The Rustlers of Pecos County - ebook

CHAPTER 1

VAUGHN STEELE AND RUSS SITTELL

In the morning, after breakfasting early, I took a turn up and down the main street of Sanderson, made observations and got information likely to serve me at some future day, and then I returned to the hotel ready for what might happen.

The stage-coach was there and already full of passengers. This stage did not go to Linrock, but I had found that another one left for that point three days a week.

Several cowboy broncos stood hitched to a railing and a little farther down were two buckboards, with horses that took my eye. These probably were the teams Colonel Sampson had spoken of to George Wright.

As I strolled up, both men came out of the hotel. Wright saw me, and making an almost imperceptible sign to Sampson, he walked toward me.

“You’re the cowboy Russ?” he asked.

I nodded and looked him over. By day he made as striking a figure as I had noted by night, but the light was not generous to his dark face.

“Here’s your pay,” he said, handing me some bills. “Miss Sampson won’t need you out at the ranch any more.”

“What do you mean? This is the first I’ve heard about that.”

“Sorry, kid. That’s it,” he said abruptly. “She just gave me the money –told me to pay you off. You needn’t bother to speak with her about it.”

He might as well have said, just as politely, that my seeing her, even to say good-by, was undesirable.

As my luck would have it, the girls appeared at the moment, and I went directly up to them, to be greeted in a manner I was glad George Wright could not help but see.

In Miss Sampson’s smile and “Good morning, Russ,” there was not the slightest discoverable sign that I was not to serve her indefinitely.

It was as I had expected–she knew nothing of Wright’s discharging me in her name.

“Miss Sampson,” I said, in dismay, “what have I done? Why did you let me go?”

She looked astonished.

“Russ, I don’t understand you.”

“Why did you discharge me?” I went on, trying to look heart-broken. “I haven’t had a chance yet. I wanted so much to work for you–Miss Sally, what have I done? Why did she discharge me?”

“I did not,” declared Miss Sampson, her dark eyes lighting.

“But look here–here’s my pay,” I went on, exhibiting the money. “Mr. Wright just came to me–said you sent this money–that you wouldn’t need me out at the ranch.”

It was Miss Sally then who uttered a little exclamation. Miss Sampson seemed scarcely to have believed what she had heard.

“My cousin Mr. Wright said that?”

I nodded vehemently.

At this juncture Wright strode before me, practically thrusting me aside.

“Come girls, let’s walk a little before we start,” he said gaily. “I’ll show you Sanderson.”

“Wait, please,” Miss Sampson replied, looking directly at him. “Cousin George, I think there’s a mistake–perhaps a misunderstanding. Here’s the cowboy I’ve engaged–Mr. Russ. He declares you gave him money –told him I discharged him.”

“Yes, cousin, I did,” he replied, his voice rising a little. There was a tinge of red in his cheek. “We–you don’t need him out at the ranch. We’ve any numbers of boys. I just told him that–let him down easy –didn’t want to bother you.”

Certain it was that George Wright had made a poor reckoning. First she showed utter amaze, then distinct disappointment, and then she lifted her head with a kind of haughty grace. She would have addressed him then, had not Colonel Sampson come up.

“Papa, did you instruct Cousin George to discharge Russ?” she asked.

“I sure didn’t,” declared the colonel, with a laugh. “George took that upon his own hands.”

“Indeed! I’d like my cousin to understand that I’m my own mistress. I’ve been accustomed to attending to my own affairs and shall continue doing so. Russ, I’m sorry you’ve been treated this way. Please, in future, take your orders from me.”

“Then I’m to go to Linrock with you?” I asked.

“Assuredly. Ride with Sally and me to-day, please.”

She turned away with Sally, and they walked toward the first buckboard.

Colonel Sampson found a grim enjoyment in Wright’s discomfiture.

“Diane’s like her mother was, George,” he said. “You’ve made a bad start with her.”

Here Wright showed manifestation of the Sampson temper, and I took him to be a dangerous man, with unbridled passions.

“Russ, here’s my own talk to you,” he said, hard and dark, leaning toward me. “Don’t go to Linrock.”

“Say, Mr. Wright,” I blustered for all the world like a young and frightened cowboy, “If you threaten me I’ll have you put in jail!”

Both men seemed to have received a slight shock. Wright hardly knew what to make of my boyish speech. “Are you going to Linrock?” he asked thickly.

I eyed him with an entirely different glance from my other fearful one.

“I should smile,” was my reply, as caustic as the most reckless cowboy’s, and I saw him shake.

Colonel Sampson laid a restraining hand upon Wright. Then they both regarded me with undisguised interest. I sauntered away.

“George, your temper’ll do for you some day,” I heard the colonel say. “You’ll get in bad with the wrong man some time. Hello, here are Joe and Brick!”

Mention of these fellows engaged my attention once more.

I saw two cowboys, one evidently getting his name from his brick-red hair. They were the roistering type, hard drinkers, devil-may-care fellows, packing guns and wearing bold fronts–a kind that the Rangers always called four-flushes.

However, as the Rangers’ standard of nerve was high, there was room left for cowboys like these to be dangerous to ordinary men.

The little one was Joe, and directly Wright spoke to him he turned to look at me, and his thin mouth slanted down as he looked. Brick eyed me, too, and I saw that he was heavy, not a hard-riding cowboy.

Here right at the start were three enemies for me–Wright and his cowboys. But it did not matter; under any circumstances there would have been friction between such men and me.

I believed there might have been friction right then had not Miss Sampson called for me.

“Get our baggage, Russ,” she said.

I hurried to comply, and when I had fetched it out Wright and the cowboys had mounted their horses, Colonel Sampson was in the one buckboard with two men I had not before observed, and the girls were in the other.

The driver of this one was a tall, lanky, tow-headed youth, growing like a Texas weed. We had not any too much room in the buckboard, but that fact was not going to spoil the ride for me.

We followed the leaders through the main street, out into the open, on to a wide, hard-packed road, showing years of travel. It headed northwest.

To our left rose the range of low, bleak mountains I had noted yesterday, and to our right sloped the mesquite-patched sweep of ridge and flat.

The driver pushed his team to a fast trot, which gait surely covered ground rapidly. We were close behind Colonel Sampson, who, from his vehement gestures, must have been engaged in very earnest colloquy with his companions.

The girls behind me, now that they were nearing the end of the journey, manifested less interest in the ride, and were speculating upon Linrock, and what it would be like. Occasionally I asked the driver a question, and sometimes the girls did likewise; but, to my disappointment, the ride seemed not to be the same as that of yesterday.

Every half mile or so we passed a ranch house, and as we traveled on these ranches grew further apart, until, twelve or fifteen miles out of Sanderson, they were so widely separated that each appeared alone on the wild range.

We came to a stream that ran north and I was surprised to see a goodly volume of water. It evidently flowed down from the mountain far to the west.

Tufts of grass were well scattered over the sandy ground, but it was high and thick, and considering the immense area in sight, there was grazing for a million head of stock.

We made three stops in the forenoon, one at a likely place to water the horses, the second at a chuckwagon belonging to cowboys who were riding after stock, and the third at a small cluster of adobe and stone houses, constituting a hamlet the driver called Sampson, named after the Colonel. From that point on to Linrock there were only a few ranches, each one controlling great acreage.

Early in the afternoon from a ridgetop we sighted Linrock, a green path in the mass of gray. For the barrens of Texas it was indeed a fair sight.

But I was more concerned with its remoteness from civilization than its beauty. At that time in the early ‘seventies, when the vast western third of Texas was a wilderness, the pioneer had done wonders to settle there and establish places like Linrock.

As we rolled swiftly along, the whole sweeping range was dotted with cattle, and farther on, within a few miles of town, there were droves of horses that brought enthusiastic praise from Miss Sampson and her cousin.

“Plenty of room here for the long rides,” I said, waving a hand at the gray-green expanse. “Your horses won’t suffer on this range.”

She was delighted, and her cousin for once seemed speechless.

“That’s the ranch,” said the driver, pointing with his whip.

It needed only a glance for me to see that Colonel Sampson’s ranch was on a scale fitting the country.

The house was situated on the only elevation around Linrock, and it was not high, nor more than a few minutes’ walk from the edge of town.

It was a low, flat-roofed structure, made of red adobe bricks and covered what appeared to be fully an acre of ground. All was green about it except where the fenced corrals and numerous barns or sheds showed gray and red.

Wright and the cowboys disappeared ahead of us in the cottonwood trees. Colonel Sampson got out of the buckboard and waited for us. His face wore the best expression I had seen upon it yet. There was warmth and love, and something that approached sorrow or regret.

His daughter was agitated, too. I got out and offered my seat, which Colonel Sampson took.

It was scarcely a time for me to be required, or even noticed at all, and I took advantage of it and turned toward the town.

Ten minutes of leisurely walking brought me to the shady outskirts of Linrock and I entered the town with mingled feelings of curiosity, eagerness, and expectation.

The street I walked down was not a main one. There were small, red houses among oaks and cottonwoods.

I went clear through to the other side, probably more than half a mile. I crossed a number of intersecting streets, met children, nice-looking women, and more than one dusty-booted man.

Half-way back this street I turned at right angles and walked up several blocks till I came to a tree-bordered plaza. On the far side opened a broad street which for all its horses and people had a sleepy look.

I walked on, alert, trying to take in everything, wondering if I would meet Steele, wondering how I would know him if we did meet. But I believed I could have picked that Ranger out of a thousand strangers, though I had never seen him.

Presently the residences gave place to buildings fronting right upon the stone sidewalk. I passed a grain store, a hardware store, a grocery store, then several unoccupied buildings and a vacant corner.

The next block, aside from the rough fronts of the crude structures, would have done credit to a small town even in eastern Texas. Here was evidence of business consistent with any prosperous community of two thousand inhabitants.

The next block, on both sides of the street, was a solid row of saloons, resorts, hotels. Saddled horses stood hitched all along the sidewalk in two long lines, with a buckboard and team here and there breaking the continuity. This block was busy and noisy.

From all outside appearances, Linrock was no different from other frontier towns, and my expectations were scarcely realized.

As the afternoon was waning I retraced my steps and returned to the ranch. The driver boy, whom I had heard called Dick, was looking for me, evidently at Miss Sampson’s order, and he led me up to the house.

It was even bigger than I had conceived from a distance, and so old that the adobe bricks were worn smooth by rain and wind. I had a glimpse in at several doors as we passed by.

There was comfort here that spoke eloquently of many a freighter’s trip from Del Rio. For the sake of the young ladies, I was glad to see things little short of luxurious for that part of the country.

At the far end of the house Dick conducted me to a little room, very satisfactory indeed to me. I asked about bunk-houses for the cowboys, and he said they were full to overflowing.

“Colonel Sampson has a big outfit, eh?”

“Reckon he has,” replied Dick. “Don’ know how many cowboys. They’re always comin’ an’ goin’. I ain’t acquainted with half of them.”

“Much movement of stock these days?”

“Stock’s always movin’,” he replied with a queer look.

“Rustlers?”

But he did not follow up that look with the affirmative I expected.

“Lively place, I hear–Linrock is?”

“Ain’t so lively as Sanderson, but it’s bigger.”

“Yes, I heard it was. Fellow down there was talking about two cowboys who were arrested.”

“Sure. I heerd all about thet. Joe Bean an’ Brick Higgins–they belong heah, but they ain’t heah much.”

I did not want Dick to think me overinquisitive, so I turned the talk into other channels. It appeared that Miss Sampson had not left any instructions for me, so I was glad to go with Dick to supper, which we had in the kitchen.

Dick informed me that the cowboys prepared their own meals down at the bunks; and as I had been given a room at the ranch-house he supposed I would get my meals there, too.

After supper I walked all over the grounds, had a look at the horses in the corrals, and came to the conclusion that it would be strange if Miss Sampson did not love her new home, and if her cousin did not enjoy her sojourn there. From a distance I saw the girls approaching with Wright, and not wishing to meet them I sheered off.

When the sun had set I went down to the town with the intention of finding Steele.

This task, considering I dared not make inquiries and must approach him secretly, might turn out to be anything but easy.

While it was still light, I strolled up and down the main street. When darkness set in I went into a hotel, bought cigars, sat around and watched, without any clue.

Then I went into the next place. This was of a rough crude exterior, but the inside was comparatively pretentious, and ablaze with lights.

It was full of men, coming and going–a dusty-booted crowd that smelled of horses and smoke.

I sat down for a while, with wide eyes and open ears. Then I hunted up a saloon, where most of the guests had been or were going. I found a great square room lighted by six huge lamps, a bar at one side, and all the floor space taken up by tables and chairs.

This must have been the gambling resort mentioned in the Ranger’s letter to Captain Neal and the one rumored to be owned by the mayor of Linrock. This was the only gambling place of any size in southern Texas in which I had noted the absence of Mexicans. There was some card playing going on at this moment.

I stayed in there for a while, and knew that strangers were too common in Linrock to be conspicuous. But I saw no man whom I could have taken for Steele.

Then I went out.

It had often been a boast of mine that I could not spend an hour in a strange town, or walk a block along a dark street, without having something happen out of the ordinary.

Mine was an experiencing nature. Some people called this luck. But it was my private opinion that things gravitated my way because I looked and listened for them.

However, upon the occasion of my first day and evening in Linrock it appeared, despite my vigilance and inquisitiveness, that here was to be an exception.

This thought came to me just before I reached the last lighted place in the block, a little dingy restaurant, out of which at the moment, a tall, dark form passed. It disappeared in the gloom. I saw a man sitting on the low steps, and another standing in the door.

“That was the fellow the whole town’s talkin’ about–the Ranger,” said one man.

Like a shot I halted in the shadow, where I had not been seen.

“Sho! Ain’t boardin’ heah, is he?” said the other.

“Yes.”

“Reckon he’ll hurt your business, Jim.”

The fellow called Jim emitted a mirthless laugh. “Wal, he’s been all my business these days. An’ he’s offered to rent that old ‘dobe of mine just out of town. You know, where I lived before movin’ in heah. He’s goin’ to look at it to-morrow.”

“Lord! does he expect to stay?”

“Say so. An’ if he ain’t a stayer I never seen none. Nice, quiet, easy chap, but he just looks deep.”

“Aw, Jim, he can’t hang out heah. He’s after some feller, that’s all.”

“I don’t know his game. But he says he was heah for a while. An’ he impressed me some. Just now he says: ‘Where does Sampson live?’ I asked him if he was goin’ to make a call on our mayor, an’ he says yes. Then I told him how to go out to the ranch. He went out, headed that way.”

“The hell he did!”

I gathered from this fellow’s exclamation that he was divided between amaze and mirth. Then he got up from the steps and went into the restaurant and was followed by the man called Jim. Before the door was closed he made another remark, but it was unintelligible to me.

As I passed on I decided I would scrape acquaintance with this restaurant keeper.

The thing of most moment was that I had gotten track of Steele. I hurried ahead. While I had been listening back there moments had elapsed and evidently he had walked swiftly.

I came to the plaza, crossed it, and then did not know which direction to take. Concluding that it did not matter I hurried on in an endeavor to reach the ranch before Steele. Although I was not sure, I believed I had succeeded.

The moon shone brightly. I heard a banjo in the distance and a cowboy sing. There was not a person in sight in the wide courts or on the porch. I did not have a well-defined idea about the inside of the house.

Peeping in at the first lighted window I saw a large room. Miss Sampson and Sally were there alone. Evidently this was a parlor or a sitting room, and it had clean white walls, a blanketed floor, an open fireplace with a cheery blazing log, and a large table upon which were lamp, books, papers. Backing away I saw that this corner room had a door opening on the porch and two other windows.

I listened, hoping to hear Steele’s footsteps coming up the road. But I heard only Sally’s laugh and her cousin’s mellow voice.

Then I saw lighted windows down at the other end of the front part of the house. I walked down. A door stood open and through it I saw a room identical with that at the other corner; and here were Colonel Sampson, Wright, and several other men, all smoking and talking.

It might have been interesting to tarry there within ear-shot, but I wanted to get back to the road to intercept Steele. Scarcely had I retraced my steps and seated myself on the porch steps when a very tall dark figure loomed up in the moonlit road.

Steele! I wanted to yell like a boy. He came on slowly, looking all around, halted some twenty paces distant, surveyed the house, then evidently espying me, came on again.

My first feeling was, What a giant! But his face was hidden in the shadow of a sombrero.

I had intended, of course, upon first sight to blurt out my identity. Yet I did not. He affected me strangely, or perhaps it was my emotion at the thought that we Rangers, with so much in common and at stake, had come together.

“Is Sampson at home?” he asked abruptly.

I said, “Yes.”

“Ask him if he’ll see Vaughn Steele, Ranger.”

“Wait here,” I replied. I did not want to take up any time then explaining my presence there.

Deliberately and noisily I strode down the porch and entered the room with the smoking men.

I went in farther than was necessary for me to state my errand. But I wanted to see Sampson’s face, to see into his eyes.

As I entered, the talking ceased. I saw no face except his and that seemed blank.

“Vaughn Steele, Ranger–come to see you, sir.” I announced.

Did Sampson start–did his eyes show a fleeting glint–did his face almost imperceptibly blanch? I could not have sworn to either. But there was a change, maybe from surprise.

The first sure effect of my announcement came in a quick exclamation from Wright, a sibilant intake of breath, that did not seem to denote surprise so much as certainty. Wright might have emitted a curse with less force.

Sampson moved his hand significantly and the action was a voiceless command for silence as well as an assertion that he would attend to this matter. I read him clearly so far. He had authority, and again I felt his power.

“Steele to see me. Did he state his business?”

“No, sir.” I replied.

“Russ, say I’m not at home,” said Sampson presently, bending over to relight his pipe.

I went out. Someone slammed the door behind me.

As I strode back across the porch my mind worked swiftly; the machinery had been idle for a while and was now started.

“Mr. Steele,” I said, “Colonel Sampson says he’s not at home. Tell your business to his daughter.”

Without waiting to see the effect of my taking so much upon myself, I knocked upon the parlor door. Miss Sampson opened it. She wore white. Looking at her, I thought it would be strange if Steele’s well-known indifference to women did not suffer an eclipse.

“Miss Sampson, here is Vaughn Steele to see you,” I said.

“Won’t you come in?” she said graciously.

Steele had to bend his head to enter the door. I went in with him, an intrusion, perhaps, that in the interest of the moment she appeared not to notice.

Steele seemed to fill the room with his giant form. His face was fine, stern, clear cut, with blue or gray eyes, strangely penetrating. He was coatless, vestless. He wore a gray flannel shirt, corduroys, a big gun swinging low, and top boots reaching to his knees.

He was the most stalwart son of Texas I had seen in many a day, but neither his great stature nor his striking face accounted for something I felt–a something spiritual, vital, compelling, that drew me.

“Mr. Steele, I’m pleased to meet you,” said Miss Sampson. “This is my cousin, Sally Langdon. We just arrived–I to make this my home, she to visit me.”

Steele smiled as he bowed to Sally. He was easy, with a kind of rude grace, and showed no sign of embarrassment or that beautiful girls were unusual to him.

“Mr. Steele, we’ve heard of you in Austin,” said Sally with her eyes misbehaving.

I hoped I would not have to be jealous of Steele. But this girl was a little minx if not altogether a flirt.

“I did not expect to be received by ladies,” replied Steele. “I called upon Mr. Sampson. He would not see me. I was to tell my business to his daughter. I’m glad to know you, Miss Sampson and your cousin, but sorry you’ve come to Linrock now.”

“Why?” queried both girls in unison.

“Because it’s–oh, pretty rough–no place for girls to walk and ride.”

“Ah! I see. And your business has to do with rough places,” said Miss Sampson. “Strange that papa would not see you. Stranger that he should want me to hear your business. Either he’s joking or wants to impress me.

“Papa tried to persuade me not to come. He tried to frighten me with tales of this–this roughness out here. He knows I’m in earnest, how I’d like to help somehow, do some little good. Pray tell me this business.”

“I wished to get your father’s cooperation in my work.”

“Your work? You mean your Ranger duty–the arresting of rough characters?”

“That, yes. But that’s only a detail. Linrock is bad internally. My job is to make it good.”

“A splendid and worthy task,” replied Miss Sampson warmly. “I wish you success. But, Mr. Steele, aren’t you exaggerating Linrock’s wickedness?”

“No,” he answered forcibly.

“Indeed! And papa refused to see you–presumably refused to cooperate with you?” she asked thoughtfully.

“I take it that way.”

“Mr. Steele, pray tell me what is the matter with Linrock and just what the work is you’re called upon to do?” she asked seriously. “I heard papa say that he was the law in Linrock. Perhaps he resents interference. I know he’ll not tolerate any opposition to his will. Please tell me. I may be able to influence him.”

I listened to Steele’s deep voice as he talked about Linrock. What he said was old to me, and I gave heed only to its effect.

Miss Sampson’s expression, which at first had been earnest and grave, turned into one of incredulous amaze. She, and Sally too, watched Steele’s face in fascinated attention.

When it came to telling what he wanted to do, the Ranger warmed to his subject; he talked beautifully, convincingly, with a certain strange, persuasive power that betrayed how he worked his way; and his fine face, losing its stern, hard lines, seemed to glow and give forth a spirit austere, yet noble, almost gentle, assuredly something vastly different from what might have been expected in the expression of a gun-fighting Ranger. I sensed that Miss Sampson felt this just as I did.

“Papa said you were a hounder of outlaws–a man who’d rather kill than save!” she exclaimed.

The old stern cast returned to Steele’s face. It was as if he had suddenly remembered himself.

“My name is infamous, I am sorry to say,” he replied.

“You have killed men?” she asked, her dark eyes dilating.

Had any one ever dared ask Steele that before? His face became a mask. It told truth to me, but she could not see, and he did not answer.

“Oh, you are above that. Don’t–don’t kill any one here!”

“Miss Sampson, I hope I won’t.” His voice seemed to check her. I had been right in my estimate of her character–young, untried, but all pride, fire, passion. She was white then, and certainly beautiful.

Steele watched her, could scarcely have failed to see the white gleam of her beauty, and all that evidence of a quick and noble heart.

“Pardon me, please, Mr. Steele,” she said, recovering her composure. “I am –just a little overexcited. I didn’t mean to be inquisitive. Thank you for your confidence. I’ve enjoyed your call, though your news did distress me. You may rely upon me to talk to papa.”

That appeared to be a dismissal, and, bowing to her and Sally, the Ranger went out. I followed, not having spoken.

At the end of the porch I caught up with Steele and walked out into the moonlight beside him.

Just why I did not now reveal my identity I could not say, for certainly I was bursting with the desire to surprise him, to earn his approval. He loomed dark above me, appearing not to be aware of my presence. What a cold, strange proposition this Ranger was!

Still, remembering the earnestness of his talk to Miss Sampson, I could not think him cold. But I must have thought him so to any attraction of those charming girls.

Suddenly, as we passed under the shade of cottonwoods, he clamped a big hand down on my shoulder.

“My God, Russ, isn’t she lovely!” he ejaculated.

In spite of my being dumbfounded I had to hug him. He knew me!

“Thought you didn’t swear!” I gasped.

Ridiculously those were my first words to Vaughn Steele.

“My boy, I saw you parading up and down the street looking for me,” he said. “I intended to help you find me to-morrow.”

We gripped hands, and that strong feel and clasp meant much.

“Yes, she’s lovely, Steele,” I said. “But did you look at the cousin, the little girl with the eyes?”

Then we laughed and loosed hands.

“Come on, let’s get out somewhere. I’ve a million things to tell you.”

We went away out into the open where some stones gleamed white in the moonlight, and there, sitting in the sand, our backs against a rest, and with all quiet about us, we settled down for a long conference.

I began with Neal’s urgent message to me, then told of my going to the capitol–what I had overheard when Governor Smith was in the adjutant’s office; of my interview with them; of the spying on Colonel Sampson; Neal’s directions, advice, and command; the ride toward San Antonio; my being engaged as cowboy by Miss Sampson; of the further ride on to Sanderson and the incident there; and finally how I had approached Sampson and then had thought it well to get his daughter into the scheme of things.

It was a long talk, even for me, and my voice sounded husky.

“I told Neal I’d be lucky to get you,” said Steele, after a silence.

That was the only comment on my actions, the only praise, but the quiet way he spoke it made me feel like a boy undeserving of so much.

“Here, I forgot the money Neal sent,” I went on, glad to be rid of the huge roll of bills.

The Ranger showed surprise. Besides, he was very glad.

“The Captain loves the service,” said Steele. “He alone knows the worth of the Rangers. And the work he’s given his life to–the good that service really does–all depends on you and me, Russ!”

I assented, gloomily enough. Then I waited while he pondered.

The moon soared clear; there was a cool wind rustling the greasewood; a dog bayed a barking coyote; lights twinkled down in the town.

I looked back up at the dark hill and thought of Sally Langdon. Getting here to Linrock, meeting Steele had not changed my feelings toward her, only somehow they had removed me far off in thought, out of possible touch, it seemed.

“Well, son, listen,” began Steele. His calling me that was a joke, yet I did not feel it. “You’ve made a better start than I could have figured. Neal said you were lucky. Perhaps. But you’ve got brains.

“Now, here’s your cue for the present. Work for Miss Sampson. Do your best for her as long as you last. I don’t suppose you’ll last long. You have got to get in with this gang in town. Be a flash cowboy. You don’t need to get drunk, but you’re to pretend it.

“Gamble. Be a good fellow. Hang round the barrooms. I don’t care how you play the part, so long as you make friends, learn the ropes. We can meet out here at nights to talk and plan.

“You’re to take sides with those who’re against me. I’ll furnish you with the money. You’d better appear to be a winning gambler, even if you’re not. How’s this plan strike you?”

“Great–except for one thing,” I replied. “I hate to lie to Miss Sampson. She’s true blue, Steele.”

“Son, you haven’t got soft on her?”

“Not a bit. Maybe I’m soft on the little cousin. But I just like Miss Sampson–think she’s fine–could look up to her. And I hate to be different from what she thinks.”

“I understand, Russ,” he replied in his deep voice that had such quality to influence a man. “It’s no decent job. You’ll be ashamed before her. So would I. But here’s our work, the hardest ever cut out for Rangers. Think what depends upon it. And–”

“There’s something wrong with Miss Sampson’s father,” I interrupted.

“Something strange if not wrong. No man in this community is beyond us, Russ, or above suspicion. You’ve a great opportunity. I needn’t say use your eyes and ears as never before.”

“I hope Sampson turns out to be on the square,” I replied. “He might be a lax mayor, too good-natured to uphold law in a wild country. And his Southern pride would fire at interference. I don’t like him, but for his daughter’s sake I hope we’re wrong.”

Steele’s eyes, deep and gleaming in the moonlight, searched my face.

“Son, sure you’re not in love with her–you’ll not fall in love with her?”

“No. I am positive. Why?”

“Because in either case I’d likely have need of a new man in your place,” he said.

“Steele, you know something about Sampson–something more!” I exclaimed swiftly.

“No more than you. When I meet him face to face I may know more. Russ, when a fellow has been years at this game he has a sixth sense. Mine seldom fails me. I never yet faced the criminal who didn’t somehow betray fear –not so much fear of me, but fear of himself–his life, his deeds. That’s conscience, or if not, just realization of fate.”

Had that been the thing I imagined I had seen in Sampson’s face?

“I’m sorry Diane Sampson came out here,” I said impulsively.

Steele did not say he shared that feeling. He was looking out upon the moon-blanched level.

Some subtle thing in his face made me divine that he was thinking of the beautiful girl to whom he might bring disgrace and unhappiness.