When we reached the corrals she dismounted and, turning
her horse over to Dick, she went off toward the house without so much as
a nod or good-by to me.
I went down to town for once in a mood to live up to what had been
heretofore only a sham character.
But turning a corner into the main street I instantly forgot myself at
the sight of a crowd congregated before the town hall. There was a babel
of voices and an air of excitement that I immediately associated with
Sampson, who as mayor of Linrock, once in a month of moons held court in
this hall.
It took slipping and elbowing to get through the crowd. Once inside the
door I saw that the crowd was mostly outside, and evidently not so
desirous as I was to enter.
The first man I saw was Steele looming up; the next was Sampson chewing
his mustache--the third, Wright, whose dark and sinister face told much.
Something was up in Linrock. Steele had opened the hall.
There were other men in the hall, a dozen or more, and all seemed
shouting excitedly in unison with the crowd outside. I did not try to
hear what was said. I edged closer in, among the men to the front.
Sampson sat at a table up on a platform. Near him sat a thick-set
grizzled man, with deep eyes; and this was Hanford Owens, county judge.
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