anions,
awe in his voice as he indicated Lawler, who was just concluding his
speech.

"I've knowed him a long time," went on Jimmy's friend, proudly.

"Huh!" said Jimmy; "I've knowed him longer than you. An' besides, he
walloped me. An' he walloped my paw, too!"

Shorty had ridden to town with Lawler; and Shorty rode home with the
candidate for governor--after the citizens of Willets had shouted
themselves hoarse and the prominent men who had come down from the
capital had taken the evening train home.

And Shorty said nothing when Lawler veered from the Circle L trail and
headed eastward, toward Hamlin's cabin. And he waited with much patience
outside the cabin while Lawler went in, to stay an unconscionably long
time.

Ruth was alone. And her eyes were glowing with happiness when she saw
Lawler.

"Oh, I know!" she said when Lawler essayed to break the news to her. "On
his way to town, Blackburn rode over and told me. All of your men were
in town--didn't you know that?"

"Ruth," said Lawler; "I will be elected. Won't you come to the capital
with me--to be the first lady of the state?"

She looked straight at him, her face paling.

"Wait, Kane," she said, gently. "I--I can't, just now. Oh, Kane, don't
you see that the higher you go the harder it is for me. I can't have
people say--what they might say--what your enemies would be sure to say!
Father is all right now. But I can't depend upon him. We will wait,
Kane--until we are sure."

Shorty rode with Lawler after they left the Hamlin cabin. And the
gravity of Lawler's expression was noted by the giant, and duly
commented upon the following morning, in Blackburn's presence.

"The boss's trail is sure hard to anticipate," said Shorty. "There's the
state goin' loco over him--nominatin' him for governor, an' folks in
Willets makin' more fuss over him than they did over the President--the
time he stopped for two minutes in town. Well, you'd think a man would
be sort of fussed up himself, over that kind of a deal. But what does
the boss do? He rides home with me, sayin' nothin' pretty regular--with
a face on him as long as the moral law--an' then some. I ain't got no
rope on him--an' that's a fact. But he's all wool an' a yard wide--ain't
he, Blackburn?"

CHAPTER XXXVI

A MAN MEDITATES VENGEANCE

It had always been lonely at the Hamlin cabin, and it grew more lonely
after Kane Lawler left the Circle L. For the barrier between Ruth and
the happiness