rail outfit, and the most likely employment agency in Texas during that decade was the barroom

rove. The cow-pony was tied to a hitching-rack worn shiny by thousands of reins. On the nose of the bronco

eckon we'll 'light and take an intere

te, after which he made friends with the sor

foreman drew from its scabbard a revolver and slid it back into place to make sure that it lay easy in its case.

on. In the back the side wall to the next building had been ripped out to give more room. There was a space for dancing,

as in progress. The dance-girls were making up for lost sleep, a

n. The second was slender and trim, black of hair and eye and mustache. His clothes were very good and up to date. The one farthest from the door was a heavy-s

ider order

se," said the b

" asked Roberts casually as his

want no gay cowboys shootin' out our

elf beside it. For the custom on the frontier was that each rider from the range should deposit his weapons at the first saloon he en

oung fellow?" asked th

the A

n turned and look

ave you been ri

e mo

k I've seen

don't often get to

und do yo

the rim-rock, and s

The sallow man squirted tobacco at a knot in the floo

out there, ain't

The country is filled with a

f a bad-lands proposition, I've heard tell-country crease

shly. "Anybody else run cattle

of the rim-rock. Cattle drift across. I ca

ever see s

n't

man was heavy and dominant. It occurred to

alert eyes of the line-rider. "Once in

tened as does a private called to at

from a barefoot negro washing the flo

igh voice of the questio

aved me round. I beat him to the Bo

e you?" The startled eyes of the dark

he bluf

leam of his jade eyes came through narrow-slitted lids. "Well, did you take

. "I'm askin' these questions, Dinsmore.

" answered the

tler-would you

l that he did not know. "He was ridin' a sorrel with a white sp

t from some inner compulsion, as it were,

lence, tense and ominous

nstrance in the ear of the young fellow, but his su

made a business announcement without stress or accent. "I ex

first and to strike hard. His brown fist moved forward as though it had been shot from a gun. The other man crashed

a li'l' shorthorn like this guy with

e was the champion boxer of the small town where he had gone to school. Since he had returned to the West, he had put on flesh and mu

ly, showing good foot-work and a nice judgment of distance. For several minutes he peppered the line-rider with neat hits. Jack bored in for more. H

shore have got him goin'

were heavy as though weighted with lead. The science upon which he had prided himself wa

h his left and sent a heavy body blow to the heart. The knees o

et. "He-he took me by surprise," explained th

lly. "An' I'm liable to surprise you ag

been spoken to as Dinsmore. "You get away with this because t

of the front door. Robert

The cock-eyed guy must be Steve Gurley. But

d Wadley-son of the man who signs yore pay-checks. Say, I heard B

t he had given him a first-class lacing. The air-castles he had been building came tumbling down with a crash. He had alread

ked with a grin that found no ec