Their horses were a-lather; their lean sides tuckered, but their gait rema

ead of the others. It was as though the big,

commissioned officer ra

See, they're getting up out of the heat haze

ent withdrawing the steady

troopers an

agreed. "We need to h

sun-scorched grass with their iron-shod hoo

l. They were trailing a hot scent, a pastime as well as a work that was their life. They

e hats, their black, hard serge breeches, with broad, yellow stripes down the thighs, possessed a busines

ions of the country. Lawlessness prevailed on these fair, sunlit plains; lawlessness of man, lawlessness of Nature. Between the two they

itted; a criminal was at large; information of a contemplated breach of the peace was to hand. Then go-and see to it. Investigate and arrest. The individual must plan and carry out, whatever the odds. Success would meet with cool approval; failure would be promptly rewarded with the utmost rigor of the penal code governing the force. The work might take

ke again. His steady eyes wer

right up like a mop head. That's the pine at Roc

ere ahead, on the southern trail, a gang of whisky smugglers were pl

idered the matter. Each, with eyes and brain alert,

located, the sergeant, a rough, hard-faced Scot, relaxed his vigilance

spirit," he said, addressing no one in particular

troopers

some of it, sergeant,"

word, boy. Spill don't describe the warm trickle

trooper

he cried in disgust. "A man

ant shook

right, too, in this God-forgotten land. If we didn't spill, we'd be right down and out, and our lives wouldn't

er him. The animal's response was a lengthening of strid

nsion. Now, once more, every eye was fixed on the shimmering

andy surface lay beneath their f

ation of it, while their sweating horses promptly regaled

he speed at which the last vehicle to pass had been traveling. The

lared promptly, "an' their gait

rail one of the tr

"Two shod, and two shod on the forefeet only. Guess, with t

d, while they continu

rd man excla

king something up at

joined hi

lf-burned cigarette, the tobacco

garettes around here. It's a Capora

Rocky Springs gang, sure as hell. It's the foulest hole of

of Rocky Springs. Presently, however, the dust subsided. The astute riders of the plains were g

Not a cloud was visible anywhere in the sky. The world was

e wide valley of Leaping Creek, which, six miles further

lley widened and deepened, its aspect became more rugged. The land rose to greater heights, the lighter vegetation gave way to heavier growths of spruce and blue gum and maple. These too, in turn, became sprinkled with the darker a

silence. It was peace, a wonderful natural peace, when all nature seems at rest, nor coul

the abiding place of the hamlet of Rocky Springs, and Rocky Springs

of the tumbling creek, which coursed through the heart of the valley, was powerless to awaken discordant echoes. Its music was

Slowly the glowing light vanished behind a bluff of woodland. In a few minutes the trees and undergrowth

. Then it dominated both, and its music lessened. Its note changed rapidly, so rapidly that its softer tone was at once forgotten, and only the harshness it now assumed re

clatter broke up into distinct and separate sounds. The swift beat of speeding hoofs

ts very aspect had changed. A sense of human strife had suddenly poss

, regardless of all consequences, regardless both of life and limb. The teamster was leaning forward in his seat, his arms outstretched, grasping a rein in each hand. He was urging his horses to their utmost. In his

bush at the shoulder of the hill. They were there to watch the approach to the valley.

stretched and mouths beginning to gape, with ears flattened and streaming flanks, reached the bottom, the desperate nature of the journey be

t called sharply

ake it?"

d jaws. "If we got twenty minutes on the gorl

st on its legs by the sheer physical strength of his hands upon the reins. The check was bare

ole breadth of the road. The dust in its wake rose up in a dense cloud. Into this the escort

tter and finally diminished it to a rumble. In a few minutes even the rising cloud of dust, like smoke ab

d the outskirts of the village, and already an occasional flash of white paint t

th gray lines of caking sweat. They were walking, and the teamster on the wag

d in typical prairie costume, his loose cotton shirt well matching the unclean condition of his face. One che

rather studied, for his eyes were alight and watchful with the furtive watchfulness so easy to detect in those of partial color. They suggested that his ears, too, were no less al

of the great pistols hanging at his waist, so that its barrel rested across his thigh, and its butt was ready to his ha

rent, for, a few moments later, the distant sound of hoo

re behind him to come up before he reached the village. The smile on his evil face

t yet amid the woodland shadows. Only the clatter of hoofs was growing with each moment. He finally turned back and re

s than a hundred yards behind. In a few moments they were directly behind. Then the man lazily turned his head. For some moments he stared stupidly at the

er drew up his horse at the other side, while the third c

teamster, with deliberate che

half-breed's face. He was endeavoring to fix and

he said

nterested him. The nature of the wagon. Then, finally, the contents

m?" he demande

," replied the man, quite und

"Guess your plugs sweated some. What'

ate Seton's 'hired' man. Been acr

xin

There was something like insolence in the way Pet

kes fer sewin' with. There's a deal o' fancy canned truck, an' say, the leddy's death on notions. Get a peek at

hine in its shining walnut case. Beside this was an open packing case filled with canned fruits and meats, and a large supply of groceries. I

again to the trooper to replace

n' break our dirty necks. An' the colors, too. Guess they'd shame a dago wench, an' set a three-year old stud bull shakin' his sides with a puffic tempest of indignation. But when it comes to canned truck, well, say, prair

hold up a freight. You ran a big cargo of liquor in this wagon, which is why your plugs are tuckered out. You've cached that liquor in this valley, at the place you gathered up this truck. I don't say y

aughed in

." His eyes twinkled as he went on. "An' I done all that? All that you sed, sergeant? Say, I'm

ant's eye

You and the boys with you. We've followed your trail all t

the liquor's cached," reto

traight into the

n't no liquor in my wagon, an' if there ever has been any, as you kind o' fancy, it's rig

display, he shook his reins and shoute

he turned his head and

geant," he called back derisively. "That penitentiary

d beaten him. This was the wagon; this was one of the men. Of these things he wa

said with a grin that had no mirth in it. Then he added griml