ran everywhere, shooting, ducking,
+cursing. The room got blue with smoke till you couldn't see, and then
+the fight changed to the street.
+
+"Steele and I ran out. There was shooting everywhere. Morton's crowd
+appeared to be in pursuit of rustlers in all directions. I ran with
+Steele, and did not observe his condition until suddenly he fell right
+down in the street. Then he looked so white and so bloody I thought he'd
+stopped another bullet and--"
+
+Here Miss Sampson's agitation made it necessary for me to halt my story,
+and I hoped she had heard enough. But she was not sick, as Sally
+appeared to me; she simply had been overcome by emotion. And presently,
+with a blaze in her eyes that showed how her soul was aflame with
+righteous wrath at these rustlers and ruffians, and how, whether she
+knew it or not, the woman in her loved a fight, she bade me go on. So I
+persevered, and, with poor little Sally sagging against me, I went on
+with the details of that fight.
+
+I told how Steele rebounded from his weakness and could no more have
+been stopped than an avalanche. For all I saw, he did not use his guns
+again. Here, there, everywhere, as Morton and his squad cornered a
+rustler, Steele would go in, ordering surrender, promising protection.
+He seemed to have no thoughts of bullets. I could not hold him back, and
+it was hard to keep pace with him. How many times he was shot at I had
+no idea, but it was many. He dragged forth this and that rustler, and
+turned them all over to Morton to be guarded. More than once he
+protected a craven rustler from the summary dealing Morton wanted to see
+in order.
+
+I told Miss Sampson particularly how Steele appeared to me, what his
+effect was on these men, how toward the end of the fight rustlers were
+appealing to him to save them from these new-born vigilantes. I believed
+I drew a picture of the Ranger that would live forever in her heart of
+hearts. If she were a hero-worshiper she would have her fill.
+
+One thing that was strange to me--leaving fight, action, blood, peril
+out of the story--the singular exultation, for want of some better term,
+that I experienced in recalling Steele's look, his wonderful cold,
+resistless, inexplicable presence, his unquenchable spirit which was at
+once deadly and merciful. Other men would have killed where he saved. I
+recalled this magnificent spiritual something about him, remembered it
+strongest in the ring of his voice as he appealed to Bo Snecker not to
+force him to kill. Then I told how we left a dozen prisoners under guard
+and went back to the Hope So to find Blome where he had fallen. Steele's
+bullet had cut one of the petals of the rose Snecker had playfully put
+in the rustler's buttonhole. Bright and fatal target for an eye like
+Steele's! Bo Snecker lay clutching his gun, his face set rigidly in that
+last fierce expression of his savage nature. There were five other dead
+men on the floor, and, significant of the work of Steele's unknown
+allies, Hilliard and Pickens were among them.
+
+"Steele and I made for camp then," I concluded. "We didn't speak a word
+on the way out. When we reached camp all Steele said was for me to go
+off and leave him alone. He looked sick. I went off, only not very far.
+I knew what was wrong with him, and it wasn't bullet-wounds. I was near
+when he had his spell and fought it out.
+
+"Strange how spilling blood affects some men! It never bothered me much.
+I hope I'm human, too. I certainly felt an awful joy when I sent that
+bullet into Blandy's bloated head in time. And I'll always feel that way
+about it. But Steele's different."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 12
+
+TORN TWO WAYS
+
+
+Steele lay in a shady little glade, partly walled by the masses of
+upreared rocks that we used as a lookout point. He was asleep, yet far
+from comfortable. The bandage I had put around his head had been made
+from strips of soiled towel, and, having collected sundry bloody spots,
+it was an unsightly affair. There was a blotch of dried blood down one
+side of Steele's face. His shirt bore more dark stains, and in one place
+was pasted fast to his shoulder where a bandage marked the location of
+his other wound. A number of green flies were crawling over him and
+buzzing around his head. He looked helpless, despite his giant size; and
+certainly a great deal worse off than I had intimated, and, in fact,
+than he really was.
+
+Miss Sampson gasped when she saw him and both her hands flew to her
+breast.
+
+"Girls, don't make any noise," I whispered. "I'd rather he didn't wake
+suddenly to find you here. Go round behind the rocks there. I'll wake
+him, and call you presently."
+
+They complied with my wish, and I stepped down to Steele and gave him a
+little shake. He awoke instantly.
+
+"Hello!" I said, "Want a drink?"
+
+"Water or champagne?" he inquired.
+
+I stared at him. "I've some champagne behind the rocks," I added.
+
+"Water, you locoed son of a gun!"
+
+He looked about as thirsty as a desert coyote; also, he looked flighty.
+I was reaching for the canteen when I happened to think what pleasure it
+would be to Miss Sampson to minister to him, and I drew back. "Wait a
+little." Then with an effort I plunged. "Vaughn, listen. Miss Sampson
+and Sally are here."
+
+I thought he was going to jump up, he started so violently, and I
+pressed him back.
+
+"She--Why, she's been here all the time--Russ, you haven't
+double-crossed me?"
+
+"Steele!" I exclaimed. He was certainly out of his head.
+
+"Pure accident, old man."
+
+He appeared to be half stunned, yet an eager, strange, haunting look
+shone in his eyes. "Fool!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Can't you make the ordeal easier for her?" I asked.
+
+"This'll be hard on Diane. She's got to be told things!"
+
+"Ah!" breathed Steele, sinking back. "Make it easier for her--Russ,
+you're a damned schemer. You have given me the double-cross. You have
+and she's going to."
+
+"We're in bad, both of us," I replied thickly. "I've ideas, crazy enough
+maybe. I'm between the devil and the deep sea, I tell you. I'm about
+ready to show yellow. All the same, I say, see Miss Sampson and talk to
+her, even if you can't talk straight."
+
+"All right, Russ," he replied hurriedly. "But, God, man, don't I look a
+sight! All this dirt and blood!"
+
+"Well, old man, if she takes that bungled mug of yours in her lap, you
+can be sure you're loved. You needn't jump out of your boots! Brace up
+now, for I'm going to bring the girls." As I got up to go I heard him
+groan. I went round behind the stones and found the girls. "Come on," I
+said. "He's awake now, but a little queer. Feverish. He gets that way
+sometimes. It won't last long." I led Miss Sampson and Sally back into
+the shade of our little camp glade.
+
+Steele had gotten worse all in a moment. Also, the fool had pulled the
+bandage off his head; his wound had begun to bleed anew, and the flies
+were paying no attention to his weak efforts to brush them away. His
+head rolled as we reached his side, and his eyes were certainly wild and
+wonderful and devouring enough. "Who's that?" he demanded.
+
+"Easy there, old man," I replied. "I've brought the girls." Miss Sampson
+shook like a leaf in the wind.
+
+"So you've come to see me die?" asked Steele in a deep and hollow voice.
+Miss Sampson gave me a lightning glance of terror.
+
+"He's only off his head," I said. "Soon as we wash and bathe his head,
+cool his temperature, he'll be all right."
+
+"Oh!" cried Miss Sampson, and dropped to her knees, flinging her gloves
+aside. She lifted Steele's head into her lap. When I saw her tears
+falling upon his face I felt worse than a villain. She bent over him for
+a moment, and one of the tender hands at his cheeks met the flow of
+fresh blood and did not shrink. "Sally," she said, "bring the scarf out
+of my coat. There's a veil too. Bring that. Russ, you get me some
+water--pour some in the pan there."
+
+"Water!" whispered Steele.
+
+She gave him a drink. Sally came with the scarf and veil, and then she
+backed away to the stone, and sat there. The sight of blood had made her
+a little pale and weak. Miss Sampson's hands trembled and her tears
+still fell, but neither interfered with her tender and skillful dressing
+of that bullet wound.
+
+Steele certainly said a lot of crazy things. "But why'd you come--why're
+you so good--when you don't love me?"
+
+"Oh, but--I do--love you," whispered Miss Sampson brokenly.
+
+"How do I know?"
+
+"I am here. I tell you."
+
+There was a silence, during which she kept on bathing his head, and he
+kept on watching her. "Diane!" he broke out suddenly.
+
+"Yes--yes."
+
+"That won't stop the pain in my head."
+
+"Oh, I hope so."
+
+"Kiss me--that will," he whispered. She obeyed as a child might have,
+and kissed his damp forehead close to the red furrow where the bullet
+cut.
+
+"Not there," Steele whispered.
+
+Then blindly, as if drawn by a magnet, she bent to his lips. I could not
+turn away my head, though my instincts were delicate enough. I believe
+that kiss was the first kiss of love for both Diane Sampson and Vaughn
+Steele. It was so strange and so long, and somehow beautiful. Steele
+looked rapt. I could only see the side of Diane's face, and that was
+white, like snow. After she raised her head she seemed unable, for a
+moment, to take up her task where it had been broken off, and Steele lay
+as if he really were dead. Here I got up, and seating myself beside
+Sally, I put an arm around her. "Sally dear, there are others," I said.
+
+"Oh, Russ--what's to come of it all?" she faltered, and then she broke
+down and began to cry softly. I would have been only too glad to tell
+her what hung in the balance, one way or another, had I known. But
+surely, catastrophe! Then I heard Steele's voice again and its
+huskiness, its different tone, made me fearful, made me strain my ears
+when I tried, or thought I tried, not to listen.
+
+"Diane, you know how hard my duty is, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, I know--I think I know."
+
+"You've guessed--about your father?"
+
+"I've seen all along you must clash. But it needn't be so bad. If I can
+only bring you two together--Ah! please don't speak any more. You're
+excited now, just not yourself."
+
+"No, listen. We must clash, your father and I. Diane, he's not--"
+
+"Not what he seems! Oh, I know, to my sorrow."
+
+"What do you know?" She seemed drawn by a will stronger than
+her own. "To my shame I know. He has been greedy, crafty,
+unscrupulous--dishonest."
+
+"Diane, if he were only that! That wouldn't make my duty torture. That
+wouldn't ruin your life. Dear, sweet girl, forgive me--your father's--"
+
+"Hush, Vaughn. You're growing excited. It will not do. Please--please--"
+
+"Diane, your father's--chief of this--gang that I came to break up."
+
+"My God, hear him! How dare you--Oh, Vaughn, poor, poor boy, you're out
+of your mind! Sally, Russ, what shall we do? He's worse. He's saying the
+most dreadful things! I--I can't bear to hear him!"
+
+Steele heaved a sigh and closed his eyes. I walked away with Sally, led
+her to and fro in a shady aisle beyond the rocks, and tried to comfort
+her as best I could. After a while, when we returned to the glade, Miss
+Sampson had considerable color in her cheeks, and Steele was leaning
+against the rock, grave and sad. I saw that he had recovered and he had
+reached the critical point. "Hello, Russ," he said. "Sprung a surprise
+on me, didn't you? Miss Sampson says I've been a little flighty while
+she bandaged me up. I hope I wasn't bad. I certainly feel better now. I
+seem to--to have dreamed."
+
+Miss Sampson flushed at his concluding words. Then silence ensued. I
+could not think of anything to say and Sally was dumb. "You all seem
+very strange," said Miss Sampson.
+
+When Steele's face turned gray to his lips I knew the moment had come.
+"No doubt. We all feel so deeply for you," he said.
+
+"Me? Why?"
+
+"Because the truth must no longer be concealed."
+
+It was her turn to blanch, and her eyes, strained, dark as night,
+flashed from one of us to the other.
+
+"The truth! Tell it then." She had more courage than any of us.
+
+"Miss Sampson, your father is the leader of this gang of rustlers I
+have been tracing. Your cousin George Wright, is his right-hand man."
+
+Miss Sampson heard, but she did not believe.
+
+"Tell her, Russ," Steele added huskily, turning away. Wildly she whirled
+to me. I would have given anything to have been able to lie to her. As
+it was I could not speak. But she read the truth in my face. And she
+collapsed as if she had been shot. I caught her and laid her on the
+grass. Sally, murmuring and crying, worked over her. I helped. But
+Steele stood aloof, dark and silent, as if he hoped she would never
+return to consciousness.
+
+When she did come to, and began to cry, to moan, to talk frantically,
+Steele staggered away, while Sally and I made futile efforts to calm
+her. All we could do was to prevent her doing herself violence.
+Presently, when her fury of emotion subsided, and she began to show a
+hopeless stricken shame, I left Sally with her and went off a little way
+myself. How long I remained absent I had no idea, but it was no
+inconsiderable length of time. Upon my return, to my surprise and
+relief, Miss Sampson had recovered her composure, or at least,
+self-control. She stood leaning against the rock where Steele had been,
+and at this moment, beyond any doubt, she was supremely more beautiful
+than I had ever seen her. She was white, tragic, wonderful. "Where is
+Mr. Steele?" she asked. Her tone and her look did not seem at all
+suggestive of the mood I expected to find her in--one of beseeching
+agony, of passionate appeal to Steele not to ruin her father.
+
+"I'll find him," I replied turning away.
+
+Steele was readily found and came back with me. He was as unlike himself
+as she was strange. But when they again faced each other, then they were
+indeed new to me.
+
+"I want to know--what you must do," she said. Steele told her briefly,
+and his voice was stern.
+
+"Those--those criminals outside of my own family don't concern me now.
+But can my father and cousin be taken without bloodshed? I want to know
+the absolute truth." Steele knew that they could not be, but he could
+not tell her so. Again she appealed to me. Thus my part in the situation
+grew harder. It hurt me so that it made me angry, and my anger made me
+cruelly frank.
+
+"No. It can't be done. Sampson and Wright will be desperately hard to
+approach, which'll make the chances even. So, if you must know the
+truth, it'll be your father and cousin to go under, or it'll be Steele
+or me, or any combination luck breaks--or all of us!"
+
+Her self-control seemed to fly to the four winds. Swift as light she
+flung herself down before Steele, against his knees, clasped her arms
+round him. "Good God! Miss Sampson, you mustn't do that!" implored
+Steele. He tried to break her hold with shaking hands, but he could not.
+
+"Listen! Listen!" she cried, and her voice made Steele, and Sally and me
+also, still as the rock behind us. "Hear me! Do you think I beg you to
+let my father go, for his sake? No! No! I have gloried in your Ranger
+duty. I have loved you because of it. But some awful tragedy threatens
+here. Listen, Vaughn Steele. Do not you deny me, as I kneel here. I love
+you. I never loved any other man. But not for my love do I beseech you.
+
+"There is no help here unless you forswear your duty. Forswear it! Do
+not kill my father--the father of the woman who loves you. Worse and
+more horrible it would be to let my father kill you! It's I who make
+this situation unnatural, impossible. You must forswear your duty. I can
+live no longer if you don't. I pray you--" Her voice had sunk to a
+whisper, and now it failed. Then she seemed to get into his arms, to
+wind herself around him, her hair loosened, her face upturned, white and
+spent, her arms blindly circling his neck. She was all love, all
+surrender, all supreme appeal, and these, without her beauty, would have
+made her wonderful. But her beauty! Would not Steele have been less than
+a man or more than a man had he been impervious to it? She was like some
+snow-white exquisite flower, broken, and suddenly blighted. She was a
+woman then in all that made a woman helpless--in all that made her
+mysterious, sacred, absolutely and unutterably more than any other thing
+in life. All this time my gaze had been riveted on her only. But when
+she lifted her white face, tried to lift it, rather, and he drew her up,
+and then when both white faces met and seemed to blend in something
+rapt, awesome, tragic as life--then I saw Steele.
+
+I saw a god, a man as beautiful as she was. They might have stood,
+indeed, they did stand alone in the heart of a desert--alone in the
+world--alone with their love and their agony. It was a solemn and
+profound moment for me. I faintly realized how great it must have been
+for them, yet all the while there hammered at my mind the vital thing at
+stake. Had they forgotten, while I remembered? It might have been only a
+moment that he held her. It might have been my own agitation that
+conjured up such swift and whirling thoughts. But if my mind sometimes
+played me false my eyes never had. I thought I saw Diane Sampson die in
+Steele's arms; I could have sworn his heart was breaking; and mine was
+on the point of breaking, too.
+
+How beautiful they were! How strong, how mercifully strong, yet shaken,
+he seemed! How tenderly, hopelessly, fatally appealing she was in that
+hour of her broken life! If I had been Steele I would have forsworn my
+duty, honor, name, service for her sake. Had I mind enough to divine his
+torture, his temptation, his narrow escape? I seemed to feel them, at
+any rate, and while I saw him with a beautiful light on his face, I saw
+him also ghastly, ashen, with hands that shook as they groped around
+her, loosing her, only to draw her convulsively back again. It was the
+saddest sight I had ever seen. Death was nothing to it. Here was the
+death of happiness. He must wreck the life of the woman who loved him
+and whom he loved. I was becoming half frantic, almost ready to cry out
+the uselessness of this scene, almost on the point of pulling them
+apart, when Sally dragged me away. Her clinging hold then made me feel
+perhaps a little of what Miss Sampson's must have been to Steele.
+
+How different the feeling when it was mine! I could have thrust them
+apart, after all my schemes and tricks, to throw them together, in
+vague, undefined fear of their embrace. Still, when love beat at my own
+pulses, when Sally's soft hand held me tight and she leaned to me--that
+was different. I was glad to be led away--glad to have a chance to pull
+myself together. But was I to have that chance? Sally, who in the stife
+of emotion had been forgotten, might have to be reckoned with. Deep
+within me, some motive, some purpose, was being born in travail. I did
+not know what, but instinctively I feared Sally. I feared her because I
+loved her. My wits came back to combat my passion. This hazel-eyed girl,
+soft, fragile creature, might be harder to move than the Ranger. But
+could she divine a motive scarcely yet formed in my brain? Suddenly I
+became cool, with craft to conceal.
+
+"Oh, Russ! What's the matter with you?" she queried quickly. "Can't
+Diane and Steele, you and I ride away from this bloody, bad country? Our
+own lives, our happiness, come first, do they not?"
+
+"They ought to, I suppose," I muttered, fighting against the insidious
+sweetness of her. I knew then I must keep my lips shut or betray myself.
+
+"You look so strange. Russ, I wouldn't want you to kiss me with that
+mouth. Thin, shut lips--smile! Soften and kiss me! Oh, you're so cold,
+strange! You chill me!"
+
+"Dear child, I'm badly shaken," I said. "Don't expect me to be natural
+yet. There are things you can't guess. So much depended upon--Oh, never
+mind! I'll go now. I want to be alone, to think things out. Let me go,
+Sally."
+
+She held me only the tighter, tried to pull my face around. How
+intuitively keen women were. She felt my distress, and that growing,
+stern, and powerful thing I scarcely dared to acknowledge to myself.
+Strangely, then, I relaxed and faced her. There was no use trying to
+foil these feminine creatures. Every second I seemed to grow farther
+from her. The swiftness of this mood of mine was my only hope. I
+realized I had to get away quickly, and make up my mind after that what
+I intended to do. It was an earnest, soulful, and loving pair of eyes
+that I met. What did she read in mine? Her hands left mine to slide to
+my shoulders, to slip behind my neck, to lock there like steel bands.
+Here was my ordeal. Was it to be as terrible as Steele's had been? I
+thought it would be, and I swore by all that was rising grim and cold in
+me that I would be strong. Sally gave a little cry that cut like a blade
+in my heart, and then she was close-pressed upon me, her quivering
+breast beating against mine, her eyes, dark as night now, searching my
+soul.
+
+She saw more than I knew, and with her convulsive clasp of me confirmed
+my half-formed fears. Then she kissed me, kisses that had no more of
+girlhood or coquetry or joy or anything but woman's passion to blind and
+hold and tame. By their very intensity I sensed the tiger in me. And it
+was the tiger that made her new and alluring sweetness fail of its
+intent. I did not return one of her kisses. Just one kiss given
+back--and I would be lost.
+
+"Oh, Russ, I'm your promised wife!" she whispered at my lips. "Soon, you
+said! I want it to be soon! To-morrow!" All the subtlety, the
+intelligence, the cunning, the charm, the love that made up the whole of
+woman's power, breathed in her pleading. What speech known to the tongue
+could have given me more torture? She chose the strongest weapon nature
+afforded her. And had the calamity to consider been mine alone, I would
+have laughed at it and taken Sally at her word. Then I told her in
+short, husky sentences what had depended on Steele: that I loved the
+Ranger Service, but loved him more; that his character, his life,
+embodied this Service I loved; that I had ruined him; and now I would
+forestall him, do his work, force the issue myself or die in the
+attempt.
+
+"Dearest, it's great of you!" she cried. "But the cost! If you kill one
+of my kin I'll--I'll shrink from you! If you're killed--Oh, the thought
+is dreadful! You've done your share. Let Steele--some other Ranger
+finish it. I swear I don't plead for my uncle or my cousin, for their
+sakes. If they are vile, let them suffer. Russ, it's you I think of! Oh,
+my pitiful little dreams! I wanted so to surprise you with my beautiful
+home--the oranges, the mossy trees, the mocking-birds. Now you'll never,
+never come!"
+
+"But, Sally, there's a chance--a mere chance I can do the job without--"
+
+Then she let go of me. She had given up. I thought she was going to
+drop, and drew her toward the stone. I cursed the day I ever saw Neal
+and the service. Where, now, was the arch prettiness, the gay, sweet
+charm of Sally Langdon? She looked as if she were suffering from a
+desperate physical injury. And her final breakdown showed how, one way
+or another, I was lost to her.
+
+As she sank on the stone I had my supreme wrench, and it left me numb,
+hard, in a cold sweat. "Don't betray me! I'll forestall him! He's
+planned nothing for to-day," I whispered hoarsely. "Sally--you dearest,
+gamest little girl in the world! Remember I loved you, even if I
+couldn't prove it your way. It's for his sake. I'm to blame for their
+love. Some day my act will look different to you. Good-by!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 13
+
+RUSS SITTELL IN ACTION
+
+
+I ran like one possessed of devils down that rough slope, hurdling the
+stones and crashing through the brush, with a sound in my ears that was
+not all the rush of the wind. When I reached a level I kept running; but
+something dragged at me. I slowed down to a walk. Never in my life had I
+been victim of such sensation. I must flee from something that was
+drawing me back. Apparently one side of my mind was unalterably fixed,
+while the other was a hurrying conglomeration of flashes of thought,
+reception of sensations. I could not get calm.
+
+By and by, almost involuntarily, with a fleeting look backward as if in
+expectation of pursuit, I hurried faster on. Action seemed to make my
+state less oppressive; it eased the weight upon me. But the farther I
+went on, the harder it was to continue. I was turning my back upon love,
+happiness, success in life, perhaps on life itself. I was doing that,
+but my decision had not been absolute. There seemed no use to go on
+farther until I was absolutely sure of myself. I received a clear
+warning thought that such work as seemed haunting and driving me could
+never be carried out in the mood under which I labored. I hung on to
+that thought. Several times I slowed up, then stopped, only to tramp on
+again.
+
+At length, as I mounted a low ridge, Linrock lay bright and green before
+me, not faraway, and the sight was a conclusive check. There were
+mesquites on the ridge, and I sought the shade beneath them. It was the
+noon hour, with hot, glary sun and no wind. Here I had to have out my
+fight. If ever in my varied life of exciting adventure I strove to
+think, to understand myself, to see through difficulties, I assuredly
+strove then. I was utterly unlike myself; I could not bring the old self
+back; I was not the same man I once had been. But I could understand
+why. It was because of Sally Langdon, the gay and roguish girl who had
+bewitched me, the girl whom love had made a woman--the kind of woman
+meant to make life beautiful for me.
+
+I saw her changing through all those weeks, holding many of the old
+traits and graces, acquiring new character of mind and body, to become
+what I had just fled from--a woman sweet, fair, loyal, loving,
+passionate.
+
+Temptation assailed me. To have her to-morrow--my wife! She had said it.
+Just twenty-four little hours, and she would be mine--the only woman I
+had ever really coveted, the only one who had ever found the good in me.
+The thought was alluring. I followed it out, a long, happy stage-ride
+back to Austin, and then by train to her home where, as she had said,
+the oranges grew and the trees waved with streamers of gray moss and the
+mocking-birds made melody. I pictured that home. I wondered that long
+before I had not associated wealth and luxury with her family. Always I
+had owned a weakness for plantations, for the agricultural life with its
+open air and freedom from towns.
+
+I saw myself riding through the cotton and rice and cane, home to the
+stately old mansion, where long-eared hounds bayed me welcome and a
+woman looked for me and met me with happy and beautiful smiles. There
+might--there _would_ be children. And something new, strange,
+confounding with its emotion, came to life deep in my heart. There would
+be children! Sally their mother; I their father! The kind of life a
+lonely Ranger always yearned for and never had! I saw it all, felt it
+keenly, lived its sweetness in an hour of temptation that made me weak
+physically and my spirit faint and low.
+
+For what had I turned my back on this beautiful, all-satisfying
+prospect? Was it to arrest and jail a few rustlers? Was it to meet that
+mocking Sampson face to face and show him my shield and reach for my
+gun? Was it to kill that hated Wright? Was it to save the people of
+Linrock from further greed, raids, murder? Was it to please and aid my
+old captain, Neal of the Rangers? Was it to save the Service to the
+State?
+
+No--a thousand times no. It was for the sake of Steele. Because he was a
+wonderful man! Because I had been his undoing! Because I had thrown
+Diane Sampson into his arms! That had been my great error. This Ranger
+had always been the wonder and despair of his fellow officers, so
+magnificent a machine, so sober, temperate, chaste, so unremittingly
+loyal to the Service, so strangely stern and faithful to his conception
+of the law, so perfect in his fidelity to duty. He was the model, the
+inspiration, the pride of all of us. To me, indeed, he represented the
+Ranger Service. He was the incarnation of that spirit which fighting
+Texas had developed to oppose wildness and disorder and crime. He would
+carry through this Linrock case; but even so, if he were not killed, his
+career would be ruined. He might save the Service, yet at the cost of
+his happiness. He was not a machine; he was a man. He might be a perfect
+Ranger; still he was a human being.
+
+The loveliness, the passion, the tragedy of a woman, great as they were,
+had not power to shake him from his duty. Futile, hopeless, vain her
+love had been to influence him. But there had flashed over me with
+subtle, overwhelming suggestion that not futile, not vain was _my_ love
+to save him! Therefore, beyond and above all other claims, and by reason
+of my wrong to him, his claim came first.
+
+It was then there was something cold and deathlike in my soul; it was
+then I bade farewell to Sally Langdon. For I knew, whatever happened, of
+one thing I was sure--I would have to kill either Sampson or Wright.
+Snecker could be managed; Sampson might be trapped into arrest; but
+Wright had no sense, no control, no fear. He would snarl like a panther
+and go for his gun, and he would have to be killed. This, of all
+consummations, was the one to be calculated upon. And, of course, by
+Sally's own words, that contingency would put me forever outside the
+pale for her.
+
+I did not deceive myself; I did not accept the slightest intimation of
+hope; I gave her up. And then for a time regret, remorse, pain, darkness
+worked their will with me.
+
+I came out of it all bitter and callous and sore, in the most fitting of
+moods to undertake a difficult and deadly enterprise. Miss Sampson
+completely slipped my mind; Sally became a wraith as of some one dead;
+Steele began to fade. In their places came the bushy-bearded Snecker,
+the olive-skinned Sampson with his sharp eyes, and dark, evil faced
+Wright. Their possibilities began to loom up, and with my speculation
+returned tenfold more thrilling and sinister the old strange zest of the
+man-hunt.
+
+It was about one o'clock when I strode into Linrock. The streets for the
+most part were deserted. I went directly to the hall where Morton and
+Zimmer, with their men, had been left by Steele to guard the prisoners.
+I found them camping out in the place, restless, somber, anxious. The
+fact that only about half the original number of prisoners were left
+struck me as further indication of Morton's summary dealing. But when I
+questioned him as to the decrease in number, he said bluntly that they
+had escaped. I did not know whether or not to believe him. But that
+didn't matter. I tried to get in some more questions, only I found that
+Morton and Zimmer meant to be heard first. "Where's Steele?" they
+demanded.
+
+"He's out of town, in a safe place," I replied. "Too bad hurt for
+action. I'm to rush through with the rest of the deal."
+
+"That's good. We've waited long enough. This gang has been split, an'
+if we hurry they'll never get together again. Old man Snecker showed up
+to-day. He's drawin' the outfit in again. Reckon he's waitin' for
+orders. Sure he's ragin' since Bo was killed. This old fox will be
+dangerous if he gets goin'."
+
+"Where is he now?" I queried.
+
+"Over at the Hope So. Must be a dozen of the gang there. But he's the
+only leader left we know of. If we get him, the rustler gang will be
+broken for good. He's sent word down here for us to let our prisoners go
+or there'd be a damn bloody fight. We haven't sent our answer yet. Was
+hopin' Steele would show up. An' now we're sure glad you're back."
+
+"Morton, I'll take the answer," I replied quickly. "Now there're two
+things. Do you know if Sampson and Wright are at the ranch?"
+
+"They were an hour ago. We had word. Zimmer saw Dick."
+
+"All right. Have you any horses handy?"
+
+"Sure. Those hitched outside belong to us."
+
+"I want you to take a man with you, in a few moments, and ride round the
+back roads and up to Sampson's house. Get off and wait under the trees
+till you hear me shoot or yell, then come fast."
+
+Morton's breast heaved; he whistled as he breathed; his neck churned.
+"God Almighty! So _there_ the scent leads! We always wondered--half
+believed. But no one spoke--no one had any nerve." Morton moistened his
+lips; his face was livid; his big hands shook. "Russ, you can gamble on
+me."
+
+"Good. Well, that's all. Come out and get me a horse."
+
+When I had mounted and was half-way to the Hope So, my plan, as far as
+Snecker was concerned, had been formed. It was to go boldy into the
+saloon, ask for the rustler, first pretend I had a reply from Morton and
+then, when I had Snecker's ear, whisper a message supposedly from
+Sampson. If Snecker was too keen to be decoyed I could at least surprise
+him off his guard and kill him, then run for my horse. The plan seemed
+clever to me. I had only one thing to fear, and that was a possibility
+of the rustlers having seen my part in Steele's defense the other day.
+That had to be risked. There were always some kind of risks to be faced.
+
+It was scarcely a block and a half to the Hope So. Before I arrived I
+knew I had been seen. When I dismounted before the door I felt cold, yet
+there was an exhilaration in the moment. I never stepped more naturally
+and carelessly into the saloon. It was full of men. There were men
+behind the bar helping themselves. Evidently Blandy's place had not been
+filled. Every face near the door was turned toward me; dark, intent,
+scowling, malignant they were, and made me need my nerve.
+
+"Say, boys, I've a word for Snecker," I called, quite loud. Nobody
+stirred. I swept my glance over the crowd, but did not see Snecker. "I'm
+in some hurry," I added.
+
+"Bill ain't here," said a man at the table nearest me. "Air you comin'
+from Morton?"
+
+"Nit. But I'm not yellin' this message."
+
+The rustler rose, and in a few long strides confronted me.
+
+"Word from Sampson!" I whispered, and the rustler stared. "I'm in his
+confidence. He's got to see Bill at once. Sampson sends word he's
+quit--he's done--he's through. The jig is up, and he means to hit the
+road out of Linrock."
+
+"Bill'll kill him surer 'n hell," muttered the rustler. "But we all said
+it'd come to thet. An' what'd Wright say?"
+
+"Wright! Why, he's cashed in. Didn't you-all hear? Reckon Sampson shot
+him."
+
+The rustler cursed his amaze and swung his rigid arm with fist clenched
+tight. "When did Wright get it?"
+
+"A little while ago. I don't know how long. Anyway, I saw him lyin' dead
+on the porch. An' say, pard, I've got to rustle. Send Bill up quick as
+he comes. Tell him Sampson wants to turn over all his stock an' then
+light out."
+
+I backed to the door, and the last I saw of the rustler he was standing
+there in a scowling amaze. I had fooled him all right. If only I had the
+luck to have Snecker come along soon. Mounting, I trotted the horse
+leisurely up the street. Business and everything else was at a
+standstill in Linrock these days. The doors of the stores were
+barricaded. Down side streets, however, I saw a few people, a buckboard,
+and stray cattle.
+
+When I reached the edge of town I turned aside a little and took a look
+at the ruins of Steele's adobe house. The walls and debris had all been
+flattened, scattered about, and if anything of, value had escaped
+destruction it had disappeared. Steele, however, had left very little
+that would have been of further use to him. Turning again, I continued
+on my way up to the ranch. It seemed that, though I was eager rather
+than backward, my mind seized avidly upon suggestion or attraction, as
+if to escape the burden of grim pondering. When about half-way across
+the flat, and perhaps just out of gun-shot sound of Sampson's house, I
+heard the rapid clatter of hoofs on the hard road. I wheeled, expecting
+to see Morton and his man, and was ready to be chagrined at their coming
+openly instead of by the back way. But this was only one man, and it was
+not Morton. He seemed of big build, and he bestrode a fine bay horse.
+There evidently was reason for hurry, too. At about one hundred yards,
+when I recognized Snecker, complete astonishment possessed me.
+
+Well it was I had ample time to get on my guard! In wheeling my horse I
+booted him so hard that he reared. As I had been warm I had my sombrero
+over the pommel of the saddle. And when the head of my horse blocked any
+possible sight of movement of my hand, I pulled my gun and held it
+concealed under my sombrero. This rustler had bothered me in my
+calculations. And here he came galloping, alone. Exultation would have
+been involuntary then but for the sudden shock, and then the cold
+settling of temper, the breathless suspense. Snecker pulled his huge bay
+and pounded to halt abreast of me. Luck favored me. Had I ever had
+anything but luck in these dangerous deals?
+
+Snecker seemed to fume; internally there was a volcano. His wide
+sombrero and bushy beard hid all of his face except his eyes, which were
+deepset furnaces. He, too, like his lieutenant, had been carried
+completely off balance by the strange message apparently from Sampson.
+It was Sampson's name that had fooled and decoyed these men. "Hey!
+You're the feller who jest left word fer some one at the Hope So?" he
+asked.
+
+"Yes," I replied, while with my left hand I patted the neck of my horse,
+holding him still.
+
+"Sampson wants me bad, eh?"
+
+"Reckon there's only one man who wants you more."
+
+Steadily, I met his piercing gaze. This was a rustler not to be long
+victim to any ruse. I waited in cold surety.
+
+"You thet cowboy, Russ?" he asked.
+
+"I was--and I'm not!" I replied significantly.
+
+The violent start of this violent outlaw was a rippling jerk of passion.
+"What'n hell!" he ejaculated.
+
+"Bill, you're easy."
+
+"Who're you?" he uttered hoarsely.
+
+I watched Snecker with hawk-like keenness. "United States deputy
+marshal. Bill, you're under arrest!"
+
+He roared a mad curse as his hand clapped down to his gun. Then I fired
+through my sombrero. Snecker's big horse plunged. The rustler fell back,
+and one of his legs pitched high as he slid off the lunging steed. His
+other foot caught in the stirrup. This fact terribly frightened the
+horse. He bolted, dragging the rustler for a dozen jumps. Then Snecker's
+foot slipped loose. He lay limp and still and shapeless in the road. I
+did not need to go back to look him over.
+
+But to make assurance doubly sure, I dismounted, and went back to where
+he lay. My bullet had gone where it had been aimed. As I rode up into
+Sampson's court-yard and turned in to the porch I heard loud and angry
+voices. Sampson and Wright were quarrelling again. How my lucky star
+guided me! I had no plan of action, but my brain was equal to a hundred
+lightning-swift evolutions. The voices ceased. The men had heard the
+horse. Both of them came out on the porch. In an instant I was again the
+lolling impudent cowboy, half under the influence of liquor.
+
+"It's only Russ and he's drunk," said George Wright contemptuously.
+
+"I heard horses trotting off there," replied Sampson. "Maybe the girls
+are coming. I bet I teach them not to run off again--Hello, Russ."
+
+He looked haggard and thin, but seemed amiable enough. He was in his
+shirt-sleeves and he had come out with a gun in his hand. This he laid
+on a table near the wall. He wore no belt. I rode right up to the porch
+and, greeting them laconically, made a show of a somewhat tangle-footed
+cowboy dismounting. The moment I got off and straightened up, I asked no
+more. The game was mine. It was the great hour of my life and I met it
+as I had never met another. I looked and acted what I pretended to be,
+though a deep and intense passion, an almost ungovernable suspense, an
+icy sickening nausea abided with me. All I needed, all I wanted was to
+get Sampson and Wright together, or failing that, to maneuver into such
+position that I had any kind of a chance. Sampson's gun on the table
+made three distinct objects for me to watch and two of them could change
+position.
+
+"What do you want here?" demanded Wright. He was red, bloated,
+thick-lipped, all fiery and sweaty from drink, though sober on the
+moment, and he had the expression of a desperate man in his last stand.
+It _was_ his last stand, though he was ignorant of that.
+
+"Me--Say, Wright, I ain't fired yet," I replied, in slow-rising
+resentment.
+
+"Well, you're fired now," he replied insolently.
+
+"Who fires me, I'd like to know?" I walked up on the porch and I had a
+cigarette in one hand, a match in the other. I struck the match.
+
+"I do," said Wright.
+
+I studied him with apparent amusement. It had taken only one glance
+around for me to divine that Sampson would enjoy any kind of a clash
+between Wright and me. "Huh! You fired me once before an' it didn't go,
+Wright. I reckon you don't stack up here as strong as you think."
+
+He was facing the porch, moody, preoccupied, somber, all the time. Only
+a little of his mind was concerned with me. Manifestly there were strong
+forces at work. Both men were strained to a last degree, and Wright
+could be made to break at almost a word. Sampson laughed mockingly at
+this sally of mine, and that stung Wright. He stopped his pacing and
+turned his handsome, fiery eyes on me. "Sampson, I won't stand this
+man's impudence."
+
+"Aw, Wright, cut that talk. I'm not impudent. Sampson knows I'm a good
+fellow, on the square, and I have you sized up about O.K."
+
+"All the same, Russ, you'd better dig out," said Sampson. "Don't kick up
+any fuss. We're busy with deals to-day. And I expect visitors."
+
+"Sure. I won't stay around where I ain't wanted," I replied. Then I lit
+my cigarette and did not move an inch out of my tracks.
+
+Sampson sat in a chair near the door; the table upon which lay his gun
+stood between him and Wright. This position did not invite me to start
+anything. But the tension had begun to be felt. Sampson had his sharp
+gaze on me. "What'd you come for, anyway?" he asked suddenly.
+
+"Well, I had some news I was asked to fetch in."
+
+"Get it out of you then."
+
+"See here now, Mr. Sampson, the fact is I'm a tender-hearted fellow. I
+hate to hurt people's feelin's. And if I was to spring this news in Mr.
+Wright's hearin', why, such a sensitive, high-tempered gentleman as he
+would go plumb off his nut." Unconcealed sarcasm was the dominant note
+in that speech. Wright flared up, yet he was eagerly curious. Sampson,
+probably, thought I was only a little worse for drink, and but for the
+way I rubbed Wright he would not have tolerated me at all.
+
+"What's this news? You needn't be afraid of my feelings," said Wright.
+
+"Ain't so sure of that," I drawled. "It concerns the lady you're sweet
+on, an' the ranger you ain't sweet on."
+
+Sampson jumped up. "Russ, had Diane gone out to meet Steele?" he asked
+angrily.
+
+"Sure she had," I replied.
+
+I thought Wright would choke. He was thick-necked anyway, and the gush
+of blood made him tear at the soft collar of his shirt. Both men were
+excited now, moving about, beginning to rouse. I awaited my chance,
+patient, cold, all my feelings shut in the vise of my will.
+
+"How do you know she met Steele?" demanded Sampson.
+
+"I was there. I met Sally at the same time."
+
+"But why should my daughter meet this Ranger?"
+
+"She's in love with him and he's in love with her."
+
+The simple statement might have had the force of a juggernaut. I reveled
+in Wright's state, but I felt sorry for Sampson. He had not outlived his
+pride. Then I saw the leaping thought--would this daughter side against
+him? Would she help to betray him? He seemed to shrivel up, to grow old
+while I watched him.
+
+Wright, finding his voice, cursed Diane, cursed the Ranger, then
+Sampson, then me.
+
+"You damned, selfish fool!" cried Sampson, in deep, bitter scorn. "All
+you think of is yourself. Your loss of the girl! Think once of me--my
+home--my life!"
+
+Then the connection subtly put out by Sampson apparently dawned upon the
+other. Somehow, through this girl, her father and cousin were to be
+betrayed. I got that impression, though I could not tell how true it
+was. Certainly, Wright's jealousy was his paramount emotion.
+
+Sampson thrust me sidewise off the porch. "Go away," he ordered. He did
+not look around to see if I came back. Quickly I leaped to my former
+position. He confronted Wright. He was beyond the table where the gun
+lay. They were close together. My moment had come. The game was
+mine--and a ball of fire burst in my brain to race all over me.
+
+"To hell with you!" burst out Wright incoherently. He was frenzied.
+"I'll have her or nobody else will!"
+
+"You never will," returned Sampson stridently. "So help me God, I'd
+rather see her Ranger Steele's wife than yours!"
+
+While Wright absorbed that shock Sampson leaned toward him, all of hate
+and menace in his mien. They had forgotten the half-drunken cowboy.
+"Wright, you made me what I am," continued Sampson. "I backed you,
+protected you, finally I went in with you. Now it's ended. I quit you.
+I'm done!" Their gray, passion-corded faces were still as stones.
+
+"Gentlemen," I called in clear, high, far-reaching voice, the intonation
+of authority, "you're both done!"
+
+They wheeled to confront me, to see my leveled gun. "Don't move! Not a
+muscle! Not a finger!" I warned. Sampson read what Wright had not the
+mind to read. His face turned paler gray, to ashen.
+
+"What d'ye mean?" yelled Wright fiercely, shrilly. It was not in him to
+obey my command, to see impending death. All quivering and strung, yet
+with perfect control, I raised my left hand to turn back a lapel of my
+open vest. The silver shield flashed brightly.
+
+"United States deputy marshal in service of Ranger Steele!"
+
+Wright howled like a dog. With barbarous and insane fury, with sheer,
+impotent folly, he swept a clawing hand for his gun. My shot broke his
+action as it cut short his life. Before Wright even tottered, before he
+loosed the gun, Sampson leaped behind him, clasped him with his left
+arm, quick as lightning jerked the gun from both clutching fingers and
+sheath. I shot at Sampson, then again, then a third time. All my bullets
+sped into the upheld nodding Wright. Sampson had protected himself with
+the body of the dead man. I had seen red flashes, puffs of smoke, had
+heard quick reports. Something stung my left arm. Then a blow like wind,
+light of sound yet shocking in impact, struck me, knocked me flat. The
+hot rend of lead followed the blow. My heart seemed to explode, yet my
+mind kept extraordinarily clear and rapid.
+
+I raised myself, felt a post at my shoulder, leaned on it. I heard
+Sampson work the action of Wright's gun. I heard the hammer click, fall
+upon empty shells. He had used up all the loads in Wright's gun. I heard
+him curse as a man cursed at defeat. I waited, cool and sure now, for
+him to show his head or other vital part from behind his bolster. He
+tried to lift the dead man, to edge him closer toward the table where
+the gun lay. But, considering the peril of exposing himself, he found
+the task beyond him. He bent, peering at me under Wright's arm.
+Sampson's eyes were the eyes of a man who meant to kill me. There was
+never any mistaking the strange and terrible light of eyes like those.
+
+More than once I had a chance to aim at them, at the top of Sampson's
+head, at a strip of his side. But I had only two shells left. I wanted
+to make sure. Suddenly I remembered Morton and his man. Then I pealed
+out a cry--hoarse, strange, yet far-reaching. It was answered by a
+shout. Sampson heard it. It called forth all that was in the man. He
+flung Wright's body off. But even as it dropped, before Sampson could
+recover to leap as he surely intended for the gun, I covered him, called
+piercingly to him. I could kill him there or as he moved. But one chance
+I gave him.
+
+"Don't jump for the gun! Don't! I'll kill you! I've got two shells left!
+Sure as God, I'll kill you!"
+
+He stood perhaps ten feet from the table where his gun lay. I saw him
+calculating chances. He was game. He had the courage that forced me to
+respect him. I just saw him measure the distance to that gun. He was
+magnificent. He meant to do it. I would have to kill him.
+
+"Sampson, listen!" I cried, very swiftly. "The game's up! You're done!
+But think of your daughter! I'll spare your life, I'll give you freedom
+on one condition. For her sake! I've got you nailed--all the proofs.
+It was I behind the wall the other night. Blome, Hilliard, Pickens, Bo
+Snecker, are dead. I killed Bo Snecker on the way up here. There lies
+Wright. You're alone. And here comes Morton and his men to my aid.
+
+"Give up! Surrender! Consent to demands and I'll spare you. You can go
+free back to your old country. It's for Diane's sake! Her life, perhaps
+her happiness, can be saved! Hurry, man! Your answer!"
+
+"Suppose I refuse?" he queried, with a dark and terrible earnestness.
+
+"Then I'll kill you in your tracks! You can't move a hand! Your word or
+death! Hurry, Sampson! I can't last much longer. But I can kill you
+before I drop. Be a man! For her sake! Quick! Another second now--By
+God, I'll kill you!"
+
+"All right, Russ! I give my word," he said, and deliberately walked to
+the chair and fell into it, just as Morton came running up with his man.
+
+"Put away your gun," I ordered them. "The game's up. Snecker and Wright
+are dead. Sampson is my prisoner. He has my word he'll be protected.
+It's for you to draw up papers with him. He'll divide all his property,
+every last acre, every head of stock as you and Zimmer dictate. He gives
+up all. Then he's free to leave the country, and he's never to return."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 14
+
+THROUGH THE VALLEY
+
+
+Sampson looked strangely at the great bloody blot on my breast and his
+look made me conscious of a dark hurrying of my mind. Morton came
+stamping up the steps with blunt queries, with anxious mien. When he saw
+the front of me he halted, threw wide his arms.
+
+"There come the girls!" suddenly exclaimed Sampson. "Morton, help me
+drag Wright inside. They mustn't see him."
+
+I was facing down the porch toward the court and corrals. Miss Sampson
+and Sally had come in sight, were swiftly approaching, evidently
+alarmed. Steele, no doubt, had remained out at the camp. I was watching
+them, wondering what they would do and say presently, and then Sampson
+and Johnson came to carry me indoors. They laid me on the couch in the
+parlor where the girls used to be so often.
+
+"Russ, you're pretty hard hit," said Sampson, bending over me, with his
+hands at my breast. The room was bright with sunshine, yet the light
+seemed to be fading.
+
+"Reckon I am," I replied.
+
+"I'm sorry. If only you could have told me sooner! Wright, damn him!
+Always I've split over him!"
+
+"But the last time, Sampson."
+
+"Yes, and I came near driving you to kill me, too. Russ, you talked me
+out of it. For Diane's sake! She'll be in here in a minute. This'll be
+harder than facing a gun."
+
+"Hard now. But it'll--turn out--O.K."
+
+"Russ, will you do me a favor?" he asked, and he seemed shamefaced.
+
+"Sure."
+
+"Let Diane and Sally think Wright shot you. He's dead. It can't matter.
+And you're hard hit. The girls are fond of you. If--if you go
+under--Russ, the old side of my life is coming back. It's _been_ coming.
+It'll be here just about when she enters this room. And by God, I'd
+change places with you if I could."
+
+"Glad you--said that, Sampson," I replied. "And sure--Wright plugged me.
+It's our secret. I've a reason, too, not--that--it--matters--much--now."
+
+The light was fading. I could not talk very well. I felt dumb, strange,
+locked in ice, with dull little prickings of my flesh, with dim rushing
+sounds in my ears. But my mind was clear. Evidently there was little to
+be done. Morton came in, looked at me, and went out. I heard the quick,
+light steps of the girls on the porch, and murmuring voices.
+
+"Where'm I hit?" I whispered.
+
+"Three places. Arm, shoulder, and a bad one in the breast. It got your
+lung, I'm afraid. But if you don't go quick, you've a chance."
+
+"Sure I've a chance."
+
+"Russ, I'll tell the girls, do what I can for you, then settle with
+Morton and clear out."
+
+Just then Diane and Sally entered the room. I heard two low cries, so
+different in tone, and I saw two dim white faces. Sally flew to my side
+and dropped to her knees. Both hands went to my face, then to my breast.
+She lifted them, shaking. They were red. White and mute she gazed from
+them to me. But some woman's intuition kept her from fainting.
+
+"Papa!" cried Diane, wringing her hands.
+
+"Don't give way," he replied. "Both you girls will need your nerve. Russ
+is badly hurt. There's little hope for him."
+
+Sally moaned and dropped her face against me, clasping me convulsively.
+I tried to reach a hand out to touch her, but I could not move. I felt
+her hair against my face. Diane uttered a low heart-rending cry, which
+both Sampson and I understood.
+
+"Listen, let me tell it quick," he said huskily. "There's been a fight.
+Russ killed Snecker and Wright. They resisted arrest. It--it was
+Wright--it was Wright's gun that put Russ down. Russ let me off. In
+fact, Diane, he saved me. I'm to divide my property--return so far as
+possible what I've stolen--leave Texas at once and forever. You'll find
+me back in old Louisiana--if--if you ever want to come home."
+
+As she stood there, realizing her deliverance, with the dark and tragic
+glory of her eyes passing from her father to me, my own sight shadowed,
+and I thought if I were dying then, it was not in vain.
+
+"Send--for--Steele," I whispered.
+
+Silently, swiftly, breathlessly they worked over me. I was exquisitely
+sensitive to touch, to sound, but I could not see anything. By and by
+all was quiet, and I slipped into a black void. Familiar heavy swift
+footsteps, the thump of heels of a powerful and striding man, jarred
+into the blackness that held me, seemed to split it to let me out; and I
+opened my eyes in a sunlit room to see Sally's face all lined and
+haggard, to see Miss Sampson fly to the door, and the stalwart Ranger
+bow his lofty head to enter. However far life had ebbed from me, then it
+came rushing back, keen-sighted, memorable, with agonizing pain in every
+nerve. I saw him start, I heard him cry, but I could not speak. He bent
+over me and I tried to smile. He stood silent, his hand on me, while
+Diane Sampson told swiftly, brokenly, what had happened.
+
+How she told it! I tried to whisper a protest. To any one on earth
+except Steele I might have wished to appear a hero. Still, at that
+moment I had more dread of him than any other feeling. She finished the
+story with her head on his shoulder, with tears that certainly were in
+part for me. Once in my life, then, I saw him stunned. But when he
+recovered it was not Diane that he thought of first, nor of the end of
+Sampson's power. He turned to me.
+
+"Little hope?" he cried out, with the deep ring in his voice. "No!
+There's every hope. No bullet hole like that could ever kill this
+Ranger. Russ!"
+
+I could not answer him. But this time I did achieve a smile. There was
+no shadow, no pain in his face such as had haunted me in Sally's and
+Diane's. He could fight death the same as he could fight evil. He
+vitalized the girls. Diane began to hope; Sally lost her woe. He changed
+the atmosphere of that room. Something filled it, something like
+himself, big, virile, strong. The very look of him made me suddenly want
+to live; and all at once it seemed I felt alive. And that was like
+taking the deadened ends of nerves to cut them raw and quicken them with
+fiery current.
+
+From stupor I had leaped to pain, and that tossed me into fever. There
+were spaces darkened, mercifully shutting me in; there were others of
+light, where I burned and burned in my heated blood. Sally, like the
+wraith she had become in my mind, passed in and out; Diane watched and
+helped in those hours when sight was clear. But always the Ranger was
+with me. Sometimes I seemed to feel his spirit grappling with mine,
+drawing me back from the verge. Sometimes, in strange dreams, I saw him
+there between me and a dark, cold, sinister shape.
+
+The fever passed, and with the first nourishing drink given me I seemed
+to find my tongue, to gain something.
+
+"Hello, old man," I whispered to Steele.
+
+"Oh, Lord, Russ, to think you would double-cross me the way you did!"
+
+That was his first speech to me after I had appeared to face round from
+the grave. His good-humored reproach told me more than any other thing
+how far from his mind was thought of death for me. Then he talked a
+little to me, cheerfully, with that directness and force characteristic
+of him always, showing me that the danger was past, and that I would now
+be rapidly on the mend. I discovered that I cared little whether I was
+on the mend or not. When I had passed the state of somber unrealities
+and then the hours of pain and then that first inspiring flush of
+renewed desire to live, an entirely different mood came over me. But I
+kept it to myself. I never even asked why, for three days, Sally never
+entered the room where I lay. I associated this fact, however, with what
+I had imagined her shrinking from me, her intent and pale face, her
+singular manner when occasion made it necessary or unavoidable for her
+to be near me.
+
+No difficulty was there in associating my change of mood with her
+absence. I brooded. Steele's keen insight betrayed me to him, but all
+his power and his spirit availed nothing to cheer me. I pretended to be
+cheerful; I drank and ate anything given me; I was patient and quiet.
+But I ceased to mend.
+
+Then, one day she came back, and Steele, who was watching me as she
+entered, quietly got up and without a word took Diane out of the room
+and left me alone with Sally.
+
+"Russ, I've been sick myself--in bed for three days," she said. "I'm
+better now. I hope you are. You look so pale. Do you still think, brood
+about that fight?"
+
+"Yes, I can't forget. I'm afraid it cost me more than life."
+
+Sally was somber, bloomy, thoughtful. "You weren't driven to kill
+George?" she asked.
+
+"How do you mean?"
+
+"By that awful instinct, that hankering to kill, you once told me these
+gunmen had."
+
+"No, I can swear it wasn't that. I didn't want to kill him. But he
+forced me. As I had to go after these two men it was a foregone
+conclusion about Wright. It was premeditated. I have no excuse."
+
+"Hush--Tell me, if you confronted them, drew on them, then you had a
+chance to kill my uncle?"
+
+"Yes. I could have done it easily."
+
+"Why, then, didn't you?"
+
+"It was for Diane's sake. I'm afraid I didn't think of you. I had put
+you out of my mind."
+
+"Well, if a man can be noble at the same time he's terrible, you've
+been, Russ--I don't know how I feel. I'm sick and I can't think. I see,
+though, what you saved Diane and Steele. Why, she's touching happiness
+again, fearfully, yet really. Think of that! God only knows what you did
+for Steele. If I judged it by his suffering as you lay there about to
+die it would be beyond words to tell. But, Russ, you're pale and shaky
+now. Hush! No more talk!"
+
+With all my eyes and mind and heart and soul I watched to see if she
+shrank from me. She was passive, yet tender as she smoothed my pillow
+and moved my head. A dark abstraction hung over her, and it was so
+strange, so foreign to her nature. No sensitiveness on earth could have
+equaled mine at that moment. And I saw and felt and knew that she did
+not shrink from me. Thought and feeling escaped me for a while. I dozed.
+The old shadows floated to and fro.
+
+When I awoke Steele and Diane had just come in. As he bent over me I
+looked up into his keen gray eyes and there was no mask on my own as I
+looked up to him.
+
+"Son, the thing that was needed was a change of nurses," he said gently.
+"I intend to make up some sleep now and leave you in better care."
+
+From that hour I improved. I slept, I lay quietly awake, I partook of
+nourishing food. I listened and watched, and all the time I gained. But
+I spoke very little, and though I tried to brighten when Steele was in
+the room I made only indifferent success of it. Days passed. Sally was
+almost always with me, yet seldom alone. She was grave where once she
+had been gay. How I watched her face, praying for that shade to lift!
+How I listened for a note of the old music in her voice! Sally Langdon
+had sustained a shock to her soul almost as dangerous as had been the
+blow at my life. Still I hoped. I had seen other women's deadened and
+darkened spirits rebound and glow once more. It began to dawn upon me,
+however, that more than time was imperative if she were ever to become
+her old self again.
+
+Studying her closer, with less thought of myself and her reaction to my
+presence, I discovered that she trembled at shadows, seemed like a
+frightened deer with a step always on its trail, was afraid of the dark.
+Then I wondered why I had not long before divined one cause of her
+strangeness. The house where I had killed one of her kin would ever be
+haunted for her. She had said she was a Southerner and that blood was
+thick. When I had thought out the matter a little further, I
+deliberately sat up in bed, scaring the wits out of all my kind nurses.
+
+"Steele, I'll never get well in this house. I want to go home. When can
+you take me?"
+
+They remonstrated with me and pleaded and scolded, all to little avail.
+Then they were persuaded to take me seriously, to plan, providing I
+improved, to start in a few days. We were to ride out of Pecos County
+together, back along the stage trail to civilization. The look in
+Sally's eyes decided my measure of improvement. I could have started
+that very day and have borne up under any pain or distress. Strange to
+see, too, how Steele and Diane responded to the stimulus of my idea, to
+the promise of what lay beyond the wild and barren hills!
+
+He told me that day about the headlong flight of every lawless character
+out of Linrock, the very hour that Snecker and Wright and Sampson were
+known to have fallen. Steele expressed deep feeling, almost
+mortification, that the credit of that final coup had gone to him,
+instead of me. His denial and explanation had been only a few soundless
+words in the face of a grateful and clamorous populace that tried to
+reward him, to make him mayor of Linrock. Sampson had made restitution
+in every case where he had personally gained at the loss of farmer or
+rancher; and the accumulation of years went far toward returning to
+Linrock what it had lost in a material way. He had been a poor man when
+he boarded the stage for Sanderson, on his way out of Texas forever.
+
+Not long afterward I heard Steele talking to Miss Sampson, in a deep and
+agitated voice. "You must rise above this. When I come upon you alone I
+see the shadow, the pain in your face. How wonderfully this thing has
+turned out when it might have ruined you! I expected it to ruin you.
+Who, but that wild boy in there could have saved us all? Diane, you have
+had cause for sorrow. But your father is alive and will live it down.
+Perhaps, back there in Louisiana, the dishonor will never be known.
+Pecos County is far from your old home. And even in San Antonio and
+Austin, a man's evil repute means little.
+
+"Then the line between a rustler and a rancher is hard to draw in these
+wild border days. Rustling is stealing cattle, and I once heard a
+well-known rancher say that all rich cattlemen had done a little
+stealing. Your father drifted out here, and like a good many others, he
+succeeded. It's perhaps just as well not to split hairs, to judge him by
+the law and morality of a civilized country. Some way or other he
+drifted in with bad men. Maybe a deal that was honest somehow tied his
+hands and started him in wrong.
+
+"This matter of land, water, a few stray head of stock had to be decided
+out of court. I'm sure in his case he never realized where he was
+drifting. Then one thing led to another, until he was face to face with
+dealing that took on crooked form. To protect himself he bound men to
+him. And so the gang developed. Many powerful gangs have developed that
+way out here. He could not control them. He became involved with them.
+
+"And eventually their dealings became deliberately and boldly dishonest.
+That meant the inevitable spilling of blood sooner or later, and so he
+grew into the leader because he was the strongest. Whatever he is to be
+judged for I think he could have been infinitely worse."
+
+When he ceased speaking I had the same impulse that must have governed
+Steele--somehow to show Sampson not so black as he was painted, to give
+him the benefit of a doubt, to arraign him justly in the eyes of Rangers
+who knew what wild border life was.
+
+"Steele, bring Diane in!" I called. "I've something to tell her." They
+came quickly, concerned probably at my tone. "I've been hoping for a
+chance to tell you something, Miss Sampson. That day I came here your
+father was quarreling with Wright. I had heard them do that before. He
+hated Wright. The reason came out just before we had the fight. It was
+my plan to surprise them. I did. I told them you went out to meet
+Steele--that you two were in love with each other. Wright grew wild. He
+swore no one would ever have you. Then Sampson said he'd rather have you
+Steele's wife than Wright's.
+
+"I'll not forget that scene. There was a great deal back of it, long
+before you ever came out to Linrock. Your father said that he had backed
+Wright, that the deal had ruined him, made him a rustler. He said he
+quit; he was done. Now, this is all clear to me, and I want to explain,
+Miss Sampson. It was Wright who ruined your father. It was Wright who
+was the rustler. It was Wright who made the gang necessary. But Wright
+had not the brains or the power to lead men. Because blood is thick,
+your father became the leader of that gang. At heart he was never a
+criminal.
+
+"The reason I respected him was because he showed himself a man at the
+last. He faced me to be shot, and I couldn't do it. As Steele said,
+you've reason for sorrow. But you must get over it. You mustn't brood. I
+do not see that you'll be disgraced or dishonored. Of course, that's not
+the point. The vital thing is whether or not a woman of your
+high-mindedness had real and lasting cause for shame. Steele says no. I
+say no."
+
+Then, as Miss Sampson dropped down beside me, her eyes shining and wet,
+Sally entered the room in time to see her cousin bend to kiss me
+gratefully with sisterly fervor. Yet it was a woman's kiss, given for
+its own sake. Sally could not comprehend; it was too sudden, too
+unheard-of, that Diane Sampson should kiss me, the man she did not love.
+Sally's white, sad face changed, and in the flaming wave of scarlet that
+dyed neck and cheek and brow I read with mighty pound of heart that,
+despite the dark stain between us, she loved me still.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter 15
+
+CONVALESCENCE
+
+
+Four mornings later we were aboard the stage, riding down the main
+street, on the way out of Linrock. The whole town turned out to bid us
+farewell. The cheering, the clamor, the almost passionate fervor of the
+populace irritated me, and I could not see the incident from their point
+of view. Never in my life had I been so eager to get out of a place. But
+then I was morbid, and the whole world hinged on one thing. Morton
+insisted on giving us an escort as far as Del Rio. It consisted of six
+cowboys, mounted, with light packs, and they rode ahead of the stage.
+
+We had the huge vehicle to ourselves. A comfortable bed had been rigged
+up for me by placing boards across from seat to seat, and furnishing it
+with blankets and pillows. By some squeezing there was still room enough
+inside for my three companions; but Steele expressed an intention of
+riding mostly outside, and Miss Sampson's expression betrayed her. I was
+to be alone with Sally. The prospect thrilled while it saddened me. How
+different this ride from that first one, with all its promise of
+adventure and charm!
+
+"It's over!" said Steele thickly. "It's done! I'm glad, for their
+sakes--glad for ours. We're out of town."
+
+I had been quick to miss the shouts and cheers. And I had been just as
+quick to see, or to imagine, a subtle change in Sally Langdon's face. We
+had not traveled a mile before the tension relaxed about her lips, the
+downcast eyelids lifted, and I saw, beyond any peradventure of doubt, a
+lighter spirit. Then I relaxed myself, for I had keyed up every nerve to
+make myself strong for this undertaking. I lay back with closed eyes,
+weary, aching, in more pain than I wanted them to discover. And I
+thought and thought.
+
+Miss Sampson had said to me: "Russ, it'll all come right. I can tell you
+now what you never guessed. For years Sally had been fond of our cousin,
+George Wright. She hadn't seen him since she was a child. But she
+remembered. She had an only brother who was the image of George. Sally
+devotedly loved Arthur. He was killed in the Rebellion. She never got
+over it. That left her without any family. George and I were her nearest
+kin.
+
+"How she looked forward to meeting George out here! But he disappointed
+her right at the start. She hates a drinking man. I think she came to
+hate George, too. But he always reminded her of Arthur, and she could
+never get over that. So, naturally, when you killed George she was
+terribly shocked. There were nights when she was haunted, when I had to
+stay with her. Vaughn and I have studied her, talked about her, and we
+think she's gradually recovering. She loved you, too; and Sally doesn't
+change. Once with her is for always. So let me say to you what you said
+to me--do not brood. All will yet be well, thank God!"
+
+Those had been words to remember, to make me patient, to lessen my
+insistent fear. Yet, what did I know of women? Had not Diane Sampson and
+Sally Langdon amazed and nonplused me many a time, at the very moment
+when I had calculated to a nicety my conviction of their action, their
+feeling? It was possible that I had killed Sally's love for me, though I
+could not believe so; but it was very possible that, still loving me,
+she might never break down the barrier between us. The beginning of
+that journey distressed me physically; yet, gradually, as I grew
+accustomed to the roll of the stage and to occasional jars, I found
+myself easier in body. Fortunately there had been rain, which settled
+the dust; and a favorable breeze made riding pleasant, where ordinarily
+it would have been hot and disagreeable.
+
+We tarried long enough in the little hamlet of Sampson for Steele to get
+letters from reliable ranchers. He wanted a number of references to
+verify the Ranger report he had to turn in to Captain Neal. This
+precaution he took so as to place in Neal's hands all the evidence
+needed to convince Governor Smith. And now, as Steele returned to us and
+entered the stage, he spoke of this report. "It's the longest and the
+best I ever turned in," he said, with a gray flame in his eyes. "I
+shan't let Russ read it. He's peevish because I want his part put on
+record. And listen, Diane. There's to be a blank line in this report.
+Your father's name will never be recorded. Neither the Governor, nor the
+adjutant-general, nor Captain Neal, nor any one back Austin way will
+ever know who this mysterious leader of the Pecos gang might have been.
+
+"Even out here very few know. Many supposed, but few knew. I've shut the
+mouths of those few. That blank line in the report is for a supposed and
+mysterious leader who vanished. Jack Blome, the reputed leader, and all
+his lawless associates are dead. Linrock is free and safe now, its
+future in the hands of roused, determined, and capable men."
+
+We were all silent after Steele ceased talking. I did not believe Diane
+could have spoken just then. If sorrow and joy could be perfectly
+blended in one beautiful expression, they were in her face. By and by I
+dared to say: "And Vaughn Steele, Lone Star Ranger, has seen his last
+service!"
+
+"Yes," he replied with emotion.
+
+Sally stirred and turned a strange look upon us all. "In that case,
+then, if I am not mistaken, there were two Lone Star Rangers--and both
+have seen their last service!" Sally's lips were trembling, the way they
+trembled when it was impossible to tell whether she was about to laugh
+or cry. The first hint of her old combative spirit or her old archness!
+A wave of feeling rushed over me, too much for me in my weakened
+condition. Dizzy, racked with sudden shooting pains, I closed my eyes;
+and the happiness I embraced was all the sweeter for the suffering it
+entailed. Something beat into my ears, into my brain, with the
+regularity and rapid beat of pulsing blood--not too late! Not too late!
+
+From that moment the ride grew different, even as I improved with leaps
+and bounds. Sanderson behind us, the long gray barren between Sanderson
+and the Rio Grande behind us, Del Rio for two days, where I was able to
+sit up, all behind us--and the eastward trail to Uvalde before us! We
+were the only passengers on the stage from Del Rio to Uvalde. Perhaps
+Steele had so managed the journey. Assuredly he had become an individual
+with whom traveling under the curious gaze of strangers would have been
+embarrassing. He was most desperately in love. And Diane, all in a few
+days, while riding these long, tedious miles, ordinarily so fatiguing,
+had renewed her bloom, had gained what she had lost. She, too, was
+desperately in love, though she remembered her identity occasionally,
+and that she was in the company of a badly shot-up young man and a
+broken-hearted cousin.
+
+Most of the time Diane and Steele rode on top of the stage. When they
+did ride inside their conduct was not unbecoming; indeed, it was sweet
+to watch; yet it loosed the fires of jealous rage and longing in me; and
+certainly had some remarkable effect upon Sally. Gradually she had been
+losing that strange and somber mood she had acquired, to brighten and
+change more and more. Perhaps she divined something about Diane and
+Steele that escaped me. Anyway, all of a sudden she was transformed.
+"Look here, if you people want to spoon, please get out on top," she
+said.
+
+If that was not the old Sally Langdon I did not know who it was. Miss
+Sampson tried to appear offended, and Steele tried to look insulted, but
+they both failed. They could not have looked anything but happy. Youth
+and love were too strong for this couple, whom circumstances might well
+have made grave and thoughtful. They were magnet and steel, powder and
+spark. Any moment, right before my eyes, I expected them to rush right
+into each other's arms. And when they refrained, merely substituting
+clasped hands for a dearer embrace, I closed my eyes and remembered
+them, as they would live in my memory forever, standing crushed together
+on the ridge that day, white lips to white lips, embodying all that was
+beautiful, passionate and tragic.
+
+And I, who had been their undoing, in the end was their salvation. How I
+hugged that truth to my heart!
+
+It seemed, following Sally's pert remark, that after an interval of
+decent dignity, Diane and Steele did go out upon the top of the stage.
+"Russ," whispered Sally, "they're up to something. I heard a few words.
+I bet you they're going to get married in San Antonio."
+
+"Well, it's about time," I replied.
+
+"But oughtn't they take us into their confidence?"
+
+"Sally, they have forgotten we are upon the earth."
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad they're happy!"
+
+Then there was a long silence. It was better for me to ride lying down,
+in which position I was at this time. After a mile Sally took my hand
+and held it without speaking. My heart leaped, but I did not open my
+eyes or break that spell even with a whisper. "Russ, I must say--tell
+you--"
+
+She faltered, and still I kept my eyes closed. I did not want to wake up
+from that dream. "Have I been very--very sad?" she went on.
+
+"Sad and strange, Sally. That was worse than my bullet-holes." She
+gripped my hand. I felt her hair on my brow, felt her breath on my
+cheek.
+
+"Russ, I swore--I'd hate you if you--if you--"
+
+"I know. Don't speak of it," I interposed hurriedly.
+
+"But I don't hate you. I--I love you. And I can't give you up!"
+
+"Darling! But, Sally, can you get over it--can you forget?"
+
+"Yes. That horrid black spell had gone with the miles. Little by little,
+mile after mile, and now it's gone! But I had to come to the point. To
+go back on my word! To tell you. Russ, you never, _never_ had any
+sense!"
+
+Then I opened my eyes and my arms, too, and we were reunited. It must
+have been a happy moment, so happy that it numbed me beyond
+appreciation. "Yes, Sally," I agreed; "but no man ever had such a
+wonderful girl."
+
+"Russ, I never--took off your ring," she whispered.
+
+"But you hid your hand from my sight," I replied quickly.
+
+"Oh dear Russ, we're crazy--as crazy as those lunatics outside. Let's
+think a little."
+
+I was very content to have no thought at all, just to see and feel her
+close to me.
+
+"Russ, will you give up the Ranger Service for me?" she asked.
+
+"Indeed I will."
+
+"And leave this fighting Texas, never to return till the day of guns and
+Rangers and bad men and even-breaks is past?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Will you go with me to my old home? It was beautiful once, Russ, before
+it was let run to rack and ruin. A thousand acres. An old stone house.
+Great mossy oaks. A lake and river. There are bear, deer, panther, wild
+boars in the breaks. You can hunt. And ride! I've horses, Russ, such
+horses! They could run these scrubby broncos off their legs. Will you
+come?"
+
+"Come! Sally, I rather think I will. But, dearest, after I'm well again
+I must work," I said earnestly. "I've got to have a job."
+
+"You're indeed a poor cowboy out of a job! Remember your deceit. Oh,
+Russ! Well, you'll have work, never fear."
+
+"Sally, is this old home of yours near the one Diane speaks of so much?"
+I asked.
+
+"Indeed it is. But hers has been kept under cultivation and in repair,
+while mine has run down. That will be our work, to build it up. So it's
+settled then?"
+
+"Almost. There are certain--er--formalities--needful in a compact of
+this kind." She looked inquiringly at me, with a soft flush. "Well, if
+you are so dense, try to bring back that Sally Langdon who used to
+torment me. How you broke your promises! How you leaned from your
+saddle! Kiss me, Sally!"
+
+Later, as we drew close to Uvalde, Sally and I sat in one seat, after
+the manner of Diane and Vaughn, and we looked out over the west where
+the sun was setting behind dim and distant mountains. We were fast
+leaving the wild and barren border. Already it seemed far beyond that
+broken rugged horizon with its dark line silhouetted against the rosy
+and golden sky. Already the spell of its wild life and the grim and
+haunting faces had begun to fade out of my memory. Let newer Rangers,
+with less to lose, and with the call in their hearts, go on with our
+work 'till soon that wild border would be safe!
+
+The great Lone Star State must work out its destiny. Some distant day,
+in the fulness of time, what place the Rangers had in that destiny would
+be history.
+
+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RUSTLERS OF PECOS COUNTY***
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