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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of BAR-20, by Clarence Edward Mulford
+[Alternate Title]
+#1 in our series by Clarence Edward Mulford
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+Title:  Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up (BAR-20)
+
+Author:  Clarence Edward Mulford
+
+March, 2001  [Etext #2546]
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of BAR-20, by Clarence Edward Mulford
+[Alternate Title]
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+Etext prepared by
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+
+
+
+Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up (BAR-20)
+
+by Clarence Edward Mulford
+
+
+
+1906
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Buckskin
+
+The town lay sprawled over half a square mile of alkali plain, its
+main Street depressing in its width, for those who were responsible
+for its inception had worked with a generosity born of the knowledge
+that they had at their immediate and unchallenged disposal the broad
+lands of Texas and New Mexico on which to assemble a grand total of
+twenty buildings, four of which were of wood.  As this material was
+scarce, and had to be brought from where the waters of the Gulf lapped
+against the flat coast, the last-mentioned buildings were a matter of
+local pride, as indicating the progressiveness of their owners.
+
+These creations of hammer and saw were of one story, crude and unpainted;
+their cheap weather sheathing, warped and shrunken by the pitiless
+sun, curled back on itself and allowed unrestricted entrance to alkali
+dust and air.  The other shacks were of adobe, and reposed in that
+magnificent squalor dear to their owners, Indians and Mexicans.
+
+It was an incident of the Cattle Trail, that most unique and
+stupendous of all modern migrations, and its founders must have been
+inspired with a malicious desire to perpetrate a crime against
+geography, or else they reveled in a perverse cussedness, for within a
+mile on every side lay broad prairies, and two miles to the east
+flowed the indolent waters of the Rio Pecos itself.  The distance
+separating the town from the river was excusable, for at certain
+seasons of the year the placid stream swelled mightily and swept down
+in a broad expanse of turbulent, yellow flood.
+
+Buckskin was a town of one hundred inhabitants, located in the
+valley of the Rio Pecos fifty miles south of the Texas-New Mexico
+line. The census claimed two hundred, but it was a well-known fact
+that it was exaggerated.  One instance of this is shown by the name of
+Tom Flynn. Those who once knew Tom Flynn, alias Johnny Redmond, alias
+Bill Sweeney, alias Chuck Mullen, by all four names, could find them
+in the census list. Furthermore, he had been shot and killed in the
+March of the year preceding the census, and now occupied a grave in
+the young but flourishing cemetery.  Perry's Bend, twenty miles up the
+river, was cognizant of this and other facts, and, laughing in open
+derision at the padded list, claimed to be the better town in all
+ways, including marksmanship.
+
+One year before this tale opens, Buck Peters, an example for the
+more recent Billy the Kid, had paid Perry's Bend a short but busy
+visit.  He had ridden in at the north end of Main Street and out at the
+south.  As he came in he was fired at by a group of ugly cowboys from a
+ranch known as the C 80.  He was hit twice, but he unlimbered his
+artillery, and before his horse had carried him, half dead, out on the
+prairie, he had killed one of the group.  Several citizens had joined
+the cowboys and added their bullets against Buck.  The deceased had
+been the best bartender in the country, and the rage of the suffering
+citizens can well be imagined.  They swore vengeance on Buck, his
+ranch, and his stamping ground.
+
+The difference between Buck and Billy the Kid is that the former
+never shot a man who was not trying to shoot him, or who had not been
+warned by some action against Buck that would call for it.  He minded
+his own business, never picked a quarrel, and was quiet and pacific up
+to a certain point.  After that had been passed he became like a raging
+cyclone in a tenement house, and storm-cellars were much in demand.
+
+"Fanning" is the name of a certain style of gun play not unknown
+among the bad men of the West.  While Buck was not a bad man, he had to
+rub elbows with them frequently, and he believed that the sauce for
+the goose was the sauce for the gander.  So be bad removed the trigger
+of his revolver and worked the hammer with the thumb of the "gun hand"
+or the heel of the unencumbered hand.  The speed thus acquired was
+greater than that of the more modern double-action weapon.  Six shots
+in a few seconds was his average speed when that number was required,
+and when it is thoroughly understood that at least some of them found
+their intended bullets it is not difficult to realize that fanning was
+an operation of danger when Buck was doing it.
+
+He was a good rider, as all cowboys are, and was not afraid of
+anything that lived.  At one time he and his chums, Red Connors and
+Hopalong Cassidy, had successfully routed a band of fifteen Apaches
+who wanted their scalps.  Of these, twelve never hunted scalps again,
+nor anything else on this earth, and the other three returned to their
+tribe with the report that three evil Spirits had chased them with
+"wheel guns" (cannons).
+
+So now, since his visit to Perry's Bend, the rivalry of the two
+towns had turned to hatred and an alert and eager readiness to
+increase the inhabitants of each other's graveyard.  A state of war
+existed, which for a time resulted in nothing worse than acrimonious
+suggestions.  But the time came when the score was settled to the
+satisfaction of one side, at least.
+
+Four ranches were also concerned in the trouble.  Buckskin was
+surrounded by two, the Bar 20 and the Three Triangle.  Perry's Bend was
+the common point for the C 80 and the Double Arrow.  Each of the two
+ranch contingents accepted the feud as a matter of course, and as a
+matter of course took sides with their respective towns.  As no better
+class of fighters ever lived, the trouble assumed Homeric proportions
+and insured a danger zone well worth watching.
+
+Bar-20's northern line was C 80's southern one, and Skinny Thompson
+took his turn at outriding one morning after the season's round-up.  He
+was to follow the boundary and turn back stray cattle.  When he had
+covered the greater part of his journey he saw Shorty Jones riding
+toward him on a course parallel to his own and about long revolver
+range away.  Shorty and he had "crossed trails" the year before and the
+best of feelings did not exist between them.
+
+Shorty stopped and stared at Skinny, who did likewise at Shorty.
+Shorty turned his mount around and applied the spurs, thereby causing
+his indignant horse to raise both heels at Skinny.  The latter took it
+all in gravely and, as Shorty faced him again, placed his left thumb
+to his nose, wiggling his fingers suggestively. Shorty took no
+apparent notice of this but began to shout:
+
+"Yu wants to keep yore busted-down cows on yore own side.  They was
+all over us day afore yisterday.  I'm goin' to salt any more what comes
+over, and don't yu fergit it, neither."
+
+Thompson wigwagged with his fingers again and shouted in reply:  "Yu
+c'n salt all yu wants to, but if I ketch yu adoin' it yu won't have to
+work no more.  An' I kin say right here thet they's more C 80 cows over
+here than they's Bar-20's over there."
+
+Shorty reached for his revolver and yelled, "Yore a liar!"
+
+Among the cowboys in particular and the Westerners in general at
+that time, the three suicidal terms, unless one was an expert in
+drawing quick and shooting straight with one movement, were the words
+"liar," "coward," and "thief." Any man who was called one of these in
+earnest, and he was the judge, was expected to shoot if he could and
+save his life, for the words were seldom used without a gun coming
+with them.  The movement of Shorty's hand toward his belt before the
+appellation reached him was enough for Skinny, who let go at long
+range-and missed.
+
+
+The two reports were as one.  Both urged their horses nearer and
+fired again.  This time Skinny's sombrero gave a sharp jerk and a hole
+appeared in the crown.  The third shot of Skinny's sent the horse of
+the other to its knees and then over on its side.  Shorty very promptly
+crawled behind it and, as he did so, Skinny began a wide circle,
+firing at intervals as Shorty's smoke cleared away.
+
+Shorty had the best position for defense, as he was in a shallow
+coul e, but he knew that he could not leave it until his opponent had
+either grown tired of the affair or had used up his ammunition.  Skinny
+knew it, too.  Skinny also knew that he could get back to the ranch
+house and lay in a supply of food and ammunition and return before
+Shorty could cover the twelve miles he had to go on foot.
+
+Finally Thompson began to head for home.  He had carried the matter
+as far as he could without it being murder.  Too much time had elapsed
+now, and, besides, it was before breakfast and he was hungry. He would
+go away and settle the score at some time when they would be on equal
+terms.
+
+He rode along the line for a mile and chanced to look back.  Two C 80
+punchers were riding after him, and as they saw him turn and discover
+them they fired at him and yelled.  He rode on for some distance and
+cautiously drew his rifle out of its long holster at his right leg.
+Suddenly he turned around in the saddle and fired twice.  One of his
+pursuers fell forward on the neck of his horse, and his comrade turned
+to help him.  Thompson wig-wagged again and rode on, reaching the ranch
+as the others were finishing their breakfast.
+
+At the table Red Connors remarked that the tardy one had a hole in
+his sombrero, and asked its owner how and where he had received it.
+
+"Had a argument with C 80 out'n th' line."
+
+"Go `way! Ventilate enny?"
+
+"One."
+
+"Good boy, sonny! Hey, Hopalong, Skinny perforated C 80 this
+mawnin'!"
+
+Hopalong Cassidy was struggling with a mouthful of beef.  He turned
+his eyes toward Red without ceasing, and grinning as well as he could
+under the circumstances managed to grunt out "Gu-," which was as near
+to "Good" as the beef would allow.
+
+Lanky Smith now chimed in as he repeatedly stuck his knife into a
+reluctant boiled potato, "How'd yu do it, Skinny?"
+
+"Bet he sneaked up on him," joshed Buck Peters; "did yu ask his
+pardin, Skinny?"
+
+"Ask nuthin'," remarked Red, "he jest nachurly walks up to C 80 an'
+sez, `Kin I have the pleasure of ventilatin' yu?' an' C So he sez, `If
+yu do it easy like,' sez he.  Didn't he, Thompson?"
+
+"They'll be some ventilatin' under th' table if yu fellows don't
+lemme alone; I'm hungry," complained Skinny.
+
+"Say, Hopalong, I bets yu I kin clean up C 80 all by my lonesome,"
+announced Buck, winking at Red.
+
+"Yah! Yu onct tried to clean up the Bend, Buckie, an' if Pete an'
+Billy hadn't afound yu when they come by Eagle Pass that night yu
+wouldn't be here eatin' beef by th' pound," glancing at the
+hard-working Hopalong.  "It was plum lucky fer yu that they was
+acourtin' that time, wasn't it, Hopalong?" suddenly asked Red.
+Hopalong nearly strangled in his efforts to speak.  He gave it
+up and nodded his head.
+
+"Why can't yu git it straight, Connors? I wasn't doin' no courtin',
+it was Pete.  I runned into him on th' other side o' th' pass.  I'd look
+fine acourtin', wouldn't I?" asked the downtrodden Williams.
+
+Pete Wilson skillfully flipped a potato into that worthy's coffee,
+spilling the beverage of the questionable name over a large expanse of
+blue flannel shirt.  "Yu's all right, yu are.  Why, when I meets yu, yu
+was lost in th' arms of yore ladylove.  All I could see was yore feet.
+Go an' git tangled up with a two hundred and forty pound half-breed
+squaw an' then try to lay it onter me! When I proposed drownin' yore
+troubles over at Cowan's, yu went an' got mad over what yu called th'
+insinooation.  An' yu shore didn't look any too blamed fine, neither."
+
+"All th' same," volunteered Thompson, who had taken the edge from
+his appetite, "we better go over an' pay C 80 a call.  I don't like
+what Shorty said about saltin' our cattle.  He'll shore do it, unless I
+camps on th' line, which same I hain't hankerin' after."
+
+"Oh, he wouldn't stop th' cows that way, Skinny; he was only
+afoolin'," exclaimed Connors meekly.
+
+"Foolin' yore gran'mother! That there bunch'll do anything if we
+wasn't lookin'," hotly replied Skinny.
+
+"That's shore nuff gospel, Thomp.  They's sore fer mor'n one thing.
+They got aplenty when Buck went on th' warpath, an they's hankerin' to
+git square," remarked Johnny Nelson, stealing the pie, a rare treat,
+of his neighbor when that unfortunate individual was not looking.  He
+had it halfway to his mouth when its former owner, Jimmy Price, a boy
+of eighteen, turned his head and saw it going.
+
+"Hi-yi! Yu clay-bank coyote, drap thet pie! Did yu ever see such a
+son-of-a-gun fer pie?" he plaintively asked Red Connors, as he grabbed
+a mighty handful of apples and crust.  "Pie'll kill yu some day, yu
+bob-tailed jack! I had an uncle that died onct.  He et too much pie an'
+he went an' turned green, an so'll yu if yu don't let it alone."
+
+"Yu ought'r seed th' pie Johnny had down in Eagle Flat," murmured
+Lanky Smith reminiscently.  "She had feet that'd stop a stampede.
+Johnny was shore loco about her.  Swore she was the finest blossom that
+ever growed." Here he choked and tears of laughter coursed down his
+weather-beaten face as he pictured her.  "She was a dainty Mexican,
+about fifteen han's high an' about sixteen han's around.  Johnny used
+to chalk off when he hugged her, usen't yu, Johnny? One night when he
+had got purty well around on th' second lap he run inter a feller jest
+startin' out on his fust.  They hain't caught that Mexican yet."
+
+Nelson was pelted with everything in sight.  He slowly wiped off the
+pie crust and bread and potatoes.  "Anybody'd think I was a busted grub
+wagon," he grumbled. When he had fished the last piece of beef out of
+his ear he went out and offered to stand treat.  As the round-up was
+over, they slid into their saddles and raced for Cowan's saloon at
+Buckskin.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+The Rashness of Shorty
+
+Buckskin was very hot; in fact it was never anything else.  Few people
+were on the streets and the town was quiet.  Over in the Houston hotel
+a crowd of cowboys was lounging in the barroom.  They were very quiet-a
+condition as rare as it was ominous.  Their mounts, twelve in all, were
+switching flies from their quivering skins in the corral at the rear.
+Eight of these had a large C 80 branded on their flanks; the other
+four, a Double Arrow.
+
+In the barroom a slim, wiry man was looking out of the dirty window
+up the street at Cowan's saloon.  Shorty was complaining, "They shore
+oughter be here now.  They rounded up last week."  The man nearest
+assured him that they would come.  The man at the window turned and
+said, "They's yer now.
+
+
+
+
+In front of Cowan's a crowd of nine happy-go-lucky, daredevil
+riders were sliding from their saddles.  They threw their reins over
+the heads of their mounts and filed in to the bar.  Laughter issued
+from the open door and the clink of glasses could be heard.  They stood
+in picturesque groups, strong, self-reliant, humorous, virile. Their
+expensive sombreros were pushed far back on their heads and their
+hairy chaps were covered with the alkali dust from their ride.
+
+Cowan, bottle in hand, pushed out several more glasses.  He kicked a
+dog from under his feet and looked at Buck.  "Rounded up yet?" he
+inquired.
+
+"Shore, day afore yisterday," came the reply.  The rest were busy
+removing the dust from their throats, and gradually drifted into
+groups of two or three.  One of these groups strolled over to the
+solitary card table, and found Jimmy Price resting in a cheap chair,
+his legs on the table.
+
+"I wisht yu'd extricate yore delicate feet from off'n this hyar
+table, James," humbly requested Lanky Smith, morally backed up by
+those with him.
+
+"Ya-as, they shore is delicate, Mr. Smith," responded Jimmy without
+moving.
+
+"We wants to play draw, Jimmy," explained Pete.
+
+"Yore shore welcome to play if yu wants to.  Didn't I tell yu when yu
+growed that mustache that yu didn't have to ask me any more?" queried
+the placid James, paternally.
+
+"Call `em off, sonny. Pete sez he kin clean me out.  Anyhow, yu kin
+have the fust deal," compromised Lanky.
+
+"I'm shore sorry fer Pete if he cayn't.  Yu don't reckon I has to
+have fust deal to beat yu fellers, do yu? Go way an' lemme alone; I
+never seed such a bunch fer buttin' in as yu fellers."
+
+Billy Williams returned to the bar.  Then he walked along it until he
+was behind the recalcitrant possessor of the table.  While his
+aggrieved friends shuffled their feet uneasily to cover his approach,
+he tiptoed up behind Jimmy and, with a nod, grasped that indignant
+individual firmly by the neck while the others grabbed his feet.  They
+carried him, twisting and bucking, to the middle of the street and
+deposited him in the dust, returning to the now vacant table.
+
+Jimmy rested quietly for a few seconds and then slowly arose,
+dusting the alkali from him.
+
+"Th' wall-eyed piruts," he muttered, and then scratched his head for a
+way to "play hunk."  As he gazed sorrowfully at the saloon he heard a
+snicker from behind him.  He, thinking it was one of his late
+tormentors, paid no attention to it.  Then a cynical, biting laugh
+stung him.  He wheeled, to see Shorty leaning against a tree, a
+sneering leer on his flushed face.  Shorty's right hand was suspended
+above his holster, hooked to his belt by the thumb-a favorite position
+of his when expecting trouble.
+
+"One of yore reg'lar habits?" he drawled.
+
+Jimmy began to dust himself in silence, but his lips were compressed
+to a thin white line.
+
+"Does they hurt yu?" pursued the onlooker.
+
+Jimmy looked up.  "I heard tell that they make glue outen cayuses,
+sometimes," he remarked.
+
+Shorty's eyes flashed.  The loss of the horse had been rankling in
+his heart all day.
+
+"Does they git yu frequent?" he asked.  His voice sounded hard.
+
+"Oh, `bout as frequent as yu lose a cayuse, I reckon," replied Jimmy
+hotly.
+
+Shorty's hand streaked to his holster and Jimmy followed his lead.
+Jimmy's Colt was caught.  He had bucked too much.  As he fell Shorty ran
+for the Houston House.
+
+Pistol shots were common, for they were the universal method of
+expressing emotions.  The poker players grinned, thinking their victim
+was letting off his indignation.  Lanky sized up his hand and remarked
+half audibly, "He's a shore good kid."
+
+The bartender, fearing for his new beveled, gilt-framed mirror, gave
+a hasty glance out the window.  He turned around, made change and
+remarked to Buck, "Yore kid, Jimmy, is plugged."  Several of the more
+credulous craned their necks to see, Buck being the first.  "Judas!" he
+shouted, and ran out to where Jimmy lay coughing, his toes twitching.
+The saloon was deserted and a crowd of angry cowboys surrounded their
+chum-aboy.  Buck had seen Shorty enter the door of the Houston House
+and he swore.  "Chase them C 80 and Arrow cayuses behind the saloon,
+Pete, an' git under cover.
+
+Jimmy was choking and he coughed up blood.  "He's shore- got me.  My-
+gun stuck," he added apologetically.  He tried to sit up, but was not
+able and he looked surprised.  "It's purty- damn hot-out here," he
+suggested. Johnny and Billy carried him in the saloon and placed him
+by the table, in the chair he had previously vacated.  As they stood up
+he fell across the table and died.
+
+Billy placed the dead boy's sombrero on his head and laid the
+refractory six-shooter on the table.  "I wonder who th' dirty killer
+was."  He looked at the slim figure and started to go out, followed by
+Johnny.  As he reached the threshold a bullet zipped past him and
+thudded into the frame of the door.  He backed away and looked
+surprised.  "That's Shorty's shootin'-he allus misses `bout that much."
+He looked out and saw Buck standing behind the live oak that Shorty
+had leaned against, firing at the hotel.  Turning around he made for
+the rear, remarking to Johnny that "they's in th' Houston."  Johnny
+looked at the quiet figure in the chair and swore softly.  He followed
+Billy.  Cowan, closing the door and taking a buffalo gun from under the
+bar, went out also and slammed the rear door forcibly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The Argument
+
+Up the street two hundred yards from the Houston House Skinny and Pete
+lay hidden behind a bowlder.  Three hundred yards on the other side of
+the hotel Johnny and Billy were stretched out in an arroyo.  Buck was
+lying down now, and Hopalong, from his position in the barn belonging
+to the hotel, was methodically dropping the horses of the besieged, a
+job he hated as much as he hated poison.  The corral was their death
+trap.  Red and Lanky were emitting clouds of smoke from behind the
+store, immediately across the street from the barroom.  A buffalo gun
+roared down by the plaza and several Sharps cracked a protest from
+different points.  The town had awakened and the shots were dropping
+steadily.
+
+Strange noises filled the air.  They grew in tone and volume and then
+dwindled away to nothing.  The hum of the buffalo gun and the sobbing
+pi-in-in-ing of the Winchesters were liberally mixed with the sharp
+whines of the revolvers.
+
+There were no windows in the hotel now.  Raw furrows in the bleached
+wood showed yellow, and splinters mysteriously sprang from the
+casings.  The panels of the door were producing cracks and the cheap
+door handle flew many ways at once.  An empty whisky keg on the stoop
+boomed out mournfully at intervals and finally rolled down the steps
+with a rumbling protest.  Wisps of smoke slowly climbed up the walls
+and seemed to be waving defiance to the curling wisps in the open.
+
+
+Pete raised his shoulder to refill the magazine of his smoking rifle
+and dropped the cartridges all over his lap.  He looked sheepishly at
+Skinny and began to load with his other hand.
+
+"Yore plum loco, yu are. Don't yu reckon they kin hit a blue shirt
+at two hundred?" Skinny cynically inquired.  "Got one that time," he
+announced a second later.
+
+"I wonder who's got th' buffalo," grunted Pete.  "Mus' be Cowan," he
+replied to his own question and settled himself to use his left hand.
+
+"Don't yu git Shorty; he's my meat," suggested Skinny.
+
+"Yu better tell Buck-he ain't got no love fer Shorty," replied Pete,
+aiming carefully.
+
+The panic in the corral ceased and Hopalong was now sending his
+regrets against the panels of the rear door.  He had cut his last
+initial in the near panel and was starting a wobbly "H" in its
+neighbor.  He was in a good position.  There were no windows in the rear
+wall, and as the door was a very dangerous place he was not fired at.
+
+He began to get tired of this one-sided business and crawled up on
+the window ledge, dangling his feet on the outside. He occasionally
+sent a bullet at a different part of the door, but amused himself by
+annoying Buck.
+
+"Plenty hot down there?" he pleasantly inquired, and as he received
+no answer he tried again.  "Better save some of them cartridges fer
+some other time, Buck."
+
+Buck was sending 45-70's into the shattered window with a precision
+that presaged evil to any of the defenders who were rash enough to try
+to gain the other end of the room.
+
+Hopalong bit off a chew of tobacco and drowned a green fly that was
+crawling up the side of the barn.  The yellow liquid streaked downward
+a short distance and was eagerly sucked up by the warped boards.
+
+A spurt of smoke leaped from the battered door and the bored
+Hopalong promptly tumbled back inside.  He felt of his arm, and then,
+delighted at the notice taken of his artistic efforts, shot several
+times from a crack on his right.  "This yer's shore gittin' like home,"
+he gravely remarked to the splinter that whizzed past his head. He
+shot again at the door and it sagged outward, accompanied by the thud
+of a falling body.  "Pies like mother used to make," he announced to
+the loft as he slipped the magazine full of .45-70'S.  "An' pills like
+popper used to take," he continued when he had lowered the level of
+the water in his flask.
+
+He rolled a cigarette and tossed the match into the air,
+extinguishing it by a shot from his Colt.
+
+"Got any cigarettes, Hoppy?" said a voice from below.
+
+"Shore," replied the joyous puncher, recognizing Pete; "how'd yu git
+here?"
+
+"Like a cow.  Busy?"
+
+"None whatever.  Comin' up?"
+
+"Nope.  Skinny wants a smoke too."
+
+Hopalong handed tobacco and papers down the hole.  "So long."
+
+"So long," replied the daring Pete, who risked death twice for a
+smoke.
+
+The hot afternoon dragged along and about three o'clock   Buck held up
+an empty cartridge belt to the gaze of the curious Hopalong.  That
+observant worthy nodded and threw a double handful of cartridges, one
+by one, to the patient and unrelenting Buck, who filled his gun and
+piled the few remaining ones up at his side.  "Th' lives of mice and
+men gang aft all wrong," he remarked at random.
+
+"Th' son-of-a-gun's talkin' Shakespeare," marveled Hopalong.
+"Satiate any, Buck?" he asked as that worthy settled down to await his
+chance.
+
+"Two," he replied, "Shorty an' another.  Plenty damn hot down here,"
+he complained.  A spurt of alkali dust stung his face, but the hand
+that made it never made another.  "Three," he called.  "How many,
+Hoppy?"
+
+ "One. That's four.  Wonder if th' others got any?"
+
+"Pete said Skinny got one," replied the intent Buck.
+
+"Th' son-of-a-gun, he never said nothin' about it, an' me a fillin'
+his ornery paws with smokin'."  Hopalong was indignant.
+
+"Bet yu ten we don't git `em afore dark," he announced.
+
+"Got yu.  Go yu ten more I gits another," promptly responded Buck.
+
+"That's a shore cinch.  Make her twenty."
+
+"She is."
+
+"Yu'll have to square it with Skinny, he shore wanted Shorty plum'
+bad, "Hopalong informed the unerring marksman.
+
+"Why didn't he say suthin' about it? Anyhow, Jimmy was my bunkie."
+
+Hopalong's cigarette disintegrated and the board at his left
+received a hole.  He promptly disappeared and Buck laughed.  He sat up
+in the loft and angrily spat the soaked paper out from between his
+lips.
+
+"All that trouble fer nothin', th' white-eyed coyote," he muttered.
+Then he crawled around to one side and fired at the center of his "C."
+Another shot hurtled at him and his left arm fell to his side.  "That's
+funny-wonder where th' damn pirut is? "He looked out cautiously and
+saw a cloud of smoke over a knothole which was situated close up under
+the eaves of the barroom; and it was being agitated.  Some one was
+blowing at it to make it disappear.  He aimed very carefully at the
+knot and fired.  He heard a sound between a curse and a squawk and was
+not molested any further from that point.
+
+"I knowed he'd git hurt," he explained to the bandage, torn from the
+edge of his kerchief, which he carefully bound around his last wound.
+
+Down in the arroyo Johnny was complaining.
+
+"This yer's a no good bunk," he plaintively remarked.
+
+"It shore ain't-but it's th' best we kin find," apologized Billy.
+
+"That's th' sixth that feller sent up there.  He's a damn poor shot,"
+observed Johnny; "must be Shorty."
+
+"Shorty kin shoot plum' good-tain't him," contradicted Billy.
+
+"Yas-with a six-shooter.  He's off'n his feed with a rifle,"
+explained Johnny.
+
+"Yu wants to stay down from up there, yu ijit," warned Billy as the
+disgusted Johnny crawled up the bank.  He slid down again with a welt
+on his neck.
+
+"That's somebody else now.  He oughter a done better'n that, "he
+said.
+
+Billy had fired as Johnny started to slide and he smoothed his
+aggrieved chum.  "He could onct, yu means."
+
+"Did yu git him?" asked the anxious Johnny, rubbing his welt.  "Plum'
+center," responded the business-like Billy.  "Go up agin, mebby I kin
+git another," he suggested tentatively.
+
+"Mebby you kin go to blazes.  I ain't no gallery," grinned the now
+exuberant owner of the welt.
+
+"Who's got the buffalo?" he inquired as the great gun roared.
+
+"Mus' be Cowan.  He's shore all right.  Sounds like a bloomin'
+cannon," replied Billy.  "Lemme alone with yore fool questions, I'm
+busy," he complained as his talkative partner started to ask another.
+"Go an' git me some water-I'm alkalied.  An' git some .45's, mine's
+purty near gone."
+
+Johnny crawled down the arroyo and reappeared at Hopalong's barn.
+
+As he entered the door a handful of empty shells fell on his hat and
+dropped to the floor. He shook his head and remarked, "That mus' be
+that fool Hopalong."
+
+"Yore shore right.  How's business?" inquired the festive Cassidy.
+
+"Purty fair.  Billy's got one.  How many's gone?"
+
+"Buck's got three, I got two and Skinny's got one.  That's six, an'
+Billy is seven.  They's five more," he replied.
+
+"How'd yu know?" queried Johnny as he filled his flask at the horse
+trough.
+
+"Because they's twelve cayuses behind the hotel.  That's why."
+
+"They might git away on `em," suggested the practical Johnny.
+
+"Can't.  They's all cashed in."
+
+"Yu said that they's five left," ejaculated the puzzled water
+carrier.
+
+"Yah; yore a smart cuss, ain't yu?"
+
+Johnny grinned and then said, "Got any smokin'? "Hopalong looked
+grieved.  "I ain't no store.  Why don't yu git generous and buy some?"
+
+He partially filled Johnny's hand, and as he put the sadly depleted
+bag away he inquired, "Got any papers?"
+
+"Nope."
+
+"Got any matches? "he asked cynically.
+
+"Nope."
+
+"Kin yu smoke `em?" he yelled, indignantly.
+
+"Shore nuff," placidly replied the unruffled Johnny.  "Billy wants
+some .45-70's."
+
+Hopalong gasped.  "Don't he want my gun, too?"
+
+"Nope.  Got a better one.  Hurry up, he'll git mad."  Hopalong was a
+very methodical person.  He was the only one of his crowd to carry a
+second cartridge strap.  It hung over his right shoulder and rested on
+his left hip.  His waist belt held thirty cartridges for the revolvers.
+He extracted twenty from that part of the shoulder strap hardest to
+get at, the back, by simply pulling it over his shoulder and plucking
+out the bullets as they came into reach.
+
+"That's all yu kin have.  I'm Buck's ammernition jackass," he
+explained.  "Bet yu ten we gits `em afore dark" -he was hedging.
+
+"Any fool knows that.  I'll take yu if yu bets th' other way,"
+responded Johnny, grinning.  He knew Hopalong's weak spot.
+
+"Yore on," promptly responded Hopalong, who would bet on anything.
+
+
+"Well, so long," said Johnny as he crawled away.
+
+"Hey, yu, Johnny!" called out Hopalong, "don't yu go an' tell
+anybody I got any pills left. I ain't no ars'nal."
+
+Johnny replied by elevating one foot and waving it.  Then he
+disappeared.
+
+Behind the store, the most precarious position among the besiegers,
+Red Connors and Lanky Smith were ensconced and commanded a view of the
+entire length of the barroom.  They could see the dark mass they knew
+to be the rear door and derived a great amount of amusement from the
+spots of light which were appearing in it.
+
+They watched the "C" (reversed to them) appear and be completed.
+When the wobbly "H" grew to completion they laughed heartily.  Then the
+hardwood bar had been dragged across the field of vision and up to the
+front windows, and they could only see the indiscriminate holes which
+appeared in the upper panels at frequent intervals.
+
+Every time they fired they had to expose a part of themselves to a
+return shot, with the result that Lanky's forearm was seared its
+entire length.  Red had been more fortunate and only had a bruised ear.
+
+They laboriously rolled several large rocks out in the open, pushing
+them beyond the shelter of the store with their rifles.  When they had
+crawled behind them they each had another wound.  From their new
+position they could see Hopalong sitting in his window.  He promptly
+waved his sombrero and grinned.
+
+They were the most experienced fighters of all except Buck, and were
+saving their shots.  When they did shoot they always had some portion
+of a man's body to aim at, and the damage they inflicted was
+considerable.  They said nothing, being older than the rest and more
+taciturn, and they were not reckless.  Although Hopalong's antics made
+them laugh, they grumbled at his recklessness and were not tempted to
+emulate him.  It was noticeable, too, that they shoved their rifles out
+simultaneously and, although both were aiming, only one fired. Lanky's
+gun cracked so close to the enemy's that the whirr of the bullet over
+Red's head was merged in the crack of his partner's reply.
+
+When Hopalong saw the rocks roll out from behind the store he grew
+very curious.  Then he saw a flash, followed instantly by another from
+the second rifle.  He saw several of these follow shots and could sit
+in silence no longer.  He waved his hat to attract attention and then
+shouted, "How many?"  A shot was sent straight up in the air and he
+notified Buck that there were only four left.
+
+The fire of these four grew less rapid-they were saving their
+ammunition.  A pot shot at Hopalong sent that gentleman's rifle
+hurtling to the ground.  Another tore through his hat, removing a neat
+amount of skin and hair and giving him a lifelong part.  He fell back
+inside and proceeded to shoot fast and straight with his revolvers,
+his head burning as though on fire.  When he had vented the dangerous
+pressure of his anger he went below and tried to fish the rifle in
+with a long stick. It was obdurate, so he sent three more shots into
+the door, and, receiving no reply, ran out around the corner of his
+shelter and grasped the weapon.  When half way back he sank to the
+ground. Before another shot could be fired at him with any judgment a
+ripping, spitting rifle was being frantically worked from the barn.
+The bullets tore the door into seams and gaps; the lowest panel, the
+one having the "H" in it, fell inward in chunks.  Johnny had returned
+for another smoke.
+
+Hopalong, still grasping the rifle, rolled rapidly around the corner
+of the barn.  He endeavored to stand, but could not.  Johnny, hearing
+rapid and fluent swearing, came out.
+
+"Where'd they git yu?" he asked.
+
+ "In th' off leg.  Hurts like blazes.  Did yu git him?"
+
+"Nope.  I jest come fer another cig; got any left?"
+
+"Up above.  Yore gall is shore apallin'.  Help me in, yu twoIaigged
+jackass."
+
+"Shore.  We'll shore pay our `tentions to that door.  She'll go purty
+soon-she's as full of holes as th' Bad Lan's," replied Johnny.  "Git
+aholt an' hop along, Hopalong."
+
+He helped the swearing Hopalong inside, and then the lead they
+pumped into the wrecked door was scandalous.  Another panel fell in and
+Hopalong's "C" was destroyed.  A wide crack appeared in the one above
+it and grew rapidly.  Its mate began to gape and finally both were
+driven in.  The increase in the light caused by these openings allowed
+Red and Lanky to secure better aim and soon the fire of the defenders
+died out.
+
+Johnny dropped his rifle and, drawing his six-shooter, ran out and
+dashed for the dilapidated door, while Hopalong covered that opening
+with a fusilade.
+
+As Johnny's shoulder sent the framework flying inward he narrowly
+missed sudden death.  As it was he staggered to the side, out of range,
+and dropped full length to the ground, flat on his face.  Hopalong's
+rifle cracked incessantly, but to no avail.  The man who had fired the
+shot was dead.  Buck got him immediately after he had shot Johnny.
+
+Calling to Skinny and Red to cover him, Buck sprinted to where
+Johnny lay gasping.  The bullet had struck his shoulder.  Buck, Colt in
+hand, leaped through the door, but met with no resistance.  He signaled
+to Hopalong, who yelled, "They's none left."
+
+The trees and rocks and gullies and buildings yielded men who soon
+crowded around the hotel.  A young doctor, lately graduated, appeared.
+it was his first case, but he eased Johnny.  Then he went over to
+Hopalong, who was now raving, and attended to him.  The others were
+patched up as well as possible and the struggling young physician had
+his pockets crammed full of gold and silver coins.
+
+The scene of the wrecked barroom was indescribable.  Holes, furrows,
+shattered glass and bottles, the liquor oozing down the walls of the
+shelves and running over the floor; the ruined furniture, a wrecked
+bar, seared and shattered and covered with blood; bodies as they had
+been piled in the corners; ropes, shells, hats; and liquor everywhere,
+over everything, met the gaze of those who had caused the chaos.
+
+Perry's Bend had failed to wipe out the score.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+The Vagrant Sioux
+
+
+Buckskin gradually readjusted itself to the conditions which had
+existed before its sudden leap into the limelight as a town which did
+things.  The soiree at the Houston House had drifted into the past, and
+was now substantially established as an epoch in the history of the
+town.  Exuberant joy gave way to dignity and deprecation, and to solid
+satisfaction; and the conversations across the bar brought forth
+parallels of the affair to be judged impartially -and the impartial
+judgment was, unanimously, that while there had undoubtedly been good
+fights before Perry's Bend had disturbed the local quiet, they were
+not quite up to the new standard of strenuous hospitality.  Finally the
+heat blistered everything back into the old state, and the shadows
+continued to be in demand.
+
+One afternoon, a month after the reception of the honorable
+delegation from Perry's Bend, the town of Buckskin seemed desolated,
+and the earth and the buildings thereon were as huge furnaces
+radiating a visible heat, but when the blazing sun had begun to settle
+in the west it awoke with a clamor which might have been laid to the
+efforts of a zealous Satan.  At this time it became the Mecca of two
+score or more joyous cowboys from the neighboring ranches, who livened
+things as those knights of the saddle could.
+
+In the scant but heavy shadow of Cowan's saloon sat a picturesque
+figure from whom came guttural, resonant rumblings which mingled in a
+spirit of loneliness with the fretful sighs of a flea-tormented dog.
+Both dog and master were vagrants, and they were tolerated because it
+was a matter of supreme indifference as to who came or how long they
+stayed as long as the ethics and the unwritten law of the cow country
+were inviolate.  And the breaking of these caused no unnecessary
+anxiety, for justice was both speedy and sure.
+
+When the outcast Sioux and his yellow dog had drifted into town some
+few months before they had caused neither expostulation nor inquiry,
+as the cardinal virtue of that whole broad land was to ask a man no
+questions which might prove embarrassing to all concerned; judgment
+was of observation, not of history, and a man's past would reveal
+itself through actions.  It mattered little whether he was an embezzler
+or the wild chip from some prosperous eastern block, as men came to
+the range to forget and to lose touch with the pampered East; and the
+range absorbed them as its own.
+
+
+
+A man was only a man as his skin contained the qualities necessary; and the
+ illiterate who could ride
+and shoot and live to himself was far more esteemed than the educated
+who could not do those things.   The more a man depends upon himself and
+the closer is his contact to a quick judgment the more laconic and
+even-poised he becomes.  And the knowledge that he is himself a judge
+tends to create caution and judgment.  He has no court to uphold his
+honor and to offer him protection, so he must be quick to protect
+himself and to maintain his own standing. His nature saved him, or it
+executed; and the range absolved him of all unpaid penalties of a
+careless past.
+
+He became a man born again and he took up his burden,
+the exactions of a new environment, and he lived as long as those
+exactions gave him the right to live.  He must tolerate no restrictions
+of his natural rights, and he must not restrict; for the one would
+proclaim him a coward, the other a bully; and both received short
+shrifts in that land of the self-protected.  The basic law of nature is
+the survival of the fittest.
+
+So, when the wanderers found their level in Buckskin they were not
+even asked by what name men knew them.  Not caring to hear a name which
+might not harmonize with their idea of the fitness of things, the
+cowboys of the Bar-20 had, with a freedom born of excellent livers and
+fearless temperaments, bestowed names befitting their sense of humor
+and adaptability.  The official title of the Sioux was By-and-by; the
+dog was known as Fleas.  Never had names more clearly described the
+objects to be represented, for they were excellent examples of cowboy
+discernment and aptitude.
+
+In their eyes By-and-by was a man.  He could feel and he could resent
+insults.  They did not class him as one of themselves, because he did
+not have energy enough to demand and justify such classification.  With
+them he had a right to enjoy his life as he saw fit so long as he did
+not trespass on or restrict the rights of others.  They were not
+analytic in temperament, neither were they moralists.  He was not a
+menace to society, because society had superb defenses.  So they
+vaguely recognized his many poor qualities and clearly saw his few
+good ones.  He could shoot, when permitted, with the best; no horse,
+however refractory, had ever been known to throw him; he was an adept
+at following the trails left by rustlers, and that was an asset; he
+became of value to the community; he was an economic factor.
+
+His ability to consume liquor with indifferent effects raised him another
+notch in their estimation.  He was not always talking when some one
+else wished to-another count.  There remained about him that stoical
+indifference to the petty; that observant nonchalance of the Indian;
+and there was a suggestion, faint, it was true, of a dignity common to
+chieftains.  He was a log of grave deference which tossed on their sea
+of mischievous hilarity.
+
+He wore a pair of corduroy trousers, known to the care-free as
+"pants," which were held together by numerous patches of what had once
+been brilliantly colored calico.  A pair of suspenders, torn into two
+separate straps, made a belt for himself and a collar for his dog.  The
+trousers had probably been secured during a fit of absent-mindedness
+on his part when their former owner had not been looking.  Tucked at
+intervals in the top of the corduroys (the exceptions making
+convenient shelves for alkali dust) was what at one time had been a
+stiff-bosomed shirt.  This was open down the front and back, the weight
+of the trousers on the belt holding it firmly on the square shoulders
+of the wearer, thus precluding the necessity of collar buttons.  A pair
+of moccasins, beautifully worked with wampum, protected his feet from
+the onslaughts of cacti and the inquisitive and pugnacious sand flies;
+and lying across his lap was a repeating Winchester rifle, not
+dangerous because it was empty, a condition due to the wisdom of the
+citizens in forbidding any one to sell, trade or give to him those
+tubes of concentrated trouble, because he could get drunk.
+
+The two were contented and happy.  They had no cares nor duties, and
+their pleasures were simple and easily secured, as they consisted of
+sleep and a proneness to avoid moving.  Like the untrammeled coyote,
+their bed was where sleep overtook them; their food, what the night
+wrapped in a sense of security, or the generosity of the cowboys of
+the Bar-20.  No tub-ridden Diogenes ever knew so little of
+responsibility or as much unadulterated content.  There is a penalty
+even to civilization and ambition.
+
+When the sun had cast its shadows beyond By-and-by's feet the air
+became charged with noise; shouts, shots and the rolling thunder of
+madly pounding hoofs echoed flatly throughout the town.  By-and-by
+yawned, stretched and leaned back, reveling in the semi-conscious
+ecstasy of the knowledge that he did not have to immediately get up.
+Fleas opened one eye and cocked an ear in inquiry, and then rolled
+over on his back, squirmed and sighed contentedly and long.  The outfit
+of the Bar-20 had come to town.
+
+The noise came rapidly nearer and increased in volume as the riders
+turned the corner and drew rein suddenly, causing their mounts to
+slide on their haunches in ankle-deep dust.
+
+"Hullo, old Buck-with-th'-pants, how's yore liver?"
+
+"Come up an irrigate, old tank!"
+
+"Chase th' flea ranch an' trail along!"
+
+These were a few of the salutations discernible among the medley of
+playful yells, the safety valves of supercharged good-nature.
+
+"Skr-e-e!" yelled Hopalong Cassidy, letting off a fusillade of shots.
+in the vicinity of Fleas, who rapidly retreated around the corner,
+where he wagged his tail in eager expectation.  He was not
+disappointed, for a cow pony tore around in pursuit and Hopalong
+leaned over and scratched the yellow back, thumping it heartily, and,
+tossing a chunk of beef into the open jaws of the delighted dog,
+departed as he had come.  The advent of the outfit meant a square meal,
+and the dog knew it.
+
+In Cowan's, lined up against the bar, the others were earnestly and
+assiduously endeavoring, with a promise of success, to get By-and-by
+drunk, which endeavors coincided perfectly with By-and-by's idea of
+the fitness of things.  The fellowship and the liquor combined to thaw
+out his reserve and to loosen his tongue.  After gazing with an air of
+injured surprise at the genial loosening of his knees he gravely
+handed his rifle with an exaggerated sweep of his arm, to the cowboy
+nearest him, and wrapped his arms around the recipient to insure his
+balance.  The rifle was passed from hand to hand until it came to Buck
+Peters, who gravely presented it to its owner as a new gun.
+
+By-and-by threw out his stomach in an endeavor to keep his head in
+line with his heels, and grasping the weapon with both hands turned to
+Cowan, to whom he gave it.
+
+"Yu hab this un.  Me got two.  Me keep new un, mebby so. "Then he
+loosened his belt and drank long and deep.
+
+A shadow darkened the doorway and Hopalong limped in.  Spying By-and-
+by pushing the bottle into his mouth, while Red Connors propped him,
+he grinned and took out five silver dollars, which he jingled under
+By-and-by's eyes, causing that worthy to lay aside the liquor and
+erratically grab for the tantalizing fortune.
+
+"Not yet, sabe?" said Hopalong, changing the position of the money.
+"If yu wants to corral this here herd of simoleons yu has to ride a
+cayuse what Red bet me yu can't ride.  Yu has got to grow on that there
+saddle and stayed growed for five whole minutes by Buck's ticker.  I
+ain't a-goin' to tell yu he's any saw-horse, for yu'd know better, as
+yu reckons Red wouldn't bet on no losin' proposition if he knowed
+better, which same he don't.  Yu straddles that four-laigged cloudburst
+an' yu gets these, sabe? I ain't seen th' cayuse yet that yu couldn't
+freeze to, an' I'm backin' my opinions with my moral support an' one
+month's pay.
+
+By-and-by's eyes began to glitter as the meaning of the words sifted
+through his befuddled mind.  Ride a horse-five dollars- ride a five-
+dollars horse-horses ride dollars-then he straightened up and began to
+speak in an incoherent jumble of Sioux and bad English.  He, the mighty
+rider of the Sioux; he, the bravest warrior and the greatest hunter;
+could he ride a horse for five dollars?  Well, he rather thought he
+could.  Grasping Red by the shoulder, he tacked for the door and
+narrowly missed hitting the bottom step first, landing, as it
+happened, in the soft dust with Red's leg around his neck.  Somewhat
+sobered by the jar, he stood up and apologized to the crowd for Red
+getting in the way, declaring that Red was a "Heap good un," and that
+he didn't mean to do it.
+
+The outfit of the Bar-20 was, perhaps, the most famous of all from
+Canada to the Rio Grande. The foreman, Buck Peters, controlled a crowd
+of men (who had all the instincts of boys) that had shown no quarter
+to many rustlers, and who, while always carefree and easy-going (even
+fighting with great good humor and carelessness), had established the
+reputation of being the most reckless gang of daredevil gun-fighters
+that ever pounded leather.  Crooked gaming houses, from El Paso to
+Cheyenne and from Phoenix to Leavenworth, unanimously and
+enthusiastically damned them from their boots to their sombreros, and
+the sheriffs and marshals of many localities had received from their
+hands most timely assistance-and some trouble.  Wiry, indomitable,
+boyish and generous, they were splendid examples of virile manhood;
+and, surrounded as they were with great dangers and a unique
+civilization, they should not, in justice, be judged by opinions born
+of the commonplace.
+
+They were real cowboys, which means, public opinion to the contrary
+notwithstanding, that they were not lawless, nor drunken, shooting
+bullies who held life cheaply, as their kin has been unjustly
+pictured; but while these men were naturally peaceable they had to
+continually rub elbows with men who were not.  Gamblers, criminals,
+bullies and the riffraff that fled from the protected East had drifted
+among them in great numbers, and it was this class that caused the
+trouble.
+
+The hardworking "cow-punchers" lived according to the law of
+the land, and they obeyed that greatest of all laws, that of self-
+preservation.  Their fun was boisterous, but they paid for all the
+damage they inflicted; their work was one continual hardship, and the
+reaction of one extreme swings far toward the limit of its antithesis.
+Go back to the Apple if you would trace the beginning of self-
+preservation and the need.
+
+Buck Peters was a man of mild appearance, somewhat slow of speech
+and correspondingly quick of action, who never became flurried.  His
+was the master hand that controlled, and his Colts enjoyed the
+reputation of never missing when a hit could have been expected with
+reason.  Many floods, stampedes and blizzards had assailed his nerves,
+but he yet could pour a glass of liquor, held at arm's length, through
+a knothole in the floor without wetting the wood.
+
+Next in age came Lanky Smith, a small, undersized man of retiring
+disposition.  Then came Skinny Thompson, six feet four on his bared
+soles, and true to his name; Hopalong described him as "th' shadow of
+a chalk mark."  Pete Wilson, the slow-witted and very taciturn, and
+Billy Williams, the wavering pessimist, were of ordinary height and
+appearance.  Red Connors, with hair that shamed the name, was the
+possessor of a temper which was as dry as tinder; his greatest
+weakness was his regard for the rifle as a means of preserving peace.
+Johnny Nelson was the protege, and he could do no wrong.
+
+The last, Hopalong Cassidy, was a combination of irresponsibility, humor, good
+nature, love of fighting, and nonchalance when face to face with
+danger.  His most prominent attribute was that of always getting into
+trouble without any intention of so doing; in fact, he was much
+aggrieved and surprised when it came.  It seemed as though when any
+"bad man" desired to add to his reputation he invariably selected
+Hopalong as the means (a fact due, perhaps, to the perversity of
+things in general).  Bad men became scarce soon after Hopalong became a
+fixture in any locality.  He had been crippled some years before in a
+successful attempt to prevent the assassination of a friend, Sheriff
+Harris, of Albuquerque, and he still possessed a limp.
+
+When Red had relieved his feelings and had dug the alkali out of his
+ears and eyes, he led the Sioux to the rear of the saloon, where a
+"pinto" was busily engaged in endeavoring to pitch a saddle from his
+back, employing the intervals in trying to see how much of the picket
+rope he could wrap around his legs.
+
+When By-and-by saw what he was expected to ride he felt somewhat
+relieved, for the pony did not appear to have more than the ordinary
+amount of cussedness.  He waved his hand, and Johnny and Red bandaged
+the animal's eyes, which quieted him at once, and then they untangled
+the rope from around his legs and saw that the cinches were secure.
+Motioning to By-and-by that all was ready, they jerked the bandage off
+as the Indian settled himself in the saddle.
+
+Had By-and-by been really sober he would have taken the conceit out
+of that pony in chunks, and as it was he experienced no great
+difficulty in holding his seat; but in his addled state of mind he
+grasped the end of the cinch strap in such a way that when the pony
+jumped forward in its last desperate effort the buckle slipped and the
+cinch became unfastened; and By-and-by, still seated in the saddle,
+flew head foremost into the horse trough, where he spilled much water.
+
+As this happened Cowan turned the corner, and when he saw the wasted
+water (which he had to carry, bucketful at a time, from the wells a
+good quarter of a mile away) his anger blazed forth, and yelling, he
+ran for the drenched Sioux, who was just crawling out of his bath.
+When the unfortunate saw the irate man bearing down on him he
+sputtered in rage and fear, and, turning, he ran down the street, with
+Cowan thundering flatfootedly behind on a fat man's gallop, to the
+hysterical cheers of the delighted outfit, who saw in it nothing but a
+good joke.
+
+When Cowan returned from his hopeless task, blowing and wheezing, he
+heard sundry remarks, sotto voce, which were not calculated to
+increase his opinion of his physical condition.
+
+"Seems to me," remarked the irrepressible Hopalong, "that one of
+those cayuses has got th' heaves."
+
+"It shore sounds like it," acquiesced Johnny, red in the face from
+holding in his laughter, "an' say, somebody interferes."
+
+"All knock-kneed animals do, yu heathen," supplied Red.
+
+`Hey, yu, let up on that and have a drink on th' house," invited
+Cowan.  "If I gits that durn war whoop I'll make yu think there's been a
+cyclone.  I'll see how long that bum hangs around this here burg, I
+will."
+
+Red's eyes narrowed and his temper got the upper hand.  "He ain't no
+bum when yu gives him rotgut at a quarter of a dollar a glass, is he?
+Any time that `bum' gits razzled out for nothin' more'n this, why, I
+goes too; an' I ain't sayin' nothin' about goin' peaceable-like,
+neither."
+
+"I knowed somethin' like this `ud happen," dolefully sang out Billy
+Williams, strong on the side of his pessimism.
+
+"For th' Lord's sake, have you broke out?" asked Red, disgustedly.
+"I'm goin' to hit the trail-but just keep this afore yore mind: if By-
+and-by gits in any accidents or ain't in sight when I comes to town
+again, this here climate'll be a heep sight hotter'n it is now. No
+hard feelings, sabe? It's just a casual bit of advice.  Come on,
+fellows, let's amble -I'm hungry."
+
+As they raced across the plain toward the ranch a pair of beady
+eyes, snapping with a drunken rage, watched them from an arroyo; and
+when Cowan entered the saloon the next morning he could not find By-
+and-by's rifle, which he had placed behind the bar.  He also missed a
+handful of cartridges from the box near the cash drawer; and had he
+looked closely at his bottled whisky he would have noticed a loss
+there.  A horse was missing from a Mexican's corral and there were
+rumors that several Indians had been seen far out on the plain.
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+The Law of the Range
+
+
+Phew! I'm shore hungry," said Hopalong, as he and Red dismounted at
+the ranch the next morning for breakfast.  "Wonder what's good for it?"
+
+"They's three things that's good for famine," said Red, leading the
+way to the bunk house.  "Yu can pull in yore belt, yu can drink, an yu
+can eat.  Yore getting as bad as Johnny - but he's young yet."
+
+The others met their entrance with a volley of good-humored banter,
+some of which was so personal and evoked such responses that it
+sounded like the preliminary skirmish to a fight.  But under all was
+that soft accent, that drawl of humorous appreciation and eyes
+twinkling in suppressed merriment.  Here they were thoroughly at home
+and the spirit of comradeship manifested itself in many subtle ways;
+the wit became more daring and sharp, Billy lost some of his
+pessimism, and the alertness disappeared from their manner.
+
+Skinny left off romping with Red and yawned.  "I wish that cook'ud
+wake up an' git breakfast.  He's the cussedest hombre I ever saw -he kin
+go to sleep standin' up an' not know it.  Johnny's th' boy that worries
+him-th' kid comes in an' whoops things up till he's gorged himself."
+
+"Johnny's got th' most appallin' feel for grub of anybody I knows,"
+added Red.  "I wonder what's keepin' him-he's usually hangin' around
+here bawlin' for his grub like a spoiled calf, long afore cookie's got
+th' fire goin'."
+
+"Mebby he rustled some grub out with him-I saw him tip-toein' out of
+th' gallery this mornin' when I come back for my cigs," remarked
+Hopalong, glancing at Billy.
+
+Billy groaned and made for the gallery.  Emerging half a minute later
+he blurted out his tale of woe:  "Every time I blows myself an' don't
+drink it all in town some slab-sided maverick freezes to it.  It's
+gone," he added, dismally.
+
+"Too bad, Billy-but what is it?" asked Skinny.
+
+"What is it?  Wha'd yu think it was, you emaciated match?  Jewelry?
+Cayuses? It's whisky-two simoleons' worth.  Some-thin's allus wrong.
+This here whole yearth's wrong, just like that cross-eyed sky pilot
+said over to-"
+
+"Will yu let up?"  Yelled Red, throwing a sombrero at the grumbling
+unfortunate.  "Yu ask Buck where yore tanglefoot is.
+
+"I'd shore look nice askin' th' boss if he'd rustled my whisky,
+wouldn't 1?  An' would yu mind throwin' somebody else's hat?  I paid
+twenty wheels for that eight years ago, and I don't want it mussed
+none."
+
+"Gee, yore easy! Why, Ah Sing, over at Albuquerque, gives them away
+every time yu gits yore shirt washed," gravely interposed Hopalong as
+he went out to cuss the cook.
+
+"Well, what'd yu think of that?"  Exclaimed Billy in an injured tone.
+
+"Oh, yu needn't be hikin' for Albuquerque-WasheeWashee'ud charge yu
+double for washin' yore shirt.  Yu ought to fall in di' river some day-
+then he might talk business," called Hopalong over his shoulder as he
+heaved an old boot into the gallery.  "Hey, yu hibernatin' son of
+morphine, if yu don't git them flapjacks in here pretty sudden-like
+I'll scatter yu all over di' landscape, sabe? Yu just wait till Johnny
+comes!"
+
+"Wonder where th' kid is?" asked Lanky, rolling a cigarette.   "Off
+somewhere lookin' at di' sun through di' bottom of my bottle,"
+grumbled Billy.
+
+Hopalong started to go out, but halted on the sill and looked
+steadily off toward the northwest.  "That's funny. Hey, fellows, here
+comes Buck an' Johnny ridin' double-on a walk, too!" he exclaimed.
+"Wonder what th'-thunder! Red, Buck's carryun' him!  Somethin's
+busted!" he yelled, as he dashed for his pony and made for the
+newcomers.
+
+"I told yu he was hittin' my bottle," pertly remarked Billy, as he
+followed the rest outside.
+
+"Did yu ever see Johnny drunk?  Did yu ever see him drink more'n two
+glasses?  Shut yore wailin' face-they's somethin' worse'n that in this
+here," said Red, his temper rising.  "Hopalong an' me took yore cheap
+liquor-it's under Pete's bunk," he added.
+
+The trio approached on a walk and Johnny, delirious and covered with
+blood, was carried into the bunk house.  Buck waited until all had
+assembled again and then, his face dark with anger, spoke sharply and
+without the usual drawl:  "Skragged from behind, blast them!  Get some
+grub an' water an' be quick.  We'll see who the gent with th' grudge
+is."
+
+At this point the expostulations of the indignant cook, who, not
+understanding the cause, regarded the invasion of china shop bulls as
+sacrilegious, came to his ears.  Striding quickly to the door, he
+grabbed the pan the Mexican was about to throw and, turning the now
+frightened man around, thundered, "Keep quiet an' get `em some grub."
+
+When rifles and ammunition had been secured they mounted and
+followed him at a hard gallop along the back trail.  No words were
+spoken, for none were necessary.  All knew that they would not return
+until they had found the man for whom they were looking, even if the
+chase led to Canada.  They did not ask Buck for any of the particulars,
+for the foreman was not in the humor to talk, and all, save Hopalong,
+whose curiosity was always on edge, recognized only two facts and
+cared for nothing else: Johnny had been ambushed and they were going
+to get the one who was responsible.
+
+ They did not even conjecture as to who it might be, because the trail
+ would lead them to the man himself, and it mattered nothing who
+or what he was- there was only one course to take with an assassin.
+ So they said nothing, but rode on with squared jaws and set lips, the
+seven ponies breast to breast in a close arc.
+
+Soon they came to an arroyo which they took at a leap.  As they
+approached it they saw signs in the dust which told them that a body
+had lain there huddled up; and there were brown spots on the baked
+alkali.  The trail they followed was now single, Buck having ridden
+along the bank of the arroyo when hunting for Johnny, for whom he had
+orders.  This trail was very irregular, as if the horse had wandered at
+will.  Suddenly they came upon five tracks, all pointing one way, and
+four of these turned abruptly and disappeared in the northwest.  Half a
+mile beyond the point of separation was a chaparral, which was an
+important factor to them.
+
+Each man knew just what had taken place as if he had been an
+eyewitness, for the trail was plain.  The assassins had waited in the
+chaparral for Johnny to pass, probably having seen him riding that
+way.  When he had passed and his back had been turned to them they had
+fired and wounded him severely at the first volley, for Johnny was of
+the stuff that fights back and his revolvers had showed full chambers
+and clean barrels when Red had examined them in the bunk house.  Then
+they had given chase for a short distance and, from some inexplicable
+motive, probably fear, they had turned and ridden off without knowing
+how bad he was hit.  It was this trail that led to the northwest, and
+it was this trail that they followed without pausing.
+
+When they had covered fifty miles they sighted the Cross Bar O ranch
+where they hoped to secure fresh mounts.  As they rode up to the ranch
+house the owner, Bud Wallace, came around the corner and saw them.
+
+ "Hullo, boys! What deviltry are yu up to now?" he asked.  Buck
+leaped from his mount, followed by the others, and shoved his sombrero
+back on his head as he started to remove the saddle.
+
+"We're trailin' a bunch of murderers.  They ambushed Johnny an' blame
+near killed him.  I stopped here to get fresh cayuses."
+
+"Yu did right!" replied Wallace heartily.  Then raising his voice he
+shouted to some of his men who were near the corral to bring up the
+seven best horses they could rope.  Then he told the cook to bring out
+plenty of food and drink.
+
+"I got four punchers what ain't doin' nothin' but eat," he
+suggested.
+
+"Much obliged, Wallace, but there's only four of `em, an' we'd
+rather get `em ourselves-Johnny'ud feel better," replied Buck,
+throwing his saddle on the horse that was led up to him.
+
+"How's yore cartridges-got plenty?"  Persisted Wallace.
+
+"Two hundred apiece," responded Buck, springing into his saddle and
+riding off.  "So long," he called.
+
+"So long, an' plug blazes out of them," shouted Wallace as the dust
+swept over him.
+
+At five in the afternoon they forded the Black River at a point
+where it crossed the state line from New Mexico, and at dusk camped at
+the base of the Guadalupe Mountains.  At daybreak they took up the
+chase, grim and merciless, and shortly afterward they passed the
+smoldering remains of a camp fire, showing that the pursued had been
+in a great hurry, for it should have been put out and masked.  At noon
+they left the mountains to the rear and sighted the Barred Horeshoe,
+which they approached.
+
+The owner of the ranch saw them coming, and from their appearance
+surmised that something was wrong.
+
+"What is it?"  He shouted.  "Rustlers?"
+
+"Nope.  Murderers.  I wants to swap cayuses quick," answered Buck.
+
+"There they are.  Th' boys just brought `em in.  Anything else I can
+let yu have?"
+
+"Nope," shouted Buck as they galloped off.
+
+"Somebody's goin' to get plugged full of holes," murmured the ranch
+owner as he watched them kicking up the dust in huge clouds.
+
+After they had forded a tributary of the Rio Penasco near the
+Sacramento Mountains and had surmounted the opposite bank, Hopalong
+spurred his horse to the top of a hummock and swept the plain with
+Pete's field glasses, which he had borrowed for the occasion, and
+returned to the rest, who had kept on without slacking the pace.  As he
+took up his former position he grunted, "War-whoops," and unslung his
+rifle, an example followed by the others.
+
+The ponies were now running at top speed, and as they shot over a rise their
+ riders saw their quarry a mile and a half in advance.  One of the Indians looked back
+and discharged his rifle in defiance, and it now became a race worthy
+of the name-Death fled from Death.  The fresher mounts of the cowboys
+steadily cut down the distance and, as the rifles of the pursuers
+began to speak, the hard-pressed Indians made for the smaller of two
+knolls, the plain leading to the larger one being too heavily strewn
+with bowlders to permit speed.
+
+As the fugitives settled down behind the rocks which fringed the
+edge of their elevation a shot from one of them disabled Billy's arm,
+but had no other effect than to increase the score to be settled.  The
+pursuers rode behind a rise and dismounted, from where, leaving their
+mounts protected, they scattered out to surround the knoll.
+
+Hopalong, true to his curiosity, finally turned up on the highest
+point of the other knoll, a spur of the range in the west, for he
+always wanted to see all he could.  Skinny, due to his fighting
+instinct, settled one hundred yards to the north and on the same spur.
+Buck lay hidden behind an enormous bowlder eight hundred yards to the
+northeast of Skinny, and the same distance southeast of Buck was Red
+Connors, who was crawling up the bed of an arroyo.  Billy, nursing his
+arm, lay in front of the horses, and Pete, from his position between
+Billy and Hopalong, was crawling from rock to rock in an endeavor to
+get near enough to use his Colts, his favorite and most effective
+weapons.  Intermittent puffs of smoke arising from a point between
+Skinny and Buck showed where Lanky Smith was improving each shining
+hour.
+
+There had been no directions given, each man choosing his own
+position, yet each was of strategic worth. Billy protected the horses,
+Hopalong and Skinny swept the knoll with a plunging fire, and Lanky
+and Buck lay in the course the besieged would most likely take if they
+tried a dash.  Off to the east Red barred them from creeping down the
+arroyo, and from where Pete was he could creep up to within sixty
+yards if he chose the right rocks. The ranges varied from four hundred
+yards for Buck to sixty for Pete, and the others averaged close to
+three hundred, which allowed very good shooting on both sides.
+
+Hopalong and Skinny gradually moved nearer to each other for
+companionship, and as the former raised his head to see what the
+others were doing he received a graze on the ear.
+
+"Wow!" he yelled, rubbing the tingling member.
+
+Two puffs of smoke floated up from the knoll, and Skinny swore.
+
+"Where'd he get yu, Fat?" asked Hopalong.
+
+                                                                 "G'wan, don't get funny, son," replied Skinny.
+
+
+Jets of smoke arose from the north and east, where Buck and Red were
+stationed, and Pete was half way to the knoll.  So far he hadn't been
+hit as he dodged in and out, and, emboldened by his luck, he made a
+run of five yards and his sombrero was shot from his head.  Another
+dash and his empty holster was ripped from its support. As he crouched
+behind a rock he heard a yell from Hopalong, and saw that interested
+individual waving his sombrero to cheer him on.  An angry pang! from
+the knoll caused that enthusiastic rooter to drop for safety.
+
+"Locoed son-of-a-gun," complained Pete.  "He'll shore git potted."
+Then he glanced at Billy, who was the center of several successive
+spurts of dust.
+
+"How's business, Billy?"  he called pleasantly.
+
+"Oh, they'll git me yet," responded the pessimist.  "Yu needn't git
+anxious.  If that off buck wasn't so green he'd `a' had me long ago."
+
+"Ya-hoo! Pete! Oh, Pete!" called Hopalong, sticking his head out at
+one side and grinning as the wondering object of his hail craned his
+neck to see what the matter was.
+
+"Huh?" grunted Pete, and then remembering the distance he shouted,
+"What's th' matter?"
+
+"Got any cigarettes?" asked Hopalong.
+
+`Yu poor sheep!" said Pete, and turning back to work he drove a .45
+into a yellow moccasin.
+
+Hopalong began to itch and he saw that he was near an ant hill.  Then
+the cactus at his right boomed out mournfully and a hole appeared in
+it. He fired at the smoke and a yell informed him that he had made a
+hit. "Go `way!" he complained as a green fly buzzed past his nose.
+Then he scratched each leg with the foot of the other and squirmed
+incessantly, kicking out with both feet at once.  A warning metallic
+whir-r-r! on his left caused to yank them in again, and turning his
+head quickly he the pleasure of lopping off the head of a rattlesnake
+with his Colt's.
+
+"Glad yu wasn't a copperhead," he exclaimed.  "Somebody had ought `a'
+shot that fool Noah.  Blast the ants!" He drowned with a jet of tobacco
+juice a Gila monster that was staring at him and took a savage delight
+in its frantic efforts to bury itself.
+
+Soon he heard Skinny swear and he sung out: "What's the matter,
+Skinny?  Git plugged again?"
+
+"Naw, bugs-ain't they mean?"  Plaintively asked his friend.  "They
+ain't none over here.  What kind of bugs?"
+
+"Sufferin' Moses, I ain't no bugologist! All kinds!"
+
+But Hopalong got it at last.  He had found tobacco and rolled a
+cigarette, and in reaching for a match exposed his shoulder to a shot
+that broke his collar bone.  Skinny's rifle cracked in reply and the
+offending brave rolled out from behind a rock.  From the fuss emanating
+from Hopalong's direction Skinny knew that his neighbor had been hit.
+
+"Don't yu care, Hoppy. I got th' cuss," he said consolingly.
+"Where'd he git yu?" he asked.
+
+"In di' heart, yu pie-faced nuisance.  Come over here an' corral this
+cussed bandage an' gimme some water," snapped the injured man.
+
+Skinny wormed his way through the thorny chaparral and bound up the
+shoulder.  "Anything else?" he asked.
+
+"Yes. Shoot that bunch of warts an' blow that tobacco-eyed Gila to
+Cheyenne.  This here's worse than the time we cleaned out th' C 80
+outfit!"  Then he kicked the dead toad and swore at the sun.
+
+Close yore yap; yore worse than a kid! Anybody'd think yu never got
+plugged afore," said Skinny indignantly.
+
+I can cuss all I wants," replied Hopalong, proving his assertion as
+he grabbed his gun and fired at the dead Indian.  A bullet whined above
+his head and Skinny fired at the smoke.  He peeped out and saw that his
+friends were getting nearer to the knoll.
+
+"They's closin' in now.  We'll soon be gittin' home," he reported.
+
+Hopalong looked out in time to see Buck make a dash for a bowlder
+that lay ten yards in front of him, which he reached in safety.  Lanky
+also ran in and Pete added five more yards to his advance.  Buck made
+another dash, but leaped into the air, and, coming down as if from an
+intentional high jump, staggered and stumbled for a few paces and then
+fell flat, rolling over and over toward the shelter of a split rock,
+where he lay quiet.  A leering red face peered over the rocks on the
+knoll, but the whoop of exultation was cut short, for Red's rifle
+cracked and the warrior rolled down the steep bank, where another shot
+from the same gun settled him beyond question.
+
+Hopalong choked and, turning his face away, angrily dashed his
+knuckles into his eyes. "Blast `em! Blast `em! They've got Buck!
+They've got Buck, blast `em! They've got Buck, Skinny! Good old Buck!
+They've got him! Jimmy's gone, Johnny's plugged, and now Buck's gone!
+Come on!" he sobbed in a frenzy of vengeance.  "Come on, Skinny! We'll
+tear their cussed hides into a deeper red than they are now! Oh, blast
+it, I can't see-where's my gun?"   He groped for the rifle and fought
+Skinny when the latter, red-eyed but cool, endeavored to restrain him.
+"Lemme go, curse yu! Don't yu know they got Buck? Lemme go!"
+
+"Down! Red's got di' skunk.  Yu can't do nothin'-they'd drop yu afore
+yu took five steps.  Red's got him, I tell yu! Do yu want me to lick
+yu? We'll pay `em back with interest if yu'll keep yore head!"
+exclaimed Skinny, throwing the crazed man heavily.
+
+Musical tones, rising and falling in weird octaves, whining
+pityingly, diabolically, sobbing in a fascinating monotone and
+slobbering in ragged chords, calling as they swept over the plain,
+always calling and exhorting, they mingled in barbaric discord with
+the defiant barks of the six-shooters and the inquiring cracks of the
+Winchesters.  High up in the air several specks sailed and drifted,
+more coming up rapidly from all directions.  Buzzards know well where
+food can be found.
+
+As Hopalong leaned back against a rock he was hit in the thigh by a
+ricochet that tore its way out, whirling like a circular saw, a span
+above where it entered.  The wound was very nasty, being ripped twice
+the size made by an ordinary shot, and it bled profusely.  Skinny
+crawled over and attended to it, making a tourniquet of his
+neckerchief and clumsily bandaging it with a strip torn from his
+shirt.
+
+"Yore shore lucky, yu are," he grumbled as he made his way back to
+his post, where he vented his rancor by emptying the semi-depleted
+magazine of his Winchester at the knoll.
+
+Hopalong began to sing and shout and he talked of Jimmy and his
+childhood, interspersing the broken narrative with choice selections
+as sung in the music halls of Leavenworth and Abilene.  He wound up by
+yelling and struggling, and Skinny had his hands full in holding him.
+
+"Hopalong! Cassidy! Come out of that! Keep quiet-yu'll shore git
+plugged if yu don't stop that plungin'. For gosh sake, did yu hear
+that?"  A bullet viciously hissed between them and flattened out on a
+near-by rock; others cut their way through the chaparral to the sound
+of falling twigs, and Skinny threw himself on the struggling man and
+strapped Hopalong with his belt to the base of a honey mesquite that
+grew at his side.
+
+"Hold still, now, and let that bandage alone.  Yu allus goes off di'
+range when yu gets plugged," he complained.  He cut down a cactus and
+poured the sap over the wounded man's face, causing him to gurgle and
+look around. His eyes had a sane look now and Skinny slid off his
+chest.
+
+"Git that-belt loose; I ain't-no cow," brokenly blazed out the
+picketed Hopalong.  Skinny did so, handed the irate man his Colts and
+returned to his own post, from where he fired twice, reporting the
+shots.
+
+"I'm tryin' to get him on th' glance' first one went high an' th'
+other fell flat," he explained.
+
+Hopalong listened eagerly, for this was shooting that he could
+appreciate.  "Lemme see," he commanded.  Skinny dragged him over to a
+crack and settled down for another try
+
+"Where is he, Skinny?" Asked Hopalong.
+
+"Behind that second big one.  No, over on this here side.  See that
+smooth granite?  If I can get her there on th' right spot he'll shore
+know it."  He aimed carefully and fired.
+
+Through Pete's glasses Hopalong saw a leaden splotch appear on the
+rock and he notified the marksman that he was shooting high.  "Put her
+on that bump closer down," he suggested.  Skinny did so and another
+yell reached their ears.
+
+"That's a dandy.  Yore shore all right, yu old cuss," complimented
+Hopalong, elated at the success of the experiment.
+
+Skinny fired again and a brown arm flopped out into sight.  Another
+shot struck it and it jerked as though it were lifeless.
+
+"He's cashed.  See how she jumped?  Like a rope," remarked Skinny with
+a grin.  The arm lay quiet.
+
+Pete had gained his last cover and was all eyes and Colts.  Lanky was
+also very close in and was intently watching one particular rock.
+Several shots echoed from the far side of the knoll and they knew that
+Red was all right.  Billy was covering a cluster of rocks that
+protruded above the others and, as they looked, his rifle rang out and
+the last defender leaped down and disappeared in the chaparral.  He
+wore yellow trousers and an old boiled shirt.
+
+By an'-by, by all that's bad!" yelled Hopalong.  "Th' measly coyote!
+An' me a-fillin' his ornery hide with liquor.  Well, they'll have to
+find him all over again now," he complained, astounded by the
+revelation.  He fired into the chaparral to express his pugnacious
+disgust and scared out a huge tarantula, which alighted on Skinny's
+chaps, crawling rapidly toward the unconscious man's neck.  Hopalong's
+face hardened and he slowly covered the insect and fired, driving it
+into the sand, torn and lifeless.  The bullet touched the leathern
+garment and Skinny remonstrated, knowing that Hopalong was in no
+condition for fancy shooting.
+
+"Huh!" exclaimed Hopalong.  "That was a tarantula what I plugged.  He
+was headin' for yore neck," he explained, watching the chaparral with
+apprehension.
+
+"Go `way, was it? Bully for yu!" exclaimed Skinny, tarantulas being
+placed at par with rattlesnakes, and he considered that he had been
+saved from a horrible death.  "Thought yu said they wasn't no bugs over
+here," he added in an aggrieved tone.
+
+"They wasn't none.  Yu brought `em.  I only had th' main show-Gilas,
+rattlers an' toads," he replied, and then added, "Ain't it cussed hot
+up here?"
+
+"She is.  Yu won't have no cinch ridin' home with that leg.  Yu better
+take my cayuse-he's busted more'n yourn," responded Skinny.
+
+"Yore cayuse is at th' Cross Bar O, yu wall-eyed pirute."
+
+"Shore `nuff.  Funny how a feller forgets sometimes.  Lemme alone now,
+they's goin' to git By-an'-by.  Pete an' Lanky has just went in after
+him."
+
+That was what had occurred.  The two impatient punchers, had
+grown tired of waiting, and risked what might easily have been death
+in order to hasten matters.  The others kept up a rapid fire, directed
+at the far end of the chaparral on the knoll, in order to mask the
+movements of their venturesome friends, intending also to drive By-
+and-by toward them so that he would be the one to get picked off as he
+advanced.
+
+Several shots rang out in quick succession on the knoll and the
+chaparral became agitated. Several more shots sounded from the depth
+of the thicket and a mounted Indian dashed out of the northern edge
+and headed in Buck's direction.  His course would take him close to
+Buck, whom he had seen fall, and would let him escape at a point
+midway between Red and Skinny, as Lanky was on the knoll and the range
+was very far to allow effective shooting by these two.
+
+Red saw him leave the chaparral and in his haste to reload jammed
+the cartridge, and By-and-by swept on toward temporary safety, with
+Red dancing in a paroxysm of rage, swelling his vocabulary with words
+he had forgotten existed.
+
+By-and-by, rising to his full height in the saddle, turned and
+wiggled his fingers at the frenzied Red and made several other signs
+that the cowboy was in the humor to appreciate to the fullest extent.
+Then he turned and shook his rifle at the marksmen on the larger
+knoll, whose best shots kicked up the dust fully fifty yards too
+short.  The pony was sweeping toward the reservation and friends only
+fifteen miles away, and By-and-by knew that once among the mountains
+he would be on equal footing at least with his enemies.
+
+As he passed the rock behind which Buck lay sprawled on his face he uttered a
+piercing whoop of triumph and leaned forward on his pony's neck.
+Twenty leaps farther and the spiteful crack of a rifle echoed from
+where the foreman was painfully supporting himself on his elbows.  The
+pony swept on in a spurt of nerve-racking speed, but alone.  By-and-by
+shrieked again and crashed heavily to the ground, where he rolled
+inertly and then lay still.  Men like Buck are dangerous until their
+hearts have ceased to beat.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Trials of the Convalescent
+
+
+The days at the ranch passed in irritating idleness for those who had
+obstructed the flight of hostile lead, and worse than any of the
+patients was Hopalong, who fretted and fumed at his helplessness,
+which retarded his recovery.  But at last the day came when he was fit
+for the saddle again, and he gave notice of his joy in whoops and
+forthwith announced that he was entitled to a holiday; and Buck had
+not the heart to refuse him
+
+So he started forth in his quest of peace and pleasure, but instead
+had found only trouble and had been forced to leave his card at almost
+every place he had visited.
+
+There was that affair in Red Hot Gulch, Colorado, where, under
+pressure, he had invested sundry pieces of lead in the persons of
+several obstreperous citizens and then had paced the zealous and
+excitable sheriff to the state line.
+
+He next was noticed in Cheyenne, where his deformity was vividly
+dwelt upon, to the extent of six words, by one Tarantula Charley, the
+aforesaid Charley not being able to proceed to greater length on
+account of heart failure.  As Charley had been a ubiquitous nuisance,
+those present availed themselves of the opportunity offered by
+Hopalong to indulge in a free drink.
+
+Laramie was his next stopping place, and shortly after his
+arrival he was requested to sing and dance by a local terror, who
+informed all present that he was the only seventeen-buttoned
+rattlesnake in the cow country.  Hopalong, hurt and indignant at being
+treated like a common tenderfoot, promptly knocked the terror down.
+After he had irrigated several square feet of parched throats
+belonging to the audience he again took up his journey and spent a day
+at Denver, where he managed to avoid any further trouble.
+
+Santa Fe loomed up before him several days later and he entered it
+shortly before noon.  At this time the old Spanish city was a bundle of
+high-strung nerves, and certain parts of it were calculated to furnish
+any and all kinds of excitement except revival meetings and church
+fairs.  Hopalong straddled a lively nerve before he had been in the
+city an hour.  Two local bad men, Slim Travennes and Tex Ewalt,
+desiring to establish the fact that they were roaring prairie fires,
+attempted to consume the placid and innocent stranger as he limped
+across the plaza in search of a game of draw poker at the Black Hills
+Emporium, with the result that they needed repairs, to the chagrin and
+disgust of their immediate acquaintances, who endeavored to drown
+their mortification and sorrow in rapid but somewhat wild gun play,
+and soon remembered that they had pressing engagements elsewhere.
+
+Hopalong reloaded his guns and proceeded to the Emporium, where he
+found a game all prepared for him in every sense of the word.  On the
+third deal he objected to the way in which the dealer manipulated the
+cards, and when the smoke cleared away he was the only occupant of the
+room, except a dog belonging to the bartender that had intercepted a
+stray bullet.
+
+Hunting up the owner of the hound, he apologized for being the
+indirect cause of the animal's death, deposited a sum of Mexican
+dollars in that gentleman's palm and went on his way to Alameda, which
+he entered shortly after dark, and where an insult, simmering in its
+uncalled-for venom, met him as he limped across the floor of the local
+dispensary on his way to the bar.  There was no time for verbal
+argument and precedent had established the manner of his reply, and
+his repartee was as quick as light and most effective.  Having resented
+the epithets he gave his attention to the occupants of the room.
+
+Smoke drifted over the table in an agitated cloud and dribbled
+lazily upward from the muzzle of his six-shooter, while he looked
+searchingly at those around him.  Strained and eager faces peered at
+his opponent, who was sliding slowly forward in his chair, and for the
+length of a minute no sound but the guarded breathing of the onlookers
+could be heard.  This was broken by a nervous cough from the rear of
+the room, and the faces assumed their ordinary nonchalant expressions,
+their rugged lines heavily shadowed in the light of the flickering oil
+lamps, while the shuffling of cards and the clink of silver became
+audible.  Hopalong Cassidy had objected to insulting remarks about his
+affliction.
+
+Hopalong was very sensitive about his crippled leg and was always
+prompt to resent any scorn or curiosity directed at it, especially
+when emanating from strangers.  A young man of twenty-three years, when
+surrounded by nearly perfect specimens of physical manhood, is apt to
+be painfully self-conscious of any such defect, and it reacted on his
+nature at times, even though he was well-known for his happy-go-lucky
+disposition and playfulness.  He consoled himself with the knowledge
+that what he lost in symmetry was more than balanced by the celerity
+and certainty of his gun hand, which was right or left, or both, as
+the occasion demanded.
+
+Several hours later, as his luck was vacillating, he felt a heavy
+hand on his shoulder, and was overjoyed at seeing Buck and Red, the
+latter grinning as only Red could grin, and he withdrew from the game
+to enjoy his good fortune.
+
+While Hopalong had been wandering over the country the two friends
+had been hunting for him and had traced him successfully, that being
+due to the trail he had blazed with his six-shooters.  This they had
+accomplished without harm to themselves, as those of whom they
+inquired thought that they must want Hopalong "bad," and cheerfully
+gave the information required.
+
+They had started out more for the purpose of accompanying him for
+pleasure, but that had changed to an urgent necessity in the following
+manner:
+
+While on the way from Denver to Santa Fe they had met Pete Willis of
+the Three Triangle, a ranch that adjoined their own, and they paused
+to pass the compliments of the season.
+
+"Purty far from th' grub wagon, Pie," remarked Buck.
+
+"Oh, I'm only goin' to Denver," responded Pie.
+
+"Purty hot," suggested Red.
+
+"She shore is.  Seen anybody yu knows?" Pie asked.
+
+"One or two-Billy of th' Star Crescent an' Panhandle Lukins,"
+answered Buck.
+
+"That so? Panhandle's goin' to punch for us next year.  I'll hunt him
+up.  I heard down south of Albuquerque that Thirsty Jones an' his
+brothers are lookin' for trouble," offered Pie.
+
+"Yah! They ain't lookin' for no trouble-they just goes around
+blowin' off. Trouble?  Why, they don't know what she is," remarked Red
+contemptuously.
+
+"Well, they's been dodgin' th' sheriff purty lively lately, an' if
+that ain't trouble I don't know what is," said Pie.
+
+"It shore is, an' hard to dodge," acquiesced Buck.
+
+"Well, I has to amble. Is Panhandle in Denver?  Yes?  I calculates as
+how me an' him'll buck th' tiger for a whirl-he's shore lucky.  Well,
+so long," said Pie as he moved on.
+
+"So long," responded the two.
+
+"Hey, wait a minute," yelled Pie after he had ridden a hundred
+yards.  "If yu sees Hopalong yu might tell him that th' Joneses are
+goin' to hunt him up when they gits to Albuquerque.  They's shore sore
+on him.  `Tain't none of my funeral, only they ain't always a-carin'
+how they goes after a feller.  So long," and soon he was a cloud of
+dust on the horizon.
+
+"Trouble!" snorted Red; "well, between dodgin' Harris an' huntin'
+Hopalong I reckons they'll shore find her. "Then to himself he
+murmured, "Funny how everythin' comes his way."
+
+"That's gospel shore enough, but, as Pie said, they ain't a whole
+lot particular as how they deal th' cards.  We better get a move on an'
+find that ornery little cuss," replied Buck.
+
+"O. K., only I ain't losin' no sleep about Hoppy.  His gun's too
+lively for me to do any worryin'," asserted Red.
+
+"They'll get lynched some time, shore," declared Buck.
+
+"Not if they find Hoppy," grimly replied Red.
+
+They tore through Santa Fe, only stopping long enough to wet their
+throats, and after several hours of hard riding entered Alameda, where
+they found Hopalong in the manner narrated.
+
+After some time the three left the room and headed for Albuquerque,
+twelve miles to the south.  At ten o'clock they dismounted before the
+Nugget and Rope, an unpainted wooden building supposed to be a clever
+combination of barroom, dance and gambling hall and hotel.  The
+cleverness lay in the man who could find the hotel part.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+The Open Door
+
+
+The proprietor of the Nugget and Rope, a German named Baum, not being
+troubled with police rules, kept the door wide open for the purpose of
+inviting trade, a proceeding not to the liking of his patrons for
+obvious reasons.  Probably not one man in ten was fortunate enough to
+have no one "looking for him," and the lighted interior assured good
+hunting to any one in the dark street.  He was continually opening the
+door, which every newcomer promptly and forcibly slammed shut.  When he
+saw men walk across the room for the express purpose of slamming it he
+began to cherish the idea that there was a conspiracy on foot to anger
+him and thus force him to bring about his own death.
+
+ After the door had been slammed three times in one evening by one man,
+the last slam being so forcible as to shake two bottles from the shelf and to crack
+the door itself, he became positive that his suspicions were correct,
+and so was very careful to smile and take it as a joke.  Finally,
+wearied by his vain efforts to keep it open and fearing for the door,
+he hit upon a scheme, the brilliancy of which inflated his chest and
+gave him the appearance of a prize-winning bantam.  When his patrons
+strolled in that night there was no door to slam, as it lay behind the
+bar.
+
+When Buck and Red entered, closely followed by Hopalong, they
+elbowed their way to the rear of the room, where they could see before
+being seen.  As yet they had said nothing to Hopalong about Pie's
+warning and were debating in their minds whether they should do so or
+not, when Hopalong interrupted their thoughts by laughing.  They looked
+up and he nodded toward the front, where they saw that anxious eyes
+from all parts of the room were focused on the open door.  Then they
+noticed that it had been removed.
+
+The air of semi-hostile, semi-anxious inquiry of the patrons and the smile
+of satisfaction covering the face of Baum appealed to them as the
+ most ludicrous sight their eyes had seen for months, and they leaned back and roared with
+laughter, thus calling forth sundry looks of disapproval from the
+innocent causes of their merriment.  But they were too well known in
+Albuquerque to allow the disapproval to approach a serious end, and
+finally, as the humorous side of the situation dawned on the crowd,
+they joined in the laugh and all went merrily.
+
+
+At the psychologic moment some one shouted for a dance and the
+suggestion met with uproarious approval.  At that moment Harris, the
+sheriff, came in and volunteered to supply the necessary music if the
+crowd would pay the fine against a straying fiddler he had corraled
+the day before.  A hat was quickly passed and a sum was realized which
+would pay several fines to come and Harris departed for the music.
+
+A chair was placed on the bar for the musician and, to the tune of
+"Old Dan Tucker" and an assortment of similar airs, the board floor
+shook and trembled.  It was a comical sight and Hopalong, the only
+wallflower besides Baum and the sheriff, laughed until he became weak.
+Cow punchers play as they work, hard and earnestly, and there was
+plenty of action.  Sombreros flapped like huge wings and the baggy
+chaps looked like small, distorted balloons.
+
+The Virginia reel was a marvel of supple, exaggerated grace and the
+quadrille looked like a free-for-all for unbroken colts.  The honor of
+prompter was conferred upon the sheriff, and he gravely called the
+changes as they were usually called in that section of the country:
+
+   "Oh, th' ladies trail in
+      An' th' gents trail out,
+   An' all stampede down th' middle.
+      If yu ain't got th' tin
+         Yu can dance an' shout,
+   But yu must keep up with th' fiddle."
+
+
+As the dance waxed faster and the dancers grew hotter Hopalong,
+feeling lonesome because he wouldn't face ridicule, even if it was not
+expressed, went over and stood by the sheriff.  He and Harris were good
+friends, for he had received the wound that crippled him in saving the
+sheriff from assassination.  Harris killed the man who had fired that
+shot, and from this episode on the burning desert grew a friendship
+that was as strong as their own natures.
+
+Harris was very well liked by the majority and feared by the rest,
+for he was a square man and the best sheriff the county had ever
+known.  Quiet and unassuming, small of stature and with a kind word for
+every one, he was a universal favorite among the better class of
+citizens.  Quick as a flash and unerring in his shooting, he was a
+nightmare to the "bad men."  No profane word had ever been known to
+leave his lips, and he was the possessor of a widespread reputation
+for generosity.  His face was naturally frank and open; but when his
+eyes narrowed with determination it became blank and cold.  When he saw
+his young friend sidle over to him he smiled and nodded a hearty welcome.
+
+
+
+"They's shore cuttin' her loose," remarked Hopalong.
+
+"First two pairs forward an' back!-they shore is," responded the
+prompter.
+
+"Who's th' gent playin' lady to Buck?" Queried Hopalong.
+
+"Forward again an' ladies change!-Billy Jordan."
+
+Hopalong watched the couple until they swung around and then he
+laughed silently.  "Buck's got too many feet," he seriously remarked to
+his friend.
+
+"Swing th' girl yu loves th' best!-he ain't lonesome, look at that-"
+
+Two shots rang out in quick succession and Harris stumbled, wheeled
+and pitched forward on his face as Hopalong's sombrero spun across his
+body.  For a second there was an intense silence, heavy, strained and
+sickening.  Then a roar broke forth and the crowd of frenzied merry-
+makers, headed by Hopalong, poured out into the street and spread out
+to search the town.  As daylight dawned the searchers began to straggle
+back with the same report of failure.  Buck and Red met on the street
+near the door and each looked questioningly at the other.  Each shook
+his head and looked around, their fingers toying absentmindedly at
+their belts.  Finally Buck cleared his throat and remarked casually,
+
+"Mebby he's following `em."
+
+Red nodded and they went over toward their horses.  As they were
+hesitating which route to take, Billy Jordan came up.
+
+"Mebby yu'd like to see yore pardner-he's out by Buzzard's Spring.
+We'll take care of him," jerking his thumb over his shoulder toward
+the saloon where Harris's body lay.  "And we'll all git th' others
+later.  They cain't git away for long."
+
+Buck and Red nodded and headed for Buzzard's Spring.  As they neared
+the water hole they saw Hopalong sitting on a rock, his head resting
+in one hand while the other hung loosely from his knee.  He did not
+notice them when they arrived, and with a ready tact they sat quietly
+on their horses and looked in every direction except toward him.  The
+sun became a ball of molten fire and the sand flies annoyed them
+incessantly, but still they sat and waited, silent and apologetic.
+
+Hopalong finally arose, reached for his sombrero, and, finding it
+gone, swore long and earnestly at the scene its loss brought before
+him.  He walked over to his horse and, leaping into the saddle, turned
+and faced his friends.  "Yu old sons-of-guns," he said.  They looked
+sheepish and nodded negatively in answer to the look of inquiry in his
+eyes.  "They ain't got `em yet," remarked Red slowly.  Hopalong
+straightened up, his eyes narrowed and his face became hard and
+resolute as he led the way back toward the town.
+
+Buck rode up beside him and, wiping his face with his shirt sleeve,
+began to speak to Red.  "We might look up th' Joneses, Red.  They had
+been dodgin' th' sheriff purty lively lately, an' they was huntin'
+Hopalong.  Ever since we had to kill their brother in Buckskin they has
+been yappin' as how they was goin' to wipe us out.  Hopalong an' Harris
+was standin' clost together an' they tried for both.  They shot twice,
+one for Harris an' one for Hopalong, an' what more do yu want?"
+
+"It shore looks thataway, Buck," replied Red, biting into a huge
+plug of tobacco which he produced from his chaps.  "Anyhow, they
+wouldn't be no loss if they didn't.  "Member what Pie said?"
+
+Hopalong looked straight ahead, and when he spoke the words sounded
+as though he had bitten them off: "Yore right, Buck, but I gits first
+try at Thirsty.  He's my meat an' I'll plug th' fellow what says he
+ain't.  Damn him!"
+
+The others replied by applying their spurs, and in a short time they
+dismounted before the Nugget and Rope.  Thirsty wouldn't have a chance
+to not care how he dealt the cards.
+
+Buck and Red moved quickly through the crowd, speaking fast and
+earnestly.  When they returned to where they had left their friend they
+saw him half a block away and they followed slowly, one on either side
+of the street.  There would be no bullets in his back if they knew what
+they were about, and they usually did.
+
+As Hopalong neared the corner, Thirsty and his two brothers turned
+it and saw him.  Thirsty said something in a low voice, and the other
+two walked across the street and disappeared behind the store.  When
+assured that they were secure, Thirsty walked up to a huge boulder on
+the side of the street farthest from the store and turned and faced
+his enemy, who approached  rapidly until about five paces away, when
+he slowed up and finally stopped.
+
+For a number of seconds they sized each other up, Hopalong quiet and
+deliberate with a deadly hatred; Thirsty pale and furtive with a
+sensation hitherto unknown to him.  It was Right meeting Wrong, and
+Wrong lost confidence.  Often had Thirsty Jones looked death in the
+face and laughed, but there was something in Hopalong's eyes that made
+his flesh creep.
+
+He glanced quickly past his foe and took in the scene with one flash
+of his eyes.  There was the crowd, eager, expectant, scowling.  There
+were Buck and Red, each lounging against a boulder, Buck on his right,
+Red on his left. Before him stood the only man he had ever feared.
+Hopalong shifted his feet and Thirsty, coming to himself with a start,
+smiled.  His nerve had been shaken, but he was master of himself once
+more.
+
+"Well!" he snarled, scowling.
+
+Hopalong made no response, but stared him in the eyes.
+
+Thirsty expected action, and the deadly quiet of his enemy oppressed
+him.  He stared in turn, but the insistent searching of his opponent's
+eyes scorched him and he shifted his gaze to Hopalong's neck.
+
+"Well!" he repeated uneasily.
+
+"Did yu have a nice time at th' dance last night?"  Asked Hopalong,
+still searching the face before him.
+
+"Was there a dance?  I was over in Alameda," replied Thirsty shortly.
+
+"Ya-as, there was a dance, an' yu can shoot purty durn far if yu was
+in Alameda," responded Hopalong, his voice low and monotonous.
+
+Thirsty shifted his feet and glanced around.  Buck and Red were still
+lounging against their bowlders and apparently were not paying any
+attention to the proceedings.  His fickle nerve came back again, for he
+knew he would receive fair play.  So he faced Hopalong once more and
+regarded him with a cynical smile.
+
+"Yu seems to worry a whole lot about me.  Is it because yu has a
+tender feelin', or because it's none of yore blame business?"  He asked
+aggressively.
+
+Hopalong paled with sudden anger, but controlled himself.
+
+"It's because yu murdered Harris," he replied.
+
+"Shoo! An' how does yu figger it out?"  Asked Thirsty, jauntily.
+
+"He was huntin' yu hard an' yu thought yu'd stop it, so yu came in
+to lay for him.  When yu saw me an' him together yu saw di' chance to
+wipe out another score.  That's how I figger it out," replied Hopalong
+quietly.
+
+"Yore a reg'lar `tective, ain't yu?" Thirsty asked ironically.
+
+"I've got common sense," responded Hopalong.
+
+"Yu has?  Yu better tell th' rest that, too," replied Thirsty.
+
+"I know yu shot Harris, an' yu can't get out of it by makin' funny
+remarks.  Anyhow, yu won't be much loss, an' th' stage company'll feel
+better, too."
+
+"Shoo! An' suppose I did shoot him, I done a good job, didn't I?"
+
+"Yu did the worst job yu could do, yu highway robber," softly said
+Hopalong, at the same time moving nearer.  "Harris knew yu stopped th'
+stage last month, an' that's why yu've been dodgin' him."
+
+"Yore a liar!" shouted Thirsty, reaching for his gun.
+
+The movement was fatal, for before he could draw, the Colt in
+Hopalong's holster leaped out and flashed from its owner's hip and
+Thirsty fell sideways, face down in the dust of the street.
+
+Hopalong started toward the fallen man, but as he did so a shot rang
+out from behind the store and he pitched forward, stumbled and rolled
+behind the bowlder.  As he stumbled his left hand streaked to his hip,
+and when he fell he had a gun in each hand.
+
+As he disappeared from sight Goodeye and Bill Jones stepped from
+behind the store and started to run away.  Not able to resist the
+temptation to look again, they stopped and turned and Bil1 laughed.
+
+"Easy as sin," he said.
+
+"Run, yu fool-Red an' Buck'll be here.  Want to git plugged?"
+shouted Goodeye angrily.
+
+They turned and started for a group of ponies twenty yards away,
+and as they leaped into the saddles two shots were fired from the
+street.  As the reports died away Buck and Red turned the corner of the
+store, Colts in hand, and, checking their rush as they saw the saddles
+emptied, they turned toward the street and saw Hopalong, with blood
+oozing from an abrasion on his cheek, sitting up cross-legged, with
+each hand holding a gun, from which came thin wisps of smoke.
+
+"Th' son-of-a-gun!" cried Buck, proud and delighted.
+
+"Th' son-of-a-gun!" echoed Red, grinning.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Hopalong Keeps His Word
+
+
+The waters of the Rio Grande slid placidly toward the Gulf, the hot
+sun branding the sleepy waters with streaks of molten fire.  To the
+north arose from the gray sandy plain the Quitman Mountains, and
+beyond them lay Bass Ca on.  From the latter emerged a solitary figure
+astride a broncho, and as he ascended the topmost rise he glanced
+below him at the placid stream and beyond it into Mexico.  As he sat
+quietly in his saddle he smiled and laughed gently to himself.  The
+trail he had just followed had been replete with trouble which had
+suited the state of his mind and he now felt humorous, having cleaned
+up a pressing debt with his six-shooter.  Surely there ought to be a
+mild sort of excitement in the land he faced, something picturesque
+and out of the ordinary.  This was to be the finishing touch to his
+trip, and he had left his two companions at Albuquerque in order that
+he might have to himself all that he could find.
+
+Not many miles to the south of him lay the town which had been the
+rendezvous of Tamale Jose, whose weakness had been a liking for other
+people's cattle.  Well he remembered his first man hunt: the discovery
+of the theft, the trail and pursuit and- the ending.  He was scarcely
+eighteen years of age when that event took place, and the wisdom he
+had absorbed then had stood him in good stead many times since.  He had
+even now a touch of pride at the recollection how, when his older companions
+ had failed to get Tamale Jose, he with his undeveloped
+strategy had gained that end.  The fight would never be forgotten, as
+it was his first, and no sight of wounds would ever affect him as did
+those of Red Connors as he lay huddled up in the dark corner of that
+old adobe hut.
+
+He came to himself and laughed again as he thought of
+Carmencita, the first girl he had ever known-and the last.  With a
+boy's impetuosity he had wooed her in a manner far different from that
+of the peons who sang beneath her window and talked to her mother.  He
+had boldly scaled the wall and did his courting in her house, trusting
+to luck and to his own ability to avoid being seen.  No hidden meaning
+lay in his words; he spoke from his heart and with no concealment.  And
+he remembered the treachery that had forced him, fighting, to the camp
+of his outfit; and when he had returned with his friends she had
+disappeared.
+
+To this day he hated that mud-walled convent and those
+sisters who so easily forgot how to talk.  The fragrance of the old
+days wrapped themselves around him, and although he had ceased to pine
+for his black-eyed Carmencita-well, it would be nice if he chanced to
+see her again.  Spurring his mount into an easy canter he swept down to
+and across the river, fording it where he had crossed it when pursuing
+Tamale Jose.
+
+The town lay indolent under the Mexican night, and the strumming
+of guitars and the tinkle of spurs and tiny bells softly echoed from
+several houses.  The convent of St. Maria lay indistinct in its heavy
+shadows and the little church farther up the dusty street showed dim
+lights in its stained windows.  Off to the north became audible the
+rhythmic beat of a horse and soon a cowboy swept past the convent with
+a mocking bow.
+
+He clattered across the stone-paved plaza and threw his
+mount back on its haunches as he stopped before a house.  Glancing
+around and determining to find out a few facts as soon as possible, he
+rode up to the low door and pounded upon it with the butt of his Colt.
+After waiting for possibly half a minute and receiving no response he
+hammered a tune upon it with two Colts and had the satisfaction of
+seeing half a score of heads protrude from the windows in the nearby
+houses.
+
+"If I could scare up another gun I might get th' whole blamed town
+up," he grumbled whimsically, and fell on the door with another tune.
+
+"Who is it?" came from within.  The voice was distinctly feminine and
+Hopalong winked to himself in congratulation.
+
+"Me," he replied, twirling his fingers from his nose at the curious,
+forgetting that the darkness hid his actions from sight.
+
+"Yes, I know; but who is `me'?"  Came from the house.
+
+"Ain't I a fool!" he complained to himself, and raising his voice
+lie replied coaxingly, "Open th' door a bit an' see.  Are yu
+Carmencita?"
+
+"O-o-o! but you must tell me who it is first."
+
+"Mr. Cassidy," he replied, flushing at the `mister,' "an' I wants to
+see Carmencita."
+
+"Carmencita who?" teasingly came from behind the door.  Hopalong
+scratched his head.  "Gee, yu've roped me-I suppose she has got another
+handle.  Oh, yu know-she used to live here about seven years back.  She
+had great big black eyes, pretty cheeks an' a mouth that `ud stampede
+anybody.  Don't yu know now? She was about so high," holding out his
+hands in the darkness.
+
+The door opened a trifle on a chain and Hopalong peered eagerly
+forward.
+
+"Ah, it is you, the brave Americano! You must go away quick or you
+will meet with harm.  Manuel is awfully jealous and he will kill you!
+Go at once, please!"
+
+Hopalong pulled at the half-hearted down upon his lip and laughed
+softly.  Then he slid the guns back in their holsters and felt for his
+sombrero.
+
+"Manuel wants to see me first, Star Eyes."
+
+"No! no!" she replied, stamping upon the floor vehemently.  "You
+must go now-at once!"
+
+"I'd shore look nice hittin' th' trail because Manuel Somebody wants
+to get hurt, wouldn't I?  Don't yu remember how I used to shinny up
+this here wall an' skin th' cat gettin' through that hole up there
+what yu said was a window?  Ah, come on an' open th' door-I'd shore
+like to see yu again!" pleaded the irrepressible.
+
+"No! no! Go away.  Oh, won't you please go away!"
+
+Hopalong sighed audibly and turned his horse.  As he did so he heard
+the door open and a sigh reached his ears.  He wheeled like a flash and
+found the door closed again on its chain.  A laugh of delight came from
+behind it.
+
+"Come out, please!-just for a minute," he begged, wishing that he
+was brave enough to smash the door to splinters and grab her.
+
+"If I do, will you go away?" Asked the girl.  "Oh, what will Manuel
+say if he comes?  And all those people, they'll tell him!"
+
+"Hey, yu!" shouted Hopalong, brandishing his Colts at the protruding
+heads.  "Git scarce! I'll shore plug th' last one in!"  Then he laughed
+at the sudden vanishing.
+
+The door slowly opened and Carmencita, fat and drowsy, wobbled out
+to him.  Hopalong's feelings were interfering with his breathing as he
+surveyed her.  "Oh, yu shore are mistaken, Mrs. Carmencita. I wants to
+see yore daughter!"
+
+"Ah, you have forgotten the little Carmencita who used to 1ook for
+you.  Like all the men, you have forgotten," she cooed reproachfully.
+Then her fear predominated again and she cried, "Oh, if my husband
+should see me now!"
+
+Hopalong mastered his astonishment and bowed.  He had a desire to
+ride madly into the Rio Grande and collect his senses.
+
+"Yu are right-this is too dangerous-I'll amble on some," he replied
+hastily.  Under his breath he prayed that the outfit would never learn
+of this.  He turned his horse and rode slowly up the street as the door
+closed.
+
+Rounding the corner he heard a soft footfall, and swerving in his
+saddle he turned and struck with all his might in the face of a man
+who leaped at him, at the same time grasping the uplifted wrist with
+his other hand.  A curse and the tinkle of thin steel on the pavement
+accompanied the fall of his opponent.  Bending down from his saddle he
+picked up the weapon and the next minute the enraged assassin was
+staring into the unwavering and, to him, growing muzzle of a Colt's
+.45.
+
+"Yu shore had a bum teacher.  Don't yu know better'n to push it in?
+An' me a cowpuncher, too! I'm most grieved at yore conduct-it shows
+you don't appreciate cow-wrastlers.  This is safer," he remarked,
+throwing the stiletto through the air and into a door, where it rang
+out angrily and quivered.  "I don't know as I wants to ventilate yu; we
+mostly poisons coyotes up my way," he added.  Then a thought struck
+him.  "Yu must be that dear Manuel I've been hearin' so much about?"
+
+A snarl was the only reply and Hopalong grinned.
+
+"Yu shore ain't got no call to go loco that way, none whatever.  I
+don't want yore Carmencita.  I only called to say hulloo," responded
+Hopalong, his sympathies being aroused for the wounded man before him
+from his vivid recollection of the woman who had opened the door.
+
+"Yah!" snarled Manuel.  "You wants to poison my little bird.  You with
+your fair hair and your cursed swagger!"
+
+The six-shooter tentatively expanded and stopped six inches from the
+Mexican's nose.  "Yu wants to ride easy, hombre.  I ain't no angel, but
+I don't poison no woman; an' don't yu amble off with th' idea in yore
+head that she wants to be poisoned.  Why, she near stuck a knife in
+me!" he lied.
+
+The Mexican's face brightened somewhat, but it would take more than
+that to wipe out the insult of the blow.  The horse became restless,
+and when Hopalong had effectively quieted it he spoke again.
+
+"Did yu ever hear of Tamale Jose?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, I'm th' fellow that stopped him in th' `dobe hut by th'
+arroyo.  I'm tellin' yu this so yu won't do nothin' rash an' leave
+Carmencita a widow. Sabe?"
+
+The hate on the Mexican's face redoubled and he took a short step
+forward, but stopped when the muzzle of the Colt kissed his nose.  He
+was the brother of Tamale Jose.  As he backed away from the cool touch
+of the weapon he thought out swiftly his revenge.  Some of his
+brother's old companions were at that moment drinking mescal in a
+saloon down the street, and they would be glad to see this Americano
+die.  He glanced past his house at the saloon and Hopalong misconstrued
+his thoughts.
+
+"Shore, go home.  I'll just circulate around some for exercise.  No
+hard feelings, only yu better throw it next time," he said as he
+backed away and rode off. Manuel went down the street and then ran
+into the saloon, where he caused an uproar.
+
+Hopalong rode to the end of the plaza and tried to sing, but it was
+a dismal failure.  Then he felt thirsty and wondered why he hadn't
+thought of it before.  Turning his horse and seeing the saloon he rode
+up to it and in, lying flat on the animal's neck to avoid being swept
+off by the door frame.  His entrance scared white some half a dozen
+loungers, who immediately sprang up in a decidedly hostile manner.
+Hopalong's Colts peeped over the ears of his horse and he backed into
+a corner near the bar.
+
+"One, two, three-now, altogether, breathe! Yu acts like yu never saw
+a real puncher afore.  All th' same," he remarked, nodding at several
+of the crowd, "I've seen yu afore.  Yu are th' gents with th' hot-foot
+get-a-way that vamoosed when we got Tamale."
+
+Curses were flung at him and only the humorous mood he was in saved
+trouble.  One, bolder than the rest, spoke up: "The senor will not see
+any `hot-foot get-a-way,' as he calls it, now! The senor was not wise
+to go so far away from his friends!"'
+
+Hopalong looked at the speaker and a quizzical grin slowly spread
+over his face.  "They'll shore feel glad when I tells them yu was
+askin' for `em.  But didn't yu see too much of `em once, or was yu
+poundin' leather in the other direction?  Yu don't want to worry none
+about me-an' if yu don't get yore hands closter to yore neck they'll
+be heck to pay! There, that's more like home," he remarked, nodding
+assurance.
+
+Reaching over he grasped a bottle and poured out a drink, his Colt
+slipping from his hand and dangling from his wrist by a thong.  As the
+weapon started to fall several of the audience involuntarily moved as
+if to pick it up.  Hopalong noticed this and paused with the glass half
+way to his lips.  "Don't bother yoreselves none; I can git it again,"
+he said, tossing off the liquor.
+
+"Wow! Holy smoke!" he yelled.  "This ain't drink! Sufferin' coyotes,
+nobody can accuse yu of sellin' liquor! Did yu make this all by
+yoreself?"  He asked incredulously of the proprietor, who didn't know
+whether to run or to pray.  Then he noticed that the crowd was
+spreading out and his Colts again became the center of interest.
+
+"Yu with th' lovely face, sit down!" he ordered as the person
+addressed was gliding toward the door.  "I ain't a-goin' to let yu pot
+me from th' street.  Th' first man who tries to get scarce will stop
+somethin' hot.  An' yu all better sit down," he suggested, sweeping
+them with his guns.  One man, more obdurate than the rest, was slow in
+complying and Hopalong sent a bullet through the top of his high
+sombrero, which had a most gratifying effect.
+
+"You'll regret this!" hissed a man in the rear, and a murmur of
+assent arose.  Some one stirred slightly in searching for a weapon and
+immediately a blazing Colt froze him into a statue.
+
+"Yu shore looks funny; eeny, meeny, miny, mo," counted off the
+daring horseman; "move a bit an' off yu go, he finished.  Then his face
+broke out in another grin as lie thought of more enjoyment.
+
+That there gent on th' left," he said, pointing out with a gun the
+man he meant.  "Yu sing us a song.  Sing a nice little song."
+
+As the object of his remarks remained mute he let his thumb
+ostentatiously slide back with the hammer of the gun under it.   Sing!
+Quick!" The man sang.
+
+As Hopalong leaned forward to say something a stiletto flashed past
+his neck and crashed into the bottle beside him.  The echo of the crash
+was merged into a report as Hopalong fired from his waist.  Then he
+backed out into the Street and, wheeling, galloped across the plaza
+and again faced the saloon. A flash split the darkness and a bullet
+hummed over his head and thudded into an adobe wall at his back.
+Another shot and he replied, aiming at the flash.
+
+From down the Street came the sound of a window opening
+and he promptly caused it to close again.  Several more windows
+opened and hastily closed, and he rode slowly toward the far
+end of the plaza.  As he faced the saloon once
+more he heard a command to throw up his hands and saw the glint of a
+gun, held by a man who wore the insignia of sheriff.  Hopalong
+complied, but as his hands went up two spurts of fire shot forth and
+the sheriff dropped his weapon, reeled and sat down.  Hopalong rode
+over to him and swinging down, picked up the gun and looked the
+officer over.
+
+
+
+"Shoo, yu'll be all right soon-yore only plugged in th' arms," he
+remarked as he glanced up the street.  Shadowy forms were gliding from
+cover to cover and he immediately caused consternation among them by
+his accuracy.  "Ain't it sad?"  He complained to the wounded man.  "I never starts out
+but what somebody makes me shoot `em.  Came down here to see a girl an'
+find she's married.  Then when I moves on peaceable-like her husband
+makes me hit him.  Then I wants a drink an' he goes an' fans a knife at
+me, an' me just teachin' him how! Then yu has to come along an' make
+more trouble".
+
+Now look at them fools over there," he said, pointing at
+a dark shadow some fifty paces off.  "They're pattin' their backs
+because I don't see `em, an' if I hurts them they'll git mad.  Guess
+I'll make `em dust along," he added, shooting into the spot.  A howl
+went up and two men ran away at top speed.
+
+The sheriff nodded his sympathy and spoke.  "I reckons you had better
+give up.  You can't get away.  Every house, every corner and shadow
+holds a man.  You are a brave man, but, as you say, unfortunate.  Better
+help me up and come with me-they'll tear you to pieces."
+
+"Shore I'll help yu up-I ain't got no grudge against nobody.  But my
+friends know where I am an' they'll come down here an' raise a ruction
+if I don't show up.  So, if it's all th' same to you, I'll be ambling
+right along," he said as he helped the sheriff to his feet.
+
+"Have you any objections to telling me your name?" Asked the sheriff
+as he looked himself over.
+
+"None whatever," answered Hopalong heartily.  "I'm Hopalong Cassidy
+of th' Bar 20, Texas."
+
+"You don't surprise me-I've heard of you," replied the sheriff
+wearily.  "You are the man who killed Tamale Jose, whom I hunted for
+unceasingly.  I found him when you had left and I got the reward.  Come
+again some time and I'll divide with you; two hundred and fifty
+dollars," he added craftily.
+
+"I shore will, but I don't want no money," replied Hopalong as he
+turned away.  "Adios, senor," he called back.
+
+"Adios," replied the sheriff as he kicked a nearby door for
+assistance.
+
+The cow-pony tied itself up in knots as it pounded down the street
+toward the trail, and although he was fired on he swung into the dusty
+trail with a song on his lips.  Several hours later he stood dripping
+wet on the American side of the Rio Grande and shouted advice to a
+score of Mexican cavalrymen on the opposite bank.  Then he slowly
+picked his way toward El Paso for a game at Faro Dan's.
+
+The sheriff sat in his easy chair one night some three weeks later,
+gravely engaged in rolling a cigarette.  His arms were practically
+well, the wounds being in the fleshy parts.  He was a philosopher and
+was disposed to take things easy, which accounted for his being in his
+official position for fifteen years.  A gentleman at the core, he was
+well educated and had visited a goodly portion of the world.  A book of
+Horace lay open on his knees and on the table at his side lay a
+shining new revolver, Hopalong having carried off his former weapon.
+He read aloud several lines and in reaching for a light for his
+cigarette noticed the new six-shooter.  His mind leaped from Horace to
+Hopalong, and he smiled grimly at the latter's promise to call.
+
+Glancing up, his eyes fell on a poster which conveyed the information
+in Spanish and in English that there was offered
+
++--------------------------------------+
+|                                      |
+|        FIVE HUNDRED PESOS            |
+|              REWARD                  |
+| For Hopalong Cassidy, of the Ranch   |
+| Known as the Bar-20, Texas, U. S. A. |
+|                                      |
++--------------------------------------+
+
+and which gave a good description of that gentleman.
+
+Sighing for the five hundred, he again took up his book and was lost
+in its pages when he heard a knock, rather low and timid.  Wearily
+laying aside his reading, he strode to the door, expecting to hear a
+lengthy complaint from one of his townsmen.  As he threw the door wide
+open the light streamed out and lighted up a revolver and behind it
+the beaming face of a cowboy, who grinned.
+
+"Well, I'll be damned!" ejaculated the sheriff, starting back in
+amazement.
+
+"Don't say that, sheriff; you've got lots of time to reform," replied
+a humorous voice.  "How's th' wings?"
+
+"Almost well: you were considerate," responded the sheriff.  "Let's
+go in-somebody might see me out here an' get into trouble," suggested
+the visitor, placing his foot on the sill.
+
+"Certainly-pardon my discourtesy," said the sheriff.  "You see, I
+wasn't expecting you to-night," he explained, thinking of the
+elaborate preparations that he would have gone to if he had thought
+the irrepressible would call.
+
+"Well, I was down this way, an' seeing as how I had promised to drop
+in I just natchurally dropped," replied Hopalong as he took the chair
+proffered by his host.
+
+After talking awhile on everything and nothing the sheriff coughed
+and looked uneasily at his guest.
+
+"Mr. Cassidy, I am sorry you called, for I like men of your energy
+and courage and I very much dislike to arrest you," remarked the
+sheriff.  "Of course you understand that you are under arrest," he
+added with anxiety.
+
+"Who, me?"  Asked I-Hopalong with a rising inflection.
+
+"Most assuredly," breathed the sheriff.
+
+"Why, this is the first time I ever heard anything about it,"
+replied the astonished cow-puncher.  "I'm an American-don't that make
+any difference?"
+
+"Not in this case, I'm afraid.  You see, it's for manslaughter."
+
+"Well, don't that beat th' devil, now?"  Said Hopalong.  He felt sorry
+that a citizen of the glorious United States should be prey for
+troublesome sheriffs, but he was sure that his duty to Texas called
+upon him never to submit to arrest at the hands of a Mexican.
+Remembering the Alamo, and still behind his Colt, he reached over and
+took up the shining weapon from the table and snapped it open on his
+knee.  After placing the cartridges in his pocket he tossed the gun
+over on the bed and, reaching inside his shirt, drew out another and
+threw it after the first.
+
+"That's yore gun; I forgot to leave it," he said, apologetically.
+"Anyhow yu needs two," he added.
+
+Then he glanced around the room, noticed the poster and walked over
+and read it.  A full swift sweep of his gloved hand tore it from its
+fastenings and crammed it under his belt.  The glimmer of anger in his
+eyes gave way as he realized that his head was worth a definite price,
+and he smiled at what the boys would say when he showed it to them.
+Planting his feet far apart and placing his arms akimbo he faced his
+host in grim defiance.
+
+"Got any more of these?"  He inquired, placing his hand on the poster
+under his belt.
+
+"Several," replied the sheriff.
+
+"Trot `em out," ordered Hopalong shortly.
+
+The sheriff sighed, stretched and went over to a shelf, from which
+he took a bundle of the articles in question.  Turning slowly he looked
+at the puncher and handed them to him.
+
+"I reckons they's all over this here town," remarked Hopalong.
+
+"They are, and you may never see Texas again."
+
+"So?  Well, yu tell yore most particular friends that the job is
+worth five thousand, and that it will take so many to do it that when
+th' mazuma is divided up it won't buy a meal.  There's only one man in
+this country tonight that can earn that money, an' that's me," said
+the puncher.  "An' I don't need it," he added, smiling.
+
+"But you are my prisoner-you are under arrest," enlightened the
+sheriff, rolling another cigarette.  The sheriff spoke as if asking a
+question.  Never before had five hundred dollars been so close at hand
+and yet so unobtainable.  It was like having a check-book but no bank
+account.
+
+"I'm shore sorry to treat yu mean," remarked Hopalong, "but I was
+paid a month in advance an' I'll have to go back an' earn it."
+
+"You can-if you say that you will return," replied the sheriff
+tentatively.  The sheriff meant what he said and for the moment had
+forgotten that he was powerless and was not the one to make terms.
+
+Hopalong was amazed and for a time his ideas of Mexicans staggered
+under the blow.  Then he smiled sympathetically as he realized that he
+faced a white man.
+
+"Never like to promise nothin'," he replied.  "I might get plugged,
+or something might happen that wouldn't let me."  Then his face lighted
+up as a thought came to him.  "Say, I'll cut di' cards with yu to see
+if I comes back or not."
+
+The sheriff leaned back and gazed at the cool youngster before him.
+A smile of satisfaction, partly at the self-reliance of his guest and
+partly at the novelty of his situation, spread over his face.  He
+reached for a pack of Mexican cards and laughed.  "Man! You're a cool
+one-I'll do it.  What do you call ?"
+
+"Red," answered Hopalong.
+
+The sheriff slowly raised his hand and revealed the ace of hearts.
+Hopalong leaned back and laughed, at the same time taking from his
+pocket the six extracted cartridges.  Arising and going over to the bed
+he slipped them in the chambers of the new gun and then placed the
+loaded weapon at the sheriff's elbow.
+
+"Well, I reckon I'll amble, sheriff," he said as he opened the door.
+"If yu ever sifts up my way drop in an' see me-th' boys'lI give yu a
+good time."
+
+"Thanks; I will be glad to," replied the sheriff.  "You'll take your
+pitcher to the well once too often some day, my friend.  This
+courtesy," glancing at the restored revolver, "might have cost you
+dearly."
+
+"Shoo! I did that once an' th' feller tried to use it," replied the
+cowboy as he backed through the door.  "Some people are awfully
+careless," he added. "So long-"
+
+"So long," replied the sheriff, wondering what sort of a man he had
+been entertaining.
+
+The door closed softly and soon after a joyous whoop floated in from
+the Street.  The sheriff toyed with the new gun and listened to the low
+caress of a distant guitar.
+
+"Well, don't that beat all?"  He ejaculated.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The Advent of McAllister
+
+
+The blazing sun shone pitilessly on an arid plain which was spotted
+with dust-gray clumps of mesquite and thorny chaparral.  Basking in the
+burning sand and alkali lay several Gila monsters, which raised their
+heads and hissed with wide-open jaws as several faint, whip-like
+reports echoed flatly over the desolate plain, showing that even they
+had learned that danger was associated with such sounds.
+
+Off to the north there became visible a cloud of dust and at
+intervals something swayed in it, something that rose and fell and
+then became hidden again.  Out of that cloud came sharp, splitting
+sounds, which were faintly responded to by another and larger cloud in
+its rear.  As it came nearer and finally swept past, the Gilas, to
+their terror, saw a madly pounding horse, and it carried a man.  The
+latter turned in his saddle and raised a gun to his shoulder and the
+thunder that issued from it caused the creeping audience to throw up
+their tails in sudden panic and bury themselves out of sight in the
+sand.
+
+The horse was only a broncho, its sides covered with hideous yellow
+spots, and on its near flank was a peculiar scar, the brand.  Foam
+flecked from its crimsoned jaws and found a resting place on its sides
+and on the hairy chaps of its rider.  Sweat rolled and streamed from
+its heaving flanks and was greedily sucked up by the drought-cursed
+alkali.  Close to the rider's knee a bloody furrow ran forward and one
+of the broncho's ears was torn and limp.  The broncho was doing its
+best-it could run at that pace until it dropped dead.  Every ounce of
+strength it possessed was put forth to bring those hind hoofs well in
+front of the forward ones and to send them pushing the sand behind in
+streaming clouds.  The horse had done this same thing many times-when
+would its master learn sense?
+
+The man was typical in appearance with many of that broad land.
+Lithe, sinewy and bronzed by hard riding and hot suns, he sat in his
+Cheyenne saddle like a centaur, all his weight on the heavy, leather-
+guarded stirrups, his body rising in one magnificent straight line.  A
+bleached moustache hid the thin lips, and a gray sombrero threw a
+heavy shadow across his eyes.  Around his neck and over his open, blue
+flannel shirt lay loosely a knotted silk kerchief, and on his thighs a
+pair of open-flapped holsters swung uneasily with their ivory handled
+burdens. He turned abruptly, raised his gun to his shoulder and fired,
+then he laughed recklessly and patted his mount, which responded to
+the confident caress by lying flatter to the earth in a spurt of
+heart-breaking speed.
+
+"I'll show `em who they're trailin'. This is th' second time I've
+started for Muddy Wells, an' I'm goin' to git there, too, for all th'
+Apaches out of Hades!"
+
+To the south another cloud of dust rapidly approached and the rider
+scanned it closely, for it was directly in his path.  As he watched it
+he saw something wave and it was a sombrero! Shortly afterward a real
+cowboy yell reached his ears.  He grinned and slid another cartridge in
+the greasy, smoking barrel of the Sharp's and fired again at the cloud
+in his rear.  Some few minutes later a whooping, bunched crowd of madly
+riding cowboys thundered past him and he was recognized.
+
+"Hullo, Frenchy!" yelled the nearest one.  "Comin' back?"
+
+"Come on, McAllister!" shouted another; "we'll give `em blazes!" In
+response the straining broncho suddenly stiffened, bunched and slid on
+its haunches, wheeled and retraced its course.  The rear cloud suddenly
+scattered into many smaller ones and all swept off to the east.  The
+rescuing band overtook them and, several hours later, when seated
+around a table in Tom Lee's saloon, Muddy Wells, a count was taken of
+them, which was pleasing in its facts.
+
+"We was huntin' coyotes when we saw yu," said a smiling puncher who
+was known as Salvation Carroll chiefly because he wasn't.
+
+"Yep! They've been stalkin' Tom's chickens," supplied Waffles, the
+champion poker player of the outfit.  Tom Lee's chickens could whip
+anything of their kind for miles around and were reverenced
+accordingly.
+
+"Sho! Is that so?" Asked Frenchy with mild incredulity, such a state
+of affairs being deplorable.
+
+"She shore is!" answered Tex Le Blanc, and then, as an afterthought,
+he added, "Where'd yu hit th' War-whoops?"
+
+"`Bout four hours back.  This here's th' second time I've headed for
+this place-last time they chased me to Las Cruces."
+
+"That so?"  Asked Bigfoot Baker, a giant.  "Ain't they allus
+interferin', now?  Anyhow, they're better'n coyotes."
+
+"They was purty well heeled," suggested Tex, glancing at a bunch of
+repeating Winchesters of late model which lay stacked in a corner.
+"Charley here said he thought they was from th' way yore cayuse
+looked, didn't yu, Charley?"  Charley nodded and filled his pipe.
+
+"`Pears like a feller can't amble around much nowadays without
+havin' to fight," grumbled Lefty Allen, who usually went out of his
+way hunting up trouble.
+
+"We're goin' to th' Hills as soon as our cookie turns up,"
+volunteered Tenspot Davis, looking inquiringly at Frenchy.  "Heard any
+more news?"
+
+"Nope. Same old story-lots of gold.  Shucks, I've bit on so many of
+them rumors that they don't feaze me no more.  One man who don't know
+nothin' about prospectin' goes an' stumbles over a fortune an' those
+who know it from A to Izzard goes `round pullin' in their belts."
+
+"We don't pull in no belts-We knows just where to look, don't we,
+Tenspot?"  Remarked Tex, looking very wise.
+
+"Ya-as we do," answered Tenspot, "if yu hasn't dreamed about it, we
+do."
+
+"Yu wait; I wasn't dreamin', none whatever," assured Tex.
+
+"I saw it!"
+
+"Ya-as, I saw it too onct," replied Frenchy with sarcasm.  "Went and
+lugged fifty pound of it all th' way to th' assay office-took me two
+days! an' that there four-eyed cuss looks at it and snickers.  Then he
+takes me by di' arm an' leads me to th' window.  'See that pile, my
+friend?  That's all like yourn,' sez he.  `It's worth about one simoleon
+a ton at th' coast.  They use it for ballast.'"
+
+"Aw! But this what I saw was gold!" exploded Tex.
+
+"So was mine, for a while!" laughed Frenchy, nodding to the
+bartender for another round.
+
+"Well, we're tired of punchin' cows! Ride sixteen hours a day, year
+in an' year out, an' what do we get?  Fifty a month an' no chance to
+spend it, an' grub that'd make a coyote sniffle! I'm for a vacation,
+an' if I goes broke, why, I'll punch again!" asserted Waffles, the
+foreman, thus revealing the real purpose of the trip.
+
+"What'd yore boss say?"  Asked Frenchy.
+
+"Whoop! What didn't he say! Honest, I never thought he had it in
+him.  It was fine.  He cussed an hour frontways an' then trailed back on
+a dead gallop, with us a-laughin' fit to bust.  Then he rustles for his
+gun an' we rustles for town," answered Waffles, laughing at his
+remembrance of it.
+
+As Frenchy was about to reply his sombrero was snatched from his
+head and disappeared. If he "got mad" he was to be regarded as not
+sufficiently well acquainted for banter and he was at once in hot
+water; if he took it good-naturedly he was one of the crowd in spirit;
+but in either case he didn't get his hat without begging or fighting
+for it.  This was a recognized custom among the O-Bar-O outfit and was
+not intended as an insult.
+
+Frenchy grabbed at the empty air and arose.  Punching Lefty playfully
+in the ribs he passed his hands behind that person's back.  Not finding
+the lost head-gear he laughed and, tripping Lefty up, fell with him
+and, reaching up on the table for his glass, poured the contents down
+Lefty's back and arose.
+
+"Yu son-of-a-gun!" indignantly wailed that unfortunate.  "Gee, it
+feels funny," he added, grinning as he pulled the wet shirt away from
+his spine.
+
+"Well, I've got to be amblin'," said Frenchy, totally ignoring the
+loss of his hat.  "Goin' down to Buckskin," he offered, and then asked,
+"When's yore cook comin'?"
+
+"Day after to-morrow, if he don't get loaded," replied Tex.
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"A one-eyed Mexican-Quiensabe Antonio."
+
+"I used to know him.  He's a heck of a cook.  Dished up th' grub one
+season when I was punchin' for th' Tin-Cup up in Montana," replied
+Frenchy.
+
+"Oh, he kin cook now, all right." replied Waffles.
+
+"That's about all he can cook.  Useter wash his knives in th' coffee
+pot an' blow on di' tins.  I chased him a mile one night for leavin'
+sand in th' skillet.  Yu can have him-I don't envy yu none whatever.
+
+"He don't sand no skillet when little Tenspot's around," assured
+that person, slapping his holster.  "Does he, Lefty?"
+
+"If he does, yu oughter be lynched," consoled Lefty.
+
+"Well, so long," remarked Frenchy, riding off to a small store,
+where he bought a cheap sombrero.
+
+Frenchy was a jack-of-all-trades, having been cow-puncher,
+prospector, proprietor of a "hotel" in Albuquerque, foreman of a
+ranch, sheriff, and at one time had played angel to a venturesome but
+poor show troupe.  Beside his versatility he was well known as the man
+who took the stage through the Sioux country when no one else
+volunteered.  He could shoot with the best, but his one pride was the
+brand of poker he handed out.  Furthermore, he had never been known to
+take an unjust advantage over any man and, on the contrary, had
+frequently voluntarily handicapped himself to make the event more
+interesting.  But he must not be classed as being hampered with self-
+restraint.
+
+His reasons for making this trip were two-fold: he wished to see
+Buck Peters, the foreman of the Bar-20 outfit, as he and Buck had
+punched cows together twenty years before and were firm friends; the
+other was that he wished to get square with Hopalong Cassidy, who had
+decisively cleaned him out the year before at poker.  Hopalong played
+either in great good luck or the contrary, while Frenchy played an
+even, consistent game and usually left off richer than when he began,
+and this decisive defeat bothered him more than he would admit, even
+to himself.
+
+The round-up season was at hand and the Bar-20 was short of ropers,
+the rumors of fresh gold discoveries in the Black Hills having drawn
+all the more restless men north.  The outfit also had a slight touch of
+the gold fever, and only their peculiar loyalty to the ranch and the
+assurance of the foreman that when the work was over he would
+accompany them, kept them from joining the rush of those who desired
+sudden and much wealth as the necessary preliminary of painting some
+cow town in all the "bang up" style such an event would call for.
+Therefore they had been given orders to secure the required
+assistance, and they intended to do so, and were prepared to kidnap,
+if necessary, for the glamour of wealth and the hilarity of the
+vacation made the hours falter in their speed.
+
+As Frenchy leaned back in his chair in Cowan's saloon, Buckskin,
+early the next morning, planning to get revenge on Hopalong and then
+to recover his sombrero, he heard a medley of yells and whoops and
+soon the door flew open before the strenuous and concentrated entry of
+a mass of twisting and kicking arms and legs, which magically found
+their respective owners and reverted to the established order of
+things.
+
+When the alkali dust had thinned he saw seven cow-punchers
+sitting on the prostrate form of another, who was earnestly engaged in
+trying to push Johnny Nelson's head out in the street with one foot as
+he voiced his lucid opinion of things in general and the seven in
+particular.  After Red Connors had been stabbed in the back several
+times by the victim's energetic elbow he ran out of the room and
+presently returned with a pleased expression and a sombrero full of
+water, his finger plugging an old bullet hole in the crown.
+
+"Is he any better, Buck?"  Anxiously inquired the man with the
+reservoir.
+
+"About a dollar's worth," replied the foreman.  "Jest put a little
+right here," he drawled as he pulled back the collar of the
+unfortunate's shirt.
+
+"Ow! wow! WOW!" wailed the recipient, heaving and straining.  The
+unengaged leg was suddenly wrested loose, and as it shot up and out
+Billy Williams, with his pessimism aroused to a blue-ribbon pitch, sat
+down forcibly in an adjacent part of the room, from where he lectured
+between gasps on the follies of mankind and the attributes of army
+mules.
+
+Red tiptoed around the squirming bunch, looking for an opening, his
+pleased expression now having added a grin.
+
+"Seems to be gittin' violent-like,"  he soliloquized, as he aimed a
+stream at Hopalong's ear, which showed for a second as Pete Wilson
+strove for a half-nelson, and he managed to include Johnny and Pete in
+his effort.
+
+Several minutes later, when the storm had subsided, the woeful crowd
+enthusiastically urged Hopalong to the bar, where he "bought."
+
+"Of all th' ornery outfits I ever saw-" began the man at the table,
+grinning from ear to ear at the spectacle he had just witnessed.
+
+"Why, hullo, Frenchy! Glad to see yu, yu old son-of-a-gun! What's
+th' news from th' Hills?"  Shouted Hopalong.
+
+"Rather locoed, an' there's a locoed gang that's headin' that way.
+Goin' up?" he asked.
+
+"Shore, after round-up.  Seen any punchers trailin' around loose?"
+
+"Ya-as," drawled Frenchy, delving into the possibilities suddenly
+opened to him and determining to utilize to the fullest extent the
+opportunity that had come to him unsought.  "There's nine over to Muddy
+Wells that yu might git if yu wants them bad enough.  They've got a
+sombrero of mine," he added deprecatingly.
+
+"Nine! Twisted Jerusalem, Buck! Nine whole cow-punchers a-pinin' for
+work," he shouted, but then added thoughtfully, "Mebby they's
+engaged," it being one of the courtesies of the land not to take
+another man's help.
+
+"Nope.  They've stampeded for th' Hills an' left their boss all
+alone," replied Frenchy, well knowing that such desertion would not,
+in the minds of the Bar-20 men, add any merits to the case of the
+distant outfit.
+
+"Th' sons-of-guns," said Hopalong, "let's go an' get `em," he
+suggested, turning to Buck, who nodded a smiling assent.
+
+"Oh, what's the hurry?"  Asked Frenchy, seeing his projected game
+slipping away into the uncertain future and happy in the thought that
+he would be avenged on the O-Bar-O outfit.
+
+"They'll be there till to-morrow noon-they's waitin' for their
+cookie, who's goin' with them."
+
+"A cook! A cook! Oh, joy, a cook!" exulted Johnny, not for one
+instant doubting Buck's ability to capture the whole outfit and seeing
+a whirl of excitement in the effort.
+
+"Anybody we knows?"  Inquired Skinny Thompson.
+
+"Shore.  Tenspot Davis, Waffles, Salvation Carroll, Bigfoot Baker,
+Charley Lane, Lefty Allen, Kid Morris, Curley Tate an' Tex Le Blanc,"
+responded Frenchy.
+
+"Umm-m.  Might as well rope a blizzard," grumbled Billy.  "Might as
+well try to git th' Seventh Cavalry.  We'll have a pious time
+corralling that bunch.  Them's th' fellows that hit that bunch of
+inquirin' Crow braves that time up in th' Bad Lands an' then said by-
+bye to th' Ninth."
+
+"Aw, shut up! They's only two that's very much, an' Buck an'
+Hopalong can sing `em to sleep," interposed Johnny, afraid that the
+expedition would fall through.
+
+"How about Curley and Tex?"  Pugnaciously asked Billy.
+
+"Huh, jest because they buffaloed yu over to Las Vegas yu needn't
+think they's dangerous.  Salvation an' Tenspot are only ones who can
+shoot," stoutly maintained Johnny.
+
+"Here yu, get mum," ordered Buck to the pair.  "When this outfit goes
+after anything it generally gets it.  All in favor of kidnappin' that
+outfit signify di' same by kickin' Billy," whereupon Bill swore.
+
+"Do yu want yore hat?"  Asked Buck, turning to Frenchy.
+
+"I shore do," answered that individual.
+
+"If yu helps us at th' round-up we'll get it for yu.  Fifty a month
+an' grub," offered the foreman.
+
+"O.K." replied Frenchy, anxious to even matters.
+
+Buck looked at his watch.  "Seven o'clock-we ought to get there by
+five if we relays at th' Barred-Horseshoe.  Come on."
+
+"How are we goin' to git them?"  Asked Billy.
+
+"Yu leave that to me, son.  Hopalong an' Frenchy'll tend to that part
+of it," replied Buck, making for his horse and swinging into the
+saddle, an example which was followed by the others, including
+Frenchy.
+
+As they swung off Buck noticed the condition of Frenchy's mount and
+halted.  "Yu take that cayuse back an' get Cowan's," he ordered.
+
+"That cayuse is good for Cheyenne-she eats work, an' besides I wants
+my own," laughed Frenchy.
+
+"Yu must had a reg'lar picnic from th' looks of that crease,"
+volunteered Hopalong, whose curiosity was mastering him.  "Shoo! I had
+a little argument with some feather dusters- th' O-Bar-O crowd cleaned
+them up."
+
+"That so?"  Asked Buck.
+
+"Yep! They sorter got into th' habit of chasin' me to Las Cruces an'
+forgot to stop."
+
+"How many'd yu get?"  Asked Lanky Smith.
+
+"Twelve.  Two got away.  I got two before th' crowd showed up-that
+makes fo'teen."
+
+"Now th' cavalry'll be huntin' yu," croaked Billy.
+
+"Hunt nothin'! They was in war-paint-think I was a target?-Think I
+was goin' to call off their shots for `em?"
+
+They relayed at the Barred-Horseshoe and went on their way at the
+same pace.  Shortly after leaving the last-named ranch Buck turned to
+Frenchy and asked, "Any of that outfit think they can play poker?"
+
+"Shore.  Waffles."
+
+"Does th' reverend Mr. Waffles think so very hard?"
+
+"He shore does."
+
+"Do th' rest of them mavericks think so too?"
+
+"They'd bet their shirts on him."
+
+At this juncture all were startled by a sudden eruption from Billy.
+"Haw! Haw! Haw!' he roared as the drift of Buck's intentions struck
+him. "Haw! Haw! Haw!"
+
+"Here, yu long-winded coyote," yelled Red, banging him over the head
+with his quirt, "If yu don't `Haw! Haw!' away from my ear I'll make it
+a Wow! Wow! What d'yu mean?  Think I am a echo cliff?  Yu slabsided
+doodle-bug, yu!"
+
+"G'way, yu crimson topknot, think my head's a hunk of quartz?  Fer a
+plugged peso I'd strew yu all over th' scenery!" shouted Billy,
+feigning anger and rubbing his head.
+
+"There ain't no scenery around here," interposed Lanky.  "This here
+be-utiful prospect is a sublime conception of th' devil."
+
+"Easy, boy! Them highfalutin' words'il give yu a cramp some day.  Yu
+talk like a newly-made sergeant," remarked Skinny.
+
+"He learned them words from the sky-pilot over at El Paso,"
+volunteered Hopalong, winking at Red.  "He used to amble down th' aisle
+afore the lights was lit so's he could get a front seat.  That was all
+hunky for a while, but every time he'd go out to irrigate, that female
+organ-wrastler would seem to call th' music off for his special
+benefit.  So in a month he'd sneak in an' freeze to a chair by th'
+door, an' after a while he'd shy like blazes every time he got within
+eye range of th' church."
+
+"Shore.  But do yu know what made him get religion all of a sudden?
+He used to hang around on di' outside after th' joint let out an'
+trail along behind di' music-slinger, lookin' like he didn't know what
+to do with his hands.  Then when he got woozy one time she up an' told
+him that she had got a nice long letter from her hubby.  Then Mr. Lanky
+hit th' trail for Santa Fe so hard that there wasn't hardly none of it
+left. I didn't see him for a whole month," supplied Red innocently.
+
+"Yore shore funny, ain't yu?" sarcastically grunted Lanky.  "Why, I
+can tell things on yu that'd make yu stand treat for a year."
+
+"I wouldn't sneak off to Santa Fe an' cheat yu out of them.  Yu ought
+to be ashamed of yoreself."
+
+"Yah!" snorted the aggrieved little man.  "I had business over to
+Santa Fe!"
+
+"Shore," endorsed Hopalong.  "We've all had business over to Santa
+Fe.  Why, about eight years ago I had business-"
+
+"Choke up," interposed Red.  "About eight years ago yu was washin'
+pans for cookie, an' askin' me for cartridges.  Buck used to larrup yu
+about four times a day eight years ago."
+
+To their roars of laughter Hopalong dropped to the rear, where, red-
+faced and quiet, he bent his thoughts on how to get square.
+
+"We'll have a pleasant time corralling that gang," began Billy for
+the third time.
+
+"For heaven's sake get off that trail!" replied Lanky.  "We aint
+goin' to hold `em up.  De-plomacy's th' game."
+
+Billy looked dubious and said nothing.  If he hadn't proven that he
+was as nervy as any man in the outfit they might have taken more stock
+in his grumbling.
+
+"What's the latest from Abilene way?"  Asked Buck of Frenchy.
+
+"Nothin' much `cept th' barb-wire ruction," replied the recruit.
+
+"What's that?"  Asked Red, glancing apprehensively back at Hopalong.
+
+"Why, th' settlers put up barb-wire fence so's the cattle wouldn't
+get on their farms.  That would a been all right, for there wasn't much
+of it.  But some Britishers who own a couple of big ranches out there
+got smart all of a sudden an' strung wire all along their lines.
+Punchers crossin' th' country would run plumb into a fence an' would
+have to ride a day an' a half, mebbe, afore they found th' corner.
+Well, naturally, when a man has been used to ridin' where he blame
+pleases an' as straight as he pleases he ain't goin' to chase along a
+five-foot fence to Trisco when he wants to get to Waco.  So th'
+punchers got to totin' wire-snips, an' when they runs up agin a fence
+they cuts down half a mile or so.  Sometimes they'd tie their ropes to
+a strand an' pull off a couple of miles an' then go back after th'
+rest.  Th' ranch bosses sent out men to watch th' fences an' told `em
+to shoot any festive puncher that monkeyed with th' hardware.  Well, yu
+know what happens when a puncher gets shot at."
+
+"When fences grow in Texas there'll be th' devil to pay," said Buck.
+He hated to think that some day the freedom of the range would be
+annulled, for he knew that it would be the first blow against the
+cowboys' occupation.  When a man's cattle couldn't spread out all over
+the land he wouldn't have to keep so many men.  Farms would spring up
+and the sun of the free-and-easy cowboy would slowly set.
+
+"I reckons th' cutters are classed th' same as rustlers," remarked
+Red with a gleam of temper.
+
+"By th' owners, but not by th' punchers; an' it's th' punchers that
+count," replied Frenchy.
+
+"Well, we'll give them a fight," interposed Hopalong, riding up.
+"When it gets so I can't go where I please I'll start on th' warpath.
+I won't buck the cavalry, but I'll keep it busy huntin' for me an'
+I'll have time to `tend to th' wire-fence men, too.  Why, we'll be told
+we can't tote our guns!"
+
+"They're sayin' that now," replied Frenchy.  "Up in Buffalo, Smith,
+who's now marshal, makes yu leave `em with th' bartenders."
+
+"I'd like to see any two-laigged cuss get my guns If I didn't want
+him to!" began Hopalong, indignant at the idea.
+
+"Easy, son," cautioned Buck.  "Yu would do what th' rest did because
+yu are a square man.  I'm about as hard-headed a puncher as ever
+straddled leather an' I've had to use my guns purty considerable, but
+I reckons if any decent marshal asked me to cache them in a decent
+way, why, I'd do it. An' let me brand somethin' on yore mind-I've
+heard of Smith of Buffalo, an' he's mighty nifty with his hands.  He
+don't stand off an' tell yu to unload yore lead-ranch, but he ambles
+up close an' taps yu on yore shirt; if yu makes a gunplay he naturally
+knocks yu clean across th' room an' unloads yu afore yu gets yore
+senses back. He weighs about a hundred an' eighty an' he's shore got
+sand to burn."
+
+"Yah! When I makes a gun play she plays! I'd look nice in Abilene or
+Paso or Albuquerque without my guns, wouldn't I?  Just because I totes
+them in plain sight I've got to hand `em over to some liquor-wrastler?
+I reckons not! Some hip-pocket skunk would plug me afore I could wink.
+I'd shore look nice loping around a keno layout without my guns, in
+th' same town with some cuss huntin' me, wouldn't I?  A whole lot of
+good a marshal would a done Jimmy, an' didn't Harris get his from a
+cur in th' dark?" shouted Hopalong, angered by the prospect.
+
+"We're talkin' about Buffalo, where everybody has to hang up their
+guns," replied Buck.  "An' there's th' law-"
+
+"To blazes with th' law!" whooped Hopalong in Red's ear as he
+unfastened the cinch of Red's saddle and at the same time stabbing
+that unfortunate's mount with his spurs, thereby causing a hasty
+separation of the two.  When Red had picked himself up and things had
+quieted down again the subject was changed, and several hours later
+they rode into Muddy Wells, a town with a little more excuse for its
+existence than Buckskin.  The wells were in an arid valley west of
+Guadaloupe Pass, and were not only muddy but more or less alkaline.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER. X
+
+Peace Hath its Victories
+
+
+As they neared the central group of buildings they heard a hilarious
+and assertive song which sprang from the door and windows of the main
+saloon.   It was in jig time, rollicking and boisterous, but the words
+had evidently been improvised for the occasion, as they clashed
+immediately with those which sprang to the minds of the outfit,
+although they could not be clearly distinguished.  As they approached
+nearer and finally dismounted, however, the words became recognizable
+and the visitors were at once placed in harmony with the air of jovial
+recklessness by the roaring of the verses and the stamping of the
+time.
+
+Oh we're red-hot cow-punchers playin' on our luck,
+An' there ain't a proposition that we won't buck:
+From sunrise to sunset we've ridden on the range,
+But now we're oft for a howlin' change.
+
+CHORUS
+
+Laugh a little, sing a little, all th' day;
+Play a little, drink a little-we can pay;
+Ride a little, dig a little an' rich we'll grow.
+Oh, we're that bunch from th' O-Bar-O!
+
+Oh, there was a little tenderfoot an' he had a little gun,
+An' th' gun an' him went a-trailin' up some fun.
+They ambles up to Santa Fe' to find a quiet game,
+An' now they're planted with some more of th' same!
+
+As Hopalong, followed by the others, pushed open the door and
+entered he took up the chorus with all the power of Texan lungs and
+even Billy joined in.  The sight that met their eyes was typical of the
+men and the mood and the place. Leaning along the walls, lounging on
+the table and straddling chairs with their forearms crossed on the
+backs were nine cowboys, ranging from old twenty to young fifty in
+years, and all were shouting the song and keeping time with their
+hands and feet.
+
+In the center of the room was a large man dancing a
+fair buck-and-wing to the time so uproariously set by his companions.
+Hatless, neck-kerchief loose, holsters flapping, chaps rippling out
+and close, spurs clinking and perspiration streaming from his tanned
+face, danced Bigfoot Baker as though his life depended on speed and
+noise.  Bottles shook and the air was fogged with smoke and dust.
+Suddenly, his belt slipping and letting his chaps fall around his
+ankles, he tripped and sat down heavily.  Gasping for breath, he held
+out his hand and received a huge plug of tobacco, for Bigfoot had won
+a contest.
+
+Shouts of greeting were hurled at the newcomers and many questions
+were fired at them regarding "th' latest from th' Hills."  Waffles made
+a rush for Hopalong, but fell over Big-foot's feet and all three were
+piled up in a heap.  All were beaming with good nature, for they were
+as so many school boys playing truant.  Prosaic cow-punching was
+relegated to the rear and they looked eagerly forward to their several
+missions.  Frenchy told of the barb-wire fence war and of the new regu-
+lations of "Smith of Buffalo" regarding cow-punchers' guns, and from
+the caustic remarks explosively given it was plain to be seen what a
+wire fence could expect, should one be met with, and there were many
+imaginary Smiths put hors de combat.
+
+Kid Morris, after vainly trying to slip a blue-bottle fly inside of
+Hopalong's shirt, gave it up and slammed his hand on Hopalong's back
+instead, crying: "Well, I'll be doggoned if here ain't Hopalong! How's
+th' missus an' th' deacon an' all th' folks to hum?  I hears yu an'
+Frenchy's reg'lar poker fiends!"
+
+"Oh, we plays onct in a while, but we don't want none of yore dust.
+Yu'll shore need it all afore th' Hills get through with yu,"
+laughingly replied Hopalong.
+
+"Oh, yore shore kind! But I was a sort of reckonin' that we needs
+some more. Perfesser P. D. Q. Waffles is our poker man an' he shore
+can clean out anything I ever saw.  Mebbe yu fellers feel reckless-like
+an' would like to make a pool," he cried, addressing the outfit of the
+Bar-20, "an' back yore boss of th' full house agin ourn?"
+
+Red turned slowly around and took a full minute in which to size the
+Kid up.  Then he snorted and turned his back again.
+
+The Kid stared at him in outraged dignity.  "Well, what say!" he
+softly murmured.  Then he leaped forward and walloped Red on the back.
+"Hey, yore royal highness!" he shouted.  "Yu-yu-yu-oh, hang it-yu! Yu
+slab-sided, ring-boned, saddle-galled shade of a coyote, do yu think
+I'm only meanderin' in th' misty vales of-of-"
+
+Suggestions intruded from various sources.  "Hades?" offered
+Hopalong. "Cheyenne?"  Murmured Johnny.  "Misty mistiness of misty?"
+tentatively supplied Waffles.
+
+Red turned around again.  "Better come up an' have somethin'," he
+sympathetically invited, wiping away an imaginary tear.
+
+"An' he's so young!" sobbed Frenchy.
+
+"An' so fair!" wailed Tex.
+
+"An' so ornery!" howled Lefty, throwing his arms around the
+discomfited youngster.  Other arms went around him, and out of the
+sobbing mob could be heard earnest and heart-felt cussing,
+interspersed with imperative commands, which were gradually obeyed.
+
+The Kid straightened up his wearing apparel.  "Come on, yu locoed-"
+
+"Angels?"  Queried Charley Lane, interrupting him.  "Sweet  things?"
+breathed Hopalong in hopeful expectancy.
+
+"Oh, blast it!" yelled the Kid as he ran out into the street to
+escape the persecution.
+
+"Good Kid, all right," remarked Waffles.  "He'll go around an' lick
+some Mexican an' come back sweet as honey."
+
+"Did somebody say poker?"  Asked Bigfoot, digressing from the Kid.
+
+"Oh, yu fellows don't want no poker.  Of course yu don't. Poker's
+mighty uncertain," replied Red.
+
+"Yah!" exclaimed Tex Le Blanc, pushing forward.  "I'll just bet yu to
+a standstill that Waffles an' Salvation'll round up all th' festive
+simoleons yu can get together! An' I'll throw in Frenchy's hat as an
+inducement."
+
+"Well, if yore shore set on it make her a pool," replied Red, "an'
+th' winners divide with their outfit. Here's a starter," he added,
+tossing a buckskin bag on the table.  "Come on, pile `em up."
+
+The crowd divided as the players seated themselves at the table, the
+O-Bar-O crowd grouping themselves behind their representatives; the
+Bar-20 behind theirs.  A deck of cards was brought and the game was on.
+
+Red, true to his nature, leaned back in a corner, where, hands on
+hips, he awaited any hostile demonstration on the part of the O-Bar-O;
+then, suddenly remembering, he looked half ashamed of his warlike
+position and became a peaceful citizen again.  Buck leaned with his
+broad back against the bar, talking over his shoulder to the
+bartender, but watching Tenspot Davis, who was assiduously engaged in
+juggling a handful of Mexican dollars.
+
+Up by the door Bigfoot Baker, elated at winning the buck-and-wing
+ contest, was endeavoring to learn a new step, while his late rival was
+drowning his defeat at Buck's elbow.  Lefty Allen was softly singing a
+ Mexican love song, humming when the words would not come.
+ At the table could be heard low-spoken card terms and good-natured banter,
+ interspersed with the clink of gold and silver and the soft pat-pat of the
+ onlookers' feet unconsciously keeping time to Lefty's song.  Notwithstanding
+the grim assertiveness of belts full of .45's and the peeping handles of long-
+barreled Colts, set off with picturesque chaps, sombreros and tinkling
+spurs, the scene was one of peaceful content and good-fellowship.
+
+"Ugh!" grunted Johnny, walking over to Red and informing that person
+that he, Red, was a worm-eaten prune and that for half a wink he,
+Johnny, would prove it.  Red grabbed him by the seat of his corduroys
+and the collar of his shirt and helped him outside, where they
+strolled about, taking pot shots at whatever their fancy suggested.
+
+Down the street in a cloud of dust rumbled the Las Cruces-El Paso
+stage and the two punchers went up to meet it.  Raw furrows showed in
+the woodwork, one mule was missing and the driver and guard wore fresh
+bandages.  A tired tenderfoot leaped out with a sigh of relief and
+hunted for his baggage, which he found to be generously perforated.
+Swearing at the God-forsaken land where a man had to fight highwaymen
+and Indians inside of half a day he grumblingly lugged his valise
+toward a forbidding-looking shack which was called a hotel.
+
+The driver released his teams and then turned to Red.  "Hullo, old
+hoss, how's th' gang?" he asked genially.  "We've had a heck of a time
+this yere trip," he went on without waiting for Red to reply.  "Five
+miles out of Las Cruces we stood off a son-of-a-gun that wanted th'
+dude's wealth.  Then just this side of the San Andre foothills we runs
+into a bunch of young bucks who turned us off this yere way an' gave
+us a runnin' fight purty near all th' way.  I'm a whole lot farther
+from Paso now than I was when I started, an seem as I lost a jack I'll
+be some time gittin' there.  Yu don't happen to sabe a jack I can
+borrow, do yu?"
+
+"I don't know about no jack, but I'll rope yu a bronch," offered
+Red, winking at Johnny.
+
+"I'll pull her myself before I'll put dynamite in di' traces,"
+replied the driver.  "Yu fellers might amble back a ways with me-them
+buddin' warriors'll be layin' for me."
+
+"We shore will," responded Johnny eagerly.  "There's nine of us now
+an' there'll be nine more an' a cook to-morrow, mebby."
+
+"Gosh, yu grows some," replied the guard.  "Eighteen'll be a plenty
+for them glory hunters."
+
+"We won't be able to," contradicted Red, "for things are peculiar."
+
+At this moment the conversation was interrupted by the tenderfoot,
+who sported a new and cheap sombrero and also a belt and holster
+complete.
+
+"Will you gentlemen join me?"  He asked, turning to Red arid nodding
+at the saloon.  "I am very dry and much averse to drinking alone."
+
+"Why, shore," responded Red heartily, wishing to put the stranger at
+ease.
+
+The game was running about even as they entered and Lefty Allen was
+singing "The Insult," the rich tenor softening the harshness of the
+surroundings.
+
+I've swum th' Colorado where she's almost lost to view, I've braced
+     th' Jaro layouts in Cheyenne;
+I've fought for muddy water with a howlin' bunch of Sioux, An'
+     swallowed hot tamales, an' cayenne.
+
+I've rid a pitchin' broncho `till th' sky was underneath, I've
+     tackled every desert in th' land;
+I've sampled XXXX whiskey `till I couldn't hardly see, An' dallied
+     with th' quicksands of the Grande.
+
+I've argued with th' marshals of a half-a-dozen burgs, I've been
+     dragged free an' fancy by a cow;
+I've had three years' campaignin' with th' fightin', bitin' Ninth,
+     An' never lost my temper `till right now.
+
+I've had the yaller fever an I've been shot full of holes, I've
+     grabbed an army mule plumb by its tail;
+I've never been so snortin', really highfalutin' mad As when y'u up
+     an' hands me ginger ale!
+
+Hopalong laughed joyously at a remark made by Waffles and the
+stranger glanced quickly at him.  His merry, boyish face, underlined by
+a jaw showing great firmness and set with an expression of
+aggressive self-reliance, impressed the stranger and he remarked to
+Red, who lounged lazily near him, that he was surprised to see such a
+face on so young a man and he asked who the player was.
+
+"Oh, his name's Hopalong Cassidy," answered Red.  "He's di' cuss that
+raised that ruction down in Mexico last spring.  Rode his cayuse in a
+saloon and played with the loungers and had to shoot one before he got
+out.  When he did get out he had to fight a whole bunch of Mexicans an'
+even potted their marshal, who had di' drop on him.  Then he returned
+and visited the marshal about a month later, took his gun away from
+him an' then cut th' cards to see if he was a prisoner or not.  He's a
+shore funny cuss."
+
+The tenderfoot gasped his amazement. "Are you not fooling with me?"
+He asked.
+
+"Tell him yu came after that five hundred dollars reward and see,"
+answered Red goodnaturedly.
+
+"Holy smoke!" shouted Waffles as Hopalong won his sixth consecutive
+pot.  "Did yu ever see such luck?"  Frenchy grinned and some time later
+raked in his third. Salvation then staked his last cent against
+Hopalong's flush and dropped out.
+
+Tenspot flipped to Waffles the money he had been juggling and Lefty
+searched his clothes for wealth.  Buck, still leaning against the bar,
+grinned and winked at Johnny, who was pouring hair-raising tales into
+the receptive ears of the stranger.   Thereupon Johnny confided to his
+newly found acquaintance the facts about the game, nearly causing that
+person to explode with delight.
+
+Waffles pushed back his chair, stood up and stretched.  At the finish
+of a yawn he grinned at his late adversary.  "I'm all in, yu old son-
+of-a-gun.  Yu shore can play draw. I'm goin' to try yu again some time.
+I was beat fair an' square an' I ain't got no kick comin', none
+whatever," he remarked, as he shook hands with Hopalong.
+
+"`Oh, we're that gang from th' O-Bar-O," hummed the Kid as he
+sauntered in.  One cheek was slightly swollen and his clothes shed dust
+at every step.  "Who wins?" he inquired, not having heard Waffles.
+
+"They did, blast it!" exploded Bigfoot.
+
+One of the Kid's peculiarities was revealed in the unreasoning and
+hasty conclusions he arrived at.  From no desire to imply unfairness,
+but rather because of his bitterness against failure of any kind and
+his loyalty to Waffles, came his next words:
+
+"Mebby they skinned yu."
+
+Like a flash Waffles sprang before him, his hand held up, palm out.
+"He don't mean nothin'-he's only a ignorant kid!" he cried.
+
+Buck smiled and wrested the Colt from Johnny's ever-ready hand.
+"Here's another," he said. Red laughed softly and rolled Johnny on the
+floor.  "Yu jackass," he whispered, "don't yu know better'n to make a
+gun-play when we needs them all ?"
+
+"What are we goin' to do?"  Asked Tex, glancing at the bulging
+pockets of Hopalong's chaps.
+
+"We're goin' to punch cows again, that's what we're to do," answered
+Bigfoot dismally.
+
+"An' whose are we goin' to punch?  We can't go back to the old man,"
+grumbled Tex.
+
+Salvation looked askance at Buck and then at the others.  "Mebby," he
+began, "Mebby we kin git a job on th' Bar-20." Then turning to Buck
+again he bluntly asked, "Are yu short of punchers?"
+
+                                                                      "Well, I might use some," answered the
+foreman, hesitating.  "But I
+ain't got only one cook, an'-"
+
+"We'll git yu th' cook all O.K.," interrupted Charley Lane
+vehemently.  "Hi, yu cook!" he shouted, "amble in here an' git a rustle
+on!"
+
+There was no reply, and after waiting for a minute he and Waffles
+went into the rear room, from which there immediately issued great
+chunks of profanity and noise.  They returned looking pugnacious and
+disgusted, with a wildly fighting man who was more full of liquor than
+was the bottle which he belligerently waved.
+
+"This here animated distillery what yu sees is our cook," said
+Waffles.  "We eats his grub, nobody else.  If he gits drunk that's our
+funeral; but he won't get drunk! If yu wants us to punch for yu say so
+an' we does; if yu don't, we don't."
+
+"Well," replied Buck thoughtfully, "mebby I can use yu."  Then with a
+burst of recklessness he added, "Yes, if I lose my job! But yu might
+sober that Mexican up if yu let him fall in th' horse trough."
+
+As the procession wended its way on its mission of wet charity,
+carrying the cook in any manner at all, Frenchy waved his long lost
+sombrero at Buck, who stood in the door, and shouted, "Yu old son-of-
+a-gun, I'm proud to know yu!"
+
+Buck smiled and snapped his watch shut "Time to amble," he said.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+Holding the Claim
+
+
+"Oh, we're that gang from th' O-Bar-O," hummed Waffles, sinking the
+branding-iron in the flank of a calf.  The scene was one of great
+activity and hilarity.  Several fires were burning near the huge corral
+and in them half a dozen irons were getting hot.  Three calves were
+being held down for the brand of the "Bar-20" and two more were being
+dragged up on their sides by the ropes of the cowboys, the proud cow-
+ponies showing off their accomplishments at the expense of the calves'
+feelings.  In the corral the dust arose in steady clouds as calf after
+calf was "cut out" by the ropers and dragged out to get "tagged."
+Angry cows fought valiantly for their terrorized offspring, but always
+to no avail, for the hated rope of some perspiring and dust-grimed
+rider sent them crashing to earth.
+Over the plain were herds of cattle and groups of madly riding cowboys,
+ and two cook wagons were stalled a short distance from the corral.
+The round-up of the Bar-20 was taking place, and each of the two
+ outfits tried to outdo the other and each individual strove for a prize.
+The man who cut out and dragged to the fire the most calves in three days
+ could leave for the Black Hills at the expiration of that time, the rest to
+ follow as soon as they could.
+
+In this contest Hopalong Cassidy led his nearest rival, Red Connors,
+both of whom were Bar-2o men, by twenty cut-outs, and there remained
+but half an hour more in which to compete.  As Red disappeared into the
+sea of tossing horns Hopalong dashed out with a whoop.
+
+ "Hi, yu trellis-built rack of bones, come along there! Whoop!" he
+yelled, turning the prisoner over to the squad by the fire.
+
+"Chalk up this here insignificant wart of cross-eyed perversity: an'
+how many?"  He called as he galloped back to the corral.
+
+"One ninety-eight," announced Buck, blowing the sand from the tally
+sheet.  "That's shore goin' some," he remarked to himself.
+
+When the calf sprang up it was filled with terror, rage and pain,
+and charged at Billy from the rear as that pessimistic soul was
+leaning over and poking his finger at a somber horned-toad.  "Wow!" he
+yelled as his feet took huge steps up in the air, each one strictly on
+its own course.  "Woof!" he grunted in the hot sand as he arose on his
+hands and knees and spat alkali.
+
+"What's s'matter?"  He asked dazedly of Johnny Nelson.  "Ain't it
+funny!" he yelled sarcastically as he beheld Johnny holding his sides
+with laughter.  "Ain't it funny!" he repeated belligerently.  "Of course
+that four-laigged, knock-kneed, wobblin' son-of-a-Piute had to cut me
+out.  They wasn't nobody in sight but Billy! Why didn't yu say he was
+comin'?  Think I can see four ways to once?  Why didn't-" At this point
+Red cantered up with a calf, and by a quick maneuver, drew the taut
+rope against the rear of Billy's knees, causing that unfortunate to
+sit down heavily.  As he arose choking with broken-winded profanity Red
+dragged the animal to the fire, and Billy forgot his grievances in the
+press of labor.
+
+"How many, Buck?"  Asked Red.
+
+"One-eighty."
+
+"How does she stand?"
+
+"Yore eighteen to th' bad," replied the foreman.  "Th' son-of-a-gun!"
+marveled Red, riding off.
+
+Another whoop interrupted them, and Billy quit watching out of the
+corner eye for pugnacious calves as he prepared for Hopalong.
+
+"Hey, Buck, this here cuss was with a Barred-Horseshoe cow," he
+announced as he turned it over to the branding man.  Buck made a tally
+in a separate column and released the animal.  "Hullo, Red! Workin'?"
+Asked Hopalong of his rival.
+
+"Some, yu little cuss," answered Red with all the good nature in the
+world.  Hopalong was his particular "side partner," and he could lose
+to him with the best of feelings.
+
+"Yu looks so nice an' cool, an' clean, I didn't know," responded
+Hopalong, eyeing a streak of sweat and dust which ran from Red's eyes
+to his chin and then on down his neck.
+
+"What yu been doin'? Plowin' with yore nose?"  Returned Red, smiling
+blandly at his friend's appearance.
+
+"Yah!" snorted Hopalong, wheeling toward the corral.  "Come on, yu
+pie-eatin' doodle-bug; I'll beat yu to th' gate!"
+
+The two ponies sent showers of sand all over Billy, who eyed them in
+pugnacious disgust.  "Of all th' locoed imps that ever made life
+miserable fer a man, them's th' worst! Is there any piece of fool
+nonsense they hain't harnessed me with?"  He beseeched of Buck.  "Is
+there anything they hain't done to me?  They hides my liquor; they
+stuffs th' sweat band of my hat with rope; they ties up my pants; they
+puts water in.  My boots an' toads in my bunk-ain't they never goin' to
+get sane?"
+
+"Oh, they're only kids-they can't help it," offered Buck.  "Didn't
+they hobble my cayuse when I was on him an' near bust my neck?"
+
+Hopalong interrupted the conversation by driving up another calf,
+and Buck, glancing at his watch, declared the contest at an end.
+
+"Yu wins," he remarked to the newcomer.  "An' now yu get scarce or
+Billy will shore straddle yore nerves.  He said as how he was goin' to
+get square on yu to-night."
+
+"I didn't, neither, Hoppy!" earnestly contradicted Billy, who bad
+visions of a night spent in torment as a reprisal for such a threat.
+"Honest I didn't, did I, Johnny?"  He asked appealingly.
+
+"Yu shore did," lied Johnny, winking at Red, who had just ridden up.
+
+"I don't know what yore talkin' about, but yu shore did," replied
+Red.
+
+"If yu did," grinned Hopalong, "I'll shore make yu hard to find.
+Come on, fellows," he said; "grub's ready.  Where's Frenchy?"
+
+"Over chewin' th' rag with Waffles about his hat-he's lost it
+again," answered Red.  "He needs a guardian fer that bonnet.  Th' Kid
+an' Salvation has jammed it in th' corral fence an' Waffles has to
+stand fer it."
+
+"Let's put it in th' grub wagon an see him cuss cookie," suggested
+Hopalong.
+
+"Shore," indorsed Johnny; Cookie'll feed him bum grub for a week to
+get square.
+
+Hopalong and Johnny ambled over to the corral and after some trouble
+located the missing sombrero, which they carried to the grub wagon and
+hid in the flour barrel.  Then they went over by the excited owner and
+dropped a few remarks about how strange the cook was acting and how he
+was watching Frenchy.
+
+Frenchy jumped at the bait and tore over to the wagon, where he and
+the cook spent some time in mutual recrimination.  Hopalong nosed
+around and finally dug up the hat, white as new-fallen snow.
+
+"Here's a hat-found it in th' dough barrel," he announced, handing
+it over to Frenchy, who received it in open-mouthed stupefaction.
+
+"Yu pie-makin' pirate! Yu didn't know where my lid was, did yu! Yu
+cross-eyed lump of hypocrisy!" yelled Frenchy, dusting off the flour
+with one full-armed swing on the cook's face, driving it into that
+unfortunate's nose and eyes and mouth.  "Yu white-washed Chink, yu-rub
+yore face with water an' yu've got pancakes."
+
+"Hey! What you doin'!" yelled the cook, kicking the spot where he had
+last seen Frenchy.  "Don't yu know better'n that!"
+
+"Yu live close to yoreself or I'll throw yu so high th' sun'll duck,"
+replied Frenchy, a smile illuminating his face.
+
+"Hey, cookie," remarked Hopalong confidentially, "I know who put up
+this joke on yu.  Yu ask Billy who hid th' hat," suggested the tease.
+"Here he comes now-see how queer he looks."
+
+"Th' mournful Piute," ejaculated the cook.  "I'll shore make him wish
+he'd kept on his own trail.  I'll flavor his slush [coffee] with year-
+old dish-rags!"
+
+At this juncture Billy ambled up, keeping his weather eye peeled for
+trouble.  "Who's a dish-rag?"  He queried.  The cook mumbled something
+about crazy hens not knowing when to quit cackling and climbed up in
+his wagon.  And that night Billy swore off drinking coffee.
+
+When the dawn of the next day broke, Hopalong was riding toward the
+Black Hills, leaving Billy to untie himself as best he might.
+
+The trip was uneventful and several weeks later he entered Red Dog,
+a rambling shanty town, one of those western mushrooms that sprang up
+in a night.  He took up his stand at the Miner's Rest, and finally
+secured six claims at the cost of nine hundred hard-earned dollars, a
+fund subscribed by the outfits, as it was to be a partnership affair.
+
+He rode out to a staked-off piece of hillside and surveyed his
+purchase, which consisted of a patch of ground, six holes, six piles
+of dirt and a log hut.  The holes showed that the claims bad been tried
+and found wanting.
+
+He dumped his pack of tools and provisions, which he had bought on
+the way up, and lugged them into the cabin.  After satisfying his
+curiosity he went outside and sat down for a smoke, figuring up in his
+mind how much gold he could carry on a horse.  Then, as he realized
+that he could get a pack mule to carry the surplus, he became aware of
+a strange presence near at hand and looked up into the muzzle of a
+Sharp's rifle.  He grasped the situation in a flash and calmly blew
+several heavy smoke rings around the frowning barrel.
+
+"Well?"  He asked slowly.
+
+"Nice day, stranger," replied the man with the rifle, "but don't yu
+reckon yu've made a mistake?"
+
+Hopalong glanced at the number burned on a near-by stake and
+carelessly blew another smoke ring.  He was waiting for the gun to
+waver.
+
+"No, I reckons not," he answered. "Why?"
+
+"Well, I'll jest tell yu since yu asks.  This yere claim's mine an'
+I'm a reg'lar terror, I am.  That's why; an' seein' as it is, yu better
+amble some."
+
+Hopalong glanced down the street and saw an interested group
+watching him, which only added to his rage for being in such a
+position.  Then he started to say something, faltered and stared with
+horror at a point several feet behind his opponent.  The "terror"
+sprang to one side in response to Hop-along's expression, as if
+fearing that a snake or some such danger threatened him.  As he
+alighted in his new position he fell forward and Hopalong slid a
+smoking Colt in its holster.
+
+Several men left the distant group and ran toward the claim.
+Hopalong reached his arm inside the door and brought forth his rifle,
+with which he covered their advance.
+
+"Anything yu want?" he shouted savagely.
+
+The men stopped and two of them started to sidle in front of two
+others, but Hopalong was not there for the purpose of permitting a
+move that would screen any gun play and he stopped the game with a
+warning shout.  Then the two held up their hands and advanced.
+
+"We wants to git Dan," called out one of them, nodding at the
+prostrate figure.
+
+"Come ahead," replied Hopalong, substituting a Colt for the rifle.
+
+
+They carried their badly wounded and insensible burden back to those
+whom they had left, and several curses were hurled at the cowboy, who
+only smiled grimly and entered the hut to place things ready for a
+siege, should one come. He had one hundred rounds of ammunition and
+provisions enough for two weeks, with the assurance of reinforcements
+long before that time would expire.  He cut several rough loopholes and
+laid out his weapons for quick handling.  He knew that he could stop
+any advance during the day and planned only for night attacks.  How
+long he could go without sleep did not bother him, because he gave it
+no thought, as he was accustomed to short naps and could awaken at
+will or at the slightest sound.
+
+As dusk merged into dark he crept forth and collected several
+handfuls of dry twigs, which he scattered around the hut, as the
+cracking of these would warn him of an approach.  Then he went in and
+went to sleep.
+
+He awoke at daylight after a good night's rest, and feasted on
+canned beans and peaches.  Then he tossed the cans out of the door and
+shoved his hat out.  Receiving no response he walked out and surveyed
+the town at his feet.  A sheepish grin spread over his face as he
+realized that there was no danger.  Several red-shirted men passed by
+him on their way to town, and one, a grizzled veteran of many gold
+camps, stopped and sauntered up to him.
+
+"Mornin'," said Hopalong.
+
+"Mornin'," replied the stranger.  "I thought I'd drop in an' say that
+I saw that gun-play of yourn yesterday.  Yu ain't got no reason to look
+fer a rush.  This camp is half white men an' half bullies, an' th'
+white men won't stand fer no play like that.  Them fellers that jest
+passed are neighbors of yourn, an' they won't lay abed if yu needs
+them.  But yu wants to look out fer th' joints in th' town.  Guess this
+business is out of yore line," he finished as he sized Hopalong up.
+
+"She shore is, but I'm here to stay.  Got tired of punchin' an'
+reckoned I'd get rich."  Here he smiled and glanced at the hole.
+"How're yu makin' out?"  He asked.
+
+"`Bout five dollars a day apiece, but that ain't nothin' when grub's
+so high.  Got reckless th' other day an' had a egg at fifty cents."
+
+Hopalong whistled and glanced at the empty cans at his feet.  "Any
+marshal in this burg?"
+
+"Yep.  But he's one of th' gang.  No good, an' drunk half th' time an'
+half drunk th' rest.  Better come down an' have something," invited the
+miner.
+
+"I'd shore like to, but I can't let no gang get in that door,"
+replied the puncher.
+
+"Oh, that's all right; I'll call my pardner down to keep house till
+yu gits back.  He can hold her all right.  Hey, Jake!" he called to a
+man who was some hundred paces distant; "Come down here an' keep house
+till we gits back, will yu?"
+
+The man lumbered down to them and took possession as Hopalong and
+his newly found friend started for the town.
+
+They entered the "Miner's Rest" and Hopalong fixed the room in his
+mind with one swift glance.  Three men-and they looked like the crowd
+he had stopped before-were playing poker at a table near the window.
+Hopalong leaned with his back to the bar and talked, with the players
+always in sight.
+
+Soon the door opened and a bewhiskered, heavy-set man tramped in,
+and walking up to Hopalong, looked him over.
+
+"Huh," he sneered, "Yu are th' gent with th' festive guns that
+plugged Dan, ain't yu?"
+
+Hopalong looked at him in the eyes and quietly replied:
+
+"An' who th' deuce are yu?"
+
+The stranger's eyes blazed and his face wrinkled with rage as he
+aggressively shoved his jaw close to Hopalong's face.
+
+"Yu runt, I'm a better man than yu even if yu do wear hair pants,"
+referring to Hopalong's chaps.  "Yu cow-wrastlers make me tired, an'
+I'm goin' to show yu that this town is too good for you.  Yu can say it
+right now that yu are a ornery, game-leg-"
+
+Hopalong smashed his insulter squarely between the eyes with all the
+power of his sinewy body behind the blow, knocking him in a heap under
+the table.  Then he quickly glanced at the card players and saw a
+hostile movement.  His gun was out in a flash and he covered the trio
+as he walked up to them.  Never in all his life had he felt such a
+desire to kill.  His eyes were diamond points of accumulated fury, and
+those whom he faced quailed before him.
+
+"Yu scum! Draw, please draw! Pull yore guns an' gimme my chance!
+Three to one, an' I'll lay my guns here," he said, placing them on the
+bar and removing his hands.  "'Nearer My God to Thee' is purty
+appropriate fer yu just now! Yu seem to be a-scared of yore own guns.
+Git down on yore dirty knees an' say good an' loud that yu eats dirt!
+Shout out that yu are too currish to live with decent men," he said,
+even-toned and distinct, his voice vibrant with passion as he took up
+his Colts.  "Get down!" he repeated, shoving the weapons forward and
+pulling back the hammers.
+
+The trio glanced at each other, and all three dropped to their knees
+and repeated in venomous hatred the words Hopalong said for them.
+
+"Now git! An' if I sees yu when I leaves I'll send yu after yore
+friend. I'll shoot on sight now.  Git!" He escorted them to the door
+and kicked the last one out.
+
+His miner friend still leaned against the bar and looked his
+approval.
+
+"Well done, youngster! But yu wants to look out-that man," pointing
+to the now groping victim of Hopalong's blow, "is th' marshal of this
+town.  He or his pals will get yu if yu don't watch th' corners."
+
+Hopalong walked over to the marshal, jerked him to his feet and
+slammed him against the bar.  Then he tore the cheap badge from its
+place and threw it on the floor.  Reaching down, he drew the marshal's
+revolver from its holster and shoved it in its owner's hand.
+
+"Yore th' marshal of this place an' it's too good for me, but yore
+gain' to pick up that tin lie," pointing at the badge, "an' yore goin'
+to do it right now.  Then yore gain' to get kicked out of that door,
+an' if yu stops runnin' while I can see yu I'll fill yu so full of
+holes yu'll catch cold.  Yore a sumptious marshal, yu are! Yore th'
+snortingest ki-yi that ever stuck its tail atween its laigs, yu are.
+Yu pop-eyed wall flower, yu wants to peep to yoreself or some
+papoose'll slide yu over th' Divide so fast yu won't have time to
+grease yore pants.  Pick up that license-tag an' let me see you
+perculate so lively that yore back'll look like a ten-cent piece in
+five seconds. Flit!"
+
+The marshal, dazed and bewildered, stooped and fumbled for the
+badge.  Then he stood up and glanced at the gun in his hand and at the
+eager man before him.  He slid the weapon in his belt and drew his hand
+across his fast-closing eyes.  Cursing streaks of profanity, he
+staggered to the door and landed in a heap in the street from the
+force of Hopalong's kick.  Struggling to his feet, he ran unsteadily
+down the block and disappeared around a corner.
+
+The bartender, cool and unperturbed, pushed out three glasses on his
+treat: "I've seen yu afore, up in Cheyenne-'member?  How's yore friend
+Red?"  He asked as he filled the glasses with the best the house
+afforded.
+
+"Well, shore `nuff! Glad to see yu, Jimmy! What yu doin' away off
+here?"  Asked Hopalong, beginning to feel at home.
+
+"Oh, jest filterin' round like.  I'm awful glad to see yu-this yere
+wart of a town needs siftin' out.  It was only last week I was wishin'
+one of yore bunch `ud show up-that ornament yu jest buffaloed shore
+raised th' devil in here, an' I wished I had somebody to prospect his
+anatomy for a lead mine.  But he's got a tough gang circulating with
+him. Ever hear of Dutch Shannon or Blinky Neary? They's with him."
+
+"Dutch Shannon?  Nope," he replied.
+
+"Bad eggs, an' not a-carin' how they gits square.  Th' feller yu'
+salted yesterday was a bosom friend of th' marshal's, an' he passed in
+his chips last night."
+
+"So?"
+
+"Yep.  Bought a bottle of ready-made nerve an' went to his own
+funeral.  Aristotle Smith was lookin' fer him up in Cheyenne last year.
+Aristotle said he'd give a century fer five minutes' palaver with him,
+but he shied th' town an' didn't come back.  Yu know Aristotle, don't
+yu? He's th' geezer that made fame up to Poison Knob three years ago.
+He used to go to town ridin' astride a log on th' lumber flume.  Made
+four miles in six minutes with th' promise of a ruction when he
+stopped.  Once when he was loaded he tried to ride back th' same way he
+came, an' th' first thing he knowed he was three miles farther from
+his supper an' a-slippin' down that valley like he wanted to go some-
+where.  He swum out at Potter's Dam an' it took him a day to walk back.
+But he didn't make that play again, because he was
+frequently sober, an' when he wasn't he'd only stand off an' swear at
+th' slide."
+
+"That's Aristotle, all hunk.  He's th' chap that used to play
+checkers with Deacon Rawlins.  They used empty an' loaded shells for
+men, an' when they got a king they'd lay one on its side.  Sometimes
+they'd jar th' board an' they'd all be kings an' then they'd have a
+cussin' match," replied Hopalong, once more restored to good humor.
+
+"Why," responded Jimmy, "he counted his wealth over twice by mistake
+an' shore raised a howl when he went to blow it- thought he's been
+robbed, an' laid behind th' houses fer a week lookin' fer th' feller
+that done it."
+
+"I've heard of that cuss-he shore was th' limit.  What become of
+him?"  Asked the miner.
+
+"He ambled up to Laramie an' stuck his head in th' window of that
+joint by th' plaza an' hollered `Fire,' an' they did.  He was shore a
+good feller, all th' same," answered the bartender.
+Hopalong laughed and started for the door.  Turning around he looked
+at his miner friend and asked: "Comin' along? I'm goin' back now."
+
+"Nope.  Reckon I'll hit th' tiger a whirl.  I'll stop in when I
+passes."
+
+"All right. So long," replied Hopalong, slipping out of the door and
+watching for trouble.  There was no opposition shown him, and he
+arrived at his claim to find Jake in a heated argument with another of
+the gang.
+
+"Here he comes now," he said as Hopalong walked up.  "Tell him what
+yu said to me."
+
+"I said yu made a mistake," said the other, turning to the cowboy in
+a half apologetic manner.
+
+"An' what else?"  Insisted Jake.
+
+"Why, ain't that all?"  Asked the claim-jumper's friend in feigned
+surprise, wishing that he had kept quiet.
+
+"Well I reckons it is if yu can't back up yore words," responded
+Jake in open contempt.
+
+Hopalong grabbed the intruder by the collar of his shirt and hauled
+him off the claim.  "Yu keep off this, understand?  I just kicked yore
+marshal out in th' street, an' I'll pay yu th' next call. If yu
+rambles in range of my guns yu'll shore get in th' way of a slug.  Yu
+an' yore gang wants to browse on th' far side of th' range or yu'll
+miss a sunrise some mornin'.  Scoot!"
+
+Hopalong turned to his companion and smiled.  "What'd he say?"  He
+asked genially.
+
+"Oh, he jest shot off his mouth a little.  They's all no good.  I've
+collided with lots of them all over this country.  They can't face a
+good man an' keep their nerve.  What'd yu say to th' marshal?"
+
+"I told him what he was an' threw him outen th' street," replied
+Hopalong.  "In about two weeks we'll have a new marshal an' he'll shore
+be a dandy."
+
+"Yes?  Why don't yu take th' job yoreself?  We're with yu."
+
+"Better man comin'.  Ever hear of Buck Peters or Red Connors of th'
+Bar-20, Texas?"
+
+"Buck Peters?  Seems to me I have.  Did he punch fer th' Tin-Cup up in
+Montana, `bout twenty years back?"
+
+"Shore! Him and Frenchy McAllister punched all over that country an'
+they used to paint Cheyenne, too," replied Hopalong, eagerly.
+
+"I knows him, then.  I used to know Frenchy, too.  Are they comin' up
+here?"
+
+"Yes," responded Hopalong, struggling with another can while waiting
+for the fire to catch up.  "Better have some grub with me-don't like to
+eat alone," invited the cowboy, the reaction of his late rage swinging
+him to the other extreme.
+
+When their tobacco had got well started at the close of the meal and
+content had taken possession of them Hopalong laughed quietly and
+finally spoke:
+
+"Did yu ever know Aristotle Smith when yu was up in Montana?"
+
+"Did I! Well, me an' Aristotle prospected all through that country
+till he got so locoed I had to watch him fer fear he'd blow us both
+up.  He greased th' fryin' pan with dynamite one night, an' we shore
+had to eat jerked meat an' canned stuff all th' rest of that trip.
+What made yu ask?  Is he comin' up too?"
+
+"No, I reckons not.  Jimmy, th' bartender, said that he cashed in up
+at Laramie.  Wasn't he th' cuss that built that boat out there on th'
+Arizona desert because he was scared that a flood might come?  Th' sun
+shore warped that punt till it wasn't even good for a hencoop."
+
+"Nope. That was Sister-Annie Tompkins.  He was purty near as bad as
+Aristotle, though.  He roped a puma up on th' Sacramentos, an' didn't
+punch no more fer three weeks.  Well, here comes my pardner an' I
+reckons I'll amble right along.  If yu needs any referee or a side
+pardner in any ruction yu has only got to warble up my way. So long."
+
+The next ten days passed quietly, and on the afternoon of the
+eleventh Hopalong's miner friend paid him a visit.
+
+"Jake recommends yore peaches," he laughed as he shook Hopalong's
+hand.  "He says yu boosted another of that crowd.  That bein' so I
+thought I would drop in an' say that they're comin' after yu to-night,
+shore.  Just heard of it from yore friend Jimmy.  Yu can count on us
+when th' rush comes.  But why didn't yu say yu was a pard of Buck
+Peters'?  Me an' him used to shoot up Laramie together.  From what yore
+friend James says, yu can handle this gang by yore lonesome, but if yu
+needs any encouragement yu make some sign an' we'll help th' event
+along some.  They's eight of us that'll be waitin' up to get th'
+returns an' we're shore goin' to be in range."
+
+"Gee, it's nice to run across a friend of Buck's! Ain't he a son-of-
+a-gun?"  Asked Hopalong, delighted at the news.  Then, without waiting
+for a reply, he went on: "Yore shore square, all right, an' I hates to
+refuse yore offer, but I got eighteen friends comin' up an' they ought
+to get here by tomorrow.  Yu tell Jimmy to head them this way when they
+shows up an' I'll have th' claim for them.  There ain't no use of yu
+fellers gettin' mixed up in this.  Th' bunch that's comin' can clean
+out any gang this side of sunup, an' I expects they'll shore be
+anxious to begin when they finds me eatin' peaches an' wastin' my time
+shootin' bums.  Yu pass th' word along to yore friends, an' tell them
+to lay low an' see th' Arory Boerallis hit this town with its tail up.
+Tell Jimmy to do it up good when he speaks about me holdin' th' claim-
+I likes to see Buck an' Red fight when they're good an' mad."
+
+The miner laughed and slapped Hopalong on the shoulder.   "Yore all
+right, youngster! Yore just like Buck was at yore age.  Say now, I
+reckons he wasn't a reg'lar terror on wheels! Why, I've seen him do
+more foolish things than any man I knows of, an' I calculate that if
+Buck pals with yu there ain't no water in yore sand.  My name's Tom
+Halloway," he suggested.
+
+"An' mine's Hopalong Cassidy," was the reply.  "I've heard Buck speak
+of yu."
+
+"Has yu?  Well, don't it beat all how little this world is?  Somebody
+allus turnin' up that knows somebody yu knows.  I'll just amble along,
+Mr. Cassidy, an' don't yu be none bashful about callin' if yu needs
+me.  Any pal of Buck's is my friend.  Well, so long," said the visitor
+as he strode off.  Then he stopped and turned around.  "Hey, mister!" he
+called.  "They are goin' to roll a fire barrel down agin yu from
+behind," indicating by an outstretched arm the point from where it
+would start.  "If it burns yu out I'm goin' to take a band from up
+there," pointing to a cluster of rocks well to the rear of where the
+crowd would work from, "an' I don't care whether yu likes it or not,"
+he added to himself.
+
+Hopalong scratched his head and then laughed.  Taking up a pick and
+shovel, he went out behind the cabin and dug a trench parallel with
+and about twenty paces away from the rear wall.  Heaping the excavated
+dirt up on the near side of the cut, he stepped back and surveyed his
+labor with open satisfaction.  "Roll yore fire barrel an' be dogged,"
+he muttered.  "Mebby she won't make a bully light for pot shots,
+though," he added, grinning at the execution he would do.
+
+Taking up his tools, he went up to the place from where the gang
+would roll the barrel, and made half a dozen mounds of twigs, being
+careful to make them very flimsy.  Then he covered them with earth and
+packed them gently.  The mounds looked very tempting from the view-
+point of a marksman in search of earth-works, and appeared capable of
+stopping any rifle ball that could be fired against them. Hopalong
+looked them over critically and stepped back.
+
+"I'd like to see th' look on th' face of th' son-of-a-gun that uses
+them for cover-won't he be surprised" and he grinned gleefully as he
+pictured his shots boring through them.  Then he placed in the center
+of each a chip or a pebble or something that he thought would show up
+well in the firelight.
+
+Returning to the cabin, he banked it up well with dirt and gravel,
+and tossed a few shovelfuls up on the roof as a safety valve to his
+exuberance.  When he entered the door he had another idea, and fell to
+work scooping out a shallow cellar, deep enough to shelter him when
+lying at full length.  Then he stuck his head out of the window and
+grinned at the false covers with their prominent bull's-eyes.
+
+"When that prize-winnin' gang of ossified idiots runs up agin'
+these fortifications they shore will be disgusted. I'll bet four dollars
+ an' seven cents they'll think their medicine-man's no good.  I
+hopes that puff-eyed marshal will pick out that hump with th' chip on
+it," and he hugged himself in anticipation.
+
+He then cut down a sapling and fastened it to the roof and on it he
+tied his neckerchief, which fluttered valiantly and with defiance in
+the light breeze.  "I shore hopes they appreciates that," he remarked
+whimsically, as he went inside the hut and closed the door.
+
+The early part of the evening passed in peace, and Hopalong, tired
+of watching in vain, wished for action.  Midnight came, and it was not
+until half an hour before dawn that he was attacked.  Then a noise sent
+him to a loophole, where he fired two shots at skulking figures some
+distance off.  A fusillade of bullets replied; one of them ripped
+through the door at a weak spot and drilled a hole in a can of the
+everlasting peaches.  Hopalong set the can in the frying pan and then
+flitted from loophole to loophole, shooting quick and straight.
+Several curses told him that he had not missed, and he scooped up a
+finger of peach juice.  Shots thudded into the walls of his fort in an
+unceasing stream, and, as it grew lighter, several whizzed through the
+loopholes.  He kept close to the earth and waited for the rush, and
+when it came sent it back, minus two of its members.
+
+As he reloaded his Colts a bullet passed through his shirt sleeve
+and he promptly nailed the marksman.  He looked out of a crack in the
+rear wall and saw the top of an adjoining hill crowned with
+spectators, all of whom were armed.  Some time later he repulsed
+another attack and heard a faint cheer from his friends on the hill.
+Then he saw a barrel, blazing from end to end, roll out from the place
+he had so carefully covered with mounds.  It gathered speed and bounded
+over the rough ground, flashed between two rocks and leaped into the
+trench, where it crackled and roared in vain.
+
+"Now," said Hopalong, blazing at the mounds as fast as he could fire
+his rifle, "we'll just see what yu thinks of yore nice little covers."
+
+Yells of consternation and pain rang out in a swelling chorus, and
+legs and arms jerked and flopped, one man, in his astonishment at the
+shot that tore open his cheek, sitting up in plain sight of the
+marksman.  Roars of rage floated up from the main body of the
+besiegers, and the discomfited remnant of barrel-rollers broke for
+real cover.
+
+Then he stopped another rush from the front, made upon the
+supposition that he was thinking only of the second detachment.  A
+hearty cheer arose from Tom Halloway and his friends, ensconced in
+their rocky position, and it was taken up by those on the hill, who
+danced and yelled their delight at the battle, to them more humorous
+than otherwise.
+
+This recognition of his prowess from men of the caliber of his
+audience made him feel good, and he grinned: "Gee, I'll bet Halloway
+an' his friends is shore itchin' to get in this," he murmured, firing
+at a head that was shown for an instant.  "Wonder what Red'll say when
+Jimmy tells him-bet he'll plow dust like a cyclone," and Hopalong
+laughed, picturing to himself the satiation of Red's anger. "Old red-
+headed son-of-a-gun," murmured the cowboy affectionately, "he shore
+can fight."
+
+As he squinted over the sights of his rifle his eye caught sight of
+a moving body of men as they cantered over the flats about two miles
+away.  In his eagerness he forgot to shoot and carefully counted them.
+"Nine," he grumbled.  "Wonder what's th' matter?  "Fearing that they
+were not his friends.  Then a second body numbering eight cantered into
+sight and followed the first.
+
+"Whoop! There's th' Red-head!" he shouted, dancing in his joy.
+"Now," he shouted at the peach can joyously, "yu wait about thirty
+minutes an' yu'll shore reckon Hades has busted loose!"
+
+He grabbed up his Colts, which he kept loaded for repelling rushes,
+and recklessly emptied them into the bushes and between the rocks and
+trees, searching every likely place for a human target . Then he
+slipped his rifle in a loophole and waited for good shots, having
+worked off the dangerous pressure of his exuberance.
+
+Soon he heard a yell from the direction of the "Miner's Rest," and
+fell to jamming cartridges into his revolvers so that he could sally
+out and join in the fray by the side of Red.
+
+The thunder of madly pounding hoofs rolled up the trail, and soon a
+horse and rider shot around the corner and headed for the copse.  Three
+more raced close behind and then a bunch of six, followed by the rest,
+spread out and searched for trouble.
+
+Red, a Colt in each hand and hatless, stood up in his stirrups and
+sent shot after shot into the fleeing mob, which he could not follow
+on account of the nature of the ground. Buck wheeled and dashed down
+the trail again with Red a close second, the others packed in a solid
+mass and after them. At the first level stretch the newcomers swept
+down and hit their enemies, going through them like a knife through
+cheese. Hopalong danced up and down with rage when he could not find
+his horse, and had to stand and yell, a spectator.
+
+The fight drifted in among the buildings, where it became a series
+of isolated duels, and soon Hopalong saw panic-stricken horses
+carrying their riders out of the other side of the town.  Then he went
+gunning for the man who had rustled his horse. He was unsuccessful and
+returned to his peaches.
+
+Soon the riders came up, and when they saw Hopalong shove a peach
+into his powder-grimed mouth they yelled their delight.
+
+"Yu old maverick! Eatin' peaches like yu was afraid we'd git some!"
+shouted Red indignantly, leaping down and running up to his pal as
+though to thrash him.
+
+Hopalong grinned pleasantly and fired a peach against Red's eye. "I
+was savin' that one for yu, Reddie," he remarked, as he avoided Buck's
+playful kick.  "Yu fellers git to work an' dig up some wealth-I'm
+hungry."  Then he turned to Buck: "Yore th' marshal of this town, an'
+any son-of-a-gun what don't like it had better write.  Oh, yes, here
+comes Tom Halloway-'member him?"
+
+Buck turned and faced the miner and his hand went out with a jerk.
+
+"Well, I'll be locoed if I didn't punch with yu on th' Tin-Cup!" he
+said.
+
+"Yu shore did an' yu was purty devilish, but that there Cassidy of
+yourn beats anything I ever seen."
+
+"He's a good kid," replied Buck, glancing to where Red and Hopalong
+were quarreling as to who had eaten the most pie in a contest held
+some years before.
+
+Johnny, nosing around, came upon the perforated and partially
+scattered piles of earth and twigs, and vented his disgust of them by
+kicking them to pieces.  "Hey! Hoppy! Oh, Hoppy!" he called, "what are
+these things?"
+
+Hopalong jammed Red's hat over that person's eyes and replied: "Oh,
+them's some loaded dice I fixed for them."
+
+"Yu son-of-a-gun!" sputtered Red, as he wrestled with his friend in
+the exuberance of his pride.  "Yu son-of-a-gun! Yu shore ought to be
+ashamed to treat `em that way!"
+
+"Shore," replied Hopalong. "But I ain't!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The Hospitality of Travennes
+
+
+Mr. Buck Peters rode into Alkaline one bright September morning and
+sought refreshment at the Emporium.  Mr. Peters had just finished some
+business for his employer and felt the satisfaction that comes with
+the knowledge of work well done.  He expected to remain in Alkaline for
+several days, where he was to be joined by two of his friends and
+punchers, Mr. Hopalong Cassidy and Mr. Red Connors, both of whom were
+at Cactus Springs, seventy miles to the east. Mr. Cassidy and his
+friend had just finished a nocturnal tour of Santa Fe and felt
+somewhat peevish and dull in consequence, not to mention the sadness
+occasioned by the expenditure of the greater part of their combined
+capital on such foolishness as faro, roulette and wet-goods.
+
+Mr. Peters and his friends had sought wealth in the Black Hills,
+where they had enthusiastically disfigured the earth in the fond
+expectation of uncovering vast stores of virgin gold.  Their hopes were
+of an optimistic brand and had existed until the last canister of
+cornmeal flour had been emptied by Mr. Cassidy's burro, which waited
+not upon it's master's pleasure nor upon the ethics of the case.  When
+Mr. Cassidy had returned from exercising the animal and himself over
+two miles of rocky hillside in the vain endeavor to give it his
+opinion of burros and sundry chastisements, he was requested, as owner
+of the beast, to give his counsel as to the best way of securing
+eighteen breakfasts.
+Remembering that the animal was headed north when
+he last saw it and that it was too old to eat, anyway, he suggested a
+plan which had worked successfully at other times for other ends,
+namely, poker.  Mr. McAllister, an expert at the great American game,
+volunteered his service in accordance with the spirit of the occasion
+and, half an hour later, he and Mr. Cassidy drifted  into Pell's poker
+parlors, which were located in the rear of a Chinese laundry, where
+they gathered unto themselves the wherewithal for the required
+breakfasts.  An hour spent in the card room of the "Hurrah" convinced
+its proprietor that they had wasted their talents for the past six
+weeks in digging for gold.  The proof of this permitted the departure
+of the outfits with their customary elan.
+
+At Santa Fe the various individuals had gone their respective ways,
+to reassemble at the ranch in the near future, and for several days
+they had been drifting south in groups of twos and threes and, like
+chaff upon a stream, had eddied into Alkaline, where Mr. Peters had
+found them arduously engaged in postponing the final journey.  After he
+had gladdened their hearts and soothed their throats by making several
+pithy remarks to the bartender, with whom he established their credit,
+he cautioned them against letting any one harm them and, smiling at
+the humor of his warning, left abruptly.
+
+Cactus Springs was burdened with a zealous and initiative
+organization known as vigilantes, whose duty it was to extend the
+courtesies of the land to cattle thieves and the like.  This organization
+ boasted of the name of Travennes' Terrors and of a muster
+roll of twenty.  There was also a boast that no one had ever escaped
+them which, if true, was in many cases unfortunate.  Mr. Slim
+Travennes, with whom Mr. Cassidy had participated in an extemporaneous
+exchange of Colt's courtesies in Santa Fe the year before, was the
+head of the organization and was also chairman of the committee on
+arrivals, and the two gentlemen of the Bar-20 had not been in town an
+hour before he knew of it.
+
+Being anxious to show the strangers every attention and having a keen
+ recollection of the brand of gun-play commanded by Mr. Cassidy, he
+ planned a smoother method of procedure and one calculated to permit
+him to enjoy the pleasures of a good old age.  Mr. Travennes knew that
+ horse thieves were regarded as social enemies, that the necessary proof
+ of their guilt was the finding of stolen animals in their possession, that
+ death was the penalty and that every man, whether directly concerned
+or not, regarded, himself as judge, jury and executioner.
+
+He had several acquaintances who were bound to him by his knowledge
+ of crimes they had committed and would could not refuse his slightest wish.
+ Even if they had been free agents they were not above causing the death of an
+ innocent man.  Mr. Travennes, feeling very self-satisfied at his cleverness,
+arranged to have the proof placed where it would do the most harm
+and intended to take care of the rest by himself.
+
+Mr. Connors, feeling much refreshed and very hungry, arose at
+daylight the next morning, and dressing quickly, started off to feed
+and water the horses.  After having several tilts with the landlord
+about the bucket he took his departure toward the corral at the rear.
+Peering through the gate, he could hardly believe his eyes.  He climbed
+over it and inspected the animals at close range, and found that those
+which he and his friend had ridden for the last two months were not to
+be seen, but in their places were two better animals, which concerned
+him greatly.  Being fair and square himself, he could not understand
+the change and sought enlightenment of his more imaginative and
+suspicious friend.
+
+"Hey, Hopalong!" he called, "come out here an' see what th' blazes
+has happened!"
+
+Mr. Cassidy stuck his auburn head out of the wounded shutter and
+complacently surveyed his companion.  Then he saw the horses and looked
+hard.
+
+"Quit yore foolin', yu old cuss," he remarked pleasantly, as he
+groped around behind him with his feet, searching for his boots.
+"Anybody would think yu was a little boy with yore fool jokes.  Ain't
+yu ever goin' to grow up?"
+
+"They've got our bronch," replied Mr. Connors in an injured tone.
+Honest, I ain't kiddin' yu," he added for the sake of peace.
+
+"Who has?"  Came from the window, followed immediately by, "Yu've got
+my boots!"
+
+"I ain't-they're under th' bunk," contradicted and explained Mr.
+Connors.  Then, turning to the matter in his mind he replied, "I don't
+know who's got them. If I did do yu think I'd be holdin' hands with
+myself?"
+
+"Nobody'd accuse yu of anything like that," came from the window,
+accompanied by an overdone snicker.
+
+Mr. Connors flushed under his accumulated tan as he remembered the
+varied pleasures of Santa Fe, and he regarded the bronchos in anything
+but a pleasant state of mind.
+
+Mr. Cassidy slid through the window and approached his friend,
+looking as serious as he could.
+
+"Any tracks?"  He inquired, as he glanced quickly over the ground to
+see for himself.
+
+"Not after that wind we had last night.  They might have growed there
+for all I can see," growled Mr. Connors.
+
+"I reckon we better hold a pow-wow with th' foreman of this shack
+an' find out what he knows," suggested Mr. Cassidy.  "This looks too
+good to be a swap."
+
+Mr. Connors looked his disgust at the idea and then a light broke in
+upon him.  "Mebby they was hard pushed an' wanted fresh cayuses," he
+said.  "A whole lot of people get hard pushed in this country. Anyhow,
+we'll prospect th' boss."
+
+They found the proprietor in his stocking feet, getting the
+breakfast, and Mr. Cassidy regarded the preparations with open
+approval.  He counted the tin plates and found only three, and,
+thinking that there would be more plates if there were others to feed,
+glanced into the landlord's room.  Not finding signs of other guests,
+on whom to lay the blame for the loss of his horse, he began to ask
+questions.
+
+"Much trade?"  He inquired solicitously.
+
+"Yep," replied the landlord.
+
+Mr. Cassidy looked at the three tins and wondered if there had ever
+been any more with which to supply his trade.  "Been out this morning?"
+he pursued.
+
+"Nope."
+
+"Talks purty nigh as much as Buck," thought Mr. Cassidy, and then
+said aloud, "Anybody else here?"
+
+"Nope."
+
+Mr. Cassidy lapsed into a painful and disgusted silence and his
+friend tried his hand.
+
+"Who owns a mosaic bronch, Chinee flag on th' near side, Skillet
+brand?" asked Mr. Connors.
+
+"Quien sabe?"
+
+"Gosh, he can nearly keep still in two lingoes," thought Mr.
+Cassidy.
+
+"Who owns a bob-tailed pinto, saddle-galled, cast in th' near eye,
+Star Diamond brand, white stockin' on th' off front prop, with a habit
+of scratchin' itself every other minute?" went on Mr. Connors.
+
+"Slim Travennes," replied the proprietor, flopping a flapjack.  Mr.
+Cassidy reflectively scratched the back of his hand and looked
+innocent, but his mind was working overtime.
+
+"Who's Slim Travennes?"  Asked Mr. Connors, never having heard of
+that person, owing to the reticence of his friend.
+
+"Captain of th' vigilantes."
+
+"What does he look like on th' general run?"  Blandly inquired Mr.
+Cassidy, wishing to verify his suspicions.  He thought of the trouble
+he had with Mr. Travennes up in Santa Fe and of the reputation that
+gentleman possessed.  Then the fact that Mr. Travennes was the leader
+of the local vigilantes came to his assistance and he was sure that
+the captain had a hand in the change.  All these points existed in
+misty groups in his mind, but the next remark of the landlord caused
+them to rush together and reveal the plot.
+
+"Good," said the landlord, flopping another flapjack, "and a warnin'
+to hoss thieves.
+
+"Ahem," coughed Mr. Cassidy and then continued, "is he a tall,
+lanky, yaller-headed son-of-a-gun, with a big nose an' lots of ears?"
+
+"Mebby so," answered the host.
+
+"Urn, slopping over into bad Sioux," thought Mr. Cassidy, and then
+said aloud, "How long has he hung around this here layout?"  At the
+same time passing a warning glance at his companion.
+
+The landlord straightened up.  "Look here, stranger, if yu hankers
+after his pedigree so all-fired hard yu had best pump him."
+
+"I told yu this here feller wasn't a man what would give away all he
+knowed," lied Mr. Connors, turning to his friend and indicating the
+host.  "He ain't got time for that. Anybody can see that he is a
+powerful busy man.  An' then he ain't no child."
+
+Mr. Cassidy thought that the landlord could tell all he knew in
+about five minutes and then not break any speed records for
+conversation, but he looked properly awed and impressed.  "Well, yu
+needn't go an' get mad about it! I didn't know, did I?"
+
+"Who's gettin' mad?"  Pugnaciously asked Mr. Connors.  After his
+injured feelings had been soothed by Mr. Cassidy's sullen silence he
+again turned to the landlord.
+
+"What did this Travennes look like when yu saw him last?"  Coaxed Mr.
+Connors.
+
+"Th' same as he does now, as yu can see by lookin' out of th'
+window.  That's him down th' street," enlightened the host, thawing to
+the pleasant Mr. Connors.
+
+Mr. Cassidy adopted the suggestion and frowned.  Mr. Travennes and
+two companions were walking toward the corral and Mr. Cassidy once
+again slid out of the window, his friend going by the door.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Travennes' Discomfiture
+
+
+When Mr. Travennes looked over the corral fence he was much
+chagrined to see a man and a Colt both paying strict attention to
+his nose.
+
+"Mornin', Duke," said the man with the gun.  "Lose anything?"
+
+Mr. Travennes looked back at his friends and saw Mr. Connors sitting
+on a rock holding two guns.  Mr. Travennes' right and left wings were
+the targets and they pitted their frowns against Mr. Connors' smile.
+
+"Not that I knows of," replied Mr. Travennes, shifting his feet
+uneasily.
+
+"Find anything?"  Came from Mr. Cassidy as he sidled out of the gate.
+
+"Nope," replied the captain of the Terrors, eying the Colt.  "Are yu
+in the habit of payin' early mornin' calls to this here corral?"
+persisted Mr. Cassidy, playing with the gun.
+
+"Ya-as.  That's my business-I'm th' captain of the vigilantes."
+
+"That's too bad," sympathized Mr. Cassidy, moving forward a step.
+
+Mr. Travennes looked put out and backed off.  "What yu mean, stickin'
+me up this-away?"  He asked indignantly.
+
+"Yu needn't go an' get mad," responded Mr. Cassidy.  "Just business.
+Yore cayuse an' another shore climbed this corral fence last night an'
+ate up our bronchs, an' I just nachurly want to know about it."
+
+Mr. Travennes looked his surprise and incredulity and craned his
+neck to see for himself.  When he saw his horse peacefully scratching
+itself he swore and looked angrily up the street.  Mr. Connors, behind
+the shack, was hidden to the view of those on the street, and when two
+men ran up at a signal from Mr. Travennes, intending to insert
+themselves in the misunderstanding, they were promptly lined up with
+the first two by the man on the rock.
+
+"Sit down," invited Mr. Connors, pushing a chunk of air out of the
+way with his guns.  The last two felt a desire to talk and to argue the
+case on its merits, but refrained as the black holes in Mr. Connors'
+guns hinted at eruption.  "Every time yu opens yore mouths yu gets
+closer to th' Great Divide," enlightened that person, and they were
+childlike in their belief.
+
+Mr. Travennes acted as though he would like to scratch his thigh
+where his Colt's chafed him, but postponed the event and listened to
+Mr. Cassidy, who was asking questions.
+
+"Where's our cayuses, General?"
+
+Mr. Travennes replied that he didn't know.  He was worried, for he
+feared that his captor didn't have a secure hold on the hammer of the
+ubiquitous Colt's.
+
+"Where's my cayuse?"  Persisted Mr. Cassidy.
+
+"I don't know, but I wants to ask yu how yu got mine," replied Mr.
+Travennes.
+
+"Yu tell me how mine got out an' I'll tell yu how yourn got in,"
+countered Mr. Cassidy.
+
+Mr. Connors added another to his collection before the captain
+replied.
+
+"Out in this country people get in trouble when they're found with
+other folks' cayuses," Mr. Travennes suggested.
+
+Mr. Cassidy looked interested and replied: "Yu shore ought to borrow
+some experience, an' there's lots floating around. More than one man
+has smoked in a powder mill, an' th' number of them planted who looked
+in th' muzzle of a empty gun is scandalous.  If my remarks don't
+perculate right smart I'll explain."
+
+Mr. Travennes looked down the street again, saw number five added to
+the line-up, and coughed up chunks of broken profanity, grieving his
+host by his lack of courtesy.
+
+"Time," announced Mr. Cassidy, interrupting the round.  "I wants them
+cayuses an' I wants `em right now.  Yu an' me will amble off an' get
+`em.  I won't bore yu with tellin' yu what'll happen if yu gets
+skittish.  Slope along an' don't be scared; I'm with yu," assured Mr.
+Cassidy as he looked over at Mr. Connors, whose ascetic soul pined for
+the flapjacks of which his olfactories caught intermittent whiffs.
+
+"Well, Red, I reckons yu has got plenty of room out here for all yu
+may corral; anyhow there ain't a whole lot more.  My friend Slim an' I
+are shore going to have a devil of a time if we can t find them cussed
+bronchs. Whew, them flapjacks smell like a plain trail to payday.  Just
+think of th' nice maple juice we used to get up to Cheyenne on them
+frosty mornings."
+
+"Get out of here an' lemme alone! `What do yu allus want to go an'
+make a feller unhappy for?  Can't yu keep still about grub when yu
+knows I ain't had my morning's feed yet?"  Asked Mr. Connors, much
+aggrieved.
+
+"Well, I'll be back directly an' I'll have them cayuses or a scalp.
+Yu tend to business an' watch th' herd.  That shorthorn yearling at th'
+end of th' line"-pointing to a young man who looked capable of taking
+risks-"he looks like he might take a chance an' gamble with yu,"
+remarked Mr. Cassidy, placing Mr. Travennes in front of him and
+pushing back his own sombrero.  "Don't put too much maple juice on them
+flapjacks, Red," he warned as he poked his captive in the back of the
+neck as a hint to get along.  Fortunately Mr. Connors' closing remarks
+are lost to history.
+
+Observing that Mr. Travennes headed south on the quest, Mr. Cassidy
+reasoned that the missing bronchos ought to be somewhere in the north,
+and he postponed the southern trip until such time when they would
+have more leisure at their disposal.  Mr. Travennes showed a strong
+inclination to shy at this arrangement, but quieted down under
+persuasion, and they started off toward where Mr. Cassidy firmly
+believed the North Pole and the cayuses to be.
+
+"Yu has got quite a metropolis here," pleasantly remarked Mr.
+Cassidy as under his direction they made for a distant corral.  "I can
+see four different types of architecture, two of `em on one
+residence," he continued as they passed a wood and adobe hut.  "No
+doubt the railroad will put a branch down here some day an' then yu
+can hire their old cars for yore public buildings.  Then when yu gets a
+post-office yu will shore make Chicago hustle some to keep her end up.
+Let's assay that hollow for horse-hide; it looks promisin'.
+
+The hollow was investigated but showed nothing other than cactus and
+baked alkali.  The corral came next, and there too was emptiness.  For
+an hour the search was unavailing, but at the end of that time Mr.
+Cassidy began to notice signs of nervousness on the part of his guest,
+which grew less as they proceeded. Then Mr. Cassidy retraced their
+steps to the place where the nervousness first developed and tried
+another way and once more returned to the starting point.
+
+"Yu seems to hanker for this fool exercise," quoth Mr. Trayennes
+with much sarcasm.  "If yu reckons I'm fond of this locoed ramblin' yu
+shore needs enlightenment."
+
+"Sometimes I do get these fits," confessed Mr. Cassidy, "an' when I
+do I'm dead sore on objections.  Let's peek in that there hut," he
+suggested.
+
+"Huh; yore ideas of cayuses are mighty peculiar.  Why don't you look
+for `em up on those cactuses or behind that mesquite?  I wouldn't be a
+heap surprised if they was roostin' on th' roof.  They are mighty
+knowing animals, cayuses. I once saw one that could figger like a
+schoolmarm," remarked Mr. Travennes, beginning sarcastically and
+toning it down as he proceeded, out of respect for his companion's
+gun.
+
+"Well, they might be in th' shack," replied Mr. Cassidy.  "Cayuses
+know so much that it takes a month to unlearn them.  I wouldn't like to
+bet they ain't in that hut, though."
+
+Mr. Travennes snickered in a manner decidedly uncomplimentary and
+began to whistle, softly at first.  The gentleman from the Bar-20
+noticed that his companion was a musician; that when he came to a
+strong part he increased the tones until they bid to be heard at
+several hundred yards.  When Mr. Travennes had reached a most
+passionate part in "Juanita" and was expanding his lungs to do it
+justice he was rudely stopped by the insistent pressure of his guard's
+Colt's on the most ticklish part of his ear.
+
+"I shore wish yu wouldn't strain yoreself thataway," said Mr.
+Cassidy, thinking that Mr. Travennes might be endeavoring to call
+assistance.  "I went an' promised my mother on her deathbed that I
+wouldn't let nobody whistle out loud like that, an' th' opery is
+hereby stopped.  Besides, somebody might hear them mournful tones an'
+think that something is th' matter, which it ain't."
+
+Mr. Travennes substituted heartfelt cursing, all of which was
+heavily accented.
+
+As they approached the hut Mr. Cassidy again tickled his prisoner
+and insisted that he be very quiet, as his cayuse was very sensitive
+to noise and it might be there.  Mr. Cassidy still thought Mr.
+Travennes might have friends in the hut and wouldn't for the world
+disturb them, as he would present a splendid target as he approached
+the building.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+The Tale of a Cigarette
+
+
+The open door revealed three men asleep on the earthen floor, two of
+whom were Mexicans.  Mr. Cassidy then for the first time felt called
+upon to relieve his companion of the Colt's which so sorely itched
+that gentleman's thigh and then disarmed the sleeping guards.
+
+"One man an' a half," murmured Mr. Cassidy, it being in his creed
+that it took four Mexicans to make one Texan.
+
+In the far corner of the room were two bronchos, one of which tried
+in vain to kick Mr. Cassidy, not realizing that he was ten feet away.
+The noise awakened the sleepers, who sat up and then sprang to their
+feet, their hands instinctively streaking to their thighs for the
+weapons which peeked contentedly from the bosom of Mr. Cassidy's open
+shirt.  One of the Mexicans made a lightning-like grab for the back of
+his neck for the knife which lay along his spine and was shot in the
+front of his neck for his trouble.  The shot spoiled his aim, as the
+knife flashed past Mr. Cassidy's arm, wide by two feet, and thudded
+into the door frame, where it hummed angrily.
+
+"The only man who could do that right was th' man who invented it,
+Mr. Bowie, of Texas," explained Mr. Cassidy to the other Mexican.  Then
+he glanced at the broncho, that was squealing in rage and fear at the
+shot, which sounded like a cannon in the small room, and laughed.
+
+"That's my cayuse, all right, an' he wasn't up no cactus nor
+roostin' on th' roof, neither.  He's th' most affectionate beast I ever
+saw.  It took me nigh onto six months afore I could ride him without
+fighting him to a standstill," said Mr. Cassidy to his guest.  Then he
+turned to the horse and looked it over.  "Come here! What d'yu mean,
+acting thataway?  Yu ragged end of nothin' wobbling in space! Yu wall-
+eyed, ornery, locoed guide to Hades! Yu won't be so frisky when yu've
+made them seventy hot miles between here an' Alkaline in five hours,"
+he promised, as he made his way toward the animal.
+
+Mr. Travennes walked over to the opposite wall and took down a pouch
+of tobacco which hung from a peg.  He did this in a manner suggesting
+ownership, and after he had deftly rolled a cigarette with one hand he
+put the pouch in his pocket and, lighting up, inhaled deeply and with
+much satisfaction. Mr. Cassidy turned around and glanced the group
+over, wondering if the tobacco had been left in the hut on a former
+call.
+
+"Did yu find yore makings?"  He asked, with a note of congratulations
+in his voice.
+
+"Yep. Want one?"  Asked Mr. Travennes.
+
+Mr. Cassidy ignored the offer and turned to the guard whom he had
+found asleep.
+
+"Is that his tobacco?"  He asked, and the guard, anxious to make
+everything run smoothly, told the truth and answered:
+
+"Shore.  He left it here last night," whereupon Mr. Travennes swore
+and Mr. Cassidy smiled grimly.
+
+"Then yu knows how yore cayuse got in an' how mine got out," said
+the latter.  "I wish yu would explain," he added, fondling his Colts.
+
+Mr. Travennes frowned and remained silent.
+
+"I can tell yu, anyhow," continued Mr. Cassidy, still smiling, but
+his eyes and jaw belied the smile.  "Yu took them cayuses out because
+yu wanted yourn to be found in their places.  Yu remembered Santa Fe
+an' it rankled in yu.  Not being man enough to notify me that yu'd
+shoot on sight an' being afraid my friends would get yu if yu plugged
+me on th' sly, yu tried to make out that me an' Red rustled yore
+cayuses.  That meant a lynching with me an' Red in th' places of honor.
+Yu never saw Red afore, but yu didn't care if he went with me.  Yu
+don't deserve fair play, but I'm going to give it to yu because I
+don't want anybody to say that any of th' Bar-20 ever murdered a man,
+not even a skunk like yu.
+
+My friends have treated me too square for that.  Yu can take this gun
+an yu can do one of three things with it, which are: walk out in th' open
+a hundred paces an' then turn an walk toward me-after you face me yu
+ can set it a-going whenever yu want to; the second is, put it under yore
+hat an' I'll put mine an' th' others back by the cayuses.  Then we'll toss up
+ an' th' lucky man gets it to use as he wants.  Th' third is, shoot yourself."
+
+Mr. Cassidy punctuated the close of his ultimatum by handing the
+weapon, muzzle first, and, because the other might be an adept at
+"twirling," he kept its recipient covered during the operation.  Then,
+placing his second Colt's with the captured weapons, he threw them
+through the door, being very careful not to lose the drop on his now
+armed prisoner.
+
+Mr. Travennes looked around and wiped the sweat from his forehead,
+and being an observant gentleman, took the proffered weapon and walked
+to the east, directly toward the sun, which at this time was halfway
+to the meridian.  The glare of its straight rays and those reflected
+from the shining sand would, in a measure, bother Mr. Cassidy and
+interfere with the accuracy of his aim, and he was always thankful for
+small favors.
+
+Mr. Travennes was the possessor of accurate knowledge regarding the
+lay of the land, and the thought came to him that there was a small
+but deep hole out toward the east and that it was about the required
+distance away.  This had been dug by a man who had labored all day in
+the burning sun to make an oven so that he could cook mesquite root in
+the manner he had seen the Apaches cook it.  Mr. Travennes blessed
+hobbies, specific and general, stumbled thoughtlessly and disappeared
+from sight as the surprised Mr. Cassidy started forward to offer his
+assistance.
+
+Upon emphatic notification from the man in the hole that
+his help was not needed, Mr. Cassidy wheeled around and in great haste
+covered the distance separating him from the hut, whereupon Mr.
+Travennes swore in self-congratulation and regret.  Mr. Cassidy's shots
+barked a cactus which leaned near Mr. Travennes' head and flecked
+several clouds of alkali near that person's nose, causing him to
+sneeze, duck, and grin.
+
+"It's his own gun," grumbled Mr. Cassidy as a bullet passed through
+his sombrero, having in mind the fact that his opponent had a whole
+belt full of .44'S.  If it had been Mr. Cassidy's gun that had been
+handed over he would have enjoyed the joke on Mr. Travennes, who would
+have had five cartridges between himself and the promised eternity, as
+be would have been unable to use the .44'S in Mr. Cassidy's .45, while
+the latter would have gladly consented to the change, having as he did
+an extra .45. Never before had Mr. Cassidy looked with reproach upon
+his .45 caliber Colt's, and he sighed as he used it to notify Mr.
+Travennes that arbitration was not to be considered, which that person
+indorsed, said indorsement passing so close to Mr. Cassidy's ear that
+he felt the breeze made by it.
+
+"He's been practicin' since I plugged him up in Santa Fe," thought
+Mr. Cassidy, as he retired around the hut to formulate a plan of
+campaign.
+
+Mr. Travennes sang "Hi-le, hi-lo," and other selections, principally
+others, and wondered how Mr. Cassidy could hoist him out.  The slack of
+his belt informed him that he was in the middle of a fast, and
+suggested starvation as the derrick that his honorable and disgusted
+adversary might employ.
+
+Mr. Cassidy, while figuring out his method of procedure, absent-
+mindedly jabbed a finger in his eye, and the ensuing tears floated an
+idea to him.  He had always had great respect for ricochet shots since
+his friend Skinny Thompson had proved their worth on the hides of
+Sioux.  If he could disturb the sand and convey several grains of it to
+Mr. Travennes' eyes the game would be much simplified.  While planning
+for the proposed excavation, a la Colt's, he noticed several stones
+lying near at hand, and a new and better scheme presented itself for
+his consideration.  If Mr. Travennes could be persuaded to get out of-
+well, it was worth trying.
+
+Mr. Cassidy lined up his gloomy collection and tersely ordered them
+to turn their backs to him and to stay in that position, the
+suggestion being that if they looked around they wouldn't be able to
+dodge quickly enough.  He then slipped bits of his lariat over their
+wrists and ankles, tying wrists to ankles and each man to his
+neighbor.  That finished to his satisfaction, he dragged them in the
+hut to save them from the burning rays of the sun.
+
+Having performed this act of kindness, he crept along the hot sand,
+taking advantage of every bit of cover afforded, and at last he
+reached a point within a hundred feet of the besieged.  During the trip
+Mr. Travennes sang to his heart's content, some of the words being
+improvised for the occasion and were not calculated to increase Mr.
+Cassidy's respect for his own wisdom if he should hear them.  Mr.
+Cassidy heard, however, and several fragments so forcibly intruded on
+his peace of mind that he determined to put on the last verse himself
+and to suit himself.
+
+Suddenly Mr. Travennes poked his head up and glanced at the hut.  He
+was down again so quickly that there was no chance for a shot at him
+and he believed that his enemy was still sojourning in the rear of the
+building, which caused him to fear that he was expected to live on
+nothing as long as he could and then give himself up.  Just to show his
+defiance he stretched himself out on his back and sang with all his
+might, his sombrero over his face to keep the glare of the sun out of
+his eyes.
+
+He was interrupted, however, forgot to finish a verse as he
+had intended, and jumped to one side as a stone bounced off his leg.
+Looking up, he saw another missile curve into his patch of sky and
+swiftly bear down on him.  He avoided it by a hair's breadth and
+wondered what had happened.  Then what Mr. Travennes thought was a
+balloon, being unsophisticated in matters pertaining to aerial
+navigation, swooped down upon him and smote him on the shoulder and
+also bounced off.
+
+Mr. Travennes hastily laid music aside and took up
+elocution as he dodged another stone and wished that the mesquite-
+loving crank had put on a roof.  In evading the projectile he let his
+sombrero appear on a level with the desert, and the hum of a bullet as
+it passed through his head-gear and into the opposite wall made him
+wish that there had been constructed a cellar, also.
+
+"Hi-le, hi-lo" intruded upon his ear, as Mr. Cassidy got rid of the
+surplus of his heart's joy. Another stone the size of a man's foot
+shaved Mr. Travennes' ear and he hugged the side of the hole nearest
+his enemy.
+
+"Hibernate, blank yu!" derisively shouted the human catapult as he
+released a chunk of sandstone the size of a quail.  "Draw in yore laigs
+an' buck," was his God-speed to the missile.
+
+"Hey, yu!" indignantly yowled Mr. Travennes from his defective storm
+cellar.  "Don't yu know any better'n to heave things thataway?"
+
+"Hi-le, hi-lo," sang Mr. Cassidy, as another stone soared aloft in
+the direction of the complainant.  Then he stood erect and awaited
+results with a Colt's in his hand leveled at the rim of the hole.  A
+hat waved and an excited voice bit off chunks of expostulation and
+asked for an armistice.  Then two hands shot up and Mr. Travennes, sore
+and disgusted and desperate, popped his head up an blinked at Mr.
+Cassidy's gun.
+
+"Yu was fillin' th' hole up," remarked Mr. Travennes in an accusing
+tone, hiding the real reason for his evacuation.  "In a little while
+I'd a been th' top of a pile instead of th' bottom of a hole," he
+announced, crawling out and rubbing his head.
+
+Mr. Cassidy grinned and ordered his prisoner to one side while be
+secured the weapon which lay in the hole.  Having obtained it as
+quickly as possible be slid it in his open shirt and clambered out
+again.
+
+"Yu remind me of a feller I used to know," remarked Mr. Travennes,
+as he led the way to the hut, trying not to limp.  "Only he throwed
+dynamite.  That was th' way he cleared off chaparral-blowed it off.  He
+got so used to heaving away everything he lit that he spoiled three
+pipes in two days."
+
+Mr. Cassidy laughed at the fiction and then became grave as he
+pictured Mr. Connors sitting on the rock and facing down a line of
+men, any one of whom was capable of his destruction if given the
+interval of a second.
+
+When they arrived at the hut Mr. Cassidy observed that the prisoners
+had moved considerably.  There was a cleanly swept
+
+trail four yards long where they had dragged themselves, and they
+sat in the end nearer the guns.  Mr. Cassidy smiled and fired close to
+the Mexican's ear, who lost in one frightened jump a little of what he
+had so laboriously gained.
+
+"Yu'll wear out yore pants," said Mr. Cassidy, and then added
+grimly, "an' my patience."
+
+Mr. Travennes smiled and thought of the man who so ably seconded Mr.
+Cassidy's efforts and who was probably shot by this time.  The outfit
+of the Bar-20 was so well known throughout the land that he was aware
+the name of the other was Red Connors.  An unreasoning streak of
+sarcasm swept over him and he could not resist the opportunity to get
+in a stab at his captor.
+
+"Mebby yore pard has wore out somebody's patience, too," said Mr.
+Travennes, suggestively and with venom.
+
+His captor wheeled toward him, his face white with passion, and Mr.
+Travennes shrank back and regretted the words.
+
+"I ain't shootin' dogs this here trip," said Mr. Cassidy, trembling
+with scorn and anger, "so yu can pull yourself together.  I'll give yu
+another chance, but yu wants to hope almighty hard that Red is O. K.
+If he ain't, I'll blow yu so many ways at once that if yu sprouts
+yu'll make a good acre of weeds.  If he is all right yu'd better
+vamoose this range, for there won't be no hole for yu to crawl into
+next time.  What friends yu have left will have to tote yu off an'
+plant yu," he finished with emphasis.  He drove the horses outside,
+and, after severing the bonds on his prisoners, lined them up.
+
+"Yu," he began, indicating all but Mr. Travennes, "yu amble right
+smart toward Canada," pointing to the north.  "Keep a-going till yu
+gets far enough away so a Colt won't find yu." Here he grinned with
+delight as he saw his Sharp's rifle in its sheath on his saddle and,
+drawing it forth, he put away his Colts and glanced at the trio, who
+were already industriously plodding northward. "Hey!" he shouted, and
+when they sullenly turned to see what new idea he had found he
+gleefully waved his rifle at them and warned them further: "This is a
+Sharp's an' it's good for half a mile, so don't stop none too soon.
+
+Having sent them directly away from their friends so they could not
+have him "potted" on the way back, he mounted his broncho and
+indicated to Mr. Travennes that he, too, was to ride, watching that
+that person did not make use of the Winchester which Mr. Connors was
+foolish enough to carry around on his saddle.  Winchesters were Mr.
+Cassidy's pet aversion and Mr. Connors' most prized possession, this
+difference of opinion having upon many occasions caused hasty words
+between them. Mr. Connors, being better with his Winchester than Mr.
+Cassidy was with his Sharp's, had frequently proved that his choice
+was the wiser, but Mr. Cassidy was loyal to the Sharp's and refused to
+be convinced. Now, however, the Winchester became pregnant with
+possibilities and, therefore, Mr. Travennes rode a few yards to the
+left and in advance, where the rifle was in plain sight, hanging as it
+did on the right of Mr. Connors' saddle, which Mr. Travennes graced so
+well.
+
+The journey back to town was made in good time and when they came to
+the buildings Mr. Cassidy dismounted and bade his companion do
+likewise, there being too many corners that a fleeing rider could take
+advantage of. Mr. Travennes felt of his bumps and did so, wishing hard
+things about Mr. Cassidy.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+The Penalty
+
+
+While Mr. Travennes had been entertained in the manner narrated, Mr.
+Connors had passed the time by relating stale jokes to the uproarious
+laughter of his extremely bored audience, who had heard the aged
+efforts many times since they had first seen the light of day, and
+most of whom earnestly longed for a drink.  The landlord, hearing the
+hilarity, had taken advantage of the opportunity offered to see a free
+show. Not being able to see what the occasion was for the mirth, he
+had pulled on his boots and made his way to the show with a flapjack
+in the skillets which, in his haste, he had forgotten to put down.  He
+felt sure that he would be entertained, and he was not disappointed.
+He rounded the corner and was enthusiastically welcomed by the hungry
+Mr. Connors, whose ubiquitous guns coaxed from the skillet its
+dyspeptic wad.
+
+"Th' saints be praised!" ejaculated Mr. Connors as a matter of form,
+not having a very clear idea of just what saints were, but he knew
+what flapjacks were and greedily overcame the heroic resistance of the
+one provided by chance and his own guns.  As he rolled his eyes in
+ecstatic content the very man Mr. Cassidy had warned him against
+suddenly arose and in great haste disappeared around the corner of the
+corral, from which point of vantage he vented his displeasure at the
+treatment he had received by wasting six shots at the mortified Mr.
+Connors.
+
+"Steady!" sang out that gentleman as the line-up wavered.  "He's a
+precedent to hell for yu fellers! Don't yu get ambitious, none
+whatever."  Then he wondered how long it would take the fugitive to
+secure a rifle and return to release the others by drilling him at
+long range.
+
+His thoughts were interrupted by the vision of a red head that
+climbed into view over a rise a short distance off  and he grinned his
+delight as Mr. Cassidy loomed up, jaunty and triumphant. Mr. Cassidy
+was executing calisthenics with a Colt in the rear of Mr. Travennes'
+neck and was leading the horses.
+
+Mr. Connors waved the skillet and his friend grinned his
+congratulations at what the token signified.
+
+"I see yu got some more," said Mr. Cassidy, as he went down the
+line-up from the rear and collected nineteen weapons of various makes
+and conditions, this number being explained by the fact that all but
+one of the prisoners wore two.  Then he added the five that had kicked
+against his ribs ever since he had left the hut, and carefully
+threaded the end of his lariat through the trigger guards.
+
+"Looks like we stuck up a government supply mule, Red," he remarked,
+as he fastened the whole collection to his saddle.  "Fourteen colts,
+six Merwin-Hulbert's, three Prescott, an' one puzzle," he added,
+examining the puzzle.  "Made in Germany, it says, and it shore looks
+like it.  It's got little pins stickin' out of th' cylinder, like you
+had to swat it with a hammer or a rock, or somethin' to make it go
+off.  Must be damn dangerous, to most anybody around.  Looks more like a
+cactus than a six-shooter-gosh, it's a ten-shooter! I allus said them
+Dutchmen was bloody-minded cusses.  Think of bein' able to shoot
+yoreself ten times before th' blame thing stops!"  Then looking at the
+line-up for the owner of the weapon, he laughed at the woeful
+countenances displayed.  "Did they sidle in by companies or squads?"  He
+asked.
+
+"By twos, mostly.  Then they parade-rested an' got discharged from
+duty.  I had eleven, but one got homesick, or disgusted, or something,
+an' deserted.  It was that cussed flapjack," confessed and explained
+Mr. Connors.
+
+"What!" said Mr. Cassidy in a loud voice.  "Got away! Well, we'll
+have to make our get-away plumb sudden or we'll never go.
+
+At this instant the escaped man again began his bombardment from the
+corner of the corral and Mr. Cassidy paused, indignant at the
+fusillade which tore up the dust at his feet.  He looked reproachfully
+at Mr. Connors and then circled out on the plain until he caught a
+glimpse of a fleeing cow-puncher, whose back rapidly grew smaller in
+the fast-increasing distance.
+
+"That's yore friend, Red," said Mr. Cassidy as he returned from his
+reconnaissance.  "He's that short-horn yearling.  Mebby he'll come back
+again," he added hopefully.  "Anyhow, we've got to move.  He'll collect
+reinforcements an' mebby they all won't shoot like him.  Get up on yore
+Clarinda an' hold th' fort for me," he ordered, pushing the farther
+horse over to his friend. Mr. Connors proved that an agile man can
+mount a restless horse and not lose the drop, and backed off three
+hundred yards, deftly substituting his Winchester for the Colts.  Then
+Mr. Cassidy likewise mounted with his attention riveted elsewhere and
+backed off to the side of his companion.
+
+The bombardment commenced again from the corral, but this time Mr.
+Connors' rifle slid around in his lap and exploded twice.  The
+bellicose gentleman of the corral yelled in pain and surprise and
+vanished.
+
+"Purty good for a Winchester," said Mr. Cassidy in doubtful
+congratulation.
+
+"That's why I got him," snapped Mr. Connors in brief reply, and then
+he laughed.  "Is them th' vigilantes what never let a man get away?"  He
+scornfully asked, backing down the street and patting his Winchester.
+
+"Well, Red, they wasn't all there.  They was only twelve all told,"
+excused Mr. Cassidy.  "An' then we was two," he explained, as he wished
+the collection of six-shooters was on Mr. Connors' horse so they
+wouldn't bark his shin.
+
+"An we still are," corrected Mr. Connors, as they wheeled and
+galloped for Alkaline.
+
+As the sun sank low on the horizon Mr. Peters finished ordering
+provisions at the general store, the only one Alkaline boasted, and
+sauntered to the saloon where he had left his men.  He found diem a few
+dollars richer, as they had borrowed ten dollars from the bartender on
+their reputations as poker players and had used the money to stake Mr.
+McAllister in a game against the local poker champion.
+
+"Has Hopalong an' Red showed up yet?"  Asked Mr. Peters, frowning at
+the delay already caused.
+
+"Nope," replied Johnny Nelson, as he paused from tormenting Billy
+Williams.
+
+At that minute the doorway was darkened and Mr. Cassidy and Mr.
+Connors entered and called for refreshments.  Mr. Cassidy dropped a
+huge bundle of six-shooters on the floor, making caustic remarks
+regarding their utility.
+
+"What's th' matter?"  Inquired Mr. Peters of Mr. Cassidy.  "Yu looks
+mad an' anxious. An' where in blazes did yu corral them guns?"
+
+Mr. Cassidy drank deep and then reported with much heat what had
+occurred at Cactus Springs and added that he wanted to go back and
+wipe out the town, said desire being luridly endorsed by Mr. Connors.
+
+"Why, shore," said Mr. Peters, "we'll all go.  Such doings must be
+stopped instanter."  Then he turned to the assembled outfits and asked
+for a vote, which was unanimous for war.
+
+Shortly afterward eighteen angry cowpunchers rode to the east, two
+red-haired gentlemen well in front and urging speed.  It was 8 P.M.
+when they left Alkaline, and the cool of the night was so delightful
+that the feeling of ease which came upon them made them lax and they
+lost three hours in straying from the dim trail.  At eight o'clock the
+next morning they came in sight of their destination and separated
+into two squads, Mr. Cassidy leading the northern division and Mr.
+Connors the one which circled to the south.  The intention was to
+attack from two directions, thus taking the town from front and rear.
+
+Cactus Springs lay gasping in the excessive heat and the vigilantes
+who had toed Mr. Connors' line the day before were lounging in the
+shade of the "Palace" saloon, telling what they would do if they ever
+faced the same man again.  Half a dozen sympathizers offered gratuitous
+condolence and advice and all were positive that they knew where Mr.
+Cassidy and Mr. Connors would go when they died.
+
+The rolling thunder of madly pounding hoofs disturbed their
+post-mortem and they arose in a body to flee from half their number,
+who, guns in hands, charged down upon them through clouds of sickly
+white smoke.  Travennes' Terrors were minus many weapons and they
+could not be expected to give a glorious account of themselves.  Windows
+rattled and fell in and doors and walls gave off peculiar sounds as
+they grew full of holes.  Above the riot rattled the incessant crack of
+Colt's and Winchester, emphasized at close intervals by the assertive
+roar of buffalo guns.  Off to the south came another rumble of hoofs
+and Mr. Connors, leading the second squad, - arrived to participate
+in the payment of the debt.
+
+Smoke spurted from windows and other points of vantage and hung
+wavering in the heated air.  The shattering of woodwork told of heavy
+slugs finding their rest, and the whines that grew and diminished in
+the air sang the course of .45s.
+
+While the fight raged hottest Mr. Nelson sprang from his horse and
+ran to the "Palace," where he collected and piled a heap of tinder like
+wood, and soon the building burst out in flames, which, spreading,
+swept the town from end to end.
+
+Mr. Cassidy fired slowly and seemed to be waiting for something.  Mr.
+Connors laid aside his hot Winchester and devoted his attention to his
+Colts.  A spurt of flame and smoke leaped from the window of a `dobe
+hut and Mr. Connors sat down, firing as he went.  A howl from the
+window informed him that he had made a hit, and Mr. Cassidy ran out
+and dragged him to the shelter of a near-by bowlder and asked how much
+he was hurt.
+
+"Not much-in the calf," grunted Mr. Connors.  "He was a bad shot-must
+have been the cuss that got away yesterday," speculated the injured
+man as he slowly arose to his feet.  Mr. Cassidy dissented from force
+of habit and returned to his station.
+Mr. Travennes, who was sleeping late that morning, coughed and
+fought for air in his sleep, awakened in smoke, rubbed his eyes to
+make sure and, scorning trousers and shirt, ran clad in his red woolen
+undergarments to the corral, where he mounted his scared horse and
+rode for the desert and safety.
+
+Mr. Cassidy, swearing at the marksmanship of a man who fired at his
+head and perforated his sombrero, saw a crimson rider sweep down upon
+him, said rider being heralded by a blazing .44.
+
+"Gosh!" ejaculated Mr. Cassidy, scarcely believing his eyes.  "Oh,
+it's my friend Slim going to hades," he remarked to himself in audible
+and relieved explanation.  Mr. Cassidy's Colts cracked a protest and
+then he joined Mr. Peters and the others and with them fought his way
+out of the flame-swept town of Cactus Springs.
+
+An hour later Mr. Connors glanced behind him at the smoke
+silhouetted on the horizon and pushed his way to where Mr. Cassidy
+rode in silence.  Mr. Connors grinned at his friend of the red hair,
+who responded in the same manner.
+
+"Did yu see Slim?"  Casually inquired Mr. Connors, looking off to the
+south.
+
+Mr. Cassidy sat upright in his saddle and felt of his Colts.  "Yes,"
+he replied, "I saw him."
+
+Mr. Connors thereupon galloped on in silence.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+Rustlers on the Range
+
+
+The affair at Cactus Springs had more effect on the life at the Bar-
+20 than was realized by the foreman.  News travels rapidly, and certain
+men, whose attributes were not of the sweetest, heard of it and swore
+vengeance, for Slim Travennes had many friends, and the result of his
+passing began to show itself.  Outlaws have as their strongest defense
+the fear which they inspire, and little time was lost in making
+reprisals, and these caused Buck Peters to ride into Buckskin one
+bright October morning and then out the other side of the town.  Coming
+to himself with a start he looked around shamefacedly and retraced his
+course.  He was very much troubled, for, as foreman of the Bar-2o, he
+had many responsibilities, and when things ceased to go aright he was
+expected not only to find the cause of the evil, but also the remedy.
+That was what he was paid seventy dollars a month for and that was
+what he had been endeavoring to do.  As yet, however, he had only
+accomplished what the meanest cook's assistant had done.  He knew the
+cause of his present woes to be rustlers (cattle thieves), and that
+was all.
+
+Riding down the wide, quiet street, he stopped and dismounted before
+the ever-open door of a ramshackle, one-story frame building.  Tossing
+the reins over the flattened ears of his vicious pinto he strode into
+the building and leaned easily against the bar, where he drummed with
+his fingers and sank into a reverie.
+
+A shining bald pate, bowed over an open box, turned around and
+revealed a florid face, set with two small, twinkling blue eyes, as
+the proprietor, wiping his hands on his trousers, made his way to
+Buck's end of the bar.
+
+"Mornin', Buck. How's things?`
+
+The foreman, lost in his reverie, continued to stare out the door.
+
+"Mornin'," repeated the man behind the bar. "How's things?"
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated the foreman, smiling, "purty cussed."
+
+"Anything flew?"
+
+"Th' C-80 lost another herd last night."
+
+His companion swore and placed a bottle at the foreman's elbow, but
+the latter shook his head.  "Not this mornin'-I'll try one of them vile
+cigars, however."
+
+"Them cigars are th' very best that-" began the proprietor,
+executing the order.
+
+"Oh, heck!" exclaimed Buck with weary disgust . "Yu don't have to
+palaver none: I shore knows all that by heart."
+
+"Them cigars-" repeated the proprietor.
+
+"Yas, yas; them cigars-I know all about them cigars.  Yu gets them
+for twenty dollars a thousand an' hypnotizes us into payin' yu a
+hundred," replied the foreman, biting off the end `of his weed.  Then
+he stared moodily and frowned.  "I wonder why it is?"  He asked.  "We
+punchers like good stuff an' we pays good prices with good money.  What
+do we get? Why, cabbage leaves an' leather for our smokin' an' alcohol
+an' extract for our drink.  Now, up in Kansas City we goes to a
+sumptious layout, pays less an' gets bang-up stuff.  If yu smelled one
+of them K. C. cigars yu'd shore have to ask what it was, an' as for
+the liquor, why, yu'd think St. Peter asked yu to have one with him.
+It's shore wrong somewhere."
+
+"They have more trade in K. C.," suggested the proprietor.
+
+"An' help, an' taxes, an' a license, an' rent, an' brass, cut glass,
+mahogany an' French mirrors," countered the foreman.
+
+"They have more trade," reiterated the man with the cigars.
+
+"Forty men spend thirty dollars apiece with yu every month. "The
+proprietor busied himself under the bar.  "Yu'll feel better to-morrow.
+Anyway, what do yu care, yu won't lose yore job," he said, emerging.
+
+Buck looked at him and frowned, holding back the words which formed
+in anger.  What was the use, he thought, when every man judged the
+world in his own way.
+
+"Have yu seen any of th' boys?"  He asked, smiling again.
+
+"Nary a boy.  Who do yu reckon's doin' all this rustlin'?"
+
+"I'm reckonin', not shoutin'," responded the foreman.
+
+The proprietor looked out the window and grinned: "Here comes one of
+yourn now.
+
+The newcomer stopped his horse in a cloud of dust, playfully kicked
+the animal in the ribs and entered, dusting the alkali from him with a
+huge sombrero.  Then he straightened up and sniffed: "What's burnin'?"
+he asked, simulating alarm.  Then he noticed the cigar between the
+teeth of his foreman and grinned: "Gee, but yore a brave man, Buck."
+
+"Hullo, Hopalong," said the foreman.  "Want a smoke?"  Waving his hand
+toward the box on the bar.
+
+Mr. Hopalong Cassidy side-stepped and began to roll a cigarette:
+"Shore, but I'll burn my own-I know what it is."
+
+"What was yu doin' to my cayuse afore yu come in?"  Asked Buck.
+
+"Nothin'," replied the newcomer.  "That was mine what I kicked in th'
+corrugations."
+
+"How is it yore ridin' the calico?"  Asked the foreman.  "I thought yu
+was dead stuck on that piebald."
+
+"That piebald's a goat; he's beein livin' off my pants lately,"
+responded Hopalong.  "Every time I looks th' other way he ambles over
+and takes a bite at me.  Yu just wait `til this rustler business is
+roped, an' branded, an' yu'll see me eddicate that blessed scrapheap
+into eatin' grass again.  He swiped Billy's shirt th' other day-took it
+right off th' corral wall, where Billy's left it to dry. "Then, seeing
+Buck raise his eyebrows, he explained: "Shore, he washed it again.
+That makes three times since last fall."
+
+The proprietor laughed and pushed out the ever-ready bottle, but
+Hopalong shoved it aside and told the reason: "Ever since I was up to
+K. C. I've been spoiled. I'm drinkin' water an' slush."
+
+"For Pete's sake, has any more of yu fellers been up to K. C.?"
+queried the proprietor in alarm.
+
+"Shore: Red an' Billy was up there, too." responded Hopalong.  "Red's
+got a few remarks to shout to yu about yore pain-killer.  Yu better
+send for some decent stuff afore he comes to town," he warned.
+
+Buck swung away from the bar and looked at his dead cigar.  Then he
+turned to Hopalong.  "What did you find?"  He asked.
+
+"Same old story: nice wide trail up to th' Staked Plain-then
+nothin'."
+
+"It shore beats me," soliloquized the foreman.  "It shore beats me."
+
+"Think it was Tamale Jose's old gang?"  Asked Hopalong.
+
+"If it was they took th' wrong trail home-that ain't th' way to
+Mexico."
+
+Hopalong tossed aside his half-smoked cigarette.  "Well, come on
+home; what's th' use stewin' over it? It'll come out all O.K. in th'
+wash." Then he laughed: "There won't be no piebald waitin' for it."
+
+Evading Buck's playful blow he led the way to the door, and soon
+they were a cloud of dust on the plain.  The proprietor, despairing of
+customers under the circumstances, absent-mindedly wiped oil on the bar,
+and sought his chair for a nap, grumbling about the way his trade had
+fallen off, for there were few customers, and those who did call were
+heavy with loss of sleep, and with anxiety, and only paused long
+enough to toss off their drink.  On the ranges there were occurrences
+which tried men's souls.
+
+For several weeks cattle had been disappearing from the ranges and
+the losses had long since passed the magnitude of those suffered when
+Tamale Jose and his men had crossed the Rio Grande and repeatedly
+levied heavy toll on the sleek herds of the Pecos Valley.  Tamale Jose
+had raided once too often, and prosperity and plenty had followed on
+the ranches and the losses had been forgotten until the fall round-ups
+clearly showed that rustlers were again at work.
+
+Despite the ingenuity of the ranch owners and the unceasing
+vigilance and night rides of the cow-punchers, the losses steadily
+increased until there was promised a shortage which would permit no
+drive to the western terminals of the railroad that year.  For two
+weeks the banks of the Rio Grande had been patrolled and sharp-eyed
+men searched daily for trails leading southward, for it was not
+strange to think that the old raiders were again at work,
+notwithstanding the fact that they had paid dearly for their former
+depredations.
+
+The patrols failed to discover anything out of the
+ordinary and the searchers found no trails. Then it was that the
+owners and foremen of the four central ranches met in Cowan's saloon
+and sat closeted together for all of one hot afternoon.
+
+The conference resulted in riders being dispatched from all the
+ranches represented, and one of the couriers, Mr. Red Connors, rode
+north, his destination being far-away Montana.  All the ranches within
+a radius of a hundred miles received letters and blanks and one week
+later the Pecos Valley Cattle-Thief Elimination Association was
+organized and working, with Buck as Chief Ranger.
+
+One of the outcomes of Buck's appointment was a sudden and marked
+immigration into the affected territory.  Mr. Connors returned from
+Montana with Mr. Frenchy McAllister, the foreman of the Tin-Cup, who
+was accompanied by six of his best and most trusted men.  Mr.
+McAllister and party were followed by Mr. You-bet Somes, foreman of
+the Two-X-Two of Arizona, and five of his punchers, and later on the
+same day Mr. Pie Willis, accompanied by Mr. Billy Jordan and his two
+brothers, arrived from the Panhandle. The O-Bar-O, situated close to
+the town of Muddy Wells, increased its payroll by the addition of nine
+men, each of whom bore the written recommendation of the foreman of
+the Bar-20. The C-8o, Double Arrow and the Three Triangle also
+received heavy reinforcements, and even Carter, owner of the Barred
+Horseshoe, far removed from the zone of the depredations, increased
+his outfits by half their regular strength.
+
+ Buck believed that if a thing was worth doing at all that it was worth
+doing very well, and his acquaintances were numerous and loyal.
+The collection of individuals that responded to the call were noteworthy
+examples of "gun-play" and their aggregate value was at par with twice their
+numbers in cavalry.
+
+
+Each ranch had one large ranch-house and numerous line-houses
+scattered along the boundaries.  These latter, while intended as camps
+for the outriders, had been erected in the days, none too remote, when
+Apaches, Arrapahoes, and even Cheyennes raided southward, and they had
+been constructed with the idea of defense paramount.  Upon more than
+one occasion a solitary line-rider had retreated within their adobe
+walls and had successfully resisted all the cunning and ferocity of a
+score of paint-bedaubed warriors and, when his outfit had rescued him,
+emerged none the worse for his ordeal.
+
+On the Bar-20, Buck placed these houses in condition to withstand
+seige.  Twin barrels of water stood in opposite corners, provisions
+were stored on the hanging shelves and the bunks once again reveled in
+untidiness.  Spare rifles, in pattern ranging from long-range Sharp's
+and buffalo guns to repeating rifles, leaned against the walls, and
+unbroken boxes of cartridges were piled above the bunks.  Instead of
+the lonesome outrider, he placed four men to each house, two of whom
+were to remain at home and hold the house while their companions rode
+side by side on their multi-mile beat.
+
+There were six of these houses and, instead of returning each night to the
+same line-house, the outriders kept on and made the circuit, thus keeping
+every one well informed and breaking the monotony.  These measures were
+expected to cause the rustling operations to cease at once, but the effect was to
+shift the losses to the Double Arrow, the line-houses of which boasted
+only one puncher each.  Unreasonable economy usually defeats its
+object.
+
+The Double Arrow was restricted on the north by the Staked Plain,
+which in itself was considered a superb defense.  The White Sand Hills
+formed its eastern boundary and were thought to be second only to the
+northern protection.  The only reason that could be given for the
+hitherto comparative immunity from the attacks of the rustlers was
+that its cattle clung to the southern confines where there were
+numerous springs, thus making imperative the crossing of its territory
+to gain the herds.
+
+It was in line-house No. 3, most remote of all, that Johnny Redmond
+fought his last fight and was found face down in the half ruined house
+with a hole in the back of his head, which proved that one man was
+incapable of watching all the loop holes in four walls at once.  There
+must have been some casualties on the other side, for Johnny was
+reputed to be very painstaking in his "gunplay," and the empty shells
+which lay scattered on the floor did not stand for as many ciphers, of
+that his foreman was positive.
+
+He was buried the day he was found, and the news of his death ran quickly
+from ranch to ranch and made more than one careless puncher arise and
+pace the floor in anger.  More men came to the Double Arrow and its
+sentries were doubled.  The depredations continued, however, and one night
+a week later Frank Swift reeled into the ranch-house and fell exhausted across
+the supper table.  Rolling hoof-beats echoed flatly and died away on the plain,
+but the men who pursued them returned empty handed.  The wounds of the
+unfortunate were roughly dressed and in his delirium he recounted the
+fight.  His companion was found literally shot to pieces twenty paces
+from the door.  One wall was found blown in, and this episode, when
+coupled with the use of dynamite, was more than could be tolerated.
+
+When Buck had been informed of this he called to him Hopalong
+Cassidy, Red Connors and Frenchy McAllister, and the next day the
+three men rode north and the contingents of the ranches represented in
+the Association were divided into two squads, one of which was to
+remain at home and guard the ranches; the other, to sleep fully
+dressed and armed and never to stray far from their ranch-houses and
+horses.  These latter would be called upon to ride swiftly and far when
+the word came.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+Mr. Trendley Assumes Added Importance
+
+
+That the rustlers were working under a well organized system was
+evident.  That they were directed by a master of the game was
+ceaselessly beaten into the consciousness of the Association by the
+diversity, dash and success of their raids. No one, save the three men
+whom they had destroyed, had ever seen them.  But, like Tamale Jose,
+they had raided once too often.
+
+Mr. Trendley, more familiarly known to men as "Slippery," was the
+possessor of a biased conscience, if any at all.  Tall, gaunt and
+weather-beaten and with coal-black eyes set deep beneath hairless
+eyebrows, he was sinister and forbidding.  Into his forty-five years of
+existence he had crowded a century of experience, and unsavory rumors
+about him existed in all parts of the great West. From Canada to
+Mexico and from Sacramento to Westport his name stood for brigandage.
+His operations had been conducted with such consummate cleverness that
+in all the accusations there was lacking proof.
+
+Only once had he erred, and then in the spirit of pure deviltry and in the
+days of youthful folly, and his mistake was a written note.  He was even
+thought by some to have been concerned in the Mountain Meadow
+Massacre; others thought him to have been the leader of the band of
+outlaws that had plundered along the Santa Fe Trail in the late `60's.
+In Montana and Wyoming he was held responsible for the outrages of the
+band that had descended from the Hole-in-the-Wall territory and for
+over a hundred miles carried murder and theft that shamed as being
+weak the most assiduous efforts of zealous Cheyennes.  It was in this
+last raid that he had made the mistake and it was in this raid that
+Frenchy McAllister had lost his wife.
+
+When Frenchy had first been approached by Buck as to his going in
+search of the rustlers he had asked to go alone.  This had been denied
+by the foreman of the Bar-20 because the men whom he had selected to
+accompany the scout were of such caliber that their presence could not
+possibly form a hindrance.  Besides being his most trusted friends they
+were regarded by him as being the two best exponents of "gun-play"
+that the West afforded.  Each was a specialist: Hopalong, expert beyond
+belief with his Colt's six-shooters, was only approached by Red, whose
+Winchester was renowned for its accuracy.  The three made a perfect
+combination, as the rashness of the two younger men would be under the
+controlling influence of a man who could retain his coolness of mind
+under all circumstances.
+
+When Buck and Frenchy looked into each other's eyes there sprang
+into the mind of each the same name-Slippery Trendley.  Both had spent
+the greater part of a year in fruitless search for that person, the
+foreman of the Tin-Cup in vengeance for the murder of his wife, the
+blasting of his prospects and the loss of his herds; Buck, out of
+sympathy for his friend and also because they had been partners in the
+Double Y. Now that the years had passed and the long-sought-for
+opportunity was believed to be at hand, there was promised either a
+cessation of the outrages or that Buck would never again see his
+friends.
+
+When the three mounted and came to him for final instructions Buck
+forced himself to be almost repellent in order to be capable of
+coherent speech.  Hopalong glanced sharply at him and then understood,
+Red was all attention and eagerness and remarked nothing but the
+words.
+
+"Have yu ever heard of Slippery Trendley?"  Harshly inquired the
+foreman.
+
+They nodded, and on the faces of the younger men a glint of hatred
+showed itself, but Frenchy wore his poker countenance.
+
+Buck continued: "Th' reason I asked yu was because I don't want yu
+to think yore goin' on no picnic.  I ain't shore it's him, but I've had
+some hopeful information.  Besides, he is th' only man I knows of who's
+capable of th' plays that have been made. It's hardly necessary for me
+to tell yu to sleep with one eye open and never to get away from yore
+guns.  Now I'm goin' to tell yu th' hardest part: yu are goin' to
+search th' Staked Plain from one end to th' other, an' that's what no
+white man's ever done to my knowledge.
+
+"Now, listen to this an' don't forget it.  Twenty miles north from
+Last Stand Rock is a spring; ten miles south of that bend in Hell
+Arroyo is another. If yu gets lost within two days from th' time yu
+enters th' Plain, put yore left hand on a cactus sometime between sun-
+up an' noon, move around until yu are over its shadow an' then ride
+straight ahead-that's south.  If you goes loco beyond Last Stand Rock,
+follow th' shadows made before noon-that's th' quickest way to th'
+Pecos.  Yu all knows what to do in a sand-storm, so I won't bore you
+with that.  Repeat all I've told yu," he ordered and they complied.
+
+"I'm tellin' yu this," continued the foreman, indicating the two
+auxiliaries, "because yu might get separated from Frenchy.  Now I
+suggests that yu look around near the' Devils Rocks:  I've heard that
+there are several water holes among them, an' besides, they might be
+turned into fair corrals.  Mind yu, I know what I've said sounds damned
+idiotic for anybody that has had as much experience with th' Staked
+Plain as I have, but I've had every other place searched for miles
+around.  Th' men of all th' ranches have been scoutin' an' th' Plain is
+th' only place left. Them rustlers has got to be found if we have to
+dig to hell for them.  They've taken th' pot so many times that they
+reckons they owns it, an' we've got to at least make a bluff at
+drawin' cards.  Mebby they're at th' bottom of th' Pecos," here he
+smiled faintly, "but wherever they are, we've got to find them. I want
+to holler `Keno."
+
+"If you finds where they hangs out come away instanter," here his
+face hardened and his eyes narrowed, "for it'll take more than yu
+three to deal with them th' way I'm a-hankerin' for.  Come right back
+to th' Double Arrow, send me word by one of their punchers an' get all
+the rest you can afore I gets there.  It'll take me a day to get th'
+men together an' to reach yu.  I'm goin' to use smoke signals to call
+th' other ranches, so there won't be no time lost.  Carry all th' water
+yu can pack when yu leaves th' Double Arrow an' don't depend none on
+cactus juice.  Yu better take a pack horse to carry it, an' yore grub-
+yu can shoot it if yu have to hit th' trail real hard."
+
+The three riders felt of their accouterments, said "So long," and
+cantered off for the pack horse and extra ammunition.  Then they rode
+toward the Double Arrow, stopping at Cowan's long enough to spend some
+money, and reached the Double Arrow at nightfall.  Early the next
+morning they passed the last line-house and, with the profane well-
+wishes of its occupants ringing in their ears, passed onto one of
+Nature's worst blunders- the Staked Plain.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+The Search Begins
+
+
+As the sun arose it revealed three punchers riding away from
+civilization.  On all sides, stretching to the evil-appearing horizon,
+lay vast blotches of dirty-white and faded yellow alkali and sand.
+Occasionally a dwarfed mesquite raised its prickly leaves and rustled
+mournfully.  With the exception of the riders and an occasional Gila
+monster, no life was discernible.  Cacti of all shapes and sizes reared
+aloft their forbidding spines or spread out along the sand.  All was
+dead, ghastly; all was oppressive, startlingly repellent in its
+sinister promise; all was the vastness of desolation.
+
+Hopalong knew this portion of the desert for ten miles inward-he had
+rescued straying cattle along its southern rim- but once beyond that
+limit they would have to trust to chance and their own abilities.
+There were water holes on this skillet, but nine out of ten were death
+traps, reeking with mineral poisons, colored and alkaline.  The two
+mentioned by Buck could not be depended on, for they came and went,
+and more than one luckless wanderer had depended on them to allay his
+thirst, and had died for his trust.
+
+So the scouts rode on in silence, noting the half-buried skeletons of cattle
+which were strewn plentifully on all sides.  Nearly three per cent, of the cattle be-
+longing to the Double Arrow yearly found death on this tableland, and
+the herds of that ranch numbered many thousand heads. It was this
+which made the Double Arrow the poorest of the ranches, and it was
+this which allowed insufficient sentries in its line-houses.  The
+skeletons were not all of cattle, for at rare intervals lay the sand-
+worn frames of men.
+
+On the morning of the second day the oppression increased with the
+wind and Red heaved a sigh of restlessness.  The sand began to skip
+across the plain, in grains at first and hardly noticeable.  Hopalong
+turned in his saddle and regarded the desert with apprehension.  As he
+looked he saw that where grains had shifted handfuls were now moving.
+His mount evinced signs of uneasiness and was hard to control.
+
+A gust of wind, stronger than the others, pricked his face and grains of sand
+rolled down his neck.  The leather of his saddle emitted strange noises
+as if a fairy tattoo was being beaten upon it and he raised his hand
+and pointed off toward the east.  The others looked and saw what had
+appeared to be a fog rise out of the desert and intervene between them
+and the sun.  As far as eye could reach small whirlwinds formed and
+broke and one swept down and covered them with stinging sand.  The day
+became darkened and their horses whinnied in terror and the clumps of
+mesquite twisted and turned to the gusts.
+
+Each man knew what was to come upon them and they dismounted,
+hobbled their horses and threw them bodily to the earth, wrapping a
+blanket around the head of each.  A rustling as of paper rubbing
+together became noticeable and they threw themselves flat upon the
+earth, their heads wrapped in their coats and buried in the necks of
+their mounts.  For an hour they endured the tortures of hell and then,
+when the storm had passed, raised their heads and cursed Creation.
+Their bodies burned as though they had been shot with fine needles and
+their clothes were meshes where once was tough cloth.  Even their shoes
+were perforated and the throat of each ached with thirst.
+
+Hopalong fumbled at the canteen resting on his hip and gargled his
+mouth and throat, washing down the sand which wouldn't come up.  His
+friends did likewise and then looked around.  After some time had
+elapsed the loss of their pack horse was noticed and they swore again.
+Hopalong took the lead in getting his horse ready for service and then
+rode around in a circle half a mile in diameter, but returned empty
+handed.  The horse was gone and with it went their main supply of food
+and drink.
+
+Frenchy scowled at the shadow of a cactus and slowly rode toward the
+northeast, followed closely by his friends.  His hand reached for his
+depleted canteen, but refrained-water was to be saved until the last
+minute.
+
+"I'm goin' to build a shack out here an' live in it, I am!" exploded
+Hopalong in withering irony as he dug the sand out of his ears and
+also from his sixshooter.  "I just nachurally dotes on this, I do!"
+
+The others were too miserable to even grunt and he neatly severed
+the head of a Gila monster from its scaly body as it opened it
+venomous jaws in rage at this invasion of its territory.  "Lovely
+place!" he sneered.
+
+"You better save them cartridges, Hoppy," interposed Red as his
+companion fired again, feeling that he must say something.
+
+"An' what for?" blazed his friend.  "To plug sand storms? Anybody
+what we find on this God-forsaken lay-out won't have to be shot-they
+will commit suicide an' think it's fun! Tell yu what, if them rustlers
+hangs out on this sand range they're better men than I reckons they
+are. Anybody what hides up here shore earns all he steals. "Hopalong
+grumbled from force of habit and because no one else would.  His
+companions understood this and paid no attention to him, which
+increased his disgust.
+
+"What are we up here for?"  He asked, belligerently.  "Why, because
+them Double Arrow idiots can't even watch a desert! We have to do
+their work for them an' they hangs around home an' gets slaughtered!
+Yes, sir!" he shouted, "they can't even take care of themselves when
+they're in line-houses what are forts.  Why, that time we cleaned out
+them an' th' C-80 over at Buckskin they couldn't help runnin' into
+singin' lead!"
+
+"Yes," drawled Red, whose recollection of that fight was vivid.
+"Yas, an' why?"  He asked, and then replied to his own question.
+"Because yu sat up in a barn behind them, Buck played his gun on th'
+side window, Pete an' Skinny lay behind a rock to one side of Buck, me
+an' Lanky was across th' Street in front of them, an' Billy an' Johnny
+was in th' arroyo on th' other side.  Cowan laid on his stummick on th'
+roof of his place with a buffalo gun, an' the whole blamed town was
+agin them.  There wasn't five seconds passed that lead wasn't rippin'
+through th' walls of their shack.  Th' Houston House wasn't made for no
+fort, an' besides, they wasn't like th' gang that's punchin' now.
+That's why."
+
+Hopalong became cheerful again, for here was a chance to differ from
+his friend.  The two loved each other the better the more they
+squabbled.
+
+"Yas!" responded Hopalong with sarcasm.  "Yas!" he reiterated,
+drawling it out.  "Yu was in front of them, an' with what? Why, an'
+old, white-haired, interfering Winchester, that's what! Me an' my
+Sharp's-"
+
+"Yu and yore Sharp's!" exploded Red, whose dislike for that rifle
+was very pronounced.  "Yu and yore Sharp's."
+
+"Me an' my Sharp's, as I was palaverin' before bein' interrupted,"
+continued Hopalong, "did more damage in five min-"
+
+"Says yu!" snapped Red with heat.  "All yu an yore Sharp's could do
+was to cut yore initials in th' back door of their shack, an' -"
+
+"Did more damage in five minutes," continued Hopalong, "than all th'
+blasted Winchesters in th' whole damned town.  Why-"
+
+"An' then they was cut blamed poor.  Every time that cannon of yourn
+exploded I shore thought th'-"
+
+"Why, Cowan an' his buffalo did more damage (Cowan was reputed to be
+a very poor shot) than yu an-"
+
+"I thought th' artillery was comin' into th' disturbance.  I could
+see yore red head-"
+
+"MY red head!" exclaimed Hopalong, sizing up the crimson warlock of
+his companion.  "MY red head!" he repeated, and then turned to Frenchy:
+"Hey, Frenchy, who's got th' reddest hair, me or Red?"
+
+Frenchy slowly turned in his saddle and gravely scrutinized them.
+Being strictly impartial and truthful, he gave up the effort of
+differentiating and smiled.  "Why, if the tops of yore heads were poked
+through two holes in a board an' I didn't know which was which, I'd
+shore make a mistake if I tried to name `em"
+
+But Red had the last word.  "Anyhow, you didn't have a Sharp's in
+that fight-you bad a .45-70 Winchester, just like mine!"
+
+Thereupon the discussion was directed at the judge, and the forenoon
+passed very pleasantly, Frenchy even smiling in his misery.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+Hopalong's Decision
+
+
+Shortly after noon, Hopalong, who had ridden with his head bowed low
+in meditation, looked up and slapped his thigh.  Then he looked at Red
+and grinned.
+
+"Look ahere, Red," he began, "there ain't no rustlers with their
+headquarters on this God-forsaken sand heap, an' there never was.  They
+have to have water an' lots of it, too, an' th' nearest of any account
+is th' Pecos, or some of them streams over in th' Panhandle.  Th'
+Panhandle is th' best place.  There are lots of streams an' lakes over
+there an' they're right in a good grass country.  Why, an' army could
+hide over there an' never be found unless it was hunted for blamed
+good. Then, again, it's close to the railroad.  Up north aways is th'
+south branch of th' Santa Fe Trail an' it's far enough away not to
+bother anybody in th' middle Panhandle.  Then there's Fort Worth purty
+near, an' other trails.  Didn't Buck say he had all th' rest of th'
+country searched?  He meant th' Pecos Valley an th' Davis Mountains
+country.  All th' rustlers would have to do if they were in th'
+Panhandle would be to cross th' Canadian an th' Cimarron an' hit th'
+trail for th' railroad. Good fords, good grass an' water all th' way,
+cattle fat when they are delivered an plenty of room.  Th' more I
+thinks about it th' more I cottons to the Panhandle."
+
+"Well, it shore does sound good," replied Red, reflectively.
+
+"Do yu mean th' Cunningham Lake region or farther north?"
+
+"Just th' other side of this blasted desert: anywhere where there's
+water," responded Hopalong, enthusiastically.  "I've been doin' some
+hot reckonin' for th' last two hours an' this is th' way it looks to
+me: they drives th' cows up on this skillet for a ways, then turns
+east an' hits th' trail for home an' water.  They can get around th'
+ca on near Thatcher's Lake by a swing of th' north.  I tell yu that's
+th' only way out'n this.  Who could tell where they turned with th'
+wind raisin' th' deuce with the trail?  Didn't we follow a trail for a
+ways, an' then what? Why, there wasn't none to follow.  We can ride
+north `till we walk behind ourselves an' never get a peek at them. I
+am in favor of headin' for th' Sulphur Spring Creek district.  We can
+spend a couple of weeks, if we has to, an' prospect that whole region
+without havin' to cut our' water down to a smell an' a taste an live
+on jerked beef. If we investigates that country we'll find something
+else than sand storms, poisoned water holes an' blisters."
+
+"Ain't th' Panhandle full of nesters (farmers)?"  Inquired Red,
+doubtfully.
+
+"Along th' Canadian an' th' edges, yas; in th' middle, no,"
+explained Hopalong.  "They hang close together on account of th' war-
+whoops, an' they like th' trails purty well because of there allus
+bein' somebody passin'."
+
+"Buck ought to send some of th' Panhandle boys up there," suggested
+Red.  "There's Pie Willis an' th' Jordans-they knows th' Panhandle like
+yu knows poker."
+
+Frenchy had paid no apparent attention to the conversation up to
+this point, but now he declared himself.  "Yu heard what Buck said,
+didn't yu?"  He asked.  "We were told to search th' Staked Plains from
+one end to th' other an' I'm goin' to do it if I can hold out long
+enough.  I ain't goin' to palaver with yu because what yu say can't be
+denied as far as wisdom is concerned.  Yu may have hit it plumb center,
+but I knows what I was ordered to do, an' yu can't get me to go over
+there if you shouts all night.  When Buck says anything, she goes.  He
+wants to know where th' cards are stacked an' why he can't holler
+`Keno,' an' I'm goin' to find out if I can.  Yu can go to Patagonia if
+yu wants to, but yu go alone as far as I am concerned."
+
+"Well, it's better if yu don't go with us," replied Hopalong, taking
+it for granted that Red would accompany him.  "Yu can prospect this end
+of th' game an' we'll be takin' care of th' other.  It's two chances
+now where we only had one afore."
+
+"Yu go east an' I'll hunt around as ordered," responded Frenchy.
+
+"East nothin'," replied Hopalong.  "Yu don't get me to wallow in hot
+alkali an' lose time ridin' in ankle-deep sand when I can hit th'
+south trail, skirt th' White Sand Hills an' be in God's country again.
+I ain't goin' to wrastle with no ca on this here trip, none whatever.
+I'm goin' to travel in style, get to Big Spring by ridin' two miles to
+where I could only make one on this stove.  Then I'll head north along
+Sulpher Spring Creek an' have water an' grass all th' way, barrin' a
+few stretches.  While you are bein' fricasseed I'll be streakin'
+through cottonwood groves an' ridin' in the creek."
+
+"Yu'll have to go alone, then," said Red, resolutely.  "Frenchy ain't
+a-goin' to die of lonesomeness on this desert if I knows what I'm
+about, an' I reckon I do, some.  Me an' him'll follow out what Buck
+said, hunt around for a while an' then Frenchy can go back to th'
+ranch to tell Buck what's up an' I'll take th' trail yu are a-scared
+of an' meet yu at th' east end of Cunningham Lake three days from
+now."
+
+"Yu better come with me," coaxed Hopalong, not liking what his
+friend had said about being afraid of the trail past the ca on and
+wishing to have some one with whom to talk on his trip.  "I'm goin' to
+have a nice long swim to-morrow night," he added, trying bribery.
+
+"An' I'm goin' to try to keep from hittin' my blisters," responded
+Red. "I don't want to go swimmin' in no creek full of moccasins-I'd
+rather sleep with rattlers or copperheads. Every time I sees a cotton-
+mouth I feels like I had just sit down on one.
+
+"I'll flip a coin to see whether yu comes or not," proposed
+Hopalong.
+
+"If yu wants to gamble so bad I'll flip yu to see who draws our pay
+next month, but not for what you said," responded Red, choking down
+the desire to try his luck.
+
+Hopalong grinned and turned toward the south. "If I sees Buck afore
+yu do, I'll tell him yu an' Frenchy are growin' watermelons up near
+Last Stand Rock an' are waitin' for rain. Well, so long," he said.
+
+"Yu tell Buck we're obeyin' orders!" shouted Red, sorry that he was
+not going with his bunkie.
+
+Frenchy and Red rode on in silence, the latter feeling strangely
+lonesome, for he and the departed man had seldom been separated when
+journeys like this were to be taken. And when in search of pleasure
+they were nearly always together.  Frenchy, while being very friendly
+with Hopalong, a friendship that would have placed them side by side
+against any odds, was not accustomed to his company and did not notice
+his absence.
+
+Red looked off toward the south for the tenth time and for the tenth
+time thought that his friend might return.  "He's a son-of-a-gun," he
+soliloquized.
+
+His companion looked up: "He shore is, an' he's right about this
+rustler business, too.  But we'll look around for a day or so an' then
+yu raise dust for th' Lake.  I'll go back to th' ranch an' get things
+primed, so there'll be no time lost when we get th' word."
+
+"I'm sorry I went an' said what I did about me takin' th' trail he
+was a-scared of," confessed Red, after a pause.  "Why, he ain't
+a-scared of nothin'."
+
+"He got back at yu about them watermelons, so what's th'
+difference?"  Asked Frenchy.  "He don't owe yu nothin'."
+
+An hour later they searched the Devil's Rocks, but found no
+rustlers.  Filling their canteens at a tiny spring and allowing their
+mounts to drink the remainder of the water, they turned toward Hell
+Arroyo, which they reached at nightfall.  Here, also, their search
+availed them nothing and they paused in indecision.  Then Frenchy
+turned toward his companion and advised him to ride toward the Lake in
+the night when it was comparatively cool.
+
+Red considered and then decided that the advice was good.  He rolled
+a cigarette, wheeled and faced the east and spurred forward: "So
+long," he called.
+
+"So long," replied Frenchy, who turned toward the south and departed
+for the ranch.
+
+The foreman of the Bar-20 was cleaning his rifle when he heard the
+hoof-beats of a galloping horse and he ran around the corner of the
+house to meet the newcomer, whom he thought to be a courier from the
+Double Arrow.  Frenchy dismounted and explained why he returned alone.
+
+Buck listened to the report and then, noting the fire which gleamed
+in his friend's eyes, nodded his approval to the course.   "I reckon
+it's Trendley, Frenchy-I've heard a few things since yu left. An' yu
+can bet that if Hopalong an' Red have gone for him he'll be found.  I
+expect action any time now, so we'll light th' signal fire."  Then he
+hesitated; "Yu light it-yu've been waiting a long time for this."
+
+The balls of smoke which rolled upward were replied to by other
+balls at different points on the plain, and the Bar-20 prepared to
+feed the numbers of hungry punchers who would arrive within the next
+twenty-four hours.
+
+Two hours had not passed when eleven men rode up from the Three
+Triangle, followed eight hours later by ten from the O-Bar-O.  The
+outfits of the Star Circle and the Barred Horseshoe, eighteen in all,
+came next and had scarcely dismounted when those of the C-80 and the
+Double Arrow, fretting at the delay, rode up.  With the sixteen from
+the Bar-20 the force numbered seventy-five resolute and pugnacious
+cowpunchers, all aching to wipe out the indignities suffered.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A Problem Solved
+
+
+Hopalong worried his way out of the desert on a straight line, thus
+cutting in half the distance he had traveled when going into it.  He
+camped that night on the sand and early the next morning took up his
+journey.  It was noon when he began to notice familiar sights, and an
+hour later he passed within a mile of line-house No. 3, Double Arrow.
+Half an hour later he espied a cow-puncher riding like mad.  Thinking
+that an investigation would not be out of place, he rode after the
+rider and overtook him, when that person paused and retraced his
+course.
+
+"Hullo, Hopalong!" shouted the puncher and he came near enough to
+recognize his pursuer.  "Thought yu was farmin' up on th' Staked
+Plain?"
+
+"Hullo, Pie," replied Hopalong, recognizing Pie Willis.  "What was yu
+chasin' so hard?"
+
+"Coyote-damn `em, but can't they go some?  They're gettin' so thick
+we'll shore have to try strichnine an' thin `em out."
+
+"I thought anybody that had been raised in th' Panhandle would know
+better'n to chase greased lightnin'," rebuked Hopalong.  "Yu has got
+about as much show catchin' one of them as a tenderfoot has of bustin'
+an outlawed cayuse."
+
+"Shore; I know it," responded Pie, grinning.  "But it's fun seem'
+them hunt th' horizon.  What are yu doin' down here an' where are yore
+pardners?"
+
+Thereupon Hopalong enlightened his inquisitive companion as to what
+had occurred and as to his reasons for riding south.
+
+Pie immediately became enthusiastic and announced his intention of
+accompanying Hopalong on his quest, which intention struck that
+gentleman as highly proper and wise.  Then Pie hastily turned and
+played at chasing coyotes in the direction of the line-house, where he
+announced that his absence would be accounted for by the fact that he
+and Hopalong were going on a journey of investigation into the
+Panhandle.  Billy Jordan who shared with Pie the accommodations of the
+house, objected and showed, very clearly, why he was eminently better
+qualified to take up the proposed labors than his companions.  The
+suggestions were fast getting tangled up with the remarks, when Pie,
+grabbing a chunk of jerked beef, leaped into his saddle and absolutely
+refused to heed the calls of his former companion and return.  He rode
+to where Hopalong was awaiting him as if he was afraid he wasn't going
+to live long enough to get there.  Confiding to his companion that
+Billy was a "locoed sage hen," he led the way along the base of the
+White Sand Hills and asked many questions.  Then they turned toward the
+east and galloped hard.
+
+It had been Hopalong's intention to carry out what he had told Red
+and to go to Big Spring first and thence north along Sulphur Spring
+Creek, but to this his guide strongly dissented.  There was a short
+cut, or several of them for that matter, was Pie's contention, and any
+one of them would save a day's hard riding.  Hopalong made no objection
+to allowing his companion to lead the way over any trail he saw fit,
+for he knew that Pie had been born and brought up in the Panhandle,
+the Cunningham Lake district having been his back yard, as it were. So
+they followed the short cut having the most water and grass, and
+pounded out a lively tattoo as they raced over the stretches of sand
+which seemed to slide beneath them.
+
+"What do yu know about this here business?"  Inquired Pie, as they
+raced past a chaparral and onto the edge of a grassy plain.
+
+"Nothin' more'n yu do, only Buck said he thought Slippery Trendley
+is at th' bottom of it."
+
+"What!" ejaculated Pie in surprise.  "Him!"
+
+"Yore on.  An' between yu an' me an' th' Devil, I wouldn't be a heap
+surprised if Deacon Rankin is with him, neither."
+
+Pie whistled: "Are him an' th' Deacon pals?"
+
+"Shore," replied Hopalong, buttoning up his vest and rolling a
+cigarette.  "Didn't they allus hang out together! One watched that th'
+other didn't get plugged from behind.  It was a sort of yu-scratch-my-
+back-an'-I'll-scratch-yourn arrangement."
+
+"Well, if they still hangs out together, I know where to hunt for
+our cows," responded Pie.  "Th' Deacon used to range along th'
+headwaters of th' Colorado-it ain't far from Cunningham Lake.
+Thunderation!" he shouted, "I knows th' very ground they're on-I can
+take yu to th' very shack!" Then to himself he muttered: "An' that
+doodlebug Billy Jordan thinkin' he knowed more about th' Panhandle
+than me!"
+
+Hopalong showed his elation in an appropriate manner and his
+companion drank deeply from the proffered flask; Thereupon they
+treated their mounts to liberal doses of strap-oil and covered the
+ground with great speed.
+
+They camped early, for Hopalong was almost worn out from the
+exertions of the past few days and the loss of sleep he had sustained.
+Pie, too excited to sleep and having had unbroken rest for a long
+period, volunteered to keep guard, and his companion eagerly
+consented.
+
+Early the next morning they broke camp and the evening of the same
+day found them fording Sulphur Spring Creek, and their quarry lay only
+an hour beyond, according to Pie.  Then they forded one of the streams
+which form the headwaters of the Colorado, and two hours later they
+dismounted in a cottonwood grove. Picketing their horses, they
+carefully made their way through the timber, which was heavily grown
+with brush, and, after half an hour's maneuvering, came within sight
+of the further edge.
+
+Dropping down on all fours, they crawled to the last line of brush and
+looked out over an extensive bottoms. At their feet lay a small river, and
+in a clearing on the farther side was a rough camp, consisting of about a
+dozen leanto shacks and log cabins in the main collection, and a few scattered
+cabins along the edge.  A huge fire was blazing before the main collection
+ of huts, and to the rear of these was an indistinct black mass, which they
+ knew to be the corral.
+
+At a rude table before the fire more than a score of men were eating
+supper and others could be heard moving about and talking at different
+points in the background.  While the two scouts were learning the lay
+of the land, they saw Mr. Trendley and Deacon Rankin walk out of the
+cabin most distant from the fire, and the latter limped.  Then they saw
+two men lying on rude cots, and they wore bandages.  Evidently Johnny
+Redmond had scored in his fight.
+
+The odor of burning cowhide came from the corral, accompanied by the
+squeals of cattle, and informed them that brands were being blotted
+out.  Hopalong longed to charge down and do some blotting out of
+another kind, but a heavy hand was placed on his shoulder and he
+silently wormed his way after Pie as that person led the way back to
+the horses. Mounting, they picked their way out of the grove and rode
+over the plain at a walk.  When far enough away to insure that the
+noise made by their horses would not reach the ears of those in the
+camp they cantered toward the ford they had taken on the way up.
+
+After emerging from the waters of the last forded stream, Pie raised
+his hand and pointed off toward the northwest, telling his companion
+to take that course to reach Cunningham Lake.  He himself would ride
+south, taking, for the saving of time, a yet shorter trail to the
+Double Arrow, from where he would ride to Buck.  He and the others
+would meet Hopalong and Red at the split rock they had noticed on
+their way up.
+
+Hopalong shook hands with his guide and watched him disappear into
+the night.  He imagined he could still catch whiffs of burning cowhide
+and again the picture of the camp came to his mind.  Glancing again at
+the point where Pie had disappeared, he stuffed his sombrero under a
+strap on his saddle and slowly rode toward the lake.  A coyote slunk
+past him on a time-destroying lope and an owl hooted at the
+foolishness of men.  He camped at the base of a cottonwood and at
+daylight took up his journey after a scanty breakfast from his saddle-
+bags.
+
+Shortly before noon he came in sight of the lake and looked for his
+friend.  He had just ridden around a clump of cotton-woods when he was
+hit on the back with something large and soft.  Turning in his saddle,
+with his Colts ready, he saw Red sitting on a stump, a huge grin
+extending over his features.  He replaced the weapon, said something
+about fools and dismounted, kicking aside the bundle of grass his
+friend had thrown.
+
+"Yore shore easy," remarked Red, tossing aside his cold cigarette.
+"Suppose I was Trendley, where would yu be now?"
+
+"Diggin' a hole to put yu in," pleasantly replied Hopalong.  "If I
+didn't know he wasn't around this part of the country I wouldn't a
+rode as I did."
+
+The man on the stump laughed and rolled a fresh cigarette.  Lighting
+it, he inquired where Mr. Trendley was, intimating by his words that
+the rustler had not been found.
+
+"About thirty miles to th' southeast," responded the other.  "He's
+figurin' up how much dust he'll have when he gets our cows on th'
+market. Deacon Rankin is with him, too."
+
+"Th' deuce!" exclaimed Red, in profound astonishment.
+
+"Yore right," replied his companion.  Then he explained all the
+arrangements and told of the camp.
+
+Red was for riding to the rendezvous at once, but his friend thought
+otherwise and proposed a swim, which met with approval. After enjoying
+themselves in the lake they dressed and rode along the trail Hopalong
+had made in coming for his companion, it being the intention of the
+former to learn more thoroughly the lay of the land immediately
+surrounding the camp.  Red was pleased with this, and while they rode
+he narrated all that had taken place since the separation on the
+Plain, adding that he had found the trail left by the rustlers after
+they had quitted the desert and that he had followed it for the last
+two hours of his journey.  It was well beaten and an eighth of a mile
+wide.
+
+At dark they came within sight of the grove and picketed their
+horses at the place used by Pie and Hopalong.  Then they moved forward
+and the same sight greeted their eyes that had been seen the night
+before. Keeping well within the edge of the grove and looking
+carefully for sentries, they went entirely around the camp and picked
+out several places which would be of strategic value later on.  They
+noticed that the cabin used by Slippery Trendley was a hundred paces
+from the main collection of huts and that the woods came to within a
+tenth part of that distance of its door. It was heavily built, had no
+windows and faced the wrong direction.
+
+Moving on, they discovered the storehouse of the enemy, another
+tempting place.  It was just possible, if a siege became necessary, for
+several of the attacking force to slip up to it and either destroy it
+by fire or take it and hold it against all comers.  This suggested a
+look at the enemy's water supply, which was the river.  A hundred paces
+separated it from the nearest cabin and any rustler who could cross
+that zone under the fire of the besiegers would be welcome to his
+drink.
+
+It was very evident that the rustlers had no thought of defense,
+thinking, perhaps, that they were immune from attack with such a well
+covered trail between them and their foes.  Hopalong mentally accused
+them of harboring suicidal inclinations and returned with his
+companion to the horses.  They mounted and sat quietly for a while, and
+then rode slowly away and at dawn reached the split rock, where they
+awaited the arrival of their friends, one sleeping while the other
+kept guard.  Then they drew a rough map of the camp, using the sand for
+paper, and laid out the plan of attack.
+
+As the evening of the next day came on they saw Pie, followed by
+many punchers, ride over a rise a mile to the south and they rode out
+to meet him.
+
+When the force arrived at the camp of the two scouts they were shown
+the plan prepared for them.  Buck made a few changes in the disposition
+of the men and then each member was shown where he was to go and was
+told why.  Weapons were put in a high state of efficiency, canteens
+were refilled and haversacks were somewhat depleted.  Then the
+newcomers turned in and slept while Hopalong and Red kept guard.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+The Call
+
+
+At three o'clock the next morning a long line of men slowly filed
+into the cottonwood grove, being silently swallowed up by the dark.
+Dismounting, they left their horses in the care of three of their
+number and disappeared into the brush.  Ten minutes later forty of the
+force were distributed along the edge of the grove fringing on the
+bank of the river and twenty more minutes gave ample time for a
+detachment of twenty to cross the stream and find concealment in the
+edge of the woods which ran from the river to where the corral made an
+effective barrier on the south.
+
+Eight crept down on the western side of the camp and worked their way
+close to Mr. Trendley's cabin door, and the seven who followed this
+detachment continued and took up their positions at the rear of the corral,
+where, it was hoped, some of the rustlers would endeavor to
+escape into the woods by working their way through the cattle in the corral
+and then scaling the stockade wall. These seven were from the Three
+Triangle and the Double Arrow, and they were positive that any such attempt
+would not be a success from the view-point of the rustlers.
+
+Two of those who awaited the pleasure of Mr. Trendley crept forward,
+and a rope swished through the air and settled over the stump which
+lay most convenient on the other side of the cabin door.  Then the
+slack moved toward the woods, raised from the ground as it grew taut
+and, with the stump for its axis, swung toward the door, where it
+rubbed gently against the rough logs.  It was made of braided
+horsehair, was half an inch in diameter and was stretched eight inches
+above the ground.
+
+As it touched the door, Lanky Smith, Hopalong and Red stepped out of
+the shelter of the woods and took up their positions behind the cabin,
+Lanky behind the northeast corner where he would be permitted to swing
+his right arm.  In his gloved right hand he held the carefully arranged
+coils of a fifty-foot lariat, and should the chief of the rustlers
+escape tripping he would have to avoid the cast of the best roper in
+the southwest.
+
+The two others took the northwest corner and one of
+them leaned slightly forward and gently twitched the tripping-rope.
+The man at the other end felt the signal and whispered to a companion,
+who quietly disappeared in the direction of the river and shortly
+afterward the mournful cry of a whip-poor-will dirged out on the early
+morning air. It had hardly died away when the quiet was broken by one
+terrific crash of rifles, and the two camp guards asleep at the fire
+awoke in another world.
+
+Mr. Trendley, sleeping unusually well for the unjust, leaped from
+his bed to the middle of the floor and alighted on his feet and wide
+awake.  Fearing that a plot was being consummated to deprive him of his
+leadership, he grasped the Winchester which leaned at the head of his
+bed and, tearing open the door, crashed headlong to the earth.  As he
+touched the ground, two shadows sped out from the shelter of the cabin
+wall and pounced upon him.  Men who can rope, throw and tie a wild
+steer in thirty seconds flat do not waste time in trussing operations,
+and before a minute had elapsed he was being carried into the woods,
+bound and helpless.  Lanky sighed, threw the rope over one shoulder and
+departed after his friends.
+
+When Mr. Trendley came to his senses he found himself bound to a
+tree in the grove near the horses.  A man sat on a stump not far from
+him, three others were seated around a small fire some distance to the
+north, and four others, one of whom carried a rope, made their way
+into the brush.  He strained at his bonds, decided that the effort was
+useless and watched the man on the stump, who struck a match and lit a
+pipe.  The prisoner watched the light flicker up and go out and there
+was left in his mind a picture that he could never forget.  The face
+which had been so cruelly, so grotesquely revealed was that of Frenchy
+McAllister, and across his knees lay a heavy caliber Winchester.  A
+curse escaped from the lips of the outlaw; the man on the stump spat
+at a firefly and smiled.
+
+From the south came the crack of rifles, incessant and sharp.  The
+reports rolled from one end of the clearing to the other and seemed to
+sweep in waves from the center of the line to the ends.  Faintly in the
+infrequent lulls in the firing came an occasional report from the rear
+of the corral, where some desperate rustler paid for his venture.
+
+Buck went along the line and spoke to the riflemen, and after some
+time had passed and the light had become stronger, he collected the
+men into groups of five and six.  Taking one group and watching it
+closely, it could be seen that there was a world of meaning in this
+maneuver.  One man started firing at a particular window in an opposite
+hut and then laid aside his empty gun and waited.  When the muzzle of
+his enemy's gun came into sight and lowered until it had nearly gained
+its sight level, the rifles of the remainder of the group crashed out
+in a volley and usually one of the bullets, at least, found its
+intended billet.  This volley firing became universal among the
+besiegers and the effect was marked.
+
+Two men sprinted from the edge of the woods near Mr. Trendley's
+cabin and gained the shelter of the storehouse, which soon broke out
+in flames.  The burning brands fell over the main collection of huts,
+where there was much confusion and swearing.  The early hour at which
+the attack had been delivered at first led the besieged to believe
+that it was an Indian affair, but this impression was soon corrected
+by the volley firing, which turned hope into despair.  It was no great
+matter to fight Indians, that they had done many times and found more
+or less enjoyment in it; but there was a vast difference between brave
+and puncher, and the chances of their salvation became very small.
+They surmised that it was the work of the cow-men on whom they had
+preyed and that vengeful punchers lay hidden behind that death-fringe
+of green willow and hazel.
+
+Red, assisted by his inseparable companion, Hopalong, laboriously
+climbed up among the branches of a black walnut and hooked one leg
+over a convenient limb.  Then he lowered his rope and drew up the
+Winchester which his accommodating friend fastened to it. Settling
+himself in a comfortable position and sheltering his body somewhat by
+the tree, he shaded his eyes by a hand and peered into the windows of
+the distant cabins.
+
+"How is she, Red?"  Anxiously inquired the man on the ground.
+
+"Bully: want to come up?"
+
+"Nope.  I'm goin' to catch yu when yu lets go," replied Hopalong with
+a grin.
+
+"Which same I ain't goin' to," responded the man in the tree.
+
+He swung his rifle out over a forked limb and let it settle in the
+crotch.  Then he slew his head around until he gained the bead he
+wished.  Five minutes passed before he caught sight of his man and then
+he fired.  Jerking out the empty shell he smiled and called out to his
+friend: "One."
+
+Hopalong grinned and went off to tell Buck to put all the men in
+trees.
+
+Night came on and still the firing continued.  Then an explosion
+shook the woods.  The storehouse had blown up and a sky full of burning
+timber fell on the cabins and soon three were half consumed, their
+occupants dropping as they gained the open air.  One hundred paces
+makes fine pot-shooting, as Deacon Rankin discovered when evacuation
+was the choice necessary to avoid cremation.  He never moved after he
+touched the ground and Red called out: "Two," not knowing that his
+companion had departed.
+
+The morning of the next day found a wearied and hopeless garrison,
+and shortly before noon a soiled white shirt was flung from a window
+in the nearest cabin.  Buck ran along the line and ordered the firing
+to cease and caused to be raised an answering flag of truce.  A full
+minute passed and then the door slowly opened and a leg protruded,
+more slowly followed by the rest of the man, and Cheyenne Charley
+strode out to the bank of the river and sat down.  His example was
+followed by several others and then an unexpected event occurred.
+Those in the cabins who preferred to die fighting, angered at this
+desertion, opened fire on their former comrades, who barely escaped by
+rolling down the slightly inclined bank into the river.  Red fired
+again and laughed to himself. Then the fugitives swam down the river
+and landed under the guns of the last squad.  They were taken to the
+rear and, after being bound, were placed under a guard. There were
+seven in the party and they looked worn out.
+
+When the huts were burning the fiercest the uproar in the corral
+arose to such a pitch as to drown all other sounds.  There were left
+within its walls a few hundred cattle whose brands had not yet been
+blotted out, and these, maddened to frenzy by the shooting and the
+flames, tore from one end of the enclosure to the other, crashing
+against the alternate walls with a noise which could be heard far out
+on the plain.  Scores were trampled to death on each charge and finally
+the uproar subsided in sheer want of cattle left with energy enough to
+continue.  When the corral was investigated the next day there were
+found the bodies of four rustlers, but recognition was impossible.
+
+Several of the defenders were housed in cabins having windows in the
+rear walls, which the occupants considered fortunate.  This opinion was
+revised, however, after several had endeavored to escape by these
+openings.  The first thing that occurred when a man put his head out
+was the hum of a bullet, and in two cases the experimenters lost all
+need of escape.
+
+The volley firing had the desired effect, and at dusk there remained
+only one cabin from which came opposition.  Such a fire was
+concentrated on it that before an hour had passed the door fell in and
+the firing ceased.  There was a rush from the side, and the Barred
+Horseshoe men who swarmed through the cabins emerged without firing a
+shot.  The organization that had stirred up the Pecos Valley ranches
+had ceased to exist.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+The Showdown
+
+
+A fire burned briskly in front of Mr. Trendley's cabin that night
+and several punchers sat around it occupied in various ways.  Two men
+leaned against the wall and sang softly of the joys of the trail and
+the range.  One of them, Lefty Allen, of the O-Bar-O, sang in his sweet
+tenor, and other men gradually strolled up and seated themselves on
+the ground, where the fitful gleam of responsive pipes and cigarettes
+showed like fireflies. The songs followed one after another, first a
+lover's plea in soft Spanish and then a rollicking tale of the cow-
+towns and men.  Supper had long since been enjoyed and all felt that
+life was, indeed, well worth living.
+
+A shadow loomed against the cabin wall and a procession slowly made
+its way toward the open door.  The leader, Hopalong, disappeared within
+and was followed by Mr. Trendley, bound and hobbled and tied to Red,
+the rear being brought up by Frenchy, whose rifle lolled easily in the
+crotch of his elbow.  The singing went on uninterrupted and the hum of
+voices between the selections remained unchanged.  Buck left the crowd
+around the fire and went into the cabin, where his voice was heard
+assenting to something.  Hopalong emerged and took a seat at the fire,
+sending two punchers to take his place. He was joined by Frenchy and
+Red, the former very quiet.
+
+In the center of a distant group were seven men who were not armed.
+Their belts, half full of cartridges, supported empty holsters.  They
+sat and talked to the men around them, swapping notes and experiences,
+and in several instances found former friends and acquaintances.  These
+men were not bound and were apparently members of Buck's force.  Then
+one of them broke down, but quickly regained his nerve and proposed a
+game of cards.  A fire was started and several games were immediately
+in progress.  These seven men were to die at daybreak.
+
+As the night grew older man after man rolled himself in his blanket
+and lay down where he sat, sinking off to sleep with a swiftness that
+bespoke tired muscles and weariness.  All through the night, however,
+there were twelve men on guard, of whom three were in the cabin.
+
+At daybreak a shot from one of the guards awakened every man within
+hearing, and soon they romped and scampered down to the river's edge
+to indulge in the luxury of a morning plunge.  After an hour's
+horseplay they trooped back to the cabin and soon had breakfast out of
+the way.
+
+Waffles, foreman of the O-Bar-O, and You-bet Somes strolled over to
+the seven unfortunates who had just completed a choking breakfast and
+nodded a hearty "Good morning."  Then others came up and finally all
+moved off toward the river.  Crossing it, they disappeared into the
+grove and all sounds of their advance grew into silence.
+
+Mr. Trendley, escorted outside for the air, saw the procession as it
+became lost to sight in the brush.  He sneered and asked for a smoke,
+which was granted.  Then his guards were changed and the men began to
+straggle back from the grove.
+
+Mr. Trendley, with his back to the cabin, scowled defiantly at the
+crowd that hemmed him in.  The coolest, most damnable murderer in the
+West was not now going to beg for mercy.  When he had taken up crime as
+a means of livelihood he had decided that if the price to be paid for
+his course was death, he would pay like a man. He glanced at the
+cottonwood grove, wherein were many ghastly secrets, and smiled.  His
+hairless eyebrows looked like livid scars and his lips quivered in
+scorn and anger.
+
+As he sneered at Buck there was a movement in the crowd before him
+and a pathway opened for Frenchy, who stepped forward slowly and
+deliberately, as if on his way to some bar for a drink.  There was
+something different about the man who had searched the Staked Plain
+with Hopalong and Red: he was not the same puncher who had arrived
+from Montana three weeks before.  There was lacking a certain air of
+carelessness and he chilled his friends, who looked upon him as if
+they had never really known him.  He walked up to Mr. Trendley and
+gazed deeply into the evil eyes.
+
+Twenty years before, Frenchy McAllister had changed his identity
+from a happy-go-lucky, devil-may-care cow-puncher and became a
+machine.  The grief that had torn his soul was not of the kind which
+seeks its outlet in tears and wailing; it had turned and struck
+inward, and now his deliberate ferocity was icy and devilish.  Only a
+glint in his eyes told of exultation, and his words were sharp and
+incisive; one could well imagine one heard the click of his teeth as
+they bit off the consonants: every letter was clear-cut, every
+syllable startling in its clearness.
+
+"Twenty years and two months ago to-day," he began, "you arrived at
+the ranchhouse of the Double Y, up near the Montana-Wyoming line.
+Everything was quiet, except, perhaps, a woman's voice, singing.  You
+entered, and before you left you pinned a note to that woman's dress.
+I found it, and it is due."
+
+The air of carelessness disappeared from the members of the crowd
+and the silence became oppressive.  Most of those present knew parts of
+Frenchy's story, and all were in hearty accord with anything he might
+do.  He reached within his vest and brought forth a deerskin bag.
+Opening it, he drew out a package of oiled silk and from that he took
+a paper.  Carefully replacing the silk and the bag, he slowly unfolded
+the sheet in his hand and handed it to Buck, whose face hardened.  Two
+decades had passed since the foreman of the Bar-20 had seen that
+precious sheet, but the scene of its finding would never fade from his
+memory.  He stood as if carved from stone, with a look on his face that
+made the crowd shift uneasily and glance at Trendley.
+
+Frenchy turned to the rustler and regarded him evilly.  "You are the
+hellish brute that wrote that note," pointing to the paper in the hand
+of his friend.  Then, turning again, he spoke: "Buck, read that paper."
+
+The foreman cleared his throat and read distinctly:
+
+"McAllister: Yore wife is too blame good to live.
+
+                                         TRENDLEY."
+
+There was a shuffling sound, but Buck and Frenchy, silently backed
+up by Hopalong and Red, intervened, and the crowd fell back, where it
+surged in indecision.
+
+"Gentlemen," said Frenchy, "I want you to vote on whether any man
+here has more right to do with Slippery Trendley as he sees fit than
+myself.  Any one who thinks so, or that he should be treated like the
+others, step forward.  Majority rules."
+
+There was no advance and he spoke again: "Is there any one here who
+objects to this man dying?"
+
+Hopalong and Red awkwardly bumped their knuckles against their guns
+and there was no response.
+
+The prisoner was bound with cowhide to the wall of the cabin and
+four men sat near and facing him.  The noonday meal was eaten in
+silence, and the punchers rode off to see about rounding up the cattle
+that grazed over the plain as far as eye could see.  Supper-time came
+and passed, and busy men rode away in all directions.  Others came and
+relieved the guards, and at midnight another squad took up the vigil.
+
+Day broke and the thunder of hoofs as the punchers rounded up the
+cattle became very noticeable.  One herd swept past toward the south,
+guarded and guided by fifteen men.  Two hours later and another
+followed, taking a slightly different trail so as to avoid the close-
+cropped grass left by the first.  At irregular intervals during the day
+other herds swept by, until six had passed and denuded the plain of
+cattle.
+
+Buck, perspiring and dusty, accompanied by Hopalong and Red, rode up
+to where the guards smoked and joked.  Frenchy came out of the cabin
+and smiled at his friends.  Swinging in his left hand was a newly
+filled Colt's .45, which was recognized by his friends as the one
+found in the cabin and it bore a rough "T" gouged in the butt.
+
+Buck looked around and cleared his throat: "We've got th' cows on
+th' home trail, Frenchy," he suggested.
+
+"Yas?"  Inquired Frenchy.  "Are there many?"
+
+"Yas," replied Buck, waving his hand at the guards, ordering them to
+follow their friends.  "It's a good deal for us: we've done right smart
+this hand.  An' it's a good thing we've got so many punchers: we got a
+lot of cattle to drive."
+
+"About five times th' size of th' herd that blamed near made angels
+out'en me an' yu," responded Frenchy with a smile.
+
+"I hope almighty hard that we don't have no stampedes on this here
+drive.  If th' last herds go wild they'll pick up th' others, an' then
+there'll be th' devil to pay."
+
+Frenchy smiled again and shot a glance at where Mr. Trendley was
+bound to the cabin wall.
+
+Buck looked steadily southward for some time and then flecked a
+foam-sud from the flank of his horse.  "We are goin' south along th'
+Creek until we gets to Big Spring, where we'll turn right smart to th'
+west.  We won't be able to average more'n twelve miles a day, `though
+I'm goin' to drive them hard.  How's yore grub?"
+
+"Grub to burn."
+
+"Got yore rope?"  Asked the foreman of the Bar-20, speaking as if the
+question had no especial meaning.
+
+Frenchy smiled: "Yes."
+
+Hopalong absent-mindedly jabbed his spurs into his mount with the
+result that when the storm had subsided the spell was broken and he
+said "So long," and rode south, followed by Buck and Red.  As they
+swept out of sight behind a grove Red turned in his saddle and waved
+his hat.  Buck discussed with assiduity the prospects of a rainfall and
+was very cheerful about the recovery of the stolen cattle.  Red could
+see a tall, broad-shouldered man standing with his feet spread far
+apart, swinging a Colt's .45, and Hopalong swore at everything under
+the sun.  Dust arose in streaming clouds far to the south and they
+spurred forward to overtake the outfits.
+
+Buck Peters, riding over the starlit plain, in his desire to reach
+the first herd, which slept somewhere to the west of him under the
+care of Waffles, thought of the events of the past few weeks and
+gradually became lost in the memories of twenty years before, which
+crowded up before his mind like the notes of a half-forgotten song.
+His nature, tempered by two decades of a harsh existence, softened as
+he lived again the years that had passed and as he thought of the
+things which had been.  He was so completely lost in his reverie that
+he failed to hear the muffled hoofbeats of a horse that steadily
+gained upon him, and when Frenchy McAllister placed a friendly hand on
+his shoulder he started as if from a deep sleep.
+
+The two looked at each other and their hands met.  The question which
+sprang into Buck's eyes found a silent answer in those of his friend.
+They rode on side by side through the clear night and together drifted
+back to the days of the Double Y.
+
+After an hour had passed, the foreman of the Bar-20 turned to his
+companion and then hesitated:
+
+"Did, did-was he a cur?"
+
+Frenchy looked off toward the south and, after an interval, replied:
+"Yas. "Then, as an after thought, he added, "Yu see, he never reckoned
+it would be that way."
+
+Buck nodded, although he did not fully understand, and the subject
+was forever closed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+Mr. Cassidy Meets a Woman
+
+
+The work of separating the cattle into herds of the different brands
+was not a big contract, and with so many men it took but a
+comparatively short time, and in two days all signs of the rustlers
+had faded.  It was then that good news went the rounds and the men
+looked forward to a week of pleasure, which was all the sharper
+accentuated by the grim mercilessness of the expedition into the
+Panhandle.  Here was a chance for unlimited hilarity and a whole week
+in which to give strict attention to celebrating the recent victory.
+
+So one day Mr. Hopalong Cassidy rode rapidly over the plain,
+thinking about the joys and excitement promised by the carnival to be
+held at Muddy Wells.  With that rivalry so common to Western towns the
+inhabitants maintained that the carnival was to break all records,
+this because it was to be held in their town.  Perry's Bend and
+Buckskin had each promoted a similar affair, and if this year's
+festivities were to be an improvement on those which had gone before,
+they would most certainly be worth riding miles to see.  Perry's Bend
+had been unfortunate m being the first to hold a carnival, inasmuch as
+it only set a mark to be improved upon, and Buckskin had taken
+advantage of this and had added a brass band, and now in turn was to
+be eclipsed.
+
+The events slated were numerous and varied, the most important being
+those which dealt directly with the everyday occupations of the
+inhabitants of that section of the country.  Broncho busting, steer-
+roping and tying, rifle and revolver shooting, trick riding and fancy
+roping made up the main features of the programme and were to be set
+off by horse and foot racing and other county fair necessities.
+Altogether, the proud citizens of the town looked forward with keen
+anticipation to the coming excitements, and were prone to swagger a
+bit and to rub their hands in condescending egoism, while the crowded
+gambling halls and saloons, and the three-card-monte men on the street
+corners enriched themselves at the cost of venturesome know-it-ails.
+
+Hopalong was firmly convinced that his day of hard riding was well
+worth while, for the Bar-2o was to be represented in strength.
+Probably a clearer insight into his idea of a carnival can be gained
+by his definition, grouchily expressed to Red Connors on the day
+following the last affair: "Raise cain, go broke, wake up an' begin
+punching cows all over again." But that was the day after and the day
+after is always filled with remorse.
+
+Hopalong and Red, having twice in succession won the revolver and
+rifle competitions, respectively, hoped to make it `Three straight.'
+Lanky Smith, the Bar-20 rope expert, had taken first prize in the only
+contest he had entered.  Skinny Thompson had lost and drawn with Lefty
+Allen, of the O-Bar-O, in the broncho-busting event, but as Skinny had
+improved greatly in the interval, his friends confidently expected him
+to "yank first place" for the honor of his ranch.
+These expectations were backed with all the available Bar-20 money, and,
+if they were not realized, something in the nature of a calamity would swoop
+down upon and wrap that ranch in gloom. Since the O-Bar-O was
+aggressively optimistic the betting was at even money, hats and guns, and the
+losers would begin life anew so far as earthly possessions were
+concerned. No other competitors were considered in this event, as
+Skinny and Lefty had so far outclassed all others that the honor was
+believed to lie between these two.
+
+Hopalong, blissfully figuring out the chances of the different
+contestants, galloped around a clump of mesquite only fifteen miles
+from Muddy Wells and stiffened in his saddle, for twenty rods ahead of
+him on the trail was a woman.  As she heard him approach she turned and
+waited for him to overtake her, and when she smiled he raised his
+sombrero and bowed.
+
+"Will you please tell me where I am?"  She asked.
+
+"Yu are fifteen miles southeast of Muddy Wells," he replied.
+
+"But which is southeast?"
+
+"Right behind yu," he answered.  "Th' town lies right ahead."
+
+"Are you going there?"  She asked.
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Then you will not care if I ride with you?"  She asked. "I am a
+trifle frightened."
+
+"Why, I'd be some pleased if yu do, `though there ain't nothing out
+here to be afraid of now."
+
+"I had no intention of getting lost," she assured him, "but I
+dismounted to pick flowers and cactus leaves and after a while I had
+no conception of where I was."
+
+"How is it yu are out here?"  He asked. "Yu shouldn't get so far from
+town."
+
+"Why, papa is an invalid and doesn't like to leave his room, and the
+town is so dull, although the carnival is waking it up somewhat.
+Having nothing to do I procured a horse and determined to explore the
+country.  Why, this is like Stanley and Livingstone, isn't it?  You
+rescued the explorer!" And she laughed heartily.  He wondered who in
+thunder Stanley and Livingstone were, but said nothing.
+
+"I like the West, it is so big and free," she continued.  "But it is
+very monotonous at times, especially when compared with New York.  Papa
+swears dreadfully at the hotel and declares that the food will drive
+him insane, but I notice that he eats much more heartily than he did
+when in the city.  And the service!-it is awful.  But when one leaves
+the town behind it is splendid, and I can appreciate it because I had
+such a hard season in the city last winter-so many balls, parties and
+theaters that I simply wore myself out."
+
+"I never hankered much for them things," Hopalong replied.  "An' I
+don't like th' towns much, either.  Once or twice a year I gets as far
+as Kansas City, but I soon tires of it an' hits th' back trail.  Yu
+see, I don't like a fence country-I wants lots of room an' air.
+
+She regarded him intently: "I know that you will think me very
+forward."
+
+He smiled and slowly replied: "I think yu are all O. K."
+
+"There do not appear to be many women in this country," she
+suggested.
+
+"No, there ain't many," he replied, thinking of the kind to be found
+in all of the cow-towns.  "They don't seem to hanker for this kind of
+life-they wants parties an' lots of dancin' an' them kind of things.  I
+reckon there ain't a whole lot to tempt em to come.
+
+"You evidently regard women as being very frivolous," she replied.
+
+"Well, I'm speakin' from there not being any out here," he
+responded, "although I don't know much about them, to tell th' truth.
+Them what are out here can't be counted."  Then he flushed and looked
+away.
+
+She ignored the remark and placed her hand to her hair:
+
+"Goodness! My hair must look terrible!"
+
+He turned and looked: "Yore hair is pretty-I allus did like brown
+hair."
+
+She laughed and put back the straggling locks: "It is terrible! Just
+look at it! Isn't it awful?"
+
+"Why, no: I reckons not," he replied critically.  "It looks sort of
+free an' easy thataway."
+
+"Well, it's no matter, it cannot be helped," she laughed.  "Let's
+race!" she cried and was off like a shot.
+
+He humored her until he saw that her mount was getting unmanageable,
+when he quietly overtook her and closed her pony's nostrils with his
+hand, the operation having a most gratifying effect.
+
+"Joe hadn't oughter let yu had this cayuse," he said.
+
+"Why, how do you know of whom I procured it?"  She asked. "By th'
+brand: it's a O-Bar-O, canceled, with J. H. over it.  He buys all of
+his cayuses from th' O-Bar-O."
+
+She found out his name, and, after an interval of silence, she
+turned to him with eyes full of inquiry: "What is that thorny shrub
+just ahead?"  She asked.
+
+"That's mesquite," he replied eagerly.
+
+"Tell me all about it," she commanded.
+
+"Why, there ain't much to tell," he replied, "only it's a valuable
+tree out here.  Th' Apaches use it a whole lot of ways.  They get honey
+from th' blossoms an' glue an' gum, an' they use th' bark for tannin'
+hide.  Th' dried pods an' leaves are used to feed their cattle, an' th'
+wood makes corrals to keep `em in.  They use th' wood for making other
+things, too, an' it is of two colors. Th' sap makes a dye what won't
+wash out, an' th' beans make a bread what won't sour or get hard.  Then
+it makes a barrier that shore is a dandy-coyotes an' men can't get
+through it, an' it protects a whole lot of birds an' things.  Th'
+snakes hate it like poison, for th' thorns get under their scales an'
+whoops things up for `em. It keeps th' sand from shiftin', too.  Down
+South where there is plenty of water, it often grows forty feet high,
+but up here it squats close to th' ground so it can save th' moisture.
+In th' night th' temperature sometimes falls thirty degrees, an' that
+helps it, too."
+
+"How can it live without water?"  She asked.
+
+"It gets all th' water it wants," he replied, smiling.  "Th' tap
+roots go straight down `til they find it, sometimes fifty feet.  That's
+why it don't shrivel up in th' sun.  Then there are a lot of little
+roots right under it an' they protects th' tap roots.  Th' shade it
+gives is th' coolest out here, for th' leaves turn with th' wind an'
+lets th' breeze through-they're hung on little stems."
+
+"How splendid!" she exclaimed.  "Oh! Look there!" she cried, pointing
+ahead of them.  A chaparral cock strutted from its decapitated enemy, a
+rattlesnake, and disappeared in the chaparral.
+
+Hopalong laughed: "Mr. Scissors-bill Road-runner has great fun with
+snakes.  He runs along th' sand-an' he can run, too- an' sees a snake
+takin' a siesta. Snip! goes his bill an' th' snake slides over th'
+Divide.  Our fighting friend may stop some coyote's appetite before
+morning, though, unless he stays where he is."
+
+Just then a gray wolf blundered in sight a few rods ahead of them,
+and Hopalong fired instantly.  His companion shrunk from him and looked
+at him reproachfully.
+
+"Why did you do that!" she demanded.
+
+"Why, because they costs us big money every year," he replied.
+"There's a bounty on them because they pull down calves, an' sometimes
+full grown cows.  I'm shore wonderin' why he got so close-they're
+usually just out of range, where they stays."
+
+"Promise me that you will shoot no more while I am with you.
+
+"Why, shore: I didn't think yu'd care," he replied.  "Yu are like
+that sky-pilot over to Las Cruces-he preached agin killin' things,
+which is all right for him, who didn't have no cows."
+
+"Do you go to the missions?"  She asked.
+
+He replied that he did, sometimes, but forgot to add that it was
+usually for the purpose of hilarity, for he regarded sky-pilots with
+humorous toleration.
+
+"Tell me all about yourself-what you do for enjoyment and all about
+your work," she requested.
+
+He explained in minute detail the art of punching cows, and told her
+more of the West in half an hour than she could have learned from a
+year's experience.  She showed such keen interest in his words that it
+was a pleasure to talk to her, and he monopolized the conversation
+until the town intruded its sprawling collection of unpainted shacks
+and adobe huts in their field of vision.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+The Strategy of Mr. Peters
+
+
+Hopalong and his companion rode into Muddy Wells at noon, and Red Connors,
+who leaned with Buck Peters against the side of Tom Lee's saloon, gasped his
+astonishment.  Buck looked twice to be sure, and then muttered incredulously:
+"What th' heck!" Red repeated the phrase and retreated within the saloon,
+while Buck stood his ground, having had much experience with women, inasmuch
+as he had narrowly escaped marrying.  He thought that he might as well get all
+the information possible, and waited for an introduction.  It was in vain,
+however, for the two rode past without noticing him.
+
+Buck watched them turn the corner and then called for Red to come out, but
+that person, fearing an ordeal, made no reply and the foreman went in after
+him.  The timorous one was corraling bracers at the bar and nearly swallowed
+down the wrong channel when Buck placed a heavy hand on his broad shoulder.
+
+"G'way!" remarked Red. "I don't want no introduction, none whatever," he
+asserted. "G'way!" he repeated, backing off suspiciously.
+
+"Better wait `til yu are asked," suggested Buck.  "Better wait `til yu sees
+th' rope afore yu duck."  Then he laughed: "Yu bashful fellers make me plumb
+disgusted. Why, I've seen yu face a bunch of guns an never turn a hair, an'
+here yore all in because yu fear yu'll have to stand around an' hide yore
+hands.  She won't bite yu.  Anyway, from what I saw, Hopalong is due to be her
+grub-he never saw me at all, th' chump."
+
+"He shore didn't see me, none," replied Red with distinct relief.  "Are they
+gone?"
+
+"Shore," answered Buck.  "An' if they wasn't they wouldn't see us, not if we
+stood in front of them an' yelled.  She's a hummer-stands two hands under him
+an' is a whole lot prettier than that picture Cowan has got over his bar.
+There's nothing th' matter with his eyesight, but he's plumb locoed, all th'
+same.  He'll go an' get stuck on her an' then she'll hit th' trail for home
+an' mamma, an' he won't be worth his feed for a year."  Then he paused in
+consternation: "Thunder, Red: he's got to shoot to-morrow!"
+
+"Well, suppose he has?"  Responded Red.  "I don't reckon she'll stampede his
+gun-play none.
+
+"Yu don't reckon, eh?"  Queried Buck with much irony.  "No, an' that's what's
+th' matter with yu.  Why, do yu expect to see him to-morrow?  Yu won't if I
+knows him an' I reckon I do.  Nope, he'll be follerin' her all around."
+
+"He's got sand to burn," remarked Red in awe.  "Wonder how he got to know
+her?"
+
+"Yu can gamble she did th' introducing part-he ain't got th' nerve to do it
+himself. He saved her life, or she thinks he did, or some romantic nonsense
+like that.  So yu better go around an' get him away, an' keep him away, too."
+
+"Who, me?"  Inquired Red in indignation.  "Me go around an' tote him off?  I
+ain't no wagon: yu go, or send Johnny."
+
+"Johnny would say something real pert an' get knocked into th' middle of
+next week for it.  He won't do, so I reckon yu better go yoreself," responded
+Buck, smiling broadly and moving off.
+
+"Hey, yu! Wait a minute!" cried Red in consternation.  Buck paused and Red
+groped for an excuse: "Why don't you send Billy?"  He blurted in desperation.
+
+The foreman's smile assumed alarming proportions and he slapped his thigh in
+joy: "Good boy!" he laughed.  "Billy's th' man-good Lord, but won't he give
+Cupid cold feet! Rustle around an' send th' pessimistic soul to me."
+
+Red, grinning and happy, rapidly visited door after door, shouted, "Hey,
+Billy!" and proceeded to the next one.  He was getting pugnacious at his lack
+of success when he espied Mr. Billy Williams tacking along the accidental
+street as if he owned it.  Mr. Williams was executing fancy steps and was
+trying to sing many songs at once.
+
+Red stopped and grabbed his bibulous friend as that person veered to
+starboard: "Yore a peach of a life-preserver, yu are!" he exclaimed.
+
+Billy balanced himself, swayed back and forth and frowned his displeasure at
+this unwarranted action: "I ain't no wife-deserter!" he shouted.  "Unrope me
+an' give me th' trail! No tenderfoot can ride me! "Then he recognized his
+friend and grinned joyously:  "Shore I will, but only one.  Jus' one more, jus'
+one more.  Yu see, m'friend, it was all Jimmy's fault. He-"
+
+Red secured a chancery hold and dragged his wailing and remonstrating friend
+to Buck, who frowned with displeasure.
+
+"This yere," said Red in belligerent disgust, "is th' dod-blasted hero
+what's a-goin' to save Hopalong from a mournful future.  What are we a-goin'
+to do?"
+
+Buck slipped the Colt's from Billy's holster and yanked the erring one to
+his feet:  "Fill him full of sweet oil, source him in th' trough, walk him
+around for awhile an' see what it does," he ordered.
+
+Two hours later Billy walked up to his foreman and weakly asked what was
+wanted.  He looked as though he had just been released from a six-months' stay
+in a hospital.
+
+"Yu go over to th' hotel an' find Hopalong," said the foreman sternly.  "Stay
+with him all th' time, for there is a plot on foot to wing him on th' sly.  If
+yu ain't mighty spry he'll be dead by night."
+
+Having delivered the above instructions and prevarications, Buck throttled
+the laugh which threatened to injure him and scowled at Red, who again fled
+into the saloon for fear of spoiling it all with revealed mirth.
+
+The convalescent stared in open-mouthed astonishment:
+
+"What's he doin' in th' hotel, an' who's goin' to plug him?"  He asked.
+
+"Yu leave that to me," replied Buck, "All yu has to do is to get on th' job
+with yore gun," handing the weapon to him, "an' freeze to him like a flea on
+a cow.  Mebby there'll be a woman in th' game, but that ain't none of yore
+funeral-yu do what I said."
+
+"Blast th' women!" exploded Billy, moving off.  When he had entered the hotel
+Buck went in to Red.
+
+"For Pete's sake!" moaned that person in senseless reiteration.  "Th' Lord
+help Billy! Holy Mackinaw!" he shouted.  "Gimme a drink an' let me tell th'
+boys."
+
+The members of the outfit were told of the plot and they gave their
+uproarious sanction, all needing bracers to sustain them.
+
+Billy found the clerk swapping lies with the bartender and, procuring the
+desired information, climbed the stairs and hunted for room No. 6.
+Discovering it, he dispensed with formality, pushed open the door and
+entered.
+
+He found his friend engaged in conversation with a pretty young woman, and
+on a couch at the far side of the room lay an elderly white-whiskered
+gentleman who was reading a magazine.  Billy felt like a criminal for a few
+seconds and then there came to him the thought that his was a mission of
+great import and he braced himself to face any ordeal.  "Anyway," he thought,
+"th' prettier they are th' more dust they can raise."
+
+"What are yu doing here?"  Cried Hopalong in amazement.
+
+"That's all right," averred the protector, confidentially.
+
+"What's all right?"
+
+"Why, everything," replied Billy, feeling uncomfortable.
+
+The elderly man hastily sat up and dropped his magazine when he saw the
+armed intruder, his eyes as wide open as his mouth.   He felt for his
+spectacles, but did not need them, for he could see nothing but the Colt's
+which Billy jabbed at him.
+
+"None of that!" snapped Billy. "`Nds up!" he ordered, and the hands Went up
+so quick that when they stopped the jerk shook the room.  Peering over the
+gentleman's leg, Billy saw the spectacles and backed to the wall as he
+apologized: "It's shore on me, Stranger-I reckoned yu was contemplatin' some
+gun-play."
+
+Hopalong, blazing with wrath, arose and shoved Billy toward the hail, when
+Mr. Johnny Nelson, oozing fight and importance, intruded his person into the
+zone of action.
+
+"Lord!" ejaculated the newcomer, staring at the vision of female loveliness
+which so suddenly greeted him.  "Mamma," he added under his breath.  Then he
+tore off his sombrero:  "Come out of this, Billy, yu chump!" he exploded,
+backing toward the door, being followed by the protector.
+
+Hopalong slammed the door and turned to his hostess, apologizing for the
+disturbance.
+
+"Who are they?"  Palpitated Miss Deane.
+
+"What the deuce are they doing up here!" blazed her father.  Hopalong
+disclaimed any knowledge of them and just then Billy opened the door and
+looked in.
+
+"There he is again!" cried Miss Deane, and her father gasped.  Hopalong ran
+out into the hall and narrowly missed kicking Billy into Kingdom Come as that
+person slid down the stairs, surprised and indignant.
+
+Mr. Billy Williams, who sat at the top of the stairs, was feeling hungry and
+thirsty when he saw his friend, Mr. Pete Wilson, the slow witted,
+approaching.
+
+"Hey, Pete," he called, "come up here an' watch this door while I rustles
+some grub.  Keep yore eyes open," he cautioned.
+
+As Pete began to feel restless the door opened and a dignified gentleman
+with white whiskers came out into the hall and then retreated with great
+haste and no dignity.  Pete got the drop on the door and waited.  Hopalong
+yanked it open and kissed the muzzle of the weapon before he could stop, and
+Pete grinned.
+
+"Coming to th' fight?"  He loudly asked.  "It's going to be a shore `nough
+sumptious scrap-just th' kind yu allus like.  Come on, th' boys are waitin'
+for yu."
+
+"Keep quiet!" hissed Hopalong.
+
+"What for?"  Asked Pete in surprise.  "Didn't yu say yu shore wanted to see
+that scrap?"
+
+"Shut yore face an' get scarce, or yu'll go home in cans!"
+
+As Hopalong seated himself once more Red strolled up to the door and
+knocked.  Hopalong ripped it open and Red, looking as fierce and worried as he
+could, asked Hopalong if he was all right.  Upon being assured by smoking
+adjectives that he was, the caller looked relieved and turned thoughtfully
+away.
+
+"Hey, yu! Come here!" called Hopalong.
+
+Red waved his hand and said that he had to meet a man and clattered down the
+stairs.  Hopalong thought that he, also, had to meet a man and, excusing
+himself, hastened after his friend and overtook him in the Street, where he
+forced a confession.  Returning to his hostess he told her of the whole
+outrage, and she was angry at first, but seeing the humorous side of it, she
+became convulsed with laughter.  Her father re-read his paragraph for the
+thirteenth time and then, slamming the magazine on the floor, asked how many
+times he was expected to read ten lines before he knew what was in them, and
+went down to the bar.
+
+Miss Deane regarded her companion with laughing eyes and then became
+suddenly sober as he came toward her.
+
+"Go to your foreman and tell him that you will shoot to-morrow, for I will
+see that you do, and I will bring luck to the Bar-20. Be sure to call for me
+at one o'clock: I will be ready."
+
+He hesitated, bowed, and slowly departed, making his way to Tom Lee's, where
+his entrance hushed the hilarity which had reigned.  Striding to where Buck
+stood, he placed his hands on his hips and searched the foreman's eyes.
+
+Buck smiled: "Yu ain't mad, are yu?"  He asked.
+
+Hopalong relaxed: "No, but blame near it."
+
+Red and the others grabbed him from the rear, and when he had been
+"buffaloed" into good humor he threw them from him, laughed and waved his
+hand toward the bar:
+
+"Come up, yu sons-of-guns.  Yore a cussed nuisance sometimes, but yore a
+bully gang all th' same."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+Mr. Ewalt Draws Cards
+
+
+Tex Ewalt, cow-puncher, prospector, sometimes a rustler, but always a
+dude, rode from El Paso in deep disgust at his steady losses at faro
+and monte.  The pecuniary side of these caused him no worry, for he was
+flush.  This pleasing opulence was due to his business ability, for he
+had recently sold a claim for several thousand dollars.  The first
+operation was simple, being known in Western phraseology as "jumping";
+and the second, somewhat more complicated, was known as "salting."
+
+The first of the money spent went for a complete new outfit, and he
+had parted with just three hundred and seventy dollars to feed his
+vanity.  He desired something contrasty and he procured it.  His
+sombrero, of gray felt a quarter of an inch thick, flaunted a band of
+black leather, on which was conspicuously displayed a solid silver
+buckle.  His neck was protected by a crimson kerchief of the finest,
+heaviest silk.  His shirt, in pattern the same as those commonly worn
+in the cow country, was of buckskin, soft as a baby's cheek and
+impervious to water, and the Angora goatskin chaps, with the long
+silken hair worn outside, were as white as snow.  Around his waist ran
+loosely a broad, black leather belt supporting a heavy black holster,
+in which lay its walnut-handled burden, a .44 caliber six-shooter; and
+thirty center-fire cartridges peeked from their loops, fifteen on a
+side.  His boots, the soles thin and narrow and the heels high, were
+black and of the finest leather.  Huge spurs, having two-inch rowels,
+were held in place by buckskin straps, on which, also, were silver
+buckles.  Protecting his hands were heavy buckskin gloves, also
+waterproof, having wide, black gauntlets.
+
+Each dainty hock of his dainty eight-hundred-pound buckskin pony was
+black, and a black star graced its forehead.  Well groomed, with
+flowing mane and tail, and with the brand on its flank being almost
+imperceptible, the animal was far different in appearance from most of
+the cow-ponies.  Vicious and high-spirited, it cavorted just enough to
+show its lines to the best advantage.
+
+
+The saddle, a famous Cheyenne and forty pounds in weight, was black,
+richly embossed, and decorated with bits of beaten silver which
+flashed back the sunlight.  At the pommel hung a thirty-foot coil of
+braided horsehair rope, and at the rear was a Sharp's .50-caliber,
+breech-loading rifle, its owner having small use for any other make.
+The color of the bridle was the same as the saddle and it supported a
+heavy U bit which was capable of a leverage sufficient to break the
+animal's jaw.
+
+Tex was proud of his outfit, but his face wore a frown-not there
+only on acount of his losses, but also by reason of his mission, for
+under all his finery beat a heart as black as any in the cow country.
+For months he had smothered hot hatred and he was now on his way to
+ease himself of it.
+
+He and Slim Travennes had once exchanged shots with Hopalong in
+Santa Fe, and the month which he had spent in bed was not pleasing,
+and from that encounter had sprung the hatred.  That he had been in the
+wrong made no difference with him.  Some months later he had learned of
+the death of Slim, and it was due to the same man.  That Slim had again
+been in the wrong also made no difference, for he realized the fact
+and nothing else.
+
+Lately he had been told of the death of Slippery
+Trendley and Deacon Rankin, and he accepted their passing as a
+personal affront.  That they had been caught red-handed in cattle
+stealing of huge proportions and received only what was customary
+under the conditions formed no excuse in his mind for their passing.
+He was now on his way to attend the carnival at Muddy Wells, knowing
+that his enemy would be sure to be there.
+
+While passing through Las Cruces he met Porous Johnson and Silent
+Somes, who were thirsty and who proclaimed that fact, whereupon he
+relieved them of their torment and, looking forward to more treatment
+of a similar nature, they gladly accompanied him without asking why or
+where.
+
+As they left the town in their rear Tex turned in his saddle and
+surveyed them with a cynical smile.
+
+"Have yu heard anything of Trendley?"  He asked.
+
+They shook their heads.
+
+`Him an' th' Deacon was killed over in th' Panhandle," he said.
+
+"What!" chorused the pair.
+
+"Jack Dorman, Shorty Danvers, Charley Teale, Stiffhat Bailey, Billy
+Jackson, Terry Nolan an' Sailor Carson was lynched."
+
+"What!" they shouted.
+
+"Fish O'Brien, Pinochle Schmidt, Tom Wilkins, Apache Gordon, Charley
+of th' Bar Y, Penobscot Hughes an' about twenty others died fightin'."
+
+Porous looked his astonishment: "Cavalry?"
+
+"An' I'm going after th' dogs who did it," he continued, ignoring
+the question.  "Are yu with me ? -Yu used to pal with some of them,
+didn't yu?"
+
+"We did, an' we're shore with yu!" cried Porous.
+
+"Yore right," endorsed Silent.  "But who done it?"
+
+"That gang what's punchin' for th' Bar-20-Hopalong Cassidy is th'
+one I'm pining for.  Yu fellers can take care of Peters an' Connors."
+
+The two stiffened and exchanged glances of uncertainty and
+apprehension.  The outfit of the Bar-20 was too well known to cause
+exuberant joy to spring from the idea of war with it, and well in the
+center of all the tales concerning it were the persons Tex had named.
+To deliberately set forth with the avowed intention of planting these
+was not at all calculated to induce sweet dreams.
+
+Tex sneered his contempt.
+
+"Yore shore uneasy: yu ain't a-scared, are yu?"  He drawled.  Porous
+relaxed and made a show of subduing his horse: "I reckon I ain't
+scared plumb to death.  Yu can deal me a hand," he asserted.
+
+"I'll draw cards too," hastily announced Silent, buttoning his vest.
+"Tell us about that jamboree over in th' Panhandle."
+
+Tex repeated the story as he had heard it from a bibulous member of
+the Barred Horseshoe, and then added a little of torture as a sauce to
+whet their appetites for revenge.
+
+"How did Trendley cash in?"  Asked Porous.
+
+"Nobody knows except that bum from th' Tin-Cup.  I'll get him later.
+I'd a got Cassidy up in Santa Fe, too, if it wasn't for th' sun in my
+eyes.  Me an' Slim loosened up on him in th' Plaza, but we couldn't see
+nothing with him a-standin' against th' sun."
+
+"Where's Slim now?"  Asked Porous.  "I ain't seen him for some time."
+
+"Slim's with Trendley," replied Tex.  "Cassidy handed him over to St.
+Pete at Cactus Springs. Him an' Connors sicked their outfit on him an'
+his vigilantes, bein helped some by th' O-Bar-O. They wiped th' town
+plumb off th' earth, an' now I'm going to do some wipin' of my own
+account.  I'll prune that gang of some of its blossoms afore long.  It's
+cost me seventeen friends so far, an' I'm going to stop th' leak, or
+make another."
+
+They entered Muddy Wells at sunrise on the day of the carnival and,
+eating a hearty breakfast, sallied forth to do their share toward
+making the festivities a success.
+
+The first step considered necessary for the acquirement of case and
+polish was begun at the nearest bar, and Tex, being the host, was so
+liberal that his friends had reached a most auspicious state when they
+followed him to Tom Lee's.
+
+Tex was too wise to lose his head through drink and had taken only
+enough to make him careless of consequences.  Porous was determined to
+sing "Annie Laurie," although he hung on the last word of the first
+line until out of breath and then began anew.  Silent, not wishing to
+be outdone, bawled at the top of his lungs a medley of music-hall
+words to the air of a hymn.
+
+Tex, walking as awkwardly as any cow-puncher, approached Tom Lee's,
+his two friends trailing erratically, arm in arm, in his rear.
+Swinging his arm he struck the door a resounding blow and entered,
+hand on gun, as it crashed back.  Porous and Silent stood in the
+doorway and quarreled as to what each should drink and, compromising,
+lurched in and seated themselves on a table and resumed their vocal
+perpetrations.
+
+Tex swaggered over to the bar and tossed a quarter upon it:  "Corn
+juice," he laconically exclaimed. Tossing off the liquor and glancing
+at his howling friends, he shrugged his shoulders and strode out by
+the rear door, slamming it after him.  Porous and Silent, recounting
+friends who had "cashed in" fell to weeping and they were thus
+occupied when Hopalong and Buck entered, closely followed by the rest
+of the outfit.
+
+Buck walked to the bar and was followed by Hopalong, who declined
+his foreman's offer to treat.  Tom Lee set a bottle at Buck's elbow and
+placed his hands against the bar.
+
+"Friend of yourn just hit the back trail," he remarked to Hopalong.
+"He was primed some for trouble, too," he added.
+
+"Yaas?"  Drawled Hopalong with little interest.
+
+The proprietor restacked the few glasses and wiped off the bar.
+"Them's his pardners," he said, indicating the pair on the table.
+
+Hopalong turned his head and gravely scrutinized them.  Porous was
+bemoaning the death of Slim Travennes and Hopalong frowned.
+
+"Don't reckon he's no relation of mine," he grunted.
+
+"Well, he ain't yore sister," replied Tom Lee, grinning.
+
+"What's his brand?"  Asked the puncher.
+
+"I reckon he's a maverick, `though yu put yore brand on him up to
+Santa Fe a couple of years back.  Since he's throwed back on yore range
+I reckon he's yourn if yu wants him."
+
+"I reckon Tex is some sore," remarked Hopalong, rolling a cigarette.
+
+"I reckon he is," replied the proprietor, tossing Buck's quarter in
+the cash box.  "But, say, you should oughter see his rig."
+
+"Yaas?"
+
+"He's shore a cow-punch dude-my, but he's some sumptious an'
+highfalutin'. An' bad?  Why, he reckons th' Lord never brewed a more
+high-toned brand of cussedness than his'n.  He shore reckons he's the
+baddest man that ever simmered."
+
+"How'd he look as th' leadin' man in a necktie festival?"  Blazed
+Johnny from across the room, feeling called upon to help the
+conversation.
+
+"He'd be a howlin' success, son," replied Skinny Thompson, "judgin'
+by his friends what we elevated over in th' Panhandle."
+
+Lanky Smith leaned forward with his elbow on the table, resting his
+chin in the palm of his hand: "Is Ewalt still a-layin' for yu,
+Hopalong?"  He asked.
+
+Hopalong turned wearily and tossed his half-consumed cigarette into
+the box of sand which did duty as a cuspidore: "I reckon so; an' he
+shore can hatch whenever he gets good an ready, too."
+
+"He's probably a-broodin' over past grievances," offered Johnny, as
+he suddenly pushed Lanky's elbow from the table, nearly causing a
+catastrophe.
+
+"Yu'll be broodin' over present grievances if yu don't look out, yu
+everlastin' nuisance yu," growled Lanky, planting his elbow in its
+former position with an emphasis which conveyed a warning.
+
+"These bantams ruflle my feathers," remarked Red.  "They go around
+braggin' about th' egg they're goin' to lay an' do enough cacklin' to
+furnish music for a dozen.  Then when th' affair comes off yu'll
+generally find they's been settin' on a door-knob."
+
+"Did yu ever see a hen leave th' walks of peace an' bugs an' rustle
+hell-bent across th' trail plumb in front of a cayuse?"  Asked Buck.
+"They'll leave off rustlin' grub an' become candidates for th'
+graveyard just for cussedness.  Well, a whole lot of men are th' same
+way. How many times have I seen them swagger into a gin shop an' try
+to run things sudden an' hard, an' that with half a dozen better men
+in th' same room?  There's shore a-plenty of trouble a-comin' to every
+man without rustlin' around for more.
+
+"`Member that time yu an' Frenchy tried to run th' little town of
+Frozen Nose, up in Montana?"  Asked Johnny, winking at the rest.
+
+"An' we did run it, for a while," responded Buck.  "But that only
+goes to show that most young men are chumps-we were just about yore
+age then."
+
+Red laughed at the youngster's discomfiture: "That little squib of
+yourn shore touched her off-I reckon we irrigates on yu this time,
+don't we?"
+
+"Th' more th' Kid talks, th' more money he needs," remarked Lanky,
+placing his glass on the bar.  "He had to blow me an' Skinny twice last
+night."
+
+"I got two more after yu left," added Skinny "He shore oughter
+practice keeping still."
+
+At one o'clock sharp Hopalong walked up to the clerk of the hotel
+and grinned. The clerk looked up:
+
+ "Hullo, Cassidy?"  He exclaimed, genially. "What was all that fuss
+about this mornin' when I was away?  I haven't seen you for a long
+time, have I?  How are you?"
+
+"That fuss was a fool joke of Buck's, an' I wish they had been
+throwed out," Hopalong replied.  "What I want to know is if Miss Deane
+is in her room.  Yu see, I have a date with her."
+
+The clerk grinned:
+
+"So she's roped you, too, has she?"
+
+"What do yu mean?"  Asked Hopalong in surprise.  "Well, well," laughed
+the clerk.  "You punchers are easy.  Any third-rate actress that looks
+good to eat can rope you fellows, all right.  Now look here, Laura, you
+keep shy of her corral, or you'll be broke so quick you won't believe
+you ever had a cent: that's straight.  This is the third year that she's been here
+and I know what I'm talking about.  How did you come to meet her?"
+
+Hopalong explained the meeting and his friend laughed again:
+
+"Why, she knows this country like a book.  She can't get lost
+anywhere around here.  But she's blame clever at catching punchers."
+
+"Well, I reckon I'd better take her, go broke or not," replied
+Hopalong.  "Is she in her room?"
+
+"She is, but she is not alone," responded the clerk.  "There is a
+dude puncher up there with her and she left word here that she was
+indisposed, which means that you are outlawed."
+
+"Who is he?"  Asked Hopalong, having his suspicions.  "That friend of
+yours: Ewalt.  He sported a wad this morning when she passed him, and
+she let him make her acquaintance.  He's another easy mark.  He'll be
+busted wide open to-night."
+
+"I reckon I'll see Tex," suggested Hopalong, starting for the
+stairs.
+
+"Come back, you chump!" cried the clerk.  "I don't want any shooting
+here.  What do you care about it?  Let her have him, for it's an easy
+way out of it for you.  Let him think he's cut you out, for he'll spend
+all the more freely.  Get your crowd and enlighten them-it'll be better
+than a circus.  This may sound like a steer, but it's straight."
+
+Hopalong thought for a minute and then leaned on the cigar case:
+
+"I reckon I'll take about a dozen of yore very best cigars, Charley.
+Got any real high-toned brands?"
+
+"Cortez panatella-two for a simoleon," Chancy replied.  "But, seein'
+that it's you, I'll throw off a dollar on a dozen.  They're a fool
+notion of the old man, for we can't sell one in a month."
+
+Hopalong dug up a handful and threw one on the counter, lighting
+another: "Yu light a Cortez panatella with me," he said, pocketing the
+remainder.  "That's five simoleons she didn't get.  So long."
+
+He journeyed to Tom Lee's and found his outfit making merry.  Passing
+around his cigars he leaned against the bar and delighted in the first
+really good smoke he had since he came home from Kansas City.
+
+Johnny Nelson blew a cloud of smoke at the ceiling and paused with a
+pleased expression on his face:
+
+"This is a lalapoloosa of a cigar," he cried.  "Where'd yu get it,
+an' how many's left?"
+
+"I got it from Charley, an' there's more than yu can buy at fifty a
+shot."
+
+"Well, I'll just take a few for luck," Johnny responded, running out
+into the street. Returning in five minutes with both hands full of
+cigars he passed them around and grinned:
+"They're birds, all right!"
+
+Hopalong smiled, turned to Buck and related his conversation with
+Chancy.  "What do yu think of that?"  He asked as he finished.
+
+"I think Charley oughter be yore guardian," replied the foreman.
+
+"He was," replied Hopalong.
+
+"If we sees Tex we'll all grin hard," laughed Red, making for the
+door.  "Come on to th' contests-Lanky's gone already."
+
+Muddy Wells streamed to the carnival grounds and relieved itself of
+its enthusiasm and money at the booths on the way.  Cow-punchers rubbed
+elbows with Indians and Mexicans, and the few tourists that were
+present were delighted with the picturesque scene.  The town was full
+of fakirs and before one of them stood a group of cow-punchers,
+apparently drinking in the words of a barker.
+
+"Right this way, gents, and see the woman who don't eat.  Lived for
+two years without food, gents.  Right this way, gents.  Only a quarter
+of a dollar.  Get your tickets, gents, and see-"
+
+Red pushed forward:
+
+"What did yu say, pard?"  He asked.  "I'm a little off in my near ear.
+What's that about eatin' a woman for two years?"
+
+"The greatest wonder of the age, gents.  The wom-"
+
+"Any discount for th' gang?"  Asked Buck, gawking.
+
+"Why don't yu quit smokin' an' buy th' lady a meal?"  Asked Johnny
+from the center of the group.
+
+"Th' cane yu ring th' cane yu get!" came from the other side of the
+street and Hopalong purchased rings for the outfit.  Twenty-four rings
+got one cane, and it was divided between them as they wended their way
+toward the grounds.
+
+"That makes six wheels she didn't get," murmured Hopalong.  As they
+passed the snake charmer's booth they saw Tex and his companion ahead
+of them in the crowd, and they grinned broadly.  "I like th' front row
+in th' balcony," remarked Johnny, who had been to Kansas City. "Don't
+cry in th' second act-it ain't real," laughed Red.  "We'll hang John
+Brown on a sour appletree-in th' Panhandle," sang Skinny as they
+passed them.
+
+Arriving at the grounds they hunted up the registration committee
+and entered in the contests.  As Hopalong signed for the revolver
+competition he was rudely pushed aside and Tex wrote his name under
+that of his enemy.  Hopalong was about to show quick resentment for the
+insult, but thought of what Charley had said, and he grinned
+sympathetically. The seats were filling rapidly, and the outfit went
+along the ground looking for friends.  A bugle sounded and a hush swept
+over the crowd as the announcement was made for the first event.
+
+"Broncho-busting-Red Devil, never ridden: Frenchy McAllister, Tin-
+Cup, Montana; Meteor, killed his man: Skinny Thompson, Bar-20, Texas;
+Vixen, never ridden: Lefty Allen, O-Bar-O, Texas."
+
+All eyes were focused on the plain where the horse was being led out
+for the first trial.  After the usual preliminaries had been gone
+through Frenchy walked over to it, vaulted in the saddle and the
+bandage was torn from the animal's eyes.  For ten minutes the onlookers
+were held spellbound by the fight before them, and then the horse
+kicked and galloped away and Frenchy was picked up and carried from
+the field.
+
+"Too bad!" cried Buck, running from the outfit.
+
+"Did yu see it?" asked Johnny excitedly, "Th' cinch busted."  Another
+horse was led out and Skinny Thompson vaulted to the saddle, and after
+a fight of half an hour rode the animal from the enclosure to the
+clamorous shouts of his friends.  Lefty Allen also rode his mount from
+the same gate, but took ten minutes more in which to do it.
+
+The announcer conferred with the timekeepers and then stepped
+forward: "First, Skinny Thompson, Bar-20, thirty minutes and ten
+seconds; second, Lefty Allen, O-Bar-O, forty minutes and seven
+seconds."
+
+Skinny returned to his friends shamefacedly and did not look as if
+he had just won a championship.  They made way for him, and Johnny, who
+could not restrain his enthusiasm pounded him on the back and cried:
+"Yu old son-of-a-gun!"
+
+The announcer again came forward and gave out the competitors for
+the next contest, steer-roping and tying.  Lanky Smith arose and,
+coiling his rope carefully, disappeared into the crowd.  The fun was
+not so great in this, but when he returned to his outfit with the
+phenomenal time of six minutes and eight seconds for his string of ten
+steers, with twenty-two seconds for one of them, they gave him
+vociferous greeting.  Three of his steers had gotten up after he had
+leaped from his saddle to tie them, but his horse had taken care of
+that.  His nearest rival was one minute over him and Lanky retained the
+championship.
+
+Red Connors shot with such accuracy in the rifle contest as to run
+his points twenty per cent higher than Waffles, of the O-Bar-O, and
+won the new rifle.
+
+The main interest centered in the revolver contest, for it was known
+that the present champion was to defend his title against an enemy and
+fears were expressed in the crowd that there would be an "accident."
+Buck Peters and Red stood just behind the firing line with their hands
+on hips, and Tex, seeing the precautions, smiled grimly as he advanced
+to the line.
+
+Six bottles, with their necks an inch above a board, stood twenty
+paces from him, and he broke them all in as many shots, taking twelve
+seconds in which to do it.  Hopalong followed him and tied the score.
+Three tin balls rolling erratically in a blanket supported by two men
+were sent flying into the air in four shots, Tex taking six seconds.
+His competitor sent them from the blanket in three shots and in the
+same time.  In slow shooting from sights Tex passed his rival in points
+and stood to win.  There was but one more event to be contested and in
+it Hopalong found his joy.
+
+Shooting from the hip when the draw is timed is not the sport of
+even good shots, and when Tex made sixty points out of a possible
+hundred, he felt that he had shot well.  When Hopalong went
+to the line his friends knew that they would now see
+shooting such as would be almost unbelievable, that the best draw-and-
+shoot marksman in their State was the man who limped slightly as he
+advanced and who chewed reflectively on his fifty-cent cigar.  He wore
+two guns and he stepped with confidence before the marshal of the
+town, who was also judge of the contest.
+
+The iron ball which lay on the ground was small enough for the use
+of a rifle and could hardly be seen from the rear seats of the
+amphitheater.  There was a word spoken by the timekeeper, and a gloved
+hand flashed down and up, and the ball danced and spun and leaped and
+rolled as shot after shot followed it with a precision and speed which
+brought the audience to a heavy silence.  Taking the gun which Buck
+tossed to him and throwing it into the empty holster, he awaited the
+signal, and then smoke poured from his hips and the ball jumped
+continuously. Both guns emptied in the two-hand shooting, he wheeled
+and jerked loose the guns which the marshal wore, spinning around
+without a pause, the target hardly ceasing in its rolling.  Under his
+arms he shot, backward and between his legs; leaping from side to
+side, ducking and dodging, following the ball wherever it went.
+Reloading the weapons quickly, he stepped forward and followed the
+ball until once more his guns were empty.  Then he turned and walked
+back to the side of the marshal, smiling a little.  His friends, and
+there were many in the crowd, torn from their affected nonchalance by
+shooting the like of which they had not attributed even to him, roared
+and shouted and danced in a frenzy of delight.
+
+Red also threw his guns to Hopalong, who caught them in the air and turning,
+faced Tex, who stood white of face and completely lost in the forgetfulness of
+admiration and amazement.  The guns jerked again and a button flew from
+the buckskin shirt of his enemy; another tore a flower from his breast
+and another drove it into the ground at his feet as others stirred his
+hair and cut the buckle off his pretty sombrero.  Tex, dazed, but wise
+enough to stand quiet, felt his belt tear loose and drop to his feet,
+felt a spur rip from its strap and saw his cigarette leap from his
+lips.  Throwing the guns to Red, Hopalong laughed and abruptly turned
+and was lost in the crowd.
+
+For several seconds there was silence, but when the dazed minds
+realized what their eyes had seen, there arose a roar which shook the
+houses in the town.  Roar after roar thundered forth and was sent
+crashing back again by the distant walls, sweeping down on the
+discomfited dude and causing him to slink into the crowd to find a
+place less conspicuous.  He was white yet and keen fear gripped his
+heart as he realized that he had come to the carnival with the
+expressed purpose of killing his enemy in fair combat.  The whole town
+knew it, for he had taken pains to spread the news.
+
+The woman he had been with knew it from words which she had overheard
+while on her way to the grounds with him.  His friends knew it and would
+laugh him into forgetfulness as the fool who boasted.  Now he understood why
+he had lost so many friends: they had attempted what he had sworn to attempt.
+Look where he would he could see only a smoke-wrapped demon who moved
+and shot with a speed incredible.  There was reason why Slim had died.
+There was reason why Porous and Silent had paled when they learned of
+their mission.
+
+He hated his conspicuous clothes and his pretty broncho, and the woman
+who had gotten him to squander his money, and who was doubtless convulsed
+with laughter at his expense.  He worked himself into a passion which knew no
+fear and he ran for the streets of the town, there to make good his boast or to die.
+When he found his enemy he felt himself grasped with a grip of steel and Buck Peters
+swung him around and grinned maliciously in his face:
+
+"You plaything!" hoarsely whispered the foreman.  "Why don't yu get
+away while yu can?  Why do yu want to throw yoreself against certain
+death?  I don't want my pleasure marred by a murder, an' that is what
+it will be if yu makes a gun-play at Hopalong.  He'll shoot yu as he
+did yore buttons.  Take yore pretty clothes an' yore pretty cayuse an'
+go where this is not known, an' if ever again yu feels like killing
+Hopalong, get drunk an' forget it."
+
+
+
+
+
+THE END OF
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of BAR-20, by Clarence Edward Mulford
+[Alternate Title]
+
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