amond Dot,
Holcomb, of the Star, Yeager, of the Three Diamond, Clark, of the Circle
Y, Henningson, of the Three Bar, Toban, of the T Down, an' some more
which has come in for the racket tonight. Countin' 'em all--the punchers
which have come in with the fellows I have named--there'll be about
seventy-five.

"An', say!" he added, suddenly confronting Hollis and grasping him by
the shoulder and shaking him playfully and admiringly, "there wouldn't a
durn one of them have come over here on my account. They up an' told me
so when I asked them. Said they'd nothin' ag'in me, but they wasn't
considerin' votin' at all. But since Hollis wanted me--well, they'd come
over just to show you that they appreciated what you'd done for them!"

Hollis smiled. He did not tell Allen that since the appearance of the
_Kicker_ containing the announcement that he was to be its
candidate he had written every small rancher in the vicinity, requesting
as a personal favor that they appear in Dry Bottom on the day of the
primary; that these letters had been delivered by Ace, and that when the
poet returned he had presented Hollis with a list containing the name of
every rancher who had promised to come, and that several days before
Hollis had known approximately how many votes Allen would receive at the
primary. He did not intend that Allen should know this--or that he had
been going quietly from one Dry Bottom merchant to another, appealing to
them for their support. And the earnestness with which many of them had
promised had convinced him that the primary was to be the beginning of
the end for Bill Watkins and Dunlavey.

When he had first come to Dry Bottom it had been universally conceded by
the town's citizens that his differences with Dunlavey and the
Cattlemen's Association were purely personal, and there had been a
disposition on the part of the citizens to let them fight it out between
themselves. But of late there had come a change in that sentiment. The
change had been gradual, beginning with the day when he had told the
author of the notice that had appeared on the door of the _Kicker_
office not to hold the express on his account. But the change had come
and it was evident that it was to be permanent. It had only been
necessary to arouse the government to the situation in order to secure
intervention. He had hoped to secure this intervention without being
forced to a hostile clash with the opposition, but his first meeting
with Dunl