TO SUPPORT THE LAW
Hollis alone, of all the men whose cattle grazed on the Circle Bar side
of the Rabbit-Ear, really doubted that Dunlavey would have the courage
to inaugurate a war against the small owners. Lemuel Train was
particularly strong in his belief that Dunlavey would not hesitate to
shoot whatever cattle infringed on what he considered were his rights.
"I know the skunk!" he declared heatedly to Hollis a day or two after
the conversation on the porch at the Circle Bar. "He'll do it. I'm only
scared that he won't wait till the tenth day before beginnin'. Why in
hell don't it rain?"
This remained the great, universal interrogation. But at the end of a
week it was unanswered. The sun swam in its endless circles, a great
ball of molten silver at which no man could look with the naked eye,
traveling its slow way through a blurred, white sky, sinking to the
horizon in the evening and leaving a scorched, blasted, gasping country
behind. The nights brought no relief. Clark, of the Circle Y,
sarcastically declared it to be his belief that some meddler in things
firmamental was paying the owner of the sun to work it overtime.
Hollis's daily twenty mile ride from the Circle Bar to Dry Bottom and
return became a trial to him. At night, when he returned from the trip,
hot, dry, dusty, he would draw a chair out on the gallery floor and scan
the sky for signs of rain. To his recollection since his adventure on
the night of the storm there had not been a cloud in the sky. On the
trails the dust was inches deep and light as a feather. It rose in
stifling whirlwinds, filling the nostrils and the lungs, parching the
tongues of man and beast and accentuating the suffering caused by lack
of water.
All the pleasure had been drawn from Hollis's rides because of the
dryness and heat. On a morning a week following the day upon which
Dunlavey had issued his warning to the cattle owners, Hollis made his
usual trip to Dry Bottom. Norton accompanied him, intending to make some
purchases in town. They rode the ten miles without incident and Hollis
left Norton at the door of the _Kicker_ office, after telling the
range boss to come back to the office when he had made his purchases as
he intended returning to the Circle Bar before noon. Hollis found Potter
inside. The latter had remained in Dry Bottom over night and was busy at
a type case when his chief entered. Hollis did not remain long in the
office. He looked over some letters that Potter had placed on his desk,
placed one in a pocket and rose, telling Potter that he would be back
and instructing him to tell Norton to await his coming should the latter
return before him. Then he went down to the court house.
He found the door of Judge Graney's court room slightly ajar and without
knocking he pushed it open and entered. On the threshold he halted and
drew a deep breath. Judge Graney was seated at the big table, and
directly opposite him, leaning heavily on his elbows, his face inflamed
with anger, sat Dunlavey. Near a window at the side of the room stood a
grave faced man of medium height, slender and muscular, who was watching
the Judge and Dunlavey soberly.
At Hollis's sudden appearance the Judge looked up and smiled, while
Dunlavey faced around, a derisive, mocking grin on his face. Hollis bore
no marks of the recent attack beyond the left wrist, still in splints.
"Come in," invited Judge Graney, his smile growing, his eyes glinting
oddly. "I think, since you are responsible for the startling innovation
which we have been discussing, that you are entitled to a word."
He gravely waved Hollis to a chair and stood silent while the latter
sank into it. Then he smiled, glancing furtively at Dunlavey and
addressing Hollis.
"Perhaps you will remember that some time ago you printed an article in
the _Kicker_ urging upon the Government the necessity of bringing
the law into Union County?"
Hollis nodded. "Yes," he said quietly; "I remember."
"Well," resumed the Judge, "the article has borne fruit. But perhaps not
in the manner you expected." He laughed around at the three,
deliberately closing an eye at Hollis. "You know," he resumed,
addressing them all, his eyes twinkling as his gaze met Dunlavey's,
"that the law is an expensive institution. It is a fundamental
principle--at least of some governments," he smiled--"that a community
that desires the law must pay, and pay dearly--for it. In short, if it
wants the law it must pay taxes. I do not say that that is a principle
which our government is applying, but I do say that it is an eminently
fair proposition.
"At all events I have received word from the Interior Department that if
we want the law to come out here we must pay for it. That is not said in
so many words, but that is the inference, if we are to consider the
instructions of the Secretary of the Interior--which are: 'I am informed
that several large ranch owners in Union County are inclined to evade
taxation. Especially is this true--I am told--of a man named Dunlavey,
who, if the report is correct, paid, during the last half year, taxes on
five hundred head of cattle, whereas it is claimed that his holdings
will amount to about five thousand, yearly average. In view of this
ridiculously low return it seems incumbent upon me to appoint an
inquisitor, whose duty----"
Dunlavey laughed harshly, interrupting the Judge. Then he turned
suddenly to Hollis, his face inflamed with passion.
"I reckon this is some of your work?" he snarled.
Hollis met his gaze steadily. "I imagine it is," he said quietly. He
could not keep a flash of triumph from his eyes. "Nothing could please
me better than to discover that I had a hand in bringing the law to this
country. It needs plenty of law."
Judge Graney cleared his throat. "This does not apply to you alone,
Dunlavey," he said, facing the latter. "Letters have been sent to every
cattleman in Union County, demanding their appearance before me. The
government is determined to re-adjust conditions out here--to enforce
this new law to the letter. Beginning on the first of next
month,--September--which will be the day after to-morrow, every cattle
owner in the county will be required to register his brand and return a
list of his cattle, for taxation. Any owner refusing to make a fair
return on his stock will make a grave mistake. Upon his failure to make
such return the government will seize his stock and dispose of it to the
highest bidder, deducting such an amount as will cover taxes, court
costs, and fines, and returning the remainder, if any, to the owner."
Judge Graney faced Hollis. "I suppose you have received your
notification to that effect?" he inquired.
"I haven't paid much attention to my mail since--since I met Mr.
Dunlavey and several of his friends one night--some weeks ago." He
smiled grimly at Dunlavey, who met his gaze with a derisive grin. "I
haven't been very much interested in anything except getting well,"
continued Hollis. "But whether I have been notified or not I shall take
pleasure in complying with the law. I shall have my list ready on
time--likewise I shall register my brand."
Dunlavey sneered. "That won't be such an almighty big job--counting your
steers," he said.
Hollis laughed shortly. "Perhaps not as big a job as it would have been
had conditions been different," he observed dryly.
"Meaning?" snapped Dunlavey, stiffening in his chair.
"You may draw your own inference," drawled Hollis.
For an instant it seemed that Dunlavey contemplated attacking Hollis; he
placed both hands on the table before him, preparatory to rising,
evidently thought better of the idea and sank into the chair again, his
eyes flashing venomously as they met Hollis's.
"This country's going plum to hell!" he sneered; "when tenderfeet and
half-baked lawyers get to running things it will be time for the
cattlemen to pull up stakes and hit the breeze! But I'm telling you one
thing!" He banged his fist heavily down upon the table in front of him
and scowled at the Judge, his voice vibrating with passion: "You let
your damned tenderfoot owners bring in their lists. Mebbe they don't
know any better. But I ain't bringin' in no list. It's one thing to pass
a law and another thing to enforce it!" He sat silent for an instant,
glaring at the Judge, who smiled quietly at him, then he turned to
Hollis.
"You've been carrying on like you was intending to own this here country
some day," he sneered; "with your damned newspaper and your lawyer
friend here. What we handed you the other night was just a sample of
what you'll get if you don't hit the breeze out of this country!" He got
to his feet and stood beside the table, glaring around at the three men.
For a moment neither of the three spoke. There was a saturnine, almost
mocking, smile on the face of the man who stood at the window. In his
expression one could discover much appreciation of the character of the
man at whom he was looking--it revealed the fact that he had met such
men before--and admired them little. There was no fear in the
expression, yet had one of the other men taken the trouble to look at
him they would have seen that his right hand was now lingering very
close to the butt of the revolver at his hip.
Judge Graney cleared his throat. The smile was still on his face, but a
sudden brightness of the eyes and a flush in each cheek showed that
Dunlavey's defiance had affected him. Both he and the man at the window
watched closely as Hollis got to his feet and approached Dunlavey.
Hollis's face was slightly pale, but there was a steady, unwavering
gleam in his eyes as he walked to within five feet of Dunlavey and stood
quietly beside the table looking at him.
"Dunlavey," he began slowly, in a soft, even voice, in which there was
not a hint of excitement, "I haven't anything to do with enforcing the
law that seems to have come to Union County. You can defy the law if you
please. But I have something to say in reply to what you have said to
me. It is this: I haven't any ambition to own the entire country--such
talk from a grown man is childish. But I do intend to own the little
I've got in spite of you or anyone else. I am not in the least afraid of
you. I owe you something on account of the other night and some day I am
going to thrash you within an inch of your life!"
Dunlavey's hand fell suggestively to his side. "There's no time like the
present," he sneered.
"Of course I know that you carry a gun," said Hollis still evenly,
without excitement; "most of you folks out here don't seem to be able to
get along without one--it seems to be the fashion. Also, I might add,
every man that carries one seems to yearn to use it. But it has always
seemed to me that a man who will use a gun without great provocation is
a coward!" He smiled grimly into Dunlavey's face.
For an instant Dunlavey did not move. His eyes glittered malevolently as
they bored into Hollis's. Then his expression changed until it was a
mingling of contempt, incredulity, and mockery.
"So you're thinking of thrashing me?" he sniffed, backing away a little
and eyeing Hollis critically. "You slugged me once and you're thinking
to do it again. And you think that any man who uses a gun on another is
a coward?" He laughed sardonically. "Well, all I've got to say to you is
that you ain't got your eye-teeth cut yet." He deliberately turned his
back on Hollis and the others and walked to the door. On the threshold
he halted, looking back at them all with a sneering smile.
"You know where I live," he said to Judge Graney. "I ain't bringing in
no list nor I ain't registering my brand. I don't allow no man to come
monkeying around on my range and if you come out there, thinking to run
off any of my stock, you're doing it at your own risk!" His gaze went
from the Judge to Hollis and his smile grew malignant.
"I'm saying this to you," he said, "no man ain't ever thrashed Bill
Dunlavey yet and I ain't allowing that any man is ever going to. Put
that in your pipe and smoke it!"
He slammed the door and was gone. Hollis turned from the door to see a
dry smile on the face of the man at the window.
"Fire eater, ain't he?" observed the latter, as he caught Hollis's
glance.