The Complete Novels of Ernest Haycox. Ernest Haycox

a few words she told him of Lestrade's visit. "After that," she said, "Dad saw settlers going toward Powder and he decided to face them immediately. You don't know what a strain it's been and how glad I am it's all over."

      "I think," he said, growing red, "that I really ought to get a reward."

      "What?"

      "I think you should go home and bake me another apple pie."

      "Oh," she said in a disappointed tone. "Is that all?"

      "Well," Lin said, "that will be all until I get you in the kitchen where all these yahoos won't be looking."

      And that night as the stars came out and the coyotes sent forth their quivering challenge, Powder settled again into its somnolence, with another chapter added to its brief but vivid history. Out in the bleak graveyard they buried Beauty Chatto and Dan Rounds, side by side, while the jail held three miserable, defeated men—Nig Chatto, James J. Lestrade, and Tracy the turn-coat. They were fit company for one another.

      And over in Judge Henry's house, supper was past and the judge had the ranch to himself. Lin and Gracie had driven to that long deserted homestead of Lin's. It seemed Gracie wanted to take measurements for new curtains.

      FREE GRASS

       Table of Contents

       Table of Contents

       I. The Prodigal's Return

       II. On the Trail

       III. Lorena Wyatt

       IV. San Saba Strikes

       V. Murder in the Circle G

       VI. An Advocate of Trouble

       VII. The Net Draws Tighter

       VIII. East Comes West

       IX. Conflict

       X. A Killing

       XI. The Raid

       XII. Deadwood

       XIII. Death Among the Pines

       XIV. Grist Strikes Again

       XV. Flood Tide—And Ebb

       XVI. A Duel

       XVII. All Trails Cross

      I. THE PRODIGAL'S RETURN

       Table of Contents

      The Circle G herd, twenty-five hundred long- horned cattle out of Menard County, Texas, had passed the Arkansas and were bedded down off the trail two miles from Dodge City. The chuck-wagon fire traced an orange spiral in the night, at occasions fitfully illumining a puncher's face. There were eighteen in the outfit, counting the colored cook whose giant figure slid to and from the circle of light with the supper dishes. From the near distance floated the night rider's lament:

      "Sam Bass was borned in Injianna, it wus his native home, And at the age uh seventeen, young Sam began to roam—"

      Cigarette tips gleamed; a dry voice broke the spell of silence.

      "Had music wings that song would fall an' bust its neck."

      The remark stirred the fluid of speech; a lazy rejoinder passed over the flame tips. "Yo' ain't no Jenny Lind yo'se'f, Quagmire. Fella can't tell they is a tune when yo' soothe the bulls."

      Quagmire rose on an elbow and brought himself into the light; a skinny man, the colour of butternut, with drawn features and a spray of crowfoot wrinkles around each eye; a sadly sober man whose words seemed to escape from some deep pit of despair. "Who, me? I sing bass."

      "It's God's mercy then they ain't more bass singers in this outfit."

      Quagmire elevated his thin shoulders and turned his palms upward, Indian fashion. "I was borned durin' the War o' Secession when corn pone got all-fired skase. Not havin' any provender to support my voice it fell into the pit o' my stummick and it ain't come back sence. Go 'way 'long, yo' East Texas oat munchers. It takes starvation to make a genius."

      "Well, by—"

      Horse and rider moved into the light. Astride the horse, a stocking-legged bay with a shad belly, was Major Bob Gillette, owner of the herd. The firelight played on his face, strongly outlining the granitic ruggedness of chin and brow. He wore no beard, nor so much as a goatee—itself a sign of unconformity in a land where nearly every adult male went whiskered. In his fifties, this stormy petrel was indelibly stamped with the effects of a rough border career. Beneath the brim of his felt hat his hair showed an iron-gray in keeping with the uneven transverse lines of his face and the bold modeling of his cheek bones. His eyes were set far apart and considerably back in the sockets; thus hidden they deprived his features of the ordinary light and mobility and made them appear both harsh and uncompromising. It was a legend back in Menard County that a Gillette rider was the best in he state, not only excelling with horse and rope, but also with the gun. He worked his men hard, kept almost military discipline, and played no favourites. It was quite significant that talk ceased when he rode among the group.

      "San Saba."

      A brittle, slow answer came from the rear of the circle, "Yes, suh."

      "I'm going to town. Keep about while I'm away."

      "Yes, suh."

      Major Gillette rode off. For some time the silence held, then Quagmire's rumbling, drear tones broke it "Well, I'm perishin' for a little fluid. They say Dodge is a wicked, sinful city. Who am I to deprive it o' lawful trade? If they's anybody else wants to liquefy, le's go swell the population."

      San Saba was still immersed in the shadows—a place he always liked to be. But he challenged Quagmire with just two words, these seeming to crack over the fire like a lash. "Stay put."

      Quagmire stared at the fire a long while, features coming to a point. Replying, he threw his words over one shoulder. "Now, who said so?"

      "Orders," droned San Saba. "Trouble on the trail. They's others drivin' north asides us."

      "Man—few o' years and full o' trouble," murmured Quagmire. "A wise hombre issued that remark."

      Conversation lagged. The early to bed rolled in their blankets and slept Quagmire edged nearer the fire and began poking at it with a stem of sage. Once, when his eyes met those of another across the blaze, there was a point