e Cheseldine holds fort. Somewhere to the
north is the town Fairdale. But he doesn't hide all the time in the
rocks. Only after some daring raid or hold-up. Cheseldine's got border
towns on his staff, or scared of him, and these places we want to know
about, especially Fairdale. Write me care of the adjutant at Austin.
I don't have to warn you to be careful where you mail letters. Ride a
hundred, two hundred miles, if necessary, or go clear to El Paso."

MacNelly stopped with an air of finality, and then Duane slowly rose.

"I'll start at once," he said, extending his hand to the Captain. "I
wish--I'd like to thank you."

"Hell, man! Don't thank me!" replied MacNelly, crushing the proffered
hand. "I've sent a lot of good men to their deaths, and maybe you're
another. But, as I've said, you've one chance in a thousand. And, by
Heaven! I'd hate to be Cheseldine or any other man you were trailing.
No, not good-by--Adios, Duane! May we meet again!"

BOOK II. THE RANGER

CHAPTER XV

West of the Pecos River Texas extended a vast wild region, barren in the
north where the Llano Estacado spread its shifting sands, fertile in
the south along the Rio Grande. A railroad marked an undeviating course
across five hundred miles of this country, and the only villages and
towns lay on or near this line of steel. Unsettled as was this western
Texas, and despite the acknowledged dominance of the outlaw bands, the
pioneers pushed steadily into it. First had come the lone rancher; then
his neighbors in near and far valleys; then the hamlets; at last the
railroad and the towns. And still the pioneers came, spreading
deeper into the valleys, farther and wider over the plains. It was
mesquite-dotted, cactus-covered desert, but rich soil upon which water
acted like magic. There was little grass to an acre, but there were
millions of acres. The climate was wonderful. Cattle flourished and
ranchers prospered.

The Rio Grande flowed almost due south along the western boundary for a
thousand miles, and then, weary of its course, turned abruptly north,
to make what was called the Big Bend. The railroad, running west, cut
across this bend, and all that country bounded on the north by the
railroad and on the south by the river was as wild as the Staked Plains.
It contained not one settlement. Across the face of this Big Bend, as
if to isolate it, stretched the Ord mountain range, of which Mount
Ord, Cathedral Mount, and Elephant Moun