CHAPTER III
NORTON MAKES A DISCOVERY
Judge Graney rose and leaned over the table, taking the young man's handand holding it tightly. Then he sat down again and resumed smoking.Neither man said a word during the hand-clasp and yet both knew thattheir hearts and minds were united in a common cause. Words would havebeen unnecessary and futile.
Hollis's path of duty lay straight and open before him. There was noby-way that would lead him around the dangers that were sure to besethim. Nor had he thought to search for any. Long before the judge hadconcluded his recital of conditions in the county Hollis had decided tomeet 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 assistin bringing it he would be accomplishing something real and tangible andhe would be satisfied. He did not believe that Destiny had anything todo with his appearance upon the scene at this particular time; rather hefelt that his coming was merely a result of a combination ofcircumstances such as might have occurred to any man. And like any manwith courage and deeply settled convictions he was prepared to moveforward to the issue, trusting himself. He had no thought of appearingheroic.
Yet to the judge he appeared so. The latter had been prepared to hearexcuses from him; had been prepared to resist a natural inclination toberate the young man soundly for lack of parental loyalty, thoughconscious that he could advance no valid reason for the young mansacrificing himself upon the altars of an old feud. It was against humannature for any man to so sacrifice himself, he had assured himself whentrying to build up a defense for the young man.
And now that Hollis had shown that he needed no defender; that he waswilling to take up the cudgels in behalf of his father, the judge wasscarcely able to restrain himself. To state calmly that he intended tofight the Cattlemen's Association when there was a life of comparativesafety awaiting him in another section of the country was an heroicdecision. Many another man would have cringed--would have surrenderedwithout striking a blow.
Judge Graney had long known that the action of his government in sendinghim to Union County was an ironical surrender on the part of thegovernment to the forces in the West which had been long demanding theLaw. He had been sent here, presumably to enforce the law, but inreality to silence the government's critics. He was not expected toconvict anyone. Theoretically he was supposed to uphold the majesty ofthe law in Union County, but in reality he merely remained and drew hissalary. There was no law to enforce.
In the fight that had been waged between the elder Hollis and theCattlemen's Association his sympathies had been with Hollis, though hehad never been able to assist him in a legal way. But the judge knewthat eventually the Law must come, and so he encouraged Hollis, assuringhim that victory would be his in the end.
And then Hollis had died--suddenly. The Las Vegas doctor who hadattended him had shaken his head sagely when the judge had questionedhim regarding his patient and had pointed significantly to one of DryBottom's saloons. The doctor had told the judge there was no hope, andthe latter had telegraphed East. The appearance of young Hollis had beenthe 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. "Butso long as it is here it is in business to stay!"
"I expect that decision won't please Dunlavey a whole lot," the judgereturned.
"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 believeyou called him?"
"Potter won't be hard to find," assured the judge; "a search of thesaloons would uncover him, I imagine." He smiled. "When you get ready toget the _Kicker_ out just let me know; I promise to have Potter onhand."
To the ears of the two men came a rattle of wheels and a voice. Thejudge leaned back in his chair and looked out through the window. Hisface wreathed into a broad smile as he resumed his former position andlooked at Hollis. "Your range boss is here," he said.
They heard a step on the board walk, and a man stood in the doorwaylooking at them.
The newcomer gave an instant impression of capability. He stood on thethreshold, entirely composed, saturnine, serene eyed, absolutely sure ofhimself. He was arrayed in high heeled boots, minus spurs; the bottomsof a pair of dust-covered overalls were tucked into the boot legs; awoolen shirt, open at the throat, covered a pair of admirable shoulders;a scarlet handkerchief was knotted around his neck; and a wide brimmedhat, carelessly dented in the crown, was shoved rakishly back from hisforehead. Sagging from his slim waist was a well filled cartridge beltand at the right hip a heavy revolver.
"Howdy, judge!" he said with a smile, in response to Judge Graney'scordial 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 metsteadily. The thought crossed Hollis's mind that the buckboard that hehad seen in front of a store soon after leaving the station must havebeen 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' forus hereabouts."
At the mention of "Yuma Ed" Hollis looked up. That was the name of thesecond man he had struck in the affair near the Fashion Saloon. Hewondered if Norton knew. He did not remember to have seen the latteramong the men who had surrounded him in the space between the twobuildings. But the judge was now introducing him to Norton and he stoodup, holding the latter's hand and meeting his inspecting gaze fairly. Hefound that the range boss was fully as tall as he; indeed, Hollisdiscovered that he was compelled to look up slightly in order to meetthe latter's level gaze. Norton smiled peculiarly; there was a friendlyexpression 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 withhis "new boss". "I don't reckon that you're much stuck on this herecountry--much as you've seen of it?"
"I've been used to keeping busy," laughed Hollis, "and my impression isthat it seems rather dull out here."
Norton's eyelashes flickered. He deliberately closed one eye at thejudge, 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, "butI'm askin' you if you're thinkin' to stay in this country--keepin' yourdad's ranch an' his newspaper?"
Hollis nodded. Norton's eyes gleamed with a savage delight. "Bully!" hedeclared. "If you stay here you'll get plenty of action. I was afraidyou wouldn't stay." He turned to Judge Graney, a grin of satisfaction onhis face. "I'm tellin' you somethin' that will tickle you a heap," hesaid. "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 therea while, tryin' to find out what it was all about, but there wasn't noneof them sayin' anything to me. But pretty soon I got Red over into acorner an' he told me. Accordin' to him Dunlavey had corraled thatHazelton girl outside an' was tellin' her somethin' pretty strong when atenderfoot, which hadn't any regard for Dunlavey's delicate feelin's, upan' lambasted him in the jaw!"
"Struck him?" queried the judge, grinning delightedly.
"Knocked him cold," affirmed Norton, his eyes dancing. "Pasted him sohard that he thought it was night an' went to sleep. Then Yuma busted inan' thought to work his guns. He got his'n, too. That there tenderfootdidn't have no respect for guns. Red says he never thought any man couldhit so hard. It must have been sumptuous!" He laugh
ed delightedly. "I'dlike to shake hands with that tenderfoot--he's my friend!"
Hollis pulled out a cigar case, selected a cigar, lighted it, and smokedin silence.
So her name was Hazelton. Admiration over the manner in which she hadheld the men at bay before Dunlavey got to his feet still lingered; shehad impressed him deeply. But a deeper satisfaction overshadowed histhoughts of the girl, for he had slugged Dunlavey, his father's enemy.His satisfaction grew to amusement. Did Dunlavey know who had sluggedhim? He must have suspected, for Hollis recalled the man's significantexpression when, after he had risen from the ground he said: "I've gotan idea that you an' me will meet again."
Hollis's thoughts flitted rapidly from Dunlavey to the girl. Now that hehad decided to stay he had determined to search her out. He rememberedthat Dunlavey had spoken slightingly of her brother and he assuredhimself that he would not be entirely satisfied until he had uncoveredthe mystery. He might have questioned Norton or the judge, for both menevidently knew the girl, but he was reluctant to betray his interest inher to either man.
He heard Norton make an exclamation of surprise, and looking up he sawhim holding his right hand out, the palm upward, examining it. There wasa splotch of blood on the palm and another on the under side of thethumb.
"Shucks!" Norton was saying. "Now where in thunder did I get that?" Helooked again at the hand and then suddenly dove forward to Hollis'sside, seized his right hand, peered at the knuckles and held the handtriumphantly aloft.
"I reckon this is where I got it!" he grinned.
Hollis looked ruefully down at his knuckles. The skin wasgashed--evidently where it had come in contact with a bone in eitherDunlavey's or Yuma's jaw. He had intended to keep the story of adventureto himself. But he saw that Norton had stepped back and was gazingsoberly 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! RedEggers said there was two an' that the tenderfoot had come down towardthe 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, durnyou! Oh, say!" He uttered a whoop that must have startled the horses infront of the building. Then he sobered down, speaking in a low,regretful voice: "You durn tenderfoot! Here I've been waitin' for yearsto 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 acackle of mirth. "An' so you're lookin' for action? Lordy! If you don'tcall what you done to Dunlavey an' Yuma action this country's goin' toset up an' take notice when you get to goin' in earnest!"
Judge Graney loomed somberly over the table. "I suppose it must havebeen you?" he said gravely.
Hollis nodded. "I may as well confess," he said. "I saw a man giving ayoung lady a mighty bad moment and I slugged him. Another man called mea vile name and I slugged him, too. That was all."
The judge sat down again, his face slightly pale. A significant glancepassed 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 wayis as good as any other. It was bound to come anyway. It will be war tothe finish now!"