It's hard to
make him draw. You know, after all, these desperate men aren't afraid of
guns or fights. Yet they are afraid of Steele. Perhaps it's his nerve,
the way he faces them, the things he says, the fact that he has
mysterious allies."
"Russ, we're all with him, an' I'll gamble that the honest citizens of
Linrock will flock to him in another day. I can see signs of that. There
were twenty or more men on Hoden's list, but Steele didn't want so
many."
"We don't need any more. Morton, can you give me any idea where Steele
is?"
"Not the slightest."
"All right. I'll hunt for him. If you see him tell him to hole up, and
then you come after me. Tell him I've got our men spotted."
"Russ, if you Ranger fellows ain't wonders!" exclaimed Morton, with
shining eyes.
Steele did not show himself in town again that day. Here his cunning was
manifest. By four o'clock that afternoon Blome was drunk and he and his
rustlers went roaring up and down the street. There was some shooting,
but I did not see or hear that any one got hurt. The lawless element,
both native to Linrock and the visitors, followed in Blome's tracks from
saloon to saloon. How often had I seen this sort of procession, though
not on so large a scale, in many towns of wild Texas!
The two great and dangerous things in Linrock at the hour were whisky
and guns.
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