several times, openly and boldly. Moreover, Dunlavey had seen
him, had even spoken to him, but had offered no violence.

Perhaps in a calmer mood Dunlavey had decided not to use his weapon;
perhaps there was something about the quiet, cool, and deliberate Allen
which convinced Dunlavey that the former might be able to give a good
account of himself in the event of trouble. At any rate several times
Allen had ridden the Circle Cross range unmolested by either Dunlavey or
his men. He explored the farthest limits of the Circle Cross property,
tallying the cattle, nosing around the corrals, examining brands, and
doing sundry other things not calculated to allay Dunlavey's anger over
this new and odd condition of affairs.

Then one day he failed to visit the Circle Cross. Instead, he appeared
to Potter in the office of the _Kicker_ with copy for a poster
announcing the sale by auction of a thousand of Dunlavey's best cattle.
He ordered Potter to print it so that he might post copies throughout
the county within a week. The night following the issue of the
_Kicker_ containing the announcement concerning the coming of the
law Potter had informed Hollis that he had that day delivered the
notices to Allen.

CHAPTER XXVIII

IN DEFIANCE OF THE LAW

Hollis had demonstrated the fact that a majority of Dry Bottom's
citizens welcomed the law. Dry Bottom had had a law, to be sure--the law
of the six-shooter, with the cleverest man "on the trigger" as its chief
advocate. Few men cared to appear before such a court with an argument
against its jurisdiction. The law, as the citizens of Dry Bottom had
seen it, was an institution which frowned upon such argument. Few men
cared to risk an adverse decision of the established court to advocate
laws which would come from civilized authority; they had remained silent
against the day when it would come in spite of the element that had
scoffed at it. And now that day had arrived. The Law had come.

Even the evil element knew it. The atmosphere was vibrant with
suppressed excitement; in the stores men and women were congregated; in
the saloons rose a buzz of continuous conversation. On the street men
greeted one another with subdued voices, or halted one another to
discuss the phenomenon. In a dozen conspicuous places were posted
flaring, printed notices, informing the reader that a thousand of the
Circle Cross cattle--a description of which followed--were, on the
following day, to