hands.

The late lords of the plains were such a dejected and altogether
sneaking looking crew, shorn of their power by the hands of one man,
stripped of their roaring weapons, tied like cattle to a hurdle, that
the vengeful spirit of Ascalon veered in a glance to humorous
appreciation of the comedy that was beginning before their eyes.

The cowboys who had stood ready a few minutes past to help hang the
outfit, fairly rolled with laughter at the sight of this miserable
example of complete degradation, through which the meanness of their
kind was so ludicrously apparent. The citizenry and floating population
of the town joined in the merriment, and the lowering clouds of tragedy
were swept away on a gale of laughter that echoed along the jagged
business front.

But the girl Rhetta was not laughing. Perplexed, troubled, she laid her
hand on Morgan's arm as he stood beside his horse about to mount.

"What are you going to do with them now, Mr. Morgan?" she inquired.

"They're going to start for Texas down the Chisholm Trail," he said,
smiling down at her from the saddle.

And in that manner they set out from Ascalon, carrying the pole at their
backs, Morgan driving them ahead of him, starting them in a trot which
increased to a hobbling run as they bore away past the railroad station
and struck the broad trampled highway to the south.

Afoot and horseback the town and the visitors in it came after them,
shooting and shouting, getting far more enjoyment out of it than they
would have got out of a hanging, as even the most contrary among them
admitted. For this was a drama in which the boys and girls took part,
and even the Baptist preacher, who had a church as big as a mouse trap,
stood grinning in appreciation as they passed, and said something about
it being a parallel of Samson, and the foxes with their tails tied
together being driven away into the Philistines' corn.

The crowd followed to the rise half a mile south of town, where most of
it halted, only the cowboys and mounted men accompanying Morgan to the
river. There they turned back, also, leaving it to Morgan to carry out
the rest of his program alone, it being the general opinion that he
intended to herd the six beyond the cottonwoods on the farther shore and
despatch them clean-handed, according to what was owing to him on their
account.

Morgan urged his captives on, still keeping them on the trot, although
it was becoming a staggering and wabbling