Sampson had made restitution
in every case where he had personally gained at the loss of farmer or
rancher; and the accumulation of years went far toward returning to
Linrock what it had lost in a material way. He had been a poor man when
he boarded the stage for Sanderson, on his way out of Texas forever.
Not long afterward I heard Steele talking to Miss Sampson, in a deep and
agitated voice. "You must rise above this. When I come upon you alone I
see the shadow, the pain in your face. How wonderfully this thing has
turned out when it might have ruined you! I expected it to ruin you.
Who, but that wild boy in there could have saved us all? Diane, you have
had cause for sorrow. But your father is alive and will live it down.
Perhaps, back there in Louisiana, the dishonor will never be known.
Pecos County is far from your old home. And even in San Antonio and
Austin, a man's evil repute means little.
"Then the line between a rustler and a rancher is hard to draw in these
wild border days. Rustling is stealing cattle, and I once heard a
well-known rancher say that all rich cattlemen had done a little
stealing. Your father drifted out here, and like a good many others, he
succeeded.
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