NORTON MAKES A DISCOVERY
Judge Graney rose and leaned over the table, taking the young man's hand
and holding it tightly. Then he sat down again and resumed smoking.
Neither man said a word during the hand-clasp and yet both knew that
their hearts and minds were united in a common cause. Words would have
been unnecessary and futile.
Hollis's path of duty lay straight and open before him. There was no
by-way that would lead him around the dangers that were sure to beset
him. Nor had he thought to search for any. Long before the judge had
concluded his recital of conditions in the county Hollis had decided to
meet the issue squarely. He had been able to see beyond the petty,
personal side of the question; had even ignored it to get at the big,
pithy principle of equal rights. The Law must come. If he could assist
in bringing it he would be accomplishing something real and tangible and
he would be satisfied. He did not believe that Destiny had anything to
do with his appearance upon the scene at this particular time; rather he
felt that his coming was merely a result of a combination of
circumstances such as might have occurred to any man. And like any man
with courage and deeply settled convictions he was prepared to move
forward to the issue, trusting himself. He had no thought of appearing
heroic.
Yet to the judge he appeared so. The latter had been prepared to hear
excuses from him; had been prepared to resist a natural inclination to
berate the young man soundly for lack of parental loyalty, though
conscious that he could advance no valid reason for the young man
sacrificing himself upon the altars of an old feud. It was against human
nature for any man to so sacrifice himself, he had assured himself when
trying to build up a defense for the young man.
And now that Hollis had shown that he needed no defender; that he was
willing to take up the cudgels in behalf of his father, the judge was
scarcely able to restrain himself. To state calmly that he intended to
fight the Cattlemen's Association when there was a life of comparative
safety awaiting him in another section of the country was an heroic
decision. Many another man would have cringed--would have surrendered
without striking a blow.
Judge Graney had long known that the action of his government in sending
him to Union County was an ironical surrender on the part of the
government to the forces in the West which had been long demanding the
Law. He had been sent here, presumably to enforce the law, but in
reality to silence the government's critics. He was not expected to
convict anyone. Theoretically he was supposed to uphold the majesty of
the law in Union County, but in reality he merely remained and drew his
salary. There was no law to enforce.
In the fight that had been waged between the elder Hollis and the
Cattlemen's Association his sympathies had been with Hollis, though he
had never been able to assist him in a legal way. But the judge knew
that eventually the Law must come, and so he encouraged Hollis, assuring
him that victory would be his in the end.
And then Hollis had died--suddenly. The Las Vegas doctor who had
attended him had shaken his head sagely when the judge had questioned
him regarding his patient and had pointed significantly to one of Dry
Bottom's saloons. The doctor had told the judge there was no hope, and
the latter had telegraphed East. The appearance of young Hollis had been
the result. The judge's heart had warmed toward the young man.
"What are your intentions regarding the newspaper--the _Kicker_?"
he questioned.
Hollis looked up quickly, his face grave. "Perhaps if there had been no
_Kicker_ here my decision might have been different," he said. "But
so long as it is here it is in business to stay!"
"I expect that decision won't please Dunlavey a whole lot," the judge
returned.
"Perhaps not," drawled Hollis; "still, we can't aim to please everybody.
I expect I might be able to get hold of that printer--Potter I believe
you called him?"
"Potter won't be hard to find," assured the judge; "a search of the
saloons would uncover him, I imagine." He smiled. "When you get ready to
get the _Kicker_ out just let me know; I promise to have Potter on
hand."
To the ears of the two men came a rattle of wheels and a voice. The
judge leaned back in his chair and looked out through the window. His
face wreathed into a broad smile as he resumed his former position and
looked at Hollis. "Your range boss is here," he said.
They heard a step on the board walk, and a man stood in the doorway
looking at them.
The newcomer gave an instant impression of capability. He stood on the
threshold, entirely composed, saturnine, serene eyed, absolutely sure of
himself. He was arrayed in high heeled boots, minus spurs; the bottoms
of a pair of dust-covered overalls were tucked into the boot legs; a
woolen shirt, open at the throat, covered a pair of admirable shoulders;
a scarlet handkerchief was knotted around his neck; and a wide brimmed
hat, carelessly dented in the crown, was shoved rakishly back from his
forehead. Sagging from his slim waist was a well filled cartridge belt
and at the right hip a heavy revolver.
"Howdy, judge!" he said with a smile, in response to Judge Graney's
cordial greeting.
"Just come in?" questioned the judge.
"Been in town an hour," returned Norton.
He flashed a searching glance at Hollis, which that young man met
steadily. The thought crossed Hollis's mind that the buckboard that he
had seen in front of a store soon after leaving the station must have
been Norton's. But now Norton was speaking again and Hollis listened.
"Dropped into the Fashion to see my friend Red Eggers," resumed Norton,
smiling broadly. "Same old crowd--Dunlavey, Yuma Ed, Ten Spot,
Greasy--most of the bunch which has been makin' things interestin' for
us hereabouts."
At the mention of "Yuma Ed" Hollis looked up. That was the name of the
second man he had struck in the affair near the Fashion Saloon. He
wondered if Norton knew. He did not remember to have seen the latter
among the men who had surrounded him in the space between the two
buildings. But the judge was now introducing him to Norton and he stood
up, holding the latter's hand and meeting his inspecting gaze fairly. He
found that the range boss was fully as tall as he; indeed, Hollis
discovered that he was compelled to look up slightly in order to meet
the latter's level gaze. Norton smiled peculiarly; there was a friendly
expression in his eyes, but mingled with it was a reserved, appraising,
speculative gleam, which drew a smile to Hollis's lips.
"So you're Jim Hollis's boy?" said Norton. "My new boss?" He grinned,
evidently willing to go more than half way in forming a friendship with
his "new boss". "I don't reckon that you're much stuck on this here
country--much as you've seen of it?"
"I've been used to keeping busy," laughed Hollis, "and my impression is
that it seems rather dull out here."
Norton's eyelashes flickered. He deliberately closed one eye at the
judge, carefully averting his face so that Hollis could not see.
"So you're lookin' for action?" he said to Hollis in a grave voice.
"Mebbe it ain't none of my business," he added, his eyes gleaming, "but
I'm askin' you if you're thinkin' to stay in this country--keepin' your
dad's ranch an' his newspaper?"
Hollis nodded. Norton's eyes gleamed with a savage delight. "Bully!" he
declared. "If you stay here you'll get plenty of action. I was afraid
you wouldn't stay." He turned to Judge Graney, a grin of satisfaction on
his face. "I'm tellin' you somethin' that will tickle you a heap," he
said. "I told you that I had stopped in Red Egger's saloon. I did.
Dunlavey's bunch was feelin' mighty sore over somethin'. I stayed there
a while, tryin' to find out what it was all about, but there wasn't none
of them sayin' anything to me. But pretty soon I got Red over into a
corner an' he told me. Accordin' to him Dunlavey had corraled that
Hazelton girl outside an' was tellin' her somethin' pretty strong when a
tenderfoot, which hadn't any regard for Dunlavey's delicate feelin's, up
an' lambasted him in the jaw!"
"Struck him?" queried the judge, grinning delightedly.
"Knocked him cold," affirmed Norton, his eyes dancing. "Pasted him so
hard that he thought it was night an' went to sleep. Then Yuma busted in
an' thought to work his guns. He got his'n, too. That there tenderfoot
didn't have no respect for guns. Red says he never thought any man could
hit so hard. It must have been sumptuous!" He laughed delightedly. "I'd
like to shake hands with that tenderfoot--he's my friend!"
Hollis pulled out a cigar case, selected a cigar, lighted it, and smoked
in silence.
So her name was Hazelton. Admiration over the manner in which she had
held the men at bay before Dunlavey got to his feet still lingered; she
had impressed him deeply. But a deeper satisfaction overshadowed his
thoughts of the girl, for he had slugged Dunlavey, his father's enemy.
His satisfaction grew to amusement. Did Dunlavey know who had slugged
him? He must have suspected, for Hollis recalled the man's significant
expression when, after he had risen from the ground he said: "I've got
an idea that you an' me will meet again."
Hollis's thoughts flitted rapidly from Dunlavey to the girl. Now that he
had decided to stay he had determined to search her out. He remembered
that Dunlavey had spoken slightingly of her brother and he assured
himself that he would not be entirely satisfied until he had uncovered
the mystery. He might have questioned Norton or the judge, for both men
evidently knew the girl, but he was reluctant to betray his interest in
her to either man.
He heard Norton make an exclamation of surprise, and looking up he saw
him holding his right hand out, the palm upward, examining it. There was
a splotch of blood on the palm and another on the under side of the
thumb.
"Shucks!" Norton was saying. "Now where in thunder did I get that?" He
looked again at the hand and then suddenly dove forward to Hollis's
side, seized his right hand, peered at the knuckles and held the hand
triumphantly aloft.
"I reckon this is where I got it!" he grinned.
Hollis looked ruefully down at his knuckles. The skin was
gashed--evidently where it had come in contact with a bone in either
Dunlavey's or Yuma's jaw. He had intended to keep the story of adventure
to himself. But he saw that Norton had stepped back and was gazing
soberly at the suitcases, which Hollis had deposited near the door.
Norton suddenly let out a chirp of delight.
"Two of them!" he said, suppressing his excitement; "Two grips! Red
Eggers said there was two an' that the tenderfoot had come down toward
the court house!" He walked to Hollis and halted in front of him,
looking at him with admiration and satisfaction.
"Own up now!" he said. "You ain't tellin' us that it wasn't you, durn
you! Oh, say!" He uttered a whoop that must have startled the horses in
front of the building. Then he sobered down, speaking in a low,
regretful voice: "You durn tenderfoot! Here I've been waitin' for years
to get a crack at that big four-flusher, an' here you come, a-fannin'
along from your little old East an' get ahead of me!" He stifled a
cackle of mirth. "An' so you're lookin' for action? Lordy! If you don't
call what you done to Dunlavey an' Yuma action this country's goin' to
set up an' take notice when you get to goin' in earnest!"
Judge Graney loomed somberly over the table. "I suppose it must have
been you?" he said gravely.
Hollis nodded. "I may as well confess," he said. "I saw a man giving a
young lady a mighty bad moment and I slugged him. Another man called me
a vile name and I slugged him, too. That was all."
The judge sat down again, his face slightly pale. A significant glance
passed between him and Norton, but the latter laughed grimly.
"I reckon he's opened the ball, right off the reel," he suggested.
Judge Graney drew a deep breath. "Yes," he returned. "I suppose that way
is as good as any other. It was bound to come anyway. It will be war to
the finish now!"