Several times Steele was shot at in the dark and once slightly injured.
Rumor had it that Jack Blome, the gunman of those parts, was coming in
to meet Steele. Part of Linrock awakened and another part, much smaller,
became quieter, more secluded.
Strangers upon whom we could get no line mysteriously came and went. The
drinking, gambling, fighting in the resorts seemed to gather renewed
life. Abundance of money floated in circulation.
And rumors, vague and unfounded, crept in from Sanderson and other
points, rumors of a gang of rustlers off here, a hold-up of the stage
off here, robbery of a rancher at this distant point, and murder done at
another.
This was Texas and New Mexico life in these frontier days but, strangely
neither Steele nor I had yet been able to associate any rumor or act
with a possible gang of rustlers in Linrock.
Nevertheless we had not been discouraged. After three weeks of waiting
we had become alive to activity around us, and though it was unseen, we
believed we would soon be on its track.
My task was the busier and the easier. Steele had to have a care for his
life. I never failed to caution him of this.
My long reflection on the month's happenings and possibilities was
brought to an end by the disappearance of Miss Sampson and Sally.
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