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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 <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Rustlers of Pecos County</p> +<p>Author: Zane Grey</p> +<p>Release Date: April 8, 2005 [eBook #15580]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RUSTLERS OF PECOS COUNTY***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell,<br /> + Project Gutenberg Beginners Projects,<br /> + Mary Meehan,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>THE RUSTLERS OF PECOS COUNTY</h1> + +<h2>By Zane Grey</h2> + +<h3>1914</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>Contents</h3> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> + <a href="#CHAPTER_1"><b>Chapter 1</b>--VAUGHN STEELE AND RUSS SITTELL</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_2"><b>Chapter 2</b>--A KISS AND AN ARREST</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_3"><b>Chapter 3</b>--SOUNDING THE TIMBER</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_4"><b>Chapter 4</b>--STEELE BREAKS UP THE PARTY</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_5"><b>Chapter 5</b>--CLEANING OUT LINROCK</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_6"><b>Chapter 6</b>--ENTER JACK BLOME</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_7"><b>Chapter 7</b>--DIANE AND VAUGHN</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_8"><b>Chapter 8</b>--THE EAVESDROPPER</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_9"><b>Chapter 9</b>--IN FLAGRANTE DELICTO</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_10"><b>Chapter 10</b>--A SLAP IN THE FACE</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_11"><b>Chapter 11</b>--THE FIGHT IN THE HOPE SO</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_12"><b>Chapter 12</b>--TORN TWO WAYS</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_13"><b>Chapter 13</b>--RUSS SITTELL IN ACTION</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_14"><b>Chapter 14</b>--THROUGH THE VALLEY</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_15"><b>Chapter 15</b>--CONVALESCENCE</a><br /> + </p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_1" id="CHAPTER_1"></a>Chapter 1</h2> +<h3>VAUGHN STEELE AND RUSS SITTELL</h3> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"You're the cowboy Russ?" he asked.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Here's your pay," he said, handing me some bills. "Miss Sampson won't +need you out at the ranch any more."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? This is the first I've heard about that."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He might as well have said, just as politely, that my seeing her, even +to say good-by, was undesirable.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In Miss Sampson's smile and "Good morning, Russ," there was not the +slightest discoverable sign that I was not to serve her indefinitely.</p> + +<p>It was as I had expected—she knew nothing of Wright's discharging me in +her name.</p> + +<p>"Miss Sampson," I said, in dismay, "what have I done? Why did you let me +go?"</p> + +<p>She looked astonished.</p> + +<p>"Russ, I don't understand you."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"I did not," declared Miss Sampson, her dark eyes lighting.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>It was Miss Sally then who uttered a little exclamation. Miss Sampson +seemed scarcely to have believed what she had heard.</p> + +<p>"My cousin Mr. Wright said that?"</p> + +<p>I nodded vehemently.</p> + +<p>At this juncture Wright strode before me, practically thrusting me +aside.</p> + +<p>"Come girls, let's walk a little before we start," he said gaily. "I'll +show you Sanderson."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Papa, did you instruct Cousin George to discharge Russ?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I sure didn't," declared the colonel, with a laugh. "George took that +upon his own hands."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Then I'm to go to Linrock with you?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Assuredly. Ride with Sally and me to-day, please."</p> + +<p>She turned away with Sally, and they walked toward the first buckboard.</p> + +<p>Colonel Sampson found a grim enjoyment in Wright's discomfiture.</p> + +<p>"Diane's like her mother was, George," he said. "You've made a bad start +with her."</p> + +<p>Here Wright showed manifestation of the Sampson temper, and I took him +to be a dangerous man, with unbridled passions.</p> + +<p>"Russ, here's my own talk to you," he said, hard and dark, leaning +toward me. "Don't go to Linrock."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I eyed him with an entirely different glance from my other fearful one.</p> + +<p>"I should smile," was my reply, as caustic as the most reckless +cowboy's, and I saw him shake.</p> + +<p>Colonel Sampson laid a restraining hand upon Wright. Then they both +regarded me with undisguised interest. I sauntered away.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>Mention of these fellows engaged my attention once more.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>However, as the Rangers' standard of nerve was high, there was room left +for cowboys like these to be dangerous to ordinary men.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I believed there might have been friction right then had not Miss +Sampson called for me.</p> + +<p>"Get our baggage, Russ," she said.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She was delighted, and her cousin for once seemed speechless.</p> + +<p>"That's the ranch," said the driver, pointing with his whip.</p> + +<p>It needed only a glance for me to see that Colonel Sampson's ranch was +on a scale fitting the country.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>His daughter was agitated, too. I got out and offered my seat, which +Colonel Sampson took.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The street I walked down was not a main one. There were small, red +houses among oaks and cottonwoods.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>From all outside appearances, Linrock was no different from other +frontier towns, and my expectations were scarcely realized.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Colonel Sampson has a big outfit, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Reckon he has," replied Dick. "Don' know how many cowboys. They're +always comin' an' goin'. I ain't acquainted with half of them."</p> + +<p>"Much movement of stock these days?"</p> + +<p>"Stock's always movin'," he replied with a queer look.</p> + +<p>"Rustlers?"</p> + +<p>But he did not follow up that look with the affirmative I expected.</p> + +<p>"Lively place, I hear—Linrock is?"</p> + +<p>"Ain't so lively as Sanderson, but it's bigger."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I heard it was. Fellow down there was talking about two cowboys +who were arrested."</p> + +<p>"Sure. I heerd all about thet. Joe Bean an' Brick Higgins—they belong +heah, but they ain't heah much."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When the sun had set I went down to the town with the intention of +finding Steele.</p> + +<p>This task, considering I dared not make inquiries and must approach him +secretly, might turn out to be anything but easy.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then I went into the next place. This was of a rough crude exterior, but +the inside was comparatively pretentious, and ablaze with lights.</p> + +<p>It was full of men, coming and going—a dusty-booted crowd that smelled +of horses and smoke.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then I went out.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"That was the fellow the whole town's talkin' about—the Ranger," said +one man.</p> + +<p>Like a shot I halted in the shadow, where I had not been seen.</p> + +<p>"Sho! Ain't boardin' heah, is he?" said the other.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Reckon he'll hurt your business, Jim."</p> + +<p>The fellow called Jim emitted a mirthless laugh. "Wal, he's been <i>all</i> +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."</p> + +<p>"Lord! does he expect to <i>stay</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Say so. An' if he ain't a stayer I never seen none. Nice, quiet, easy +chap, but he just looks deep."</p> + +<p>"Aw, Jim, he can't hang out heah. He's after some feller, that's all."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"The hell he did!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As I passed on I decided I would scrape acquaintance with this +restaurant keeper.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>My first feeling was, What a giant! But his face was hidden in the +shadow of a sombrero.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Is Sampson at home?" he asked abruptly.</p> + +<p>I said, "Yes."</p> + +<p>"Ask him if he'll see Vaughn Steele, Ranger."</p> + +<p>"Wait here," I replied. I did not want to take up any time then +explaining my presence there.</p> + +<p>Deliberately and noisily I strode down the porch and entered the room +with the smoking men.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As I entered, the talking ceased. I saw no face except his and that +seemed blank.</p> + +<p>"Vaughn Steele, Ranger—come to see you, sir." I announced.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Steele to see me. Did he state his business?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir." I replied.</p> + +<p>"Russ, say I'm not at home," said Sampson presently, bending over to +relight his pipe.</p> + +<p>I went out. Someone slammed the door behind me.</p> + +<p>As I strode back across the porch my mind worked swiftly; the machinery +had been idle for a while and was now started.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Steele," I said, "Colonel Sampson says he's not at home. Tell your +business to his daughter."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Miss Sampson, here is Vaughn Steele to see you," I said.</p> + +<p>"Won't you come in?" she said graciously.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Steele, we've heard of you in Austin," said Sally with her eyes +misbehaving.</p> + +<p>I hoped I would not have to be jealous of Steele. But this girl was a +little minx if not altogether a flirt.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Why?" queried both girls in unison.</p> + +<p>"Because it's—oh, pretty rough—no place for girls to walk and ride."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I wished to get your father's cooperation in my work."</p> + +<p>"Your work? You mean your Ranger duty—the arresting of rough +characters?"</p> + +<p>"That, yes. But that's only a detail. Linrock is bad internally. My job +is to make it good."</p> + +<p>"A splendid and worthy task," replied Miss Sampson warmly. "I wish you +success. But, Mr. Steele, aren't you exaggerating Linrock's wickedness?"</p> + +<p>"No," he answered forcibly.</p> + +<p>"Indeed! And papa refused to see you—presumably refused to cooperate +with you?" she asked thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I take it that way."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Papa said you were a hounder of outlaws—a man who'd rather kill than +save!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>The old stern cast returned to Steele's face. It was as if he had +suddenly remembered himself.</p> + +<p>"My name is infamous, I am sorry to say," he replied.</p> + +<p>"You have killed men?" she asked, her dark eyes dilating.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are above that. Don't—don't kill any one here!"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>That appeared to be a dismissal, and, bowing to her and Sally, the +Ranger went out. I followed, not having spoken.</p> + +<p>At the end of the porch I caught up with Steele and walked out into the +moonlight beside him.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, as we passed under the shade of cottonwoods, he clamped a big +hand down on my shoulder.</p> + +<p>"My God, Russ, isn't she lovely!" he ejaculated.</p> + +<p>In spite of my being dumbfounded I had to hug him. He knew me!</p> + +<p>"Thought you didn't swear!" I gasped.</p> + +<p>Ridiculously those were my first words to Vaughn Steele.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>We gripped hands, and that strong feel and clasp meant much.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she's lovely, Steele," I said. "But did you look at the cousin, +the little girl with the eyes?"</p> + +<p>Then we laughed and loosed hands.</p> + +<p>"Come on, let's get out somewhere. I've a million things to tell you."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It was a long talk, even for me, and my voice sounded husky.</p> + +<p>"I told Neal I'd be lucky to get you," said Steele, after a silence.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Here, I forgot the money Neal sent," I went on, glad to be rid of the +huge roll of bills.</p> + +<p>The Ranger showed surprise. Besides, he was very glad.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>good</i> that +<i>service</i> really does—all depends on you and me, Russ!"</p> + +<p>I assented, gloomily enough. Then I waited while he pondered.</p> + +<p>The moon soared clear; there was a cool wind rustling the greasewood; a +dog bayed a barking coyote; lights twinkled down in the town.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Great—except for one thing," I replied. "I hate to lie to Miss +Sampson. She's true blue, Steele."</p> + +<p>"Son, you haven't got soft on her?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"There's something wrong with Miss Sampson's father," I interrupted.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Steele's eyes, deep and gleaming in the moonlight, searched my face.</p> + +<p>"Son, sure you're not in love with her—you'll not fall in love with +her?"</p> + +<p>"No. I am positive. Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because in either case I'd likely have need of a new man in your +place," he said.</p> + +<p>"Steele, you know something about Sampson—something more!" I exclaimed +swiftly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Had that been the thing I imagined I had seen in Sampson's face?</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry Diane Sampson came out here," I said impulsively.</p> + +<p>Steele did not say he shared that feeling. He was looking out upon the +moon-blanched level.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_2" id="CHAPTER_2"></a>Chapter 2</h2> + +<h3>A KISS AND AN ARREST</h3> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>This was one of the moments when my real self seemed to stand off and +skeptically regard the fictitious cowboy.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A flash cowboy! Steele vowed I was a born actor.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>There had been fights and respect was quickly earned, though the +constant advent of strangers in Linrock always had me in hot water.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The hard thing was the lie I lived in the eyes of Diane Sampson and +Sally Langdon.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Still that might have been my vanity. She had never said she cared for +me although she had looked it.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>He was a hard drinker, cruel to horses, a gambler not above stacking the +cards, a quick-tempered, passionate Southerner.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Steele and I had seen fit to wait before we made any thorough +investigation into their business methods. Ours was a waiting game, +anyway.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>My long reflection on the month's happenings and possibilities was +brought to an end by the appearance of Miss Sampson and Sally.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Did you break your promise to me?" she asked reproachfully.</p> + +<p>"Which one?" I asked. It was Sally's bright eyes upon me, rather than +Miss Sampson's reproach, that bothered me.</p> + +<p>"About getting drunk again," she said.</p> + +<p>"I didn't break <i>that</i> one."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, <i>were</i> you drunk?" she demanded.</p> + +<p>"No. I should think you needn't ask me that. Didn't you ever see a man +the morning after a carouse?"</p> + +<p>Evidently she had. And there I knew I stood, fresh, clean-shaven, +clear-eyed as the morning.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Miss Sampson, did I ever lie to you?"</p> + +<p>"Not to my knowledge."</p> + +<p>Then I looked at her, and she understood what I meant.</p> + +<p>"George has lied to me. That day at Sanderson. And since, too, I fear. +Do you say he lies?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Sampson, I would not call your cousin a liar."</p> + +<p>Here Sally edged closer, with the bridle rein of her horse over her arm.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I do, Russ," she replied in reluctance. Was she testing me?</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Miss Sampson looked alarmed and Sally turned pale, to my extreme joy.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" exclaimed Sally. "Diane, don't let him go!"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>I kept silent for fear that I would perjure myself anew. Yet the +situation was delicious, and suddenly I conceived a wild idea.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Russ! What trouble?"</p> + +<p>"You know what's the matter with me," I went on hurriedly. "Anybody +could see that."</p> + +<p>Sally turned a flaming scarlet. Miss Sampson made it easier for me by +reason of her quick glance of divination.</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"If you are crazy about me, you don't have to tell!" cried Sally, red +and white by turns.</p> + +<p>"I want to stop your flirting one way or another. I've been in earnest. +I wasn't flirting. I begged you to—to..."</p> + +<p>"You never did," interrupted Sally furiously. That hint had been a +spark.</p> + +<p>"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..."</p> + +<p>"If my memory serves me correctly, you didn't ask anything," she +replied, with anger and scorn now struggling with mirth.</p> + +<p>"But, Sally, I meant to. You understood me? Say you didn't believe I +could take that liberty without honorable intentions."</p> + +<p>That was too much for Sally. She jumped at her horse, made the quickest +kind of a mount, and was off like a flash.</p> + +<p>"Stop me if you can," she called back over her shoulder, her face alight +and saucy.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Perhaps my declaration to Miss Sampson had liberated my strongest +emotions.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Any moment I might be stripped of my disguise. Any moment I might have +to be the Ranger.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, I gave you a run that time," she said. "Ten miles and you never +caught me!"</p> + +<p>"But look at the start you had. I've had my troubles beating you with an +even break."</p> + +<p>Sally was susceptible to flattery in regard to her riding, a fact that +I made subtle use of.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Lately it's been getting to me," I replied soberly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, it wasn't nice to tell Diane that," she said.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I can forgive that," she murmured. "But the lie. Jealousy doesn't +excuse a lie."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ! Let me go. Help me—back."</p> + +<p>I righted her in the saddle, although not entirely releasing her.</p> + +<p>"But, Sally, you haven't told me anything," I remonstrated tenderly. "Do +you love me?"</p> + +<p>"I think so," she whispered.</p> + +<p>"Sally, will you marry me?"</p> + +<p>She disengaged herself then, sat erect and faced away from me, with her +breast heaving.</p> + +<p>"No, Russ," she presently said, once more calm.</p> + +<p>"But Sally—if you love me—" I burst out, and then stopped, stilled by +something in her face.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>not</i> 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."</p> + +<p>I knew my face darkened, and perhaps hope and happiness died in it. +Swiftly she placed a kind hand on my shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Now, I've hurt you. Oh, I'm sorry. Your asking me makes such a +difference. <i>They</i> are not in earnest. But, Russ, I had to tell you +why I couldn't be engaged to you."</p> + +<p>"I'm not good enough for you. I'd no right to ask you to marry me," I +replied abjectly.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>hate</i> that. You're dangerous they say, and I'd be, I <i>am</i> +in constant dread you'll kill somebody. Remember, Russ, I'm no Texan."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Oh, if you weren't! Russ, are you asking me to trust you?"</p> + +<p>"I beg you to—dearest. Trust me and wait."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Sally, I ask you to trust me in spite of my reputation."</p> + +<p>"You ask me a great deal," she replied.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"That's too much to promise all at once," I protested lamely, and I knew +I would have done better to keep silence.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>I spoke to her as I had never spoken before, in quick, fierce meaning, +with eyes holding hers.</p> + +<p>She paled. But even my scarce-veiled hint did not chill her anger. +Tossing her head she wheeled and rode away.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I went down to town for once in a mood to live up to what had been +heretofore only a sham character.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>There were four other men whom I knew, several whose faces were +familiar, and half a dozen strangers, all dusty horsemen.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When I caught his eye I realized in an instant that the long deferred +action, the beginning of our real fight was at hand.</p> + +<p>Sampson pounded hard on the table to be heard. Mayor or not, he was +unable at once to quell the excitement.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Steele, what'd you break in here for?" demanded Sampson.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Sampson. Like flint he seemed, yet I felt his intense +interest.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"What's this I hear about you, Bud? Get up and speak for yourself," said +Sampson, gruffly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>He was no longer young, and he seemed broken in health and spirit. He +had been hurt somewhat about the head.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Sampson said something in an undertone to Judge Owens, and that worthy +nodded his great, bushy head.</p> + +<p>"Bud, you're discharged," said Sampson bluntly. "Now, the rest of you +clear out of here."</p> + +<p>He absolutely ignored the Ranger. That was his rebuff to Steele's +advances, his slap in the face to an interfering Ranger Service.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In that momentary lull my scrutiny of Sampson gathered an impression of +the man's intense curiosity.</p> + +<p>Then Bud Snell, with a cough that broke the silence, shuffled a couple +of steps toward the door.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" called Steele.</p> + +<p>It was a bugle-call. It halted Snell as if it had been a bullet. He +seemed to shrink.</p> + +<p>"Sampson, I <i>saw</i> Snell attack Hoden," said Steele, his voice still +ringing. "What has the court to say to that?"</p> + +<p>The moment for open rupture between Ranger Service and Sampson's idea of +law was at hand. Sampson showed not the slightest hesitation.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"That's a lie, Sampson," retorted Steele. "I've a pocket full of letters +from Linrock citizens, all begging for Ranger Service."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Steele shook a long arm at the mayor.</p> + +<p>"I need your help. You refuse. Now, I'll work alone. This man Snell +goes to Del Rio in irons."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Sampson shoved him back with a curse and warning glare.</p> + +<p>"Where's your warrant to arrest Snell?" shouted Sampson. "I won't give +you one. You can't take him without a warrant."</p> + +<p>"I don't need warrants to make arrests. Sampson, you're ignorant of the +power of Texas Rangers."</p> + +<p>"You'll take Snell without papers?" bellowed Sampson.</p> + +<p>"He goes to Del Rio to jail," answered Steele.</p> + +<p>"He won't. You'll pull none of your damned Ranger stunts out here. I'll +block you, Steele."</p> + +<p>That passionate reply of Sampson's appeared to be the signal Steele had +been waiting for.</p> + +<p>He had helped on the crisis. I believed I saw how he wanted to force +Sampson's hand and show the town his stand.</p> + +<p>Steele backed clear of everybody and like two swift flashes of light his +guns leaped forth. He was transformed. My wish was fulfilled.</p> + +<p>Here was Steele, the Ranger, in one of his lone lion stands. Not exactly +alone either, for my hands itched for my guns!</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Sampson sat white with working jaw.</p> + +<p>"Snell, come here," ordered Steele.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It was a critical moment for those who opposed him. There was death in +the balance.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"There have been nine murders since you took office, innumerable street +fights and hold-ups. <i>Not one arrest!</i> But you have ordered arrests for +trivial offenses, and have punished these out of all proportion.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>"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—<i>strange</i>! Law here has been a farce. The motive behind all +this laxity isn't plain to me—yet. But I call your hand!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_3" id="CHAPTER_3"></a>Chapter 3</h2> + +<h3>SOUNDING THE TIMBER</h3> + + +<p>When Steele left the hall, pushing Snell before him, making a lane +through the crowd, it was not any longer possible to watch everybody.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The other part of that crowd—to my surprise, the smaller part—was the +roaring, threatening, complaining one.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I would have given much to hear their talk right then, and certainly +intended to try to hear it when they did come home.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>They went into the house without speaking, and closed the door.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Bad for you, too?" replied Diane in amused surprise. "Oh, I see—I +forgot. You and Russ had it out."</p> + +<p>"Out? We fought like the very old deuce. I'll never speak to him again."</p> + +<p>"So your little—affair with Russ is all over?"</p> + +<p>"Yes." Here she sighed again.</p> + +<p>"Well, Sally, it began swiftly and it's just as well short," said Diane +earnestly. "We know nothing at all of Russ."</p> + +<p>"Diane, after to-day I respect him in—in spite of things—even though +he seems no good. I—I cared a lot, too."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Diane, he'll do something dreadful to George, mark my words," +whispered Sally. "He swore he would if George fooled around me any +more."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear. Sally, what can we do? These are wild men. George makes life +miserable for me. And he teases you unmer..."</p> + +<p>"I don't call it teasing. George wants to spoon," declared Sally +emphatically. "He'd run after any woman."</p> + +<p>"A fine compliment to me, Cousin Sally," laughed Diane.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>There were quick steps on the hall floor, steps I thought I recognized.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Diane, we had a jar to-day," replied Wright, with a blunt, +expressive laugh.</p> + +<p>"Jar?" echoed both the girls curiously.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He coughed, clearing his throat in a way that betrayed he had been +drinking.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Just one word from this Wright, inadvertently uttered in a moment of +passion, might be the word Steele needed for his clue.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>When Wright paused I plainly heard his intake of breath. Far indeed was +he from calm.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! How horrible!" cried Diane, in mingled distress and anger.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, George! The—the unspeakable ruffian!" cried Diane, passionately.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Then followed a silence, during which, evidently, the worried Wright +bestrode the floor.</p> + +<p>"Cousin George, what became of Steele and his prisoner?" suddenly asked +Sally.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>It amused while it thrilled me. Sally might be a flirt, but she was no +fool.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"George!" exclaimed Diane. "Then, after all, this Ranger was able to +arrest Snell, the innocent man father discharged, and take him to jail?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly. That's the toughest part...." Wright ended abruptly, and then +broke out fiercely: "But, by God, he'll never come back!"</p> + +<p>Wright's slow pacing quickened and he strode from the parlor, leaving +behind him a silence eloquent of the effect of his sinister prediction.</p> + +<p>"Sally, what did he mean?" asked Diane in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"Steele will be killed," replied Sally, just as low-voiced.</p> + +<p>"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!</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Wright's remark about Steele not returning did not worry me. I had heard +many such dark sayings in reference to Rangers.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"How's tricks, Jim?" I asked cheerily.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"That was a hell of a biff Snell gave you, the skunk," I remarked with +the same cheery assurance.</p> + +<p>"Russ, I ain't accusin' Snell," remonstrated Jim with eyes that made me +thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Jim appeared to be agitated by my forcible intimation of friendship.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Sure. I'm a sport. If I can't gamble with gentlemen I'll gamble with +rustlers."</p> + +<p>Again he gave a slight start, and this time he hid his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Wal, Russ, I've heard you was slick," he said.</p> + +<p>"You tumble, Jim. I'm a little better on the draw."</p> + +<p>"On the draw? With cards, an' gun, too, eh?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>There was a little red in Hoden's pale cheeks and I saw him swallow +hard. I had struck deep again.</p> + +<p>"Say, don't you work for Sampson?" he queried.</p> + +<p>"Me? I <i>guess</i> not. I'm Miss Sampson's man. He and Wright have tried to +fire me many a time."</p> + +<p>"Thet so?" he said curiously. "What for?"</p> + +<p>"Too many silver trimmings on me, Jim. And I pack my gun low down."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Maybe it'll commence, Jim, as soon as I stop buying drinks. Talking +about work—who'd you say Snell worked for?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't say."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"When he works at all, which sure ain't often, he rides for Sampson."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I've heard he owned considerable property hereabouts," replied Jim +constrainedly.</p> + +<p>"Humph again! Why, Jim, you <i>know</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"Talk's cheap, my boy," replied Hoden, making light of my bluster, but +the red was deep in his face.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Reckon it's known in Pecos, all right. But Sampson's name isn't +connected with the Hope So. Blandy runs the place."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Russ," replied he, and I imagined his voice a little husky. +"Didn't you ever hear <i>I</i> used to run it?"</p> + +<p>"No. Did you?" I said quickly.</p> + +<p>"I reckon. I built the place, made additions twice, owned it for eleven +years."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll be doggoned!"</p> + +<p>It was indeed my turn to be surprised, and with the surprise came +glimmering.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry you're not there now, Jim. Did you sell out?"</p> + +<p>"No. Just lost the place."</p> + +<p>Hoden was bursting for relief now—to talk—to tell. Sympathy had made +him soft. I did not need to ask another question.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>It hurt me to look at Hoden. He was white, and tears rolled down his +cheeks.</p> + +<p>I saw the bitterness, the defeat, the agony of the man. He had failed to +meet his obligation; nevertheless he had been swindled.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Hard luck! Jim, it certainly was tough," I said. "But you're a good +loser. And the wheel turns!</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Now, Jim, you've been here for years. So you must know a couple of men +above suspicion."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"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...."</p> + +<p>"What?" I put in as he paused. "If they knew who was rustling the stock?"</p> + +<p>"Nope."</p> + +<p>"If they had the nerve?"</p> + +<p>"Not thet so much."</p> + +<p>"What then? What'd make them fight?"</p> + +<p>"A leader!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Howdy thar, cowboy," boomed a big voice.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Morton. Let's have a drink," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Gotta rustle home," he said. "Young feller, I've a ranch to work."</p> + +<p>"Sell it to me, Morton."</p> + +<p>He laughed and said he wished he could. His buckboard stood at the rail, +the horses stamping impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Cards must be runnin' lucky," he went on, with another hearty laugh.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He smiled broadly, but for all his doubt of me he took definite +interest.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Russ, this's durn strange, comin' from Sampson's cowboy," he said.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>Frank Morton looked at me with a curiously-amused smile.</p> + +<p>"I hear lots about Jack Blome and Snecker. Everybody calls them out and +out bad. Do they head this mysterious gang?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Maybe Blome and Snecker are blinds. Savvy what I mean, Morton? Maybe +there's more in the parade than just the fame of it."</p> + +<p>Morton snapped his big jaw as if to shut in impulsive words.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"They come with the pioneers an' they'll last as long as thar's a single +steer left," he declared.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you take that view of circumstances I just figure you as one +of the rustlers!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"It's not so funny," I went on. "If you're going to pretend a yellow +streak, what else will I think?"</p> + +<p>"Pretend?" he repeated.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Wal, I reckon I do," he replied, looking as if a storm had blown over +him.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, I'll look you up the next time I come to town," he said soberly.</p> + +<p>We parted, and I, more than content with the meeting, retraced my steps +down street to the Hope So saloon.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Well, old boy, how's tricks?" he asked easily.</p> + +<p>"Well, old man, did you land that son of a gun in jail?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Held up?" I queried.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Did you get any of them?"</p> + +<p>"Didn't stay to see," he chuckled. "Had to hoof it to Linrock, and it's +a good long walk."</p> + +<p>"Been to your 'dobe yet to-night?"</p> + +<p>"I slipped in at the back. Russ, it bothered me some to make sure no one +was laying for me in the dark."</p> + +<p>"You'll have to get a safer place. Why not take to the open every +night?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"So that's all. Well, it's enough."</p> + +<p>"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...."</p> + +<p>"Russ, did you honestly care for her? The real thing, I mean?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Shame—disgrace?" echoed Steele, greatly interested. "What?"</p> + +<p>"She confessed she had been taken with you—had her little dream about +you. And she hated herself for it."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I replied. "Vaughn, you haven't gone sweet on her?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"You said you knew what I've got to do to Diane Sampson," he repeated +hoarsely.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you've got to ruin her happiness, if not her life."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Steele, old man, you'll ruin Diane Sampson, because, as arrest looks +improbable to me, you'll have to kill her father."</p> + +<p>"My God! Why, why? Say it!"</p> + +<p>"Because Sampson is the leader of the Linrock gang of rustlers."</p> + +<p>That night before we parted we had gone rather deeply into the plan of +action for the immediate future.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>We could not use an adobe house for a jail, because that could be easily +cut out of or torn down.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So the cold and indifferent part I played was imperative.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, don't you love me any more?" she whispered.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_4" id="CHAPTER_4"></a>Chapter 4</h2> + +<h3>STEELE BREAKS UP THE PARTY</h3> + + +<p>That night, I saw Steele at our meeting place, and we compared notes and +pondered details of our problem.</p> + +<p>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 <i>en masse</i>. The men made a joke out of it.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Thursday evening came in spite of what the girls must have regarded as +an interminably dragging day.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Miss Sampson received them graciously, excused her father's absence, and +bade them be at home.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>My wandering from place to place, apart from my usual careful +observation, was an unobtrusive but, to me, a sneaking pursuit of Sally +Langdon.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I dashed back, leaped to the door of the arbor, my hand on my gun.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>As I stepped back, to my amazement, Sally, excusing herself to the +scowling Wright, hurriedly joined me.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's our dance, Russ!"</p> + +<p>She took my arm and we walked through the patio.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid of him, Russ," she whispered. "You frightened me worse +though. You didn't mean to—to—"</p> + +<p>"I made a bluff. Saw he'd been drinking, so I kept near you."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>want</i> to. Else not at +all."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And I, tongue-tied for once, said nothing.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I wheeled in time to see Vaughn Steele bend his head to enter the door +on that side. The dancers fell back.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In a quick ensuing silence Miss Sampson rose, white as her dress. The +young women present stared in astonishment and their partners showed +excitement.</p> + +<p>"Miss Sampson, I came to search your house!" panted Steele, courteously, +yet with authority.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Miss Sampson's astonishment was succeeded by anger difficult to control.</p> + +<p>"In the absence of my father I am mistress here. I will not permit you +to search my house."</p> + +<p>"Then I regret to say I must do so without your permission," he said +sternly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Miss Sampson.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Steele bowed, turned on his heel, and strode out to vanish in the dark.</p> + +<p>Then while she stood bewildered, still shocked, I elected to do some +rapid thinking.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It took a moment or two to calm them.</p> + +<p>"Then there's a rustler—here—hiding?" repeated Miss Sampson.</p> + +<p>"Miss Sampson, I'll find him. I'll rout him out," I said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, find him, Russ, but don't use violence," she replied. "Send +him away—no, give him over to—"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>This from Wright angered me deeply, and I strode right for the door.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"I've Miss Sampson's orders. She wants me to find this hidden man. She +trusts me not to allow any violence."</p> + +<p>"Didn't I say I'd see to that?" he snarled.</p> + +<p>"Wright, I don't care what you say," I retorted. "But I'm thinking you +might not want me to find this rustler."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>We started with several cowboys to ransack the house. We went through +the rooms, searching, calling out, flashing our lanterns in dark places.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That was all I needed to know, but I meant to find out more if I could.</p> + +<p>"Who're you?" I asked quietly.</p> + +<p>He gazed rather arrogantly down at me. It always irritated me to be +looked down at that way.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Bo Snecker," he said.</p> + +<p>"Any relation to Bill Snecker?"</p> + +<p>"His son."</p> + +<p>"What'd you hide here for?"</p> + +<p>He appeared to grow sullen.</p> + +<p>"Reckoned I'd be as safe in Sampson's as anywheres."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"How strange he should come here," she said several times.</p> + +<p>"Probably he'd run this way or thought he had a better chance to hide +where there was dancing and confusion," I replied glibly.</p> + +<p>I wondered how much longer I would find myself keen to shunt her mind +from any channel leading to suspicion.</p> + +<p>"Would papa have arrested him?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"That's hard to say. A man like Steele can stand a lot."</p> + +<p>"Russ, please go find him! See how it is with him!" she said, almost +pleadingly.</p> + +<p>I started, glad of the chance and hurried down toward the town.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Hello, son!" he said. "You needn't have worried. Sling a blanket over +that window so no one can see in."</p> + +<p>He had his shirt off and had been in the act of bandaging a wound that +the bullet had cut in his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Let me tie that up," I said, taking the strips of linen. "Ahuh! Shot +you from behind, didn't he?"</p> + +<p>"How else, you locoed lady-charmer? It's a wonder I didn't have to tell +you that."</p> + +<p>"Tell me about it."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>"So you knew it was Bill Snecker's son?" I asked when I had told him +about finding the rustler.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"It can't come too soon for me," I replied. "Shall I chuck my job? Come +out from behind these cowboy togs?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet. We need proof, Russ. We've got to be able to prove things. +Hang on at the ranch yet awhile."</p> + +<p>"This Bo Snecker was scared stiff till he recognized Wright. Isn't that +proof?"</p> + +<p>"No, that's nothing. We've got to catch Sampson and Wright red-handed."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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 <i>when</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"Did you shoot at Snecker?" I queried.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>Steele had to laugh, yet he was more thoughtful of my insistence.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Fine!" I said, both delighted and relieved. "Well, I'll have to rustle +back now to tell Miss Sampson you're all right."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, did she—show sympathy?"</p> + +<p>"She was all broken up about it. Thought you were going to die."</p> + +<p>"Did she send you?"</p> + +<p>"Sure. And she said hurry," I replied.</p> + +<p>I was not a little gleeful over the apparent possibility of Steele being +in the same boat with me.</p> + +<p>"Do you think she would have cared if—if I had been shot up bad?"</p> + +<p>The great giant of a Ranger asked this like a boy, hesitatingly, with +color in his face.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Still, I would not go back on it. I believed it.</p> + +<p>"Russ, for God's sake! What a terrible thing to say!" he ejaculated +hoarsely.</p> + +<p>"No. It's not terrible to <i>say</i> 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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Get out of here," he ordered thickly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>What had fate done to Vaughn Steele and to me? I had a moment of +bitterness, an emotion rare with me.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>If Diane Sampson loved, through her this event might be less tragic. +Somehow love might save us all.</p> + +<p>That was the shadowy portent flitting in the dark maze of my mind.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Let's go out in the patio," I suggested. "I don't want any one to hear +what I say."</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow! Oh, I'm glad it—it isn't bad," said Miss Sampson. +Something glistened in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I saw that myself! I was furious. But I—I meant what I said."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What shall I find out?" she demanded.</p> + +<p>"I've said enough."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I replied very low.</p> + +<p>She was keenly hurt and seemed, despite an effort, to shrink from me.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know what to believe!"</p> + +<p>"It might be well for you to think things out for yourself."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I want to be a good and loving daughter. I want to help him fight his +battles. But he doesn't—he doesn't <i>satisfy</i> me. He's grown impatient +and wants me to go back to Louisiana. That gives me a feeling of +mystery. Oh, it's <i>all</i> mystery!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Russ, you suggest I leave here—leave my father?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I advise it. You struck a—a rather troublesome time. Later you might +return if—"</p> + +<p>"Never. I came to stay, and I'll stay," she declared, and there her +temper spoke.</p> + +<p>"Miss Sampson," I began again, after taking a long, deep breath, "I +ought to tell you one thing more about Steele."</p> + +<p>"Well, go on."</p> + +<p>"Doesn't he strike you now as being the farthest removed from a ranting, +brutal Ranger?"</p> + +<p>"I confess he was at least a gentleman."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Know what?" she asked. How starry and magnetic her eyes! A woman's +divining intuition made them wonderful with swift-varying emotion.</p> + +<p>They drew me on to the fatal plunge. What was I doing to her—to Vaughn? +Something bound my throat, making speech difficult.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_5" id="CHAPTER_5"></a>Chapter 5</h2> + +<h3>CLEANING OUT LINROCK</h3> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>In front of Hoden's restaurant I dismounted and threw my bridle. Jim was +unmistakably glad to see me.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Jim, I just wanted to see if he was a safe rancher to make a stock deal +for me."</p> + +<p>"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 <i>has</i> got a yellow streak, +unless..."</p> + +<p>This little, broken-down Texan had eyes like flint striking fire.</p> + +<p>"Unless?" I queried sharply.</p> + +<p>Jim breathed a deep breath and looked around the room before his gaze +fixed again on mine.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>It was my turn to draw a deep breath.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>He could not help but read; United States Deputy Marshall.</p> + +<p>"By golly," he whispered, cracking the table with his fist. "Russ, you +sure rung true to me. But never as a cowboy!"</p> + +<p>"Jim, the woods is full of us!"</p> + +<p>Heavy footsteps sounded on the walk. Presently Steele's bulk darkened +the door.</p> + +<p>"Hello," I greeted. "Steele, shake hands with Jim Hoden."</p> + +<p>"Hello," replied Steele slowly. "Say, I reckon I know Hoden."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>I laughed at my execrable pun. Steele leaned against the counter, his +gray glance studying the man I had so oddly introduced.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Hoden, do you know who's boss of this secret gang of rustlers +hereabouts?" asked Steele bluntly.</p> + +<p>It was characteristic of him to come sharp to the point. His voice, +something deep, easy, cool about him, seemed to steady Hoden.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Hoden.</p> + +<p>"Does anybody know?" went on Steele.</p> + +<p>"Wal, I reckon there's not one honest native of Pecos who <i>knows</i>."</p> + +<p>"But you have your suspicions?"</p> + +<p>"We have."</p> + +<p>"You can keep your suspicions to yourself. But you can give me your idea +about this crowd that hangs round the saloons, the regulars."</p> + +<p>"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!</p> + +<p>"But the strangers as are always comin' an' goin'—strangers that never +git acquainted—some of them are likely to be <i>the</i> 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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Steele appeared pleased with Hoden's idea. Probably it coincided with +the one he had arrived at himself.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Steele's face wore a dark, somber sternness.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It had waited for a leader like Steele, and now it could not last. +Hoden's revived spirit showed that.</p> + +<p>The ranger was about to speak again when the clatter of hoofs +interrupted him. Horses halted out in front.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That was the first time I had ever seen Wright come into Hoden's. He +called for tobacco.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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—<i>rustler</i>"</p> + +<p>Steele hissed the last word. Then for him—for me—for Hoden—there was +the truth in Wright's working passion-blackened face.</p> + +<p>Wright jerked, moved, meant to draw. But how slow! Steele lunged +forward. His long arm swept up.</p> + +<p>And Wright staggered backward, knocking table and chairs, to fall hard, +in a half-sitting posture, against the wall.</p> + +<p>"Don't draw!" warned Steele.</p> + +<p>"Wright, get away from your gun!" yelled the cowboy Brick.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I was about to leap through the door when Steele shot. Wright's gun went +ringing to the floor.</p> + +<p>Like a beast in pain Wright screamed. Frantically he waved a limp arm, +flinging blood over the white table-cloths. Steele had crippled him.</p> + +<p>"Here, you cowboy," ordered Steele; "take him out, quick!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Steele calmly sheathed his gun.</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess that opens the ball," he said as I came out.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Hoden lifted his shaking hands.</p> + +<p>"What'd you wing him for?" he wailed. "He was drawin' on you. Shootin' +arms off men like him won't do out here."</p> + +<p>I was inclined to agree with Hoden.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Murder!" exclaimed Hoden.</p> + +<p>"He was a fool, and slow at that. Under such circumstances could I kill +him when I didn't have to?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>There was a rude kind of good humor even in their open hostility.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>This lull, however, did not deceive Steele and me. It could not last. +The wonder was that it had lasted so long.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Steele straightaway went in search of the men and came across them in +Lerett's place. I was around when it happened.</p> + +<p>Steele strode up to a table which was surrounded by seven or eight men +and he tapped Sim Bass on the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Get up, I want you," he said.</p> + +<p>Bass looked up only to see who had accosted him.</p> + +<p>"The hell you say!" he replied impudently.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Miller, I want you. Get up," said Steele.</p> + +<p>Miller complied with alacrity. A sharp kick put more life and +understanding into Bass.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then the crowd returned to their pastimes, leaving their erstwhile +comrades to taste the sweets of prison life.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Whereupon the crowd evinced its delight.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Toward evening, having gone without drink infinitely longer than was +customary, they made appeals, to which Steele was deaf.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Steele was not above paying back these fellows.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>About ten o'clock the last gang left, to the despair of the hungry and +thirsty prisoners.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A trick met by a trick; cunning matching craft would be the surest of +all ways to command respect.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Just then Steele and I each discharged both barrels, and the reports +blended as one in a tremendous boom.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>She showed more than curiosity. The account I gave of the jail affair +amused her and made Sally laugh heartily.</p> + +<p>Diane questioned me also about a rumor that had come to her concerning +George Wright.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"Now, Russ, what do you make of my dad? Cheerful and kind, isn't he?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Despite, however, the wear and constant strain of resisting Sally, I +enjoyed the ride. There was a charm about being with these girls.</p> + +<p>Then perhaps Miss Sampson's growing unconscious curiosity in regard to +Steele was no little satisfaction to me.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When would the town wake up, not only to a little nerve, but to the +usefulness of a Ranger?</p> + +<p>Three days afterward Steele told me a woman accosted him on the street. +She seemed a poor, hardworking person, plain spoken and honest.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" he yelled, leaping for our table. "Put up your gun!"</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" demanded the cattleman, never moving. "Better keep out of +this."</p> + +<p>"I'm Steele. Put up your gun."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Certainly the dealer and everyone else round the table sat quiet while +the cattleman coolly held his gun leveled.</p> + +<p>"Crooked game?" asked Steele, bending over the table. "Show me."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>To my surprise, one of the players admitted his conviction that the game +was not straight.</p> + +<p>"What do you say?" demanded Steele of me.</p> + +<p>"Worse'n a hold-up, Mr. Ranger," I burst out. "Let me show you."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And just then Martin strolled in. His appearance was not prepossessing.</p> + +<p>"What's this holler?" he asked, and halted as he saw the cattleman's gun +still in line with the dealer.</p> + +<p>"Martin, you know what it's for," replied Steele. "Take your dealer and +dig—unless you want to see me clean out your place."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The cattleman rose slowly in the center, pulling another gun, and he +certainly looked business to me.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I reached out and swept the considerable sum toward me, and, pocketing +it, I too rose, ready for what might come.</p> + +<p>"You-all give me elbow room!" yelled Steele at Martin and his cowed +contingent.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Steele required only one blow for each article he struck, and he +demolished it. He stove in the head of each keg.</p> + +<p>When the dark liquor gurgled out, Martin cursed, and the crowd followed +suit. That was a loss!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Perhaps only then did wild and lawless Linrock grasp the real +significance of this Ranger.</p> + +<p>Steele threw the ax at Martin's feet.</p> + +<p>"Martin, don't reopen here," he said curtly. "Don't start another place +in Linrock. If you do—jail at Austin for years."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>I lingered downtown as much to enjoy the sensation as to gain the +different points of view.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Did he do it all alone?"</p> + +<p>"Thank God a <i>man's</i> come to Linrock."</p> + +<p>"Good for Molly Price!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it'll make bad times for Linrock."</p> + +<p>It almost seemed that all the women were glad, and this was in itself a +vindication of the Ranger's idea of law.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It was what was behind Steele that seemed to make him more than an +officer—a man.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"He looked grand!" exclaimed Sally.</p> + +<p>Then I told the girls the whole story in detail.</p> + +<p>"Russ, is it true, just as you tell it?" inquired Diane earnestly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Then he does do splendid things," she said softly, as if affirming to +herself.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, my uncle wants to see you," she said. "He's in a bad temper. +Don't lose yours, please."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, what's this I hear about Martin's saloon being cleaned out?" he +asked. "Dick can't give particulars."</p> + +<p>Briefly and concisely I told the colonel exactly what had happened. He +chewed his cigar, then spat it out with an unintelligible exclamation.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>Sampson turned on his heel then and left me with a queer feeling of +surprise and pity.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I had known men before who had become involved in crime, yet were too +manly to sanction a crookedness they could not help.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_6" id="CHAPTER_6"></a>Chapter 6</h2> + +<h3>ENTER JACK BLOME</h3> + + +<p>Strange that the narrating of this incident made Diane Sampson unhappy.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, tighten my cinch," she said when I caught up with her.</p> + +<p>Dismounting, I drew the cinch up another hole and fastened it.</p> + +<p>"My boot's unlaced, too," she added, slipping a shapely foot out of the +stirrup.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, I believe Diane's in love with Steele," she said soberly, with +the sweet confidence she sometimes manifested in me.</p> + +<p>"Small wonder. It's in the air," I replied.</p> + +<p>She regarded me doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"It was," she retorted demurely.</p> + +<p>"The fickleness of women is no new thing to me. I didn't expect Waters +to last long."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not when there are nicer fellows around. One, anyway, when he +cares."</p> + +<p>A little brown hand slid out of its glove and dropped to my shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Make up. You've been hateful lately. Make up with me."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Sally bent over me and I had not the nerve to look up.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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..."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I let go of her, and stepping back to my horse choked down my emotion.</p> + +<p>"Russ!" she faltered, and there was womanliness and regret trembling +with the fear in her voice. "I—I am on the square."</p> + +<p>That had touched the real heart of the girl.</p> + +<p>"If you are, then play the game square," I replied darkly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, you didn't tell me if you agreed with me about Diane," she said +finally.</p> + +<p>"Maybe you're right. I hope she's fallen in love with Steele. Lord knows +I hope so," I blurted out.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>If she was unhappy because he did something really good, then she was +unhappy because she was realizing she had wronged him.</p> + +<p>Steele never asked questions, but the hungry look in his eyes was enough +to make even a truthful fellow exaggerate things.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Sampson came to me a little later and his worn face showed traces of +internal storm.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Not once," I replied.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I've stood a good deal from Wright, and guess I can stand more."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I scouted this intuitive idea as absurd; but, just the same, it refused +to be dismissed.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>She was adorable, distracting.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>We rode to the little village of Sampson, and half-way to Sanderson, and +all over the country.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>She insisted upon being shown the inside of the Hope So, to the extreme +confusion of that bewildered resort.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The last, however, she never evinced in sight or hearing of Diane.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That day she rode as I had never seen her, risking her life, unmindful +of her horse.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When we saw the man beating the little burro she cried out to me:</p> + +<p>"Make the brute stop!"</p> + +<p>I might have made a move had I not on the instant seen Steele heaving +into sight round the corner.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Presently Steele stopped. Andrews rose right in front of the Ranger, and +there, like the madman he was, he went for his gun.</p> + +<p>But it scarcely leaped from its holster when Steele's swift hand +intercepted it. Steele clutched Andrews' arm.</p> + +<p>Then came a wrench, a cracking of bones, a scream of agony.</p> + +<p>The gun dropped into the dust; and in a moment of wrestling fury +Andrews, broken, beaten down, just able to moan, lay beside it.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I could not read her mind, but I had a mind of my own.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, they soon caught up with us.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Good day," he said pleasantly to me. "Don't mind my ridin' in with +you-all, I hope?"</p> + +<p>Considering his pleasant approach, I could not but be civil.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"You're Russ, I reckon," he said. "Some of my men have seen you ridin' +round with Sampson's girls. I'm Jack Blome."</p> + +<p>He did not speak that name with any flaunt or flourish. He merely stated +it.</p> + +<p>Blome, the rustler! I grew tight all over.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>He took off his sombrero and made gallant bows to both.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Out here? Oh, yes, indeed!" she replied.</p> + +<p>"Like ridin'?"</p> + +<p>"I love horses."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>At the edge of town Blome doffed his sombrero again, said "<i>Adios</i>," 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 <i>needed</i> to think.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't he lovely? Oh, I could adore him!" rapturously uttered Miss +Sally Langdon several times, to my ultimate disgust.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_7" id="CHAPTER_7"></a>Chapter 7</h2> + +<h3>DIANE AND VAUGHN</h3> + + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ," she said, "it's worse than we thought."</p> + +<p>"Worse? I should say so," I replied.</p> + +<p>"It'll about kill her. She never cared that way for any man. When the +Sampson women love, they love."</p> + +<p>"Well, you're lucky to be a Langdon," I retorted bitterly.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"That's not tragic. When you've no chance, <i>then</i> that's tragic."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Chance! I've no chance on earth."</p> + +<p>"Try!" she whispered.</p> + +<p>But I caught myself in time. Then the shock of bitter renunciation made +it easy for me to simulate anger.</p> + +<p>"You promised not to—not to—" I began, choking. My voice was hoarse +and it broke, matters surely far removed from pretense.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>She had begun falteringly and she ended passionately.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>Something told me Sally Langdon was finding herself; that presently I +could not frighten her, and then—then I would be doomed.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I might lasso you from my horse, drag you through the cactus," I added +with the implacability of an Apache.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Why?" she asked; and she seemed eager, glad.</p> + +<p>"Because he's not man enough. That's all, without details. You need not +worry; and I wish you'd go tell Miss Sampson—"</p> + +<p>"Go yourself," interrupted Sally. "I think she's afraid of my eyes. But +she won't fear you'd guess her secret.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>For once I had no retort ready for Sally. I hurried off as quickly as I +could walk in chaps and spurs.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Russ, don't beat about the bush," she said interrupting my floundering. +"You know I care."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Quick enough on the draw? I understand, but I want to know more."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely. It's the draw. And Steele's a wonder. See here. Look at +this."</p> + +<p>I stepped back and drew my gun.</p> + +<p>"I didn't see how you did that," she said curiously. "Try it again."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I've met him a few times, around places."</p> + +<p>"Did he ever speak of—of me?"</p> + +<p>"Once or twice, and then as if he couldn't help it."</p> + +<p>"What did he say?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Then—what did he say?" This was whispered, almost shyly, and I could +scarcely believe the proud Miss Sampson stood before me.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Jim Hoden had forcibly declared and stated that some deviltry was afoot, +something vastly different from Blome's open intention of meeting the +Ranger.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It had been deliberate murder, for behind the bar had been left a piece +of paper rudely scrawled with a pencil:</p> + +<p>"All friends of Ranger Steele look for the same."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, it's all in the dark," he said. "I feel Wright's hand in this."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"No, Russ, I never let feeling run wild with my head. We can't prove a +thing on Wright."</p> + +<p>"Come on; let's hunt him up. I'll bet I can accuse him and make him show +his hand. Come on!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think you'd do well to keep out of town, especially when you +sleep?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Good. That worried me. Now, what's this murder of Jim Hoden going to do +to Morton, Zimmer, and their crowd?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Have you run into Blome?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"He's here looking for trouble, Steele."</p> + +<p>"Yes; and he'd have found it before this if I just knew his relation to +Sampson and Wright."</p> + +<p>"Do you think Blome a dangerous man to meet?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>That was conclusive enough for me. The little shadow of worry that had +haunted me in spite of my confidence vanished entirely.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Hoden, I've brought Miss Sampson and her cousin to see you," I +said cheerfully.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I wondered, considering that Sampson had ruined Hoden, how Mrs. Hoden +was going to regard the daughter of an enemy.</p> + +<p>"So you're Roger Sampson's girl?" queried the woman, with her bright +black eyes fixed on her visitor.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>There was a long silence.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>ought</i> to accept anything from +you. Your father ruined my husband."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Steele," replied Mrs. Hoden.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Steele!" exclaimed Miss Sampson.</p> + +<p>"Yes; he's taken care of us all since—since—" Mrs. Hoden choked.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Why, it's on hind side before," declared Sally. "I guess Mr. Steele +hasn't dressed many babies."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Steele, then is—is something more than a Ranger?" queried Miss +Sampson, with a little break in her voice.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Hello, son! How are Mrs. Hoden and the youngster to-day?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Hello yourself! Why, they're doing fine! I brought the girls down—"</p> + +<p>Then in the semishadow of the room, across Mrs. Hoden's bed, Diane +Sampson and Steele faced each other.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Hoden, do not distress yourself any more," said Miss Sampson. "I +shall see you are well cared for. I promise you."</p> + +<p>"Miss Sampson, that's fine!" exclaimed Steele, with a ring in his voice. +"It's what I'd have hoped—expected of you..."</p> + +<p>It must have been sweet praise to her, for the whiteness of her face +burned in a beautiful blush.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>Steele backed to the door, and I slipped out before him.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I have wronged you!" she said impulsively.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>"Miss Sampson, how can you say that?" he returned.</p> + +<p>"I believed what my father and George Wright said about you—that +bloody, despicable record! Now I do <i>not</i> believe. I see—I wronged +you."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know—I know what you'll find out sooner or later. I know <i>now</i>! +I want to help you. Let us save life, if not honor. Must I stand +alone—all alone? Will you—will you be—"</p> + +<p>Her voice failed. She was swaying toward Steele. I expected to see his +arms spread wide and enfold her in their embrace.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_8" id="CHAPTER_8"></a>Chapter 8</h2> + +<h3>THE EAVESDROPPER</h3> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Help me down," said Sally. Her voice was low and tremulous.</p> + +<p>"Sally, did you hear what Miss Sampson said to Steele?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"A little, here and there. I heard Steele tell her he loved her. Isn't +this a terrible mix?"</p> + +<p>"It sure is. Did you hear—do you understand why she appealed to Steele, +asked him to be her friend?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Nor me," Sally retorted.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you said that, didn't you?" I replied absently.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"But suppose I don't choose to talk here?" protested Sampson +impatiently. "I never before made my house a place to—"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"You can make her marry me," replied Wright.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"Sampson, I can <i>make</i> her marry me," declared Wright thickly.</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"You know the hold I got on you—the deal that made you boss of this +rustler gang?"</p> + +<p>"It isn't likely I'd forget," replied Sampson grimly.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You mean double-cross the men? Go without their knowing? Leave them +here to face whatever comes?"</p> + +<p>"I mean just that."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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>I</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!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"But you and I have all the stock—all the gain," protested Wright.</p> + +<p>"I'll split mine."</p> + +<p>"I won't—that settles that," added Wright instantly.</p> + +<p>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—"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you mentioned the supposition," replied Sampson sarcastically. "I +inquired, too just how that very desired event was to be brought about."</p> + +<p>"Blome's here to kill Steele."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know why?" demanded Wright sullenly.</p> + +<p>"You ought to know. You've seen the Ranger pull a gun."</p> + +<p>"Who told you?" queried Wright, his face working.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I guessed it, if that'll do you."</p> + +<p>"If Jack doesn't kill this damned Ranger I will," replied Wright, +pounding the table.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"To tell you the truth I wouldn't," returned the other bluntly. "I'm +pretty sick of this mess."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Not by any means, except her consent."</p> + +<p>"You'll not make her marry me?"</p> + +<p>"No. No," replied Sampson, his voice still cold, low-pitched.</p> + +<p>"All right. Then I'll make her."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then heavy footsteps sounded outside, tramping upon the porch. I might +have been mistaken, but I believed those footsteps saved Wright's life.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The talking and laughter ceased. My own strained ears were pervaded by a +slight rustling sound.</p> + +<p>"Must be a rat," replied Sampson in relief. Strange how any sudden or +unknown thing weighed upon him.</p> + +<p>The rustling became a rattle.</p> + +<p>"Sounds like a rattlesnake to me," said Blome.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"What in the hell!" exclaimed Sampson.</p> + +<p>"I smell dust," said Blome sharply.</p> + +<p>That was the signal for me to drop down from my perch, yet despite my +care I made a noise.</p> + +<p>"Did you hear a step?" queried Sampson.</p> + +<p>Then a section of the wall fell inward with a crash. I began to squeeze +my body through the narrow passage toward the patio.</p> + +<p>"Hear him!" yelled Wright. "This side."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_9" id="CHAPTER_9"></a>Chapter 9</h2> + +<h3>IN FLAGRANTE DELICTO</h3> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"You poor kid!" I whispered, taking her hands and trying to raise her. +But she stayed on her knees and clung to me.</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Then you're no cowboy?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Only a make-believe one?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And the drinking, the gambling, the association with those low +men—that was all put on?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Oh, so <i>that's</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>man</i>—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."</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"She knows something. I haven't any idea how much."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Sally, she's no baby. She's got sand, that girl—"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Wait," she replied, detaining me. "Didn't you say they were hunting for +you?"</p> + +<p>"They sure are," I returned grimly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Sally, I oughtn't to stay. I don't want to—I won't," I replied +perplexed and stubborn.</p> + +<p>"But you must. It's the only safe way. They won't come here."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Up yet, Sally?" came Sampson's clear voice, too strained, too eager to +be natural.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Are you alone?" went on Sampson's penetrating voice, colder now.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Sally.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Well!" gasped Sampson. He showed amazement. "Hands up, Russ!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Sampson barred Wright from entering, which action showed control as +well as distrust.</p> + +<p>"You lied!" said Sampson to Sally. He was hard as flint, yet doubtful +and curious, too.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Move aside," ordered Sampson sternly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You little hussy!" exclaimed Sampson, and he lowered the gun.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"How long has Russ been in here?" demanded Sampson.</p> + +<p>"All evening. I left Diane at eight o'clock. Russ came right after +that."</p> + +<p>"But you'd undressed for bed!" ejaculated the angry and perplexed uncle.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"See here Sampson—" I began, passionately.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Well, let go of him," said Sampson. "I won't hurt him. Sally, how long +has this affair been going on?"</p> + +<p>"For weeks—I don't know how long."</p> + +<p>"Does Diane know?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, George?" came Miss Sampson's deep voice, nervous, hurried. +"What's all this commotion? I hear—"</p> + +<p>"Diane, go on back," ordered Sampson.</p> + +<p>Just then Miss Sampson's beautiful agitated face appeared beside Wright. +He failed to prevent her from seeing all of us.</p> + +<p>"Papa! Sally!" she exclaimed, in consternation. Then she swept into the +room. "What has happened?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Sally confessed it, Diane," replied Wright.</p> + +<p>"Sally!" A shrinking, shuddering disbelief filled Miss Sampson's voice.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Miss Sampson, it's a—" I burst out.</p> + +<p>Then Sally fainted. It was I who caught her. Miss Sampson hurried to her +side with a little cry of distress.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>I dropped my head and stalked out.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_10" id="CHAPTER_10"></a>Chapter 10</h2> + +<h3>A SLAP IN THE FACE</h3> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>must</i> be—something more between us.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But what was the right thing?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Howdy, Russ," he said. "We've been wantin' you."</p> + +<p>"There's ten of us in town, all scattered round, ready. It's goin' to +start to-day."</p> + +<p>"Where's Steele?" was my first query.</p> + +<p>"Saw him less'n hour ago. He's somewhere close. He may show up any +time."</p> + +<p>"Is he all right?"</p> + +<p>"Wal, he was pretty fit a little while back," replied Morton +significantly.</p> + +<p>"What's come off? Tell me all."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Drinking hard?" I queried.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"'Hello Blome, I hear you're lookin' for me,' called out Steele.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"'I hear you've been looking for me,' repeated the Ranger.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"'Yes, I have,' replied Blome.</p> + +<p>"'Well, here I am. What do you want?'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"'If you heard I was lookin' for you, you sure heard what for,' replied +Blome.</p> + +<p>"'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?'</p> + +<p>"'I reckon you know what Jack Blome means.'</p> + +<p>"'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?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes—I did mean it.'</p> + +<p>"'All right. Go ahead!'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"Then Steele deliberately stepped forward an' slapped Blome on one side +of his face an' again on the other.</p> + +<p>"'Keep out of my way after this or I'm liable to spoil some of your +dandy looks.'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I sure do. It wasn't any of our men. Zimmer was outside. The others +were at different places."</p> + +<p>"The fact is, then, Steele has more friends than we know, perhaps more +than he knows himself."</p> + +<p>"Right. An' it's got the gang in the air. There'll be hell to-night."</p> + +<p>"Steele hardly expects to keep Snecker in jail, does he?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"We don't need any more. Morton, can you give me any idea where Steele +is?"</p> + +<p>"Not the slightest."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Russ, if you Ranger fellows ain't wonders!" exclaimed Morton, with +shining eyes.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, are you all right?" she whispered.</p> + +<p>"Just at this moment I am," I replied.</p> + +<p>Sally gave me another little hug, and then, disengaging herself from my +arms, she sat down beside me.</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"Steele's safe so far," I interrupted.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"No," I replied, steadily.</p> + +<p>"Did Steele shoot anybody?"</p> + +<p>"No. A rustler named March tried to draw on Steele, and someone in the +crowd killed March."</p> + +<p>"Someone? Russ, was it you?"</p> + +<p>"It sure wasn't. I didn't happen to be there."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Then Steele has other men like you around him. I might have guessed +that."</p> + +<p>"Sally, Steele makes men his friends. It's because he's on the side of +justice."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder. Sally, what does Diane know about her father?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I'll try," I promised, knowing that promise would be hard to keep.</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"My dear, you needn't bring up painful memories. I remember where."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Sally, you lied to Sampson to save me. But you must have accepted me +before you could have told Diane the truth."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Russ, I had—in my heart! But it has been some time since you asked +me—and—and—"</p> + +<p>"You imagined my offer might have been withdrawn. Well, it stands."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Sally, do you love me?"</p> + +<p>"Ever so much. Since the very first."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Sally! You're rich?" I exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I am. But nobody can ever say you married me for my money."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"You will," she said softly.</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + +<p>"Russ, I fear only one thing," she whispered.</p> + +<p>"And what's that?"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then she broke away, called a low, hurried good-by, and stole like a +shadow into the darkness.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Steele had made one comment: "I wish to God I'd sent for some fool who'd +have bungled the job!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I jumped up to peer over the stone. Steele lumbered up beside me, and I +heard him draw his breath hard.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_11" id="CHAPTER_11"></a>Chapter 11</h2> + +<h3>THE FIGHT IN THE HOPE SO</h3> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"So Blome and the Sneckers think they've done for me," he muttered.</p> + +<p>"Pleasant surprise for them to-morrow, eh, old man?" I queried.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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—"</p> + +<p>"They heard, of course," I replied. "But the girls know you're safe with +me."</p> + +<p>"Safe? I—I almost wish to God I was there under that heap of ruins, +where the rustlers think they've left me."</p> + +<p>"Well, Steele, old fellow, come on. We need some sleep." With Steele in +the lead, we stalked away into the open.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>"Diane, did Sally show you her engagement ring?" I went on, bound to +talk.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I hope you'll let Sally marry me soon."</p> + +<p>"<i>Let</i> her? Sally Langdon? You haven't become acquainted with your +fiancee. But when—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, next week, just as soon—"</p> + +<p>"Russ!" cried Sally, blushing furiously.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" I queried innocently.</p> + +<p>"You're a little previous."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Russ, you're talking nonsense," reproved Sally. "Surely it's no time to +be funny."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Is Steele badly hurt?" asked Miss Sampson presently.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Where is he now?"</p> + +<p>"Look across on the other ridge. See the big white stone? There, down +under the trees, is our camp. He's there."</p> + +<p>"When may—I see him?" There was a catch in her low voice.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Did he know we were coming?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I know he's afraid to see you."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because it only makes his duty harder."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she breathed.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Sally, what do you and Diane know about the goings-on in town +yesterday?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Reckon few people in Linrock realize just what <i>did</i> come off," I +replied with a grim chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Russ, I want you to tell me," said Miss Sampson earnestly.</p> + +<p>"What?" I queried sharply.</p> + +<p>"About yesterday—what Steele did—what happened."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"I prefer the long telling. I want to know all about him."</p> + +<p>"But why, Miss Sampson? Consider. This is hardly a story for a +sensitive woman's ears."</p> + +<p>"I am no coward," she replied, turning eyes to me that flashed like dark +fire.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I want to hear—because I glory in his work," she replied deliberately.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"His work?" I echoed. "Do you want him to succeed in it?"</p> + +<p>"With all my heart," she said, with a white glow on her face.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! I am very glad to hear it. And was Sally in your confidence?"</p> + +<p>"Only lately. I am a United States deputy marshal in the service of +Steele."</p> + +<p>She gave a slight start, but did not raise her head.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"He said: 'Russ, you'll trail alongside me to-day and through the rest +of this mess.'</p> + +<p>"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!</p> + +<p>"'All right, old man,' I replied. 'We're going after them, then?'</p> + +<p>"He only nodded.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"'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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Was," whispered Sally. She quivered with excitement. Miss Sampson bent +eyes upon me that would have stirred a stone man.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"'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!'</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"'Sure. I know the Ranger's cashed,' replied Blome. 'It's not that. I'm +sore, boys.'</p> + +<p>"'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!'</p> + +<p>"The back door swung violently, and Steele, huge as a giant, plunged +through and leaped square in front of that table.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Blome bent forward, arm down, doubled up, and fell over the table and +slid to the floor.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"'Bo, you're courtin' death,' called a hard voice from the crowd.</p> + +<p>"'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!'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"He dropped dead behind the bar and his gun dropped in front. But he had +hit Steele.</p> + +<p>"The Ranger staggered, almost fell. I thought he was done, and, yelling, +I sped to him.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_12" id="CHAPTER_12"></a>Chapter 12</h2> + +<h3>TORN TWO WAYS</h3> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Miss Sampson gasped when she saw him and both her hands flew to her +breast.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>They complied with my wish, and I stepped down to Steele and gave him a +little shake. He awoke instantly.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" I said, "Want a drink?"</p> + +<p>"Water or champagne?" he inquired.</p> + +<p>I stared at him. "I've some champagne behind the rocks," I added.</p> + +<p>"Water, you locoed son of a gun!"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>I thought he was going to jump up, he started so violently, and I +pressed him back.</p> + +<p>"She—Why, she's been here all the time—Russ, you haven't +double-crossed me?"</p> + +<p>"Steele!" I exclaimed. He was certainly out of his head.</p> + +<p>"Pure accident, old man."</p> + +<p>He appeared to be half stunned, yet an eager, strange, haunting look +shone in his eyes. "Fool!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Can't you make the ordeal easier for her?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"This'll be hard on Diane. She's got to be told things!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"All right, Russ," he replied hurriedly. "But, God, man, don't I look a +sight! All this dirt and blood!"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Easy there, old man," I replied. "I've brought the girls." Miss Sampson +shook like a leaf in the wind.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"He's only off his head," I said. "Soon as we wash and bathe his head, +cool his temperature, he'll be all right."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Water!" whispered Steele.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Steele certainly said a lot of crazy things. "But why'd you come—why're +you so good—when you don't love me?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, but—I do—love you," whispered Miss Sampson brokenly.</p> + +<p>"How do I know?"</p> + +<p>"I am here. I tell you."</p> + +<p>There was a silence, during which she kept on bathing his head, and he +kept on watching her. "Diane!" he broke out suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Yes—yes."</p> + +<p>"That won't stop the pain in my head."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope so."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Not there," Steele whispered.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Diane, you know how hard my duty is, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know—I think I know."</p> + +<p>"You've guessed—about your father?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"No, listen. We must clash, your father and I. Diane, he's not—"</p> + +<p>"Not what he seems! Oh, I know, to my sorrow."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"Hush, Vaughn. You're growing excited. It will not do. Please—please—"</p> + +<p>"Diane, your father's—chief of this—gang that I came to break up."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Me? Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because the truth must no longer be concealed."</p> + +<p>It was her turn to blanch, and her eyes, strained, dark as night, +flashed from one of us to the other.</p> + +<p>"The truth! Tell it then." She had more courage than any of us.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Miss Sampson heard, but she did not believe.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I'll find him," I replied turning away.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I want to know—what you must do," she said. Steele told her briefly, +and his voice was stern.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"But, Sally, there's a chance—a mere chance I can do the job without—"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_13" id="CHAPTER_13"></a>Chapter 13</h2> + +<h3>RUSS SITTELL IN ACTION</h3> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>would</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>my</i> love +to save him! Therefore, beyond and above all other claims, and by reason +of my wrong to him, his claim came first.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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'."</p> + +<p>"Where is he now?" I queried.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"They were an hour ago. We had word. Zimmer saw Dick."</p> + +<p>"All right. Have you any horses handy?"</p> + +<p>"Sure. Those hitched outside belong to us."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Morton's breast heaved; he whistled as he breathed; his neck churned. +"God Almighty! So <i>there</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"Good. Well, that's all. Come out and get me a horse."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Bill ain't here," said a man at the table nearest me. "Air you comin' +from Morton?"</p> + +<p>"Nit. But I'm not yellin' this message."</p> + +<p>The rustler rose, and in a few long strides confronted me.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Bill'll kill him surer 'n hell," muttered the rustler. "But we all said +it'd come to thet. An' what'd Wright say?"</p> + +<p>"Wright! Why, he's cashed in. Didn't you-all hear? Reckon Sampson shot +him."</p> + +<p>The rustler cursed his amaze and swung his rigid arm with fist clenched +tight. "When did Wright get it?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I replied, while with my left hand I patted the neck of my horse, +holding him still.</p> + +<p>"Sampson wants me bad, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Reckon there's only one man who wants you more."</p> + +<p>Steadily, I met his piercing gaze. This was a rustler not to be long +victim to any ruse. I waited in cold surety.</p> + +<p>"You thet cowboy, Russ?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I was—and I'm not!" I replied significantly.</p> + +<p>The violent start of this violent outlaw was a rippling jerk of passion. +"What'n hell!" he ejaculated.</p> + +<p>"Bill, you're easy."</p> + +<p>"Who're you?" he uttered hoarsely.</p> + +<p>I watched Snecker with hawk-like keenness. "United States deputy +marshal. Bill, you're under arrest!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"It's only Russ and he's drunk," said George Wright contemptuously.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>was</i> his last stand, though he was ignorant of that.</p> + +<p>"Me—Say, Wright, I ain't fired yet," I replied, in slow-rising +resentment.</p> + +<p>"Well, you're fired now," he replied insolently.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I do," said Wright.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Well, I had some news I was asked to fetch in."</p> + +<p>"Get it out of you then."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"What's this news? You needn't be afraid of my feelings," said Wright.</p> + +<p>"Ain't so sure of that," I drawled. "It concerns the lady you're sweet +on, an' the ranger you ain't sweet on."</p> + +<p>Sampson jumped up. "Russ, had Diane gone out to meet Steele?" he asked +angrily.</p> + +<p>"Sure she had," I replied.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"How do you know she met Steele?" demanded Sampson.</p> + +<p>"I was there. I met Sally at the same time."</p> + +<p>"But why should my daughter meet this Ranger?"</p> + +<p>"She's in love with him and he's in love with her."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Wright, finding his voice, cursed Diane, cursed the Ranger, then +Sampson, then me.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"To hell with you!" burst out Wright incoherently. He was frenzied. +"I'll have her or nobody else will!"</p> + +<p>"You never will," returned Sampson stridently. "So help me God, I'd +rather see her Ranger Steele's wife than yours!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," I called in clear, high, far-reaching voice, the intonation +of authority, "you're both done!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"United States deputy marshal in service of Ranger Steele!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Suppose I refuse?" he queried, with a dark and terrible earnestness.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_14" id="CHAPTER_14"></a>Chapter 14</h2> + +<h3>THROUGH THE VALLEY</h3> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"There come the girls!" suddenly exclaimed Sampson. "Morton, help me +drag Wright inside. They mustn't see him."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Reckon I am," I replied.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry. If only you could have told me sooner! Wright, damn him! +Always I've split over him!"</p> + +<p>"But the last time, Sampson."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Hard now. But it'll—turn out—O.K."</p> + +<p>"Russ, will you do me a favor?" he asked, and he seemed shamefaced.</p> + +<p>"Sure."</p> + +<p>"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 <i>been</i> coming. +It'll be here just about when she enters this room. And by God, I'd +change places with you if I could."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Where'm I hit?" I whispered.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Sure I've a chance."</p> + +<p>"Russ, I'll tell the girls, do what I can for you, then settle with +Morton and clear out."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Papa!" cried Diane, wringing her hands.</p> + +<p>"Don't give way," he replied. "Both you girls will need your nerve. Russ +is badly hurt. There's little hope for him."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Send—for—Steele," I whispered.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The fever passed, and with the first nourishing drink given me I seemed +to find my tongue, to gain something.</p> + +<p>"Hello, old man," I whispered to Steele.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lord, Russ, to think you would double-cross me the way you did!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I can't forget. I'm afraid it cost me more than life."</p> + +<p>Sally was somber, bloomy, thoughtful. "You weren't driven to kill +George?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"How do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"By that awful instinct, that hankering to kill, you once told me these +gunmen had."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Hush—Tell me, if you confronted them, drew on them, then you had a +chance to kill my uncle?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I could have done it easily."</p> + +<p>"Why, then, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"It was for Diane's sake. I'm afraid I didn't think of you. I had put +you out of my mind."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Steele, I'll never get well in this house. I want to go home. When can +you take me?"</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_15" id="CHAPTER_15"></a>Chapter 15</h2> + +<h3>CONVALESCENCE</h3> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>"It's over!" said Steele thickly. "It's done! I'm glad, for their +sakes—glad for ours. We're out of town."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied with emotion.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And I, who had been their undoing, in the end was their salvation. How I +hugged that truth to my heart!</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's about time," I replied.</p> + +<p>"But oughtn't they take us into their confidence?"</p> + +<p>"Sally, they have forgotten we are upon the earth."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad they're happy!"</p> + +<p>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—"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Russ, I swore—I'd hate you if you—if you—"</p> + +<p>"I know. Don't speak of it," I interposed hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"But I don't hate you. I—I love you. And I can't give you up!"</p> + +<p>"Darling! But, Sally, can you get over it—can you forget?"</p> + +<p>"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, <i>never</i> had any +sense!"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"Russ, I never—took off your ring," she whispered.</p> + +<p>"But you hid your hand from my sight," I replied quickly.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear Russ, we're crazy—as crazy as those lunatics outside. Let's +think a little."</p> + +<p>I was very content to have no thought at all, just to see and feel her +close to me.</p> + +<p>"Russ, will you give up the Ranger Service for me?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I will."</p> + +<p>"And leave this fighting Texas, never to return till the day of guns and +Rangers and bad men and even-breaks is past?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You're indeed a poor cowboy out of a job! Remember your deceit. Oh, +Russ! Well, you'll have work, never fear."</p> + +<p>"Sally, is this old home of yours near the one Diane speaks of so much?" +I asked.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RUSTLERS OF PECOS COUNTY***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 15580-h.txt or 15580-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/8/15580">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/5/8/15580</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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