Ted had heard that Fancy Farnsworth was the worst man in Arizona, and
that he had the most ungovernable temper, the quickest eye, and swiftest
"draw" of a gun in the Territory.
He was a gambler against whom nobody seemed to be able to cope, for he
invariably won. It had been said that he was not a straight gambler, but
those who said it did so only once, as they were incapable of saying it
twice, for by that time they had been shot full of holes by the card
sharper.
Why it was that Farnsworth always escaped punishment at the hands of the
authorities no one knew, except that they lacked the nerve to force
prosecution against him, and that he invariably had a good excuse for
killing a man; at least, one that made good in that rough country, where
every man was of a size because all carried revolvers.
But even while Ted believed that Farnsworth was innocent of the murder
of Miss Mowbray, he felt that some day he and the dashing young fellow
would meet on the battlefield as enemies.
But it was the strange resemblance between him and Major Caruthers that
affected Ted more than anything else, and he often wondered that the
major had not noticed it himself.
Major Caruthers found Ted on the veranda turning these things over in
his mind after breakfast. Coming to his side, the old gentleman threw
his arm around Ted's shoulder and said:
"Ted, I'm rather worried about that young chap Dickson, or Farnsworth,
whichever he is.
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