who had
recovered. He knelt and with trembling fingers undid the neck of the
bag, and displayed its contents of gold and silver. That bag of money
was the key to the whole situation. Again Babel broke loose.

In time, out of the yells, curses, threats, and other sounds, this story
was extracted: Gil Steele's closeness, not to say meanness, had made him
more than unpopular. The threshers who owned the machine worked a
percentage of the grain which they carted away to the railroad. Gil had
tried to reduce this percentage. The threshers, abetted by Henry Dorgan,
had tried to increase it. Dorgan also had told the hired hands that
Steele intended to reduce their wages. Steele had become angry and
refused to talk to any of the men. In some mysterious way Dorgan had
introduced a keg of whiskey into the situation.

The hands had demanded their money, and none was forthcoming. They had
attacked Gil Steele, who had wounded one of them and fled. It was then
that Mrs. Steele had sent Whitey for aid, as it was certain that the
infuriated mob would hang Steele if they found him. Gil was hidden in a
most unromantic place; a sort of dugout, one-third dirt, one-third
boards, and one-third stone, in which hams were smoked. You know how
near he came to going from that place to his death.

And Henry Dorgan had created the disturbance so that under cover of it
he might steal the bag containing the money for the men.

When this fact was apparent to the minds of the excited hands, they and
Gil Steele made a rush for the cowering Dorgan, but Mr. Sherwood and
some of the vigilantes intervened with drawn weapons and forced them
back. The vigilantes would see that the law punished Dorgan. There was
loud-voiced protest against this, but the attackers were outnumbered and
were helpless.

During this Walt Lampson and Mart Cooley had been talking apart, and now
Walt stepped forward. "This law business is all well enough," he said,
"but I got somethin' t' say about Dorgan." He faced the crowd. "Lots o'
you fellers are cowmen, ain't you?" he asked. Most of the men were.
"When the Star Circle herd was stampeded by them white-caps," Lampson
went on, "an' we got them sheepmen for doin' it, Donald Spellman cashed
in, but before doin' so he told me who put up the job. It was this
feller Dorgan. Him a cowman, an' he turned ag'in' his kind for money.
Are we goin' t' let him get away?"

Henry Dorgan's feeling of relief was gone, and he crouched behind Mr