le with Dunlavey, and when the
time came for a final accounting he told himself that he would settle
both. He knew there would come such a time. From the beginning he had
felt that he and the Circle Cross manager were marked by fate for a
clash. He was eager for it, but content to wait until the appointed
time. And he knew that the time was not far distant.

Therefore he remained silent regarding the incident, and except to
Norton and his wife, Nellie Hazelton, Ten Spot, and himself, the
disappearance of Yuma remained a mystery.

Dunlavey, perhaps, might have had his suspicions, but if so he
communicated them to no one, and so as the days passed the mystery
ceased to be discussed and Yuma was forgotten.

Hollis received a letter from Weary, dated "Chicago," announcing the
safe arrival of himself and Ed Hazelton. "Town" suited him to a "T," he
wrote. But Doctor Hammond would not operate at once--he wanted time to
study the symptoms of Ed's malady. That was all. Hollis turned this
letter over to Nellie, with another from Ed, addressed to her--whose
contents remained a mystery to him.

Ben Allen had returned from his visit to the small ranchers in the
vicinity, had confided to Hollis that he had "mixed a little politics
with business," and then, after receiving a telegram from the Secretary
of the Interior, had taken himself off to Santa Fe to confer with the
governor.

After several days he returned. He entered the _Kicker_ office to
greet Hollis, his face wreathed in smiles.

"You've got 'em all stirred up, my boy!" he declared, placing his hand
on Hollis's shoulder with a resounding "smack"; "they're goin' to
enforce the little law we've got and they've passed some new ones.
Here's a few! First and foremost, cattle stealing is to be considered
felony! Penalty, from one to twenty years! Next--free water! Being as
the rivers in this Territory ain't never been sold with what land the
government sharks has disposed of, any cattleman's got the right to
water wherever he wants to. The governor told me that if it's necessary
he'll send Uncle Sam's blue coats anywhere in the Territory to enforce
that! Third: after a man's registered his brand he can't change it
unless he applies to the district judge. Them that ain't registered
their brand ain't entitled to no protection. I reckon there's trouble
ahead for any man which monkeys with another man's brand!

"Say!" Allen eyed Hollis whimsically; "that new governor's all het