Argosy, Vol. 120, No. 1 — page 105: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE TRAIL HORDE. 95 regular—with a-face on him as long as the moral law—an’ then some. I ain't got no rope on him—an’ that’s a fact. But he’s all wool an’ a yard wide—ain’t he, Blackburn?”’ CHAPTER XXXVI. WARDEN MEDITATES. [7 had always been lonely at the Hamlin cabin, and it grew more lonely after Kane Lawler left the Circle L. For the barrier between Ruth and the happiness she had a right to expect seemed to grow higher and more impassable daily. After receiving official notification of his nomination, Lawler had gone away. on a speaking tour of the State, and Ruth had seen little of him. He came home once, for a few days, just before the election, and renewed his pleas to Ruth. But the girl, rigidly adhering to her deter- mination not to permit the shadow of her father’s reputation to embarrass him, had firmly refused to consent. And after the election, when he had gone to the capital to take the office to which he had been chosen by a record vote, she watched him ride away with a feeling that the world had grown to gigantic proportions and that Lawler was going to its extreme farther limits, leaving behind him a gulf of space, endless and desolate. Dorgan, the county prosecutor, had been defeated for reelection by a man named Carney—who was known to be friendly to Singleton. Moreton had also been defeated —by “Slim” McCray, who hailed from a little town called Keegles, southeast from Willets. It was rumored—after the elec- tion—that Slim McCray had been friendly to Antrim, though no one advanced any evidence in support of the rumor. McCray—because Willets was the county-seat—came to the office that had formerly been Moreton’s, immediately fol- lowing his election. He was slender, tall, and unprepossessing, and instantly created a bad impression. This news came to Ruth through her father, for she had not visted town since she had gone there to help Mrs. Lawler care for her son. She felt that she did not dare to leave the cabin. For one night, after her father had acted strangely, he got up suddenly and went owt of the door. And after a while, growing suspicious, she blew out the light and stepped softly out- side, to see him, at a little distance from the house, talking with Singleton. That incident had occurred shortly after Lawler had departed for the capital to as- sume his duties as Governor. She sus- pected her father had talked with Singleton since, though she had never seen them together from that time until now. Lawler had been gone a month. She had heard through various mediums— mostly from cowboys from near-by ranches who occasionally passed the cabin—that Lawler was “‘ making good ”—in the ver- nacular of the cowpuncher; and: “ He’s makin’ them all set up an’ take notice.” Those terms, of course, would seem to in- dicate that Lawler was a good Governor and that he was attracting attention by the quality of his administration. » But it seemed that more than a month had passed since Lawler had gone to the capital. The days dragged, and the weeks seemed to be eons long. And yet the dull monotony of the girl’s life was relieved by trips she made to the Circle L, to visit Lawler’s mother—and by the presence of Mary Lawler, who had come home for her vacation, during the summer, and during Lawler’s absence on his speaking tour. Ruth had heard with satisfaction that the Circle L trail herd, attended by Black- burn, Shorty, and other Circle L men, had not been molested on the trip to Red Rock. Caldwell and the others had driven their cattle to Red Rock also—not one of them visiting Warden to arrange for cars. Lawler’s influence, and the spirit he had re- vealed in undertaking the long drive the previous season, had had its effect upon the other cattle owners. It seemed to Ruth that the fight between the Circle L men and the rustlers had made the latter cautious; and that even Warden had decided that discretion was necessary. At any rate, the surface of life in Willets and the surrounding country had become smooth, no matter what forces were at work et ermal Ey ayat ce CO@